Adding Roof AC to Basment Ac coach?

[Lucchese1]

I know this has been discused in the past, but just seeing if any new issues have come up or any one else beside Buch&Jeff have installed one. I spoke with the people at RV Products and the said there was nothing in the works for a larger than 27000 btu basement unit to replace the existing one, and my coach A/C will not be able to cool in the high temps. And yes I had the unit checked, I have installed all the solar shades, even a artificial snow maker on the roof .
I know a lot of people don't have problems with there basement air, but living in Los Angeles and spending a lot of time in Arizona during the summer just ain't working for me A/C wise (115 outside 92 inside not good enough for me!). I was considering trading the coach in before but now have decided to keep it and just upgrade to the things I feel the coach needs to make me comfy!
RV products make a power saver unit thats 13500 btu and only draws 10.2 amps witch would push the coach to over 40000 btu cooling capacity witch should help in the Arizona sun! So I am going to install one in the next few weeks and get ready for the summer season asn will keep you informed!

Ben

[Lucchese1]

I know this has been discused in the past, but just seeing if any new issues have come up or any one else beside Buch&Jeff have installed one. I spoke with the people at RV Products and the said there was nothing in the works for a larger than 27000 btu basement unit to replace the existing one, and my coach A/C will not be able to cool in the high temps. And yes I had the unit checked, I have installed all the solar shades, even a artificial snow maker on the roof .
I know a lot of people don't have problems with there basement air, but living in Los Angeles and spending a lot of time in Arizona during the summer just ain't working for me A/C wise (115 outside 92 inside not good enough for me!). I was considering trading the coach in before but now have decided to keep it and just upgrade to the things I feel the coach needs to make me comfy!
RV products make a power saver unit thats 13500 btu and only draws 10.2 amps witch would push the coach to over 40000 btu cooling capacity witch should help in the Arizona sun! So I am going to install one in the next few weeks and get ready for the summer season asn will keep you informed!

Ben

[Ding-a-ling]

Ben,

We have a friend who owns a 40' Vectra. He had a roof A/C installed to supplement his basement air. He had it wired to its own dedicated 20A circuit. When at a campground he uses the normal 50A cord and a separate heavy duty 20A cord to run the second A/C.

[smlranger]

Saw a Gulf Stream coach in Gaffney yesterday with basement air and an added Carrier roof air unit in the front vent. I never saw the owners so didn't get to inquire about how/why the only had one roof AC so just figured they had cooling issues.

[jimandsue60]

According to Ron Lichtsinn a new and improved true air system is coming out. Read here

Jim

[FrontRangeRVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jimandsue60:
According to Ron Lichtsinn a new and improved true air system is coming out. Read here

Jim </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I read that, and appreciate the answer....just not sure what an "improved true air conditioner" would consist of....Bigger capacity maybe?

Either that, or Winnie needs to improve it's insulation R-values!!

[John_Canfield]

Ben - I think Buck 'n Jeff installed their roof air in place of the galley vent fan and as I recall, the install went quite easily. You should be able to run everything (basement air + added roof air + other stuff) while on 50 amp service.

[NeilV]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lucchese1:
I know this has been discused in the past, but just seeing if any new issues have come up or any one else beside Buch&Jeff have installed one. I spoke with the people at RV Products and the said there was nothing in the works for a larger than 27000 btu basement unit to replace the existing one, and my coach A/C will not be able to cool in the high temps. And yes I had the unit checked, I have installed all the solar shades, even a artificial snow maker on the roof .
I know a lot of people don't have problems with there basement air, but living in Los Angeles and spending a lot of time in Arizona during the summer just ain't working for me A/C wise (115 outside 92 inside not good enough for me!). I was considering trading the coach in before but now have decided to keep it and just upgrade to the things I feel the coach needs to make me comfy!
RV products make a power saver unit thats 13500 btu and only draws 10.2 amps witch would push the coach to over 40000 btu cooling capacity witch should help in the Arizona sun! So I am going to install one in the next few weeks and get ready for the summer season asn will keep you informed!

Ben </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ben,

I had my basement air fail last year due to brownout damage and picked up two roll about units that I cooled the coach with until we got back from our trip. Installing them did not require any modifications to the coach, only cutting and painting a piece of plywood to go in a window. You may try a 10,000 btu model and see if that is enough to help and then consider if you want to modify the coach with the roof top unit.

If that is your coach in the picture it seems like a pretty dark color choice for out in the desert. A lighter color maybe in order on your next coach.

[Izzyblueye]

Wouldn't it be possible to get one of these floor model portable A/C's and vent it through a window or run a vent through the floor. This could be run on a dedicated 20 amp circuit and used any where in the coach you needed it. I intend to get one for the house even though I have a very efficient central air. Many times we do not need to cool the whole house down to where we would like it in a certain area, like a Florida room.

[Ptribbey]

I installed a high efficent 13.5 KBTU roof air in the galley vent opening. The unit draws just under 10 amps, and allows me to run the basement airs, and roof air at about 35 amps. With the roof air we can handle temps over 100 degrees with an inside temp of 72.

We purchased our unit from Camping World as they run them on sale from time to time. The installation was straight forward. I used the engine block heater circuit to power it rather than run a new circuit since we would never need the block heater and A/C at the same time.

Overall I think this to be one of the best upgrade we have done.

[Lucchese1]

In hind site I will definatly order a lighter color coach next time but we fell in love with the color of this one and did not consider the heat absorbtion to be that big of an issue then. My last coach was a 2000 35' adventurer with basement air and it worked real well in higher temps so when we bought this one I did not realize they put the same exact 27000btu unit in a coach with full body dark paint 3 slides and 100' more space ( my bad ), but besides the ac issue we really love the coach.
I am no enginer but when I was checking my alternator voltage on my last problem I found it odd that they would draw the return air from right in front of the vent and also from the area under the closet access panel witch houses a thinly insulated engine cover, and when the engine is running produced a lot of extreme heat! Maybe there is supposed to be a little insulated divider wall there and it was left out, o well maybe another project to insulate and isolate the return area as to not be pulling the heat from above the engine area.
I acually did purchased a portable ac unit last year and I use it in the dessert and it did help a lot, but it is real heavy to move in and out of the coach and having to fuss with the intake and exhaust hoses and the new couple of scratches moving it around has promt me to make the move towards the roof unit!

Thanks for the help
Ben!

[Harry B]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I am no enginer but when I was checking my alternator voltage on my last problem I found it odd that they would draw the return air from right in front of the vent and also from the area under the closet access panel witch houses a thinly insulated engine cover, and when the engine is running produced a lot of extreme heat! Maybe there is supposed to be a little insulated divider wall there and it was left out, o well maybe another project to insulate and isolate the return area as to not be pulling the heat from above the engine area </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ben,

I did insulate that engine compartment with R13 fiberglass bats. It has made a significant difference in keeping the bedroom cool while driving. Before installing the insulation it got pretty warm back there in the summer. I made it in such a fashion that it is easy to remove if engine access is needed. I was also considering installing a baffle to block air from being drawn from and over that engine area, but discovered that you can not do this. The space underneath the raised floor is the return duct for the bedroom furnace in the bedroom, so it needs to stay open in order for the furnace to draw in air.

While doing this I also discovered that the opening under the bed through which all the electrical cables are routed outside to the cable run some how is open to the outside (lot of dust under the bed and could hear the inverter/converter fan running real well). I cleaned it all up and blocked that opening off with fiberglass insulation.

All in al it has improved the AC function significantly. Being your have the exact same coach you might want to check this as well.

[Lucchese1]

Thank you Harry, I definatly will do the same.

Ben!