Roof Air Again

[Kaputnick]

After servicing the basement air at CW, it will not keep up on hot days. I have been looking at an additional roof air in the current max air vent which is controlled by a switch next to the door. I have tried to find the switch and wiring for this vent with no luck.
The questions I have are: will the current wiring support the load of a roof air? (Doubt it based on 12v but hopeful) If not, will it be possible to use the existing wires to pull new wires or are they fastened in the roof?
Also, should the basement air be expected to cool a 38' coach in 105F heat? Just wondering if others out there have succes with this type of AC? Maybe I should skip CW next time and find a local (central Cali) AC shop?

Thanx!

[Roberte]

Originally Posted by Kaputnick

After servicing the basement air at CW, it will not keep up on hot days. I have been looking at an additional roof air in the current max air vent which is controlled by a switch next to the door. I have tried to find the switch and wiring for this vent with no luck.
The questions I have are: will the current wiring support the load of a roof air? (Doubt it based on 12v but hopeful) If not, will it be possible to use the existing wires to pull new wires or are they fastened in the roof?
Also, should the basement air be expected to cool a 38' coach in 105F heat? Just wondering if others out there have succes with this type of AC? Maybe I should skip CW next time and find a local (central Cali) AC shop?

Thanx!

My first question is, Why did you go to Camping World in the first place? Where you live there are a lot of good RV places that can service your A/C and do it well.

My A/C system cools our coach very well but we are 5 feet shorter than you and much less volume of air to be cooled. And we don't expect it to cool from 105 degrees. Most folks will most likely tell you that a 20 degree drop in interior temperature from the outside temperature is pretty good.

There are ways to help your A/C cool your coach, park in the shade, cover your windows, start your A/C in the early morning when the outside air is cool, but you live in a hot summer climate and already know those methods.

I'm not sure about this, but I seem to remember that when my basement A/C is running full speed there isn't a lot of available power with which to power yet another A/C unit.

People can and will do just about anything to their coaches so you can probably add a third A/C but it I don't believe it will be easy nor inexpensive.

Good luck on your quest.

Bob

[rk911]

you can drop the temp in your coach by 10-20 degrees by using a windshield screen. the windshield will heat up quickly and then radiate the heat into the interior of the coach. there are two types...interior and exterior screens. the only interior screen that I've found to work effectively is the reflective foil type. several years ago while in AZ our AC could not keep up with the 100+ degree heat. I picked up a roll of the reflective foil and within 20-minutes the interior temp dropped nearly 20-degrees but the downside was perpetual night in your coach. so we dropped the foil and added a sunshade to the exterior of the windshield that keeps the windshield from heating up in the first place. after careful evaluation we chose the Magnashade and have not been disappointed.

[emiddleb]

Check out this page for detailed how-to:

We add a roof top AC unit - page 1

[kb2ztx]

As others said trying to cool a camper in 105 degree weather is a challenge. We have a 35' and have not gotten the extreme heat in CNY that you see but still at 95 with the AC running day and night it gets down to 75. I have outside covers for the windshield and we also use the foil sunscreen inside the windshield to keep it cool. While parked at home we move the AC up to 80.

As for adding a roof unit I am sure it can be done its just how much work do you want to do. At Charlotte this spring for NASCAR I talked to one guy who used a portable indoor AC unit (mostly due to the fact his small generator would run it). He built a small insert for the window to hold the vent hose and said it cooled the inside really well. Not sure if you need temporary help but this may be an idea.

[SuperGewl]

Originally Posted by Kaputnick

After servicing the basement air at CW, it will not keep up on hot days. I have been looking at an additional roof air in the current max air vent which is controlled by a switch next to the door. I have tried to find the switch and wiring for this vent with no luck.
The questions I have are: will the current wiring support the load of a roof air? (Doubt it based on 12v but hopeful) If not, will it be possible to use the existing wires to pull new wires or are they fastened in the roof?
Also, should the basement air be expected to cool a 38' coach in 105F heat? Just wondering if others out there have succes with this type of AC? Maybe I should skip CW next time and find a local (central Cali) AC shop?

Thanx!

