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Old 11-15-2014, 07:04 AM   #1
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Basement AC

What year did Winnebago begin placing the AC units in the basement rather than on the roof? I'm looking for an older (in my price range) diesel pusher and so far I'm most impressed with Winnebago. Thank you.
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Old 11-15-2014, 07:21 AM   #2
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The first year for the basement air was 2000. The last year was 2010.
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Old 11-15-2014, 07:54 AM   #3
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Love our basement heat exchanger

We have basement heat exchanger on our 2005 Winnebago Vectra. We've been full-timers in it for over 3 years, and no problems with basement unit yet. We like how quiet it is compared to roof top units. When we toured the Winnebago factory, I asked the tour guide why Winnebago stopped using the basement unit. He said the reason is that Coleman stopped making them about 2010. Apparently, the market was too small to be profitable.
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Old 11-15-2014, 07:58 AM   #4
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We had basement air in our 1994 Vectra.
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Old 11-15-2014, 08:11 AM   #5
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Don't know the exact dates, though our 2005 Vectra FD has basement air. We have not had any problems with the unit though we have been warned by others to expect them (hyperbole?). There is a small vibration when the unit is running that you feel while sleeping, but we got used to that pretty quickly.

IMO, the basement units operate more quietly (more important in tight CG scenarios) than the roof top units.

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Old 11-15-2014, 08:26 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drczap View Post
We have basement heat exchanger on our 2005 Winnebago Vectra. We've been full-timers in it for over 3 years, and no problems with basement unit yet. We like how quiet it is compared to roof top units. When we toured the Winnebago factory, I asked the tour guide why Winnebago stopped using the basement unit. He said the reason is that Coleman stopped making them about 2010. Apparently, the market was too small to be profitable.
Despite what the "tour guide" said, Airxcel still manufactures the unit, so not sure where he/she got their information. Take a look here:

Airxcel | RV Products | Special Application Air Conditioners

It is the last product listed on their products page and is called a "Two Ton High Efficiency Heat Pump"
From time to time the rumors pop up that there are no parts and they are no longer made. I will call Airexcel on Monday just to verify. We may find out that the Tour Guide is, in fact, the guy spreading these rumors!
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Old 11-15-2014, 04:03 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drczap View Post
We have basement heat exchanger on our 2005 Winnebago Vectra. We've been full-timers in it for over 3 years, and no problems with basement unit yet. We like how quiet it is compared to roof top units. When we toured the Winnebago factory, I asked the tour guide why Winnebago stopped using the basement unit. He said the reason is that Coleman stopped making them about 2010. Apparently, the market was too small to be profitable.
The tour guide is incorrect. Winnebago went to roof air conditioners in 2011 because they were implementing the EPA 2010 emission standards and required that basement space for that equipment including a newly required DEF tank.
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Old 11-15-2014, 04:07 PM   #8
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I just had the basement air replaced in my 2005 Suncruiser with a brand new unit. Coleman still makes the units but the quantity's are much smaller.
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Old 11-16-2014, 05:40 AM   #9
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We just replaced our basement unit on our 1999 Vectra Grand Tour. No problem finding a unit or finding people to work on them. Happy as a crab with the unit.
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Old 11-16-2014, 06:33 AM   #10
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what does it cost to replace the units? and how large are they?
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Old 11-16-2014, 07:10 AM   #11
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I paid about $2800 Total (for the unit & labor), but the quote from Coleman indicates $3000 or so. The new unit is an exact replacement for the old one. There is no change in the size. The basement unit, if I understand correctly. is 30,000 btu's with each compressor being about 15.000 btu's.
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Old 11-16-2014, 09:39 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by codgerbill View Post
I paid about $2800 Total (for the unit & labor), but the quote from Coleman indicates $3000 or so. The new unit is an exact replacement for the old one. There is no change in the size. The basement unit, if I understand correctly. is 30,000 btu's with each compressor being about 15.000 btu's.
Coleman's website calls their unit a 2 Ton Plus. 13,500 per compressor, two compressors makes it a total of 27,000 btu.

One ton = 12,000 btu, guess that is why they call it a 2 Ton Plus.
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Old 11-18-2014, 10:12 PM   #13
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Great info.. but plans changed

Thanks for all the input. We are no longer going to purchase the Winnebago, but have placed a deposit on a Europremier, which we hope to go pick up on Saturday. Very nervous and excited, as we've never so much as driven one of these DP's in our lives, much less owned one.

I have downloaded a pre-purchase checklist from this site, but won't be able to go over it until tomorrow. The unit has a 300 Cummins and an Onan 7.5 genset... Should I be concerned about either of these?

Thanks
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Old 11-19-2014, 04:27 PM   #14
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We had a '05 Vectra 40FD. The plenum stack in the rear bonnet separated on us a couple of times. The second time DW and I fixed it. Stayed fixed till we traded for this coach. I have read several post about start caps failing. I was not impressed with the cooling in TX. So far these very noisy roof A/C units seem to be out performing the basement air of the old rig. Heat pumps work into the low 30's and the cooling has yet to let us down but we have not been in TX heat with it.

We were at the factory 3 years ago and were told the same story. Nice to see that someone has the correct answer.
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