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Old 01-10-2009, 10:57 AM   #1
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A new problem has appeared on our 2000 Adventurer 37G. The basement air conditioner works great, most of the time. But it appears that at night it sometimes stops blowing cold air, and just runs and runs, no cooling. We keep the hall door closed, to keep the cats out of the bedroom. Could this reduce the air flow enough to be a problem? Or should I be looking for something else?

Thanks for all answers.
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:30 PM   #2
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Are the compressures still runing if they are then the unit is probley iced up do to low air flow. If comps are not on then the thermostat is not calling for cooling. hope this helps.
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:35 PM   #3
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I am not fully aware of where your return is in your MH but, in mine, the return is thru the side of my bed. If I closed the bedroom door, it will effect the effectivness of the air conditioning --- the air return would be blocked from all of the coach except for the bedroom area. This could cause the unit to freeze up due to low air flow.
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Old 01-10-2009, 04:33 PM   #4
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I have so much space under my doors between the BR and Bath that there would be no restriction.

If you drop the numbers on the thermostat will the compressor kick on? It may be, as said above, that the demand has been met and the compressor just will not kick in.

Not sure where the thermostat is in the 37G, but when you close a room off, that room will get cooler than the other rooms because the return does not suck the cold air out as fast. If the thermostat is in the LR and the return is in the BR, it may be that it is cold enough in the LR and the compressor will not kick in.

I use the "Auto" mode and when the compressor kicks off the fan kick off with it. It took a little getting used to, but after the first couple nights we slept fine.
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Old 01-11-2009, 05:42 AM   #5
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I close my bedroom door for the same reason, the cat. I have not had a problem with my A/C on auto at all.
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Old 01-11-2009, 09:08 AM   #6
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I also close my door when we have others in the coach. I haven't noticed and ill effects from doing so.
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Old 01-11-2009, 01:07 PM   #7
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We close off the doors in our trailer and, depending upon the circumstances, may close the heat or a/c vents off in various spaces. I have replaced all of the vents with ones that can be closed. This is one of the best little mods I have done.
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Old 01-11-2009, 04:16 PM   #8
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The AC air return is under the bed. Closing the door will interfere with the air return.

-Tom
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Old 01-11-2009, 07:36 PM   #9
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We have a 2000 Adventurer 37G. Dh and I almost always sleep with the bedroom door closed since our teenaged son sleeps on the sofa-bed in the living room. We run the A/C on auto quite a bit, and we've never noticed a problem with the A/C and the air return. I'm not saying that's not your problem, but just that we haven't experienced it ourselves.

ETA: I'm trying to figure out how to make my siggy photo big like yours.

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Old 01-12-2009, 04:02 AM   #10
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Tom N. is correct in that the main supply of air to the basement air is under the bed. However, WIT must have factored this as there is plenty of air space above and below the sliding door to feed the A/C. You can also crack a window in the bedroom and achieve the same thing.
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Old 01-12-2009, 06:04 AM   #11
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Thanks all, for the responses and the information. Some things I've considered - There's no open space at the top of the door (at least on mine), and the gap at the bottom is only about an inch and a quarter. Not much space for return air. Opening a bedroom window still doesn't solve the air flow problem, as you still have the positive air pressure in the living/dining area for the fan to overcome.

I had noticed in my searches for this problem that some one stated that most air conditioner problems (especially freeze-ups) were related to low air flow. And it's usually a restricted intake (filter or obstruction), a cross-over in supply ducts, or a restricted outflow.

Am still working on isolating the problem (maybe a combination) and will post when I've been able to correct it.

Thanks again for all the help.

What a great forum.
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Old 01-12-2009, 06:18 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally posted by glarnold:
......it sometimes stops blowing cold air, and just runs and runs, no cooling.
How low are you setting your thermostat? When this occurs, have you looked at the thermostat setting? The window normally shows the "ROOM" temp. You must tap the up/down button to see the "SET" temp. If the room temp is at or below the set temp (on cooling) and the fan is set to "RUN" the thermostat is satisfied and the compressor(s) will not operate.
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Old 01-12-2009, 06:36 AM   #13
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There are other paths for the air to get back to the bedroom. Mine has vents in both bathroom walls, about 8" square, that let air pass back to the bedroom. The in floor heat ducts would also pass air if the differential pressure is large enough.

Don't think you need to worry about it. Problem must lie elsewhere.
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Old 01-12-2009, 06:47 AM   #14
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If you close the bedroom door, you need to closely monitor the unit and make sure you do not get to a freeze up problem due to low air flow. With the main air return in the bedroom and very few air outlets, it will most likely reduce the air flow tot he unit and possible cause problems. To get an idea of how much restriction we are talking about, close the door down to about 6 inches gap and slowly close it from there. You will feel the velocity increase through the gap.

You can either cut off about 4 inches from the bottom of the door or install a vent in the door which is roughly equal to the units air intake grill.

I would not depend much on the bypassing through the heating ducts.