So from what you stated "After servicing the basement air at CW, it will not keep up on hot days." It appears that CW may have messed something up with the AC unit. First do yourself a favor and investigate it yourself to see if you can find the actual problem. Get a thermometer or a temperature probe and see what the temperature actually is coming from the AC unit and the temperature inside the MH and outside. You should see a drop in temp in the MH over time.
Mean while what exactly did they work on, check the filters for the AC when were they last replaced? Also how much actual air is coming out of the ducts? Its possible they may be something blocking the air flow?
Worst case is take back to CW and have them fix what they broke.

[dc8cappie]

Just left Tucson @ 106, Las Vegas @109. Glad I had my add on roof A/C to supplement the basement air. With it I maintained 76 in the coach which in the dry air climate was as cool as I wanted it. I'm sure it would keep me comfy in Phoenix's 120. I added a 15000 but unit going through a 30amp transfer box so I can run it on the generator, shore power or directly from the 20 power post plug. Worth every penny it cost.

[Duner]

You asked about the existing wiring and switch for the fan......that will definitely NOT work for ac unit. John & Jane's link above will describe one way to get new wires to the location.

What work did Camping World do??? Did they pull the unit and clean the coils?

If they did pull the unit out, they may have damaged the venting that goes up inside the rear cap. On a 11 year old coach, the sealing tape in the rear gets dried out and brittle and the adhesive gives way. If it breaks open at a seam, even 2 or 3 inches, a huge amount of ice cold air escapes out the back and you won't get the efficiency you need on a hot day.

Get under the back end after the unit is running for a couple of hours and feel around for any cold air. A temp gun can help find a leak up higher. I was able to some patching done thru the cutout for the right brake light assy.

I documented a procedure in 2008 for pulling the basement unit that a lot of folks have used for DIY repair. Take a look at it and see if there is some info that will help you get your unit up to speed. Download procedure HERE.

Good luck,
Bill

[Kaputnick]

CW just cleaned etc.; said it was cold at the vents but it does not blow very hard on high fan. I will look as suggested and will probably take it to a local AC company for evaluation. Thanx to all for the suggestions!

[MutinyGuy]

Originally Posted by Kaputnick

CW just cleaned etc.; said it was cold at the vents but it does not blow very hard on high fan. I will look as suggested and will probably take it to a local AC company for evaluation. Thanx to all for the suggestions!

CW is so useless....have you replaced the filter? Or did CW do that at least? That is the first place I would check...ugh! Also you more than likely have a leak in the ductwork.

[Neverenuff]

Can you tell a definite difference between low and high fan? Mine only ran on low fan when we bought our MH used, even though we selected high at the t-stat. We didn't know the difference. Then when we did finally have a shop look at it, they found that the fan was not running on high, even when called for by the t-stat. they fixed that by replacing a fan and it made a big difference in how much air comes from the ceiling diffusers. Now, that being said, on the mid east coat, with our humidity, any day over 90 to 95 degrees and we are lucky to cool the coach to 78 - 80 degrees, at least during the heat of the day.

[NeilV]

You do have to clean the condenser and evaporator coils along with change the filters. Also the duct connections going up inside the rear cap do need to be checked for joint separation from time to time. My coach is only a few feet shorter and keeps up well with the original 17 year old system since its been well maintained over the years even in 110 degree heat at 90% humidity. Thermal shades are a must when its that hot out and aiming for below 78 indoors is not really reasonable when in that type of climate or you will never get acclimated to the area. I now find it too chilly when the tstat is set below 78 degrees now that I have gotten acclimated to living in the Deep South. Yard work and other outdoor activities are much more pleasant too once you start letting your body change gears into living in a Semitropical Climate.

[signet63]

Hello Kaputnick,

Yes I can attest to the basement air will only cool down 20 degrees or so. I have a 2000 Winnebago Ultimate Advantage with basement air. I purchased this vehicle almost a year ago and the original owner had a second roof top air installed. Now I live in Las Vegas and I am used to the summer heat. Took a trip to Montana in the July heat and I had a hard time getting the coach to cool down. I learned that I need to start the basement air first and wait about 5 minutes to start the second unit. If I do it in the other order, we get a power surge that kills my generator. I also experimented with not running the basement air and running the rooftop system with a door closed half way through the coach. I was able to get the front down to 82 in 110 degrees. With both AC's running it still does not cool too much in 110 degrees. I still need to try a campground with 50 amp power with the ac running all day to see if I can keep my coach cool during the summer in July.

Thanks

[staggerlee]

We just bought our used coach, and it has 2 a/c on the roof.
Haven't had the opportunity to try them all out yet.