I am all for purchasing products from small companies & entrepreneurs. If it wasn’t for them, many of the things and quality control within some products that we’ve come to expect wouldn’t happen. I’m now known as “that guy” who tries all sorts of things way before most others have even heard of it. I try to share my knowledge and feedback on the products and mods as much as I can with anybody who’d listen.
But $180 for a styrofoam shape and a thin metal collar per A/C unit is more than a bit much in my opinion. Like a previous poster mentioned, I too spent a lot of time optimizing the AC ducts, taping over gaps, and insulating the actual unit on the roof and had really strong gains. I posted all my details elsewhere, and there’s a really good other thread about this as well.
Even with all that, I thought I could use a quieter solution, as it generally wakes up everybody if it starts up in the middle of the night. My current solution is to leave it running in fan only-low speed mode, and have a constant white noise going. Not optimal, but works for us. I’d like better, but I can’t see spending $400 for that.
So...off to the internet I go! Found a homemade solution that I plan on trying. It’s ugly as hell, but you’ll never see it as it’s hidden inside the AC cavity. It’s also probably not quite as effective at sound dampening, and not as efficient at directing air flow either. But I figure there would have to be some improvement, and you’re out only the cost of a foam board, AC tape, and your time.
I will be installing this some time this winter while letting the generator charge up the batteries during storage maintenance. I’ll try to take some pictures and time myself to let y’all know what you might get yourself into if you try this.
But, as you’ll see in the link below, this appears to be one of the easier mods for RV’ers listed in this awesome forum.
Cheers!
https://youtu.be/3Vhv_b-1zAk
Linear Mode
