A/C under the coach, not on the roof

[kb7uxe]

Hello from Dan.
We have a Winnebago Vectra 1994 35RQ diesel pusher.
The basement AC works better than any of my other motorhomes that had roof AC.. lots lots less noise, no water down the side, seems to cool much better than the roof air..
We have owned it since Nov 2010, and so far, no problems.
Seems it has 2 pumps, and doesn't work very well on 30 amp service, ( one pump ) but is wonderful on 50 amp 220v.. ( when second pump is activated )
We love our rig, prolly be the last one we own.

Heading to McCloud Ca for lumberjack festival July 26-28..
A bunch of drunken lumberjacks in a public park throwing razor sharp axes..
What could possibly go wrong ??
73
Dan.
kb7uxe

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by Jim Estes

A friend of mine is in the AC and R business...has told me on many occasions that about the best any unit can do is 20 degrees below outside temps...as other posters have said...window shades, positioning the coach orientation certainly helps...as well.

My friend in the AC business also said the only reason why this is so, is because they generally undersized
the units they install, so that they work harder, longer, and remove the most humidity from the air.

When we had to replace the unit in my parents house, which had a 3 ton we almost had to fight the salesman
to get him to sell and install a 4 ton unit. Best upgrade ever! That AC could now keep the house
comfortable at 72 even with outside temps 100.....and no problem with humidity either.

[jerichorick]

I had an '05 Vectra 40FD with basement air. Two known problems are with the start capacitors failing and the tape on the plumnem coming off. When a capacitor fails one of the pumps won't start and the unit will not cool correctly. When the tape fails the stacked duct work opens to the atmusfear and you will see a condensation line on the back of the coach when the unit is running. Cold air is NOT going into your rig. A small person can work up into the tight space and pull the failed tape off and re-tape, after cleaning the area, with a good grade of aluminum duct tape. Unless you are real clever I would not recommend replacing the cap. yourself. Getting the unit out is difficult and can damage the duct work if not removed and installed correctly.

We never could keep the Vectra cool in the TX heat. We would get it cold in the early morning and that would help the A/C to sort of keep up as the day got hotter.

The heat pump was good down to about 39 deg or so.

[Magumba]

We like the basement air but have had a problem with the duct in the rear cap our first summer in the camper. That is something you should check if you want to but the motorhome. I wish I had known to do that. You need a strong light to look up the duct for lose or missing tape.
We had the outside fan fail recently which takes out the entire system out. A disadvantage.
Good luck.

[HD4Mark]

Originally Posted by Magumba

We like the basement air but have had a problem with the duct in the rear cap our first summer in the camper. That is something you should check if you want to but the motorhome. I wish I had known to do that. You need a strong light to look up the duct for lose or missing tape.
We had the outside fan fail recently which takes out the entire system out. A disadvantage.
Good luck.

We had the same problem with the duct as many here have had. We were lucky that by removing a couple of metal panels in the engine compartment we could get our hands on it where the duct was split. After using the aluminum tape we wrapped the foil bubble insulation around it and secured it using more tape and some monster size wire ties. I was amazed how cheap the duct appeared to be made for use in a space you can not easily access.

[Falcon190]

This has been an interesting thread and I'll look into the maintenance that's been mentioned (Thanks!). I'm on a Spartan chassis running 50amps. and have had no problems at all, other than stat issues caused by (as it turned out) bad batteries. Four big 6-volts later, no problems at all. I've been cool in 99* weather and had the heat pump keep me toasty clear down into the 20's. It's really quiet inside and not bad outside. This is my first Class A, so no other experiences to compare to. And I don't miss the storage space cos I never had it (does that make me an RV Mutant?).

[HerbnBarb]

Originally Posted by Falcon190

This has been an interesting thread and I'll look into the maintenance that's been mentioned (Thanks!). I'm on a Spartan chassis running 50amps. and have had no problems at all, other than stat issues caused by (as it turned out) bad batteries. Four big 6-volts later, no problems at all. I've been cool in 99* weather and had the heat pump keep me toasty clear down into the 20's. It's really quiet inside and not bad outside. This is my first Class A, so no other experiences to compare to. And I don't miss the storage space cos I never had it (does that make me an RV Mutant?).

Falcon I just ran across your post! You sound like definite Mutant material. Wanted to invite you over to our RU a Mutant thread. You will find yourself among other Self professed mutants.

RVM31

[Lyle Cundy]

Originally Posted by HD4Mark

Let me also add. If you have to replace the blower motor the new one and the carrier bearing on the end of the shaft can be replaced with ball bearings instead of the cheap bushings. The new motor does not have the lube points to oil the bushings since it should never (knock wood) need it. The carrier bearing can be replaced with one from Graybar with ball bearings.

I have a great write up courtesy of Duner on repairing a Coleman basement air if anyone needs it.

Again Thank-You