Ken
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Old 01-12-2009, 10:03 AM   #15
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If you take that one and a quarter inches at the bottom of the door and cube it mathematically, by the width of the door, you will find you have an opening approximating your intake opening. I guess I don't understand your negative pressure statement.
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Old 01-12-2009, 11:48 AM   #16
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If I shut my door by the kitchen to the bathroom entrance at night, the coach definitely gets colder up front than in the bedroom for a fact. There is approximately 1"-2" under the door but apparently it affects the air flow to the return which is in the bedroom.
I am not going to do anything about it as most times we are by ourselves and we leave the door cracked open.It was the same way in our last Horizon which was an 2002
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Old 01-12-2009, 04:03 PM   #17
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Quote:
If you take that one and a quarter inches at the bottom of the door and cube it mathematically, by the width of the door, you will find you have an opening approximating your intake opening. I guess I don't understand your negative pressure statement.
I am confused by your formula. Face area of the inlet grill is the width x height. To match the area on the door you take the above area and divide it by the door width to get the height of the opening required. No cubing is required.

As for the negative pressure...any time you are trying to remove more air than is available for return, the box with the inlet will reduce pressure and be lower than the rest of the coach.

Ken
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Old 01-12-2009, 05:49 PM   #18
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I was just trying to work out the math for size of return air opening. My bedroom door is about 4 foot wide maybe ?? so 1.25" x 48" = 60sq.in.

I have 2 air filters and I believe that both of those are 18x20. 1 filter yields 360sq.in.

That said my bedroom door has some draft potential around the back side of the door when closed since it's a pocket door and some slightly over the top but not much.

The math is kinda fuzzy and it just doesn't add up to me. Too bad about the cats but I would find a way to leave the BR door open slightly.

Leaving a bedroom window open certainly isn't going to allow much cooling for the folks in the front of the coach as well

My experience with my A/C given the signs that you are presenting required me to have my unit serviced and it was found to have a leak in the refrigerant system. Once charged it's been running fine ever size - almost 2 years now.

Good thing about living here is that I have a Coleman Mach One AC shop about 10 miles from my house at Grand Strand RV in Socastee, SC.
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Old 01-13-2009, 03:25 AM   #19
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Once again, I want to express my thanks and appreciation to all who have been so helpful.

Just some points of information for clarification.

The MH is an Adventurer 37G (2000), recently acquired by us. Basement air with overhead vents, 8 outlets in LR, 2 in bath, and 2 in bedroom. Each outlet is about 4 inches, round. That would be about 12 square inches each, and about 144 square inches total. The return air, located at the foot of the bed, has a filter 14 x 20, or about 280 square inches. Seems to fit the 2 for 1 ratio to compensate for air filter drag. Besides thru the hallway, the only other places where air can enter the bedroom, at least internally, would be under the door (any gap at top or side is minimal) and that gap is one and a quarter inches and 24 inches wide, giving about 30 square inches, roughly about 12% the area of the filter.

There is one heat duct vent in bedroom, one in bathroom, and four in living room, each with an outlet area of 20 square inches (2x10). Very little space for very much air to flow back in through. It looks like the heat return air is also in bedroom, with an inlet area of 8x12, about 96 square inches, again about the right ratio for no filter, and it enters a wall duct only an inch deep, further reducing air flow.

The air conditioners seem to work just fine, most of the time. We may be gone during most of the day, and the system performs flawlessly, keeping the coach at whatever temp we set. Right now, we're staying in the RVG, and temps are varying, cool and warm.

So far, the problem seems to occur only at night, only on warm nights, when we're using the air to keep it cool. We close the hallway door separating the living room from bath/bed area. And only to keep the cat hair out.

We'll set the temp on the thermostat around 78, which is what it takes to keep the interior around 74. And the air will be blowing, nicely cold, cycling normally. It's hard to monitor closely after that, as we go to bed, and the problem seems to show up around 1 or 2 am. It gets very warm (whatever the outside temperature is), and wakes up my wife. At that point, the fan is blowing (we leave it set on auto/cool/high or low) and warm air is coming out of the vents. To me, that seems like the coils are freezing up, completely blocking the cooling. If we then leave it off for a couple of hours, it then will cool again when we turn it back on.

It appears to me to be the result of low air flow, because of door closed. But that seems like it would be a design error, and I'm not sure I can believe that would happen. I guess I'm just looking for confirmation.

I'll not be able to check it for a few days, when the weather is supposed to warm up again. We'll try it with the door open. If the problem does not occur, then I'll put a large opening in the hallway door, cover it with grates, and let y'all know.

Thanks again for all the help.
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Old 01-13-2009, 06:06 AM   #20
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Most of the newer homes are getting the A/C systems installed with what is called 'Jumper ducts". These amount to return airs in the bedrooms that allow for air return if the doors are closed. SInce you do not have room in an Rv to add the jumper ducts, you will need to have doors cut off or install air grills in the door. It is a pretty simple job to cut a hole in the door and install a grill over it. You might want to get fancy and use a woo or wood trimmed grill to match the trim in the coach.

Ken
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