Coleman AC

[Bill Johnson]

Open your ac and make sure the divider in the middle is where it should be and use foil tape and make sure there are no gaps under the inside cover. It's worth a look

[Jimbo56]

I installed the RV Airflow in my 13,500. Made a tremendous difference. Also, using the foil reflector stuff inside helps a little. But I spent $300 and had custom Sun Shades made. World of difference. On another thread somebody said keeping the heat from getting in is the way to go and I agree. But I also added a second 13,500 AC. Non ducted. With both running, no shade, 101 in SC 3 weeks ago, I could hang meat at 2 pm. If you’re traveling in the south as we do, 2 AC units are a requirement. I could stand heat much better at age 25 than at age 65.

[happy]

Jimbo I'm keeping this bookmarked. I'm more than 2x the wimp you are in the heat.
We won't be out much this summer but will hit the trail in the fall. But, next year our hopes thake us into hot weather and a 2nd unit as a possibility is encouraging.


Is the process basically to just cut a hole in the roof and run the necessary wiring?

[Jimbo56]

Originally Posted by happy

Jimbo I'm keeping this bookmarked. I'm more than 2x the wimp you are in the heat.
We won't be out much this summer but will hit the trail in the fall. But, next year our hopes thake us into hot weather and a 2nd unit as a possibility is encouraging.


Is the process basically to just cut a hole in the roof and run the necessary wiring?

Didn’t have to cut a hole. Had a vent over the kitchen with some kind of fancy exhaust fan. Took the fan out. The AC unit dropped in. It’s nonducted. You can see the wire. Runs to a breaker in left side storage. Separate 30 amp plug outside. It is not tied into the 120v system. It plugs separately into a pedestal. Currently have MH plugged into 30. 2nd AC plugged into 20.

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by Jimbo56

Didn’t have to cut a hole. Had a vent over the kitchen with some kind of fancy exhaust fan. Took the fan out. The AC unit dropped in. It’s nonducted. You can see the wire. Runs to a breaker in left side storage. Separate 30 amp plug outside. It is not tied into the 120v system. It plugs separately into a pedestal. Currently have MH plugged into 30. 2nd AC plugged into 20.

Congratulations nice setup
And Jimbo the South?
What about AZ & NM?

[Jimbo56]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

Congratulations nice setup
And Jimbo the South?
What about AZ & NM?

I assume it would work as well there.

[Redsand]

I wanted to give a shout out the Judge and Bill for some exceptional ideas. First I decided to add a layer of additional insulation over the plenum area as suggested. Just before I did that it seemed only right to check out the evap coil by removing the cover. Lots of small screws had to removed to be sure but figured one look inside before the insulation project. Everything looked fine. The evap coils were remarkably clean as in almost new to my eye.
Pretty surprising for 17 years. I noticed a long piece of sheet metal maybe 4" wide laying inside the space between the blower and coil. What could this be? A quick look at the parts diagram and sure enough the piece I found belonged on top of the cooling coil which forces return air through the cooling coil and out into the coach. Air had been bypassing the coil and just flowing around it. Some cooling occurred but not very much. I was too tired to check the temps in and out but I will tomorrow. Just by touch it was ice cold. Probably happened at the Coleman assembly plant. Seems the unit is now working just fine.
Thanks guys.

[Bob Nodine]

Just the other day I was thinking about how California became one of the most populated states in the Union because years ago folks would sale everything and risk their life to head to California, the land of opportunity. Now it seems the tide has turned and there is an exodus from California. Many of them are moving here to Tennessee.

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by Redsand

I wanted to give a shout out the Judge and Bill for some exceptional ideas. First I decided to add a layer of additional insulation over the plenum area as suggested. Just before I did that it seemed only right to check out the evap coil by removing the cover. Lots of small screws had to removed to be sure but figured one look inside before the insulation project. Everything looked fine. The evap coils were remarkably clean as in almost new to my eye.
Pretty surprising for 17 years. I noticed a long piece of sheet metal maybe 4" wide laying inside the space between the blower and coil. What could this be? A quick look at the parts diagram and sure enough the piece I found belonged on top of the cooling coil which forces return air through the cooling coil and out into the coach. Air had been bypassing the coil and just flowing around it. Some cooling occurred but not very much. I was too tired to check the temps in and out but I will tomorrow. Just by touch it was ice cold. Probably happened at the Coleman assembly plant. Seems the unit is now working just fine.
Thanks guys.

Just inside the cover of the ac in the rv there is a divider between the hot and cold side. Sometimes/many times it's not in the middle and the cold and hot mix. There are openings going to the ducting in the ceiling and Sometimes there are holes where they shouldn't be letting air escape

[Redsand]

My unit is ductless so there's just a small flex duct from the output to the exhaust grill on each end. That's the first thing I checked and made some small adjustments with foil tape.

I made it out to the beast today in 85 degree weather here and 82 in the coach. The temp exiting the a/c after 5 minutes was 55.4 degrees. Now we're talking cooling!


It does make me wonder how many of these units are in the field not working at maximum efficiency? Granted a pain to open and check but sure worth the effort for us. I think the best I could get to start was around 67 so a success here and once again thanks to all for the replies.

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by Redsand

My unit is ductless so there's just a small flex duct from the output to the exhaust grill on each end. That's the first thing I checked and made some small adjustments with foil tape.

I made it out to the beast today in 85 degree weather here and 82 in the coach. The temp exiting the a/c after 5 minutes was 55.4 degrees. Now we're talking cooling!


It does make me wonder how many of these units are in the field not working at maximum efficiency? Granted a pain to open and check but sure worth the effort for us. I think the best I could get to start was around 67 so a success here and once again thanks to all for the replies.

That's good we hit 90 in Minnesota and I was holding 78 with my 13.5 ac and burned up a 120 volt cord end and a 15 amp receptacle. My son went and go me a new cord end and a 20 amp receptacle. I couldn't find the breaker and I didn't have the tool with me to track it down. I took a 12 gauge wire and shorted the circuit. I found it was a 20 amp with 12 gauge wire. I found the big extension cord he gave me was weird. All three wires were inside flat rubber/plastic insulation all copper wires, the middle wire was thinner than the others. I took his other extension cord it was 12 gauge and that worked. I wish I had the larger unit but I don't know if it would work on 20 amp. There is no way I can turn on both ac units at once

[Redsand]

I'm confused. Were you running your coach ac and burned up the shore power cord or?

[budlevey]

I live in Phoenix Az. I used to have a 1996 Winnebago. It’s AC was ductless and froze you out in 20 minutes. Recently purchased a 2017 Thor and the AC has ducts. I did all the checking everyone talked about here and really didn’t help much. I decided to see what would happen if I removed the bottom section of the AC unit and allowed the cold air to go directly into the room and not thru ducts. The AC air was freezing and we got what seemed like 100x the amount of air than distribution ducts provided. It was obvious to me that the problem isn’t the AC unit it’s the fact that the ductwork is greatly restricting the amount of air. Air flow is everything!! I installed a RV Air Flow system. It helped but not enough for high temps in the desert. I then decided to install a few 12v fans with mini switches inside the ducts in the back bedroom. AMAZING!! The bedroom got cool now that we had air flow. I then installed 4 more throughout my 31 ft Class C Rv. We were thinking about adding a second AC unit but don’t have to now. We’re happy with the AC unit, RV Air flow system and separate duck fans. For those that want to try this I ran wire through the ducts from a 12v line I tapped off from inside the AC unit. It’s a lot of work but worth it. Hope it works for you too.

[Redsand]

No ducts on my unit but sounds like ya made a great improvement in yours. My rig is a 28' class c and just the one ceiling unit with front and rear adjustable grill. If i close the front grill the rear has a straight shot at the bedroom so hoping that will keep the sleeping area cool enough during the hot months.
It does seem like Thor might have done a better job at engineering the cooling system though in your case.

[budlevey]

Sorry, I thought those pictures that showed duct vents were from your RV. One thing we did, before installing the duct fans, was to put a portable fan by the bedroom entrance to draw more air from the AC into the bedroom. Hope it works for you!

[bevedfelker]

When we bought our Vegas 24.1 new from General RV in Tampa in 2015 we opted for the 15,000 BTU in lieu of the stock 13,500 BTO. We've done lots of camping in FL with temps in high 90s and into triple digits. Also camped in full sun with no shade at those temps.

My wife always managed to keep the inside of our Vega at meat locker temps. We kept the windows covered and the shade down on the windshield. I have never regretted getting the 15,000 BTU A/C.

Of course having a 25' long RV rather than one 30' or more certainly helped as well. Ours is also ducted and I keep all my vents on the bottom of the A/C in the living area closed forcing all the air through the ducts.

[Galobo]

Check U tube, My RV works / boost your AC performance. we did this simple repair and it really improved the ACs performance. The Judges suggestion for insulting the cab works great. The insulation provided in the RVs leaves a lot to be desired.

[jla956]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

If the air coming out of the unit is 15 degrees colder than the air entering the cold air return there is nothing wrong with the unit.

A couple weeks ago at a rally we were in 98 and 99 degree temps and two AC units only took the inside down to 80. This week temps in the low to mid 80s and the inside is maintaining 68 day and night.

So, if the AC should put out air that's 15 degrees cooler than the intake air, then as the interior air cooled down wouldn't the temp of the air that the AC put out continue to drop?

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by jla956

So, if the AC should put out air that's 15 degrees cooler than the intake air, then as the interior air cooled down wouldn't the temp of the air that the AC put out continue to drop?

Yes, until it can no longer keep up with the heat being put into the RV from outside.

[JimOIB]

+1 to what ACE said. Part of that “keeping up” is the overall performance of your A/C unit and maintenance.

This is a good explanation of performance:

https://www.airxcel.com/docs/default...e.pdf?sfvrsn=5