[bikestuff]

Gang,

My 2003 has two dual air conditioner units in the basement.  These have been a constant source of trouble for me.  They have been worked on many times (new fans, new boards, even a whole new rebuilt unit).

Now that they are working as designed, I have figured out that they cannot produce enough cooling for me.  I am getting about a 20 degree F differential between the air going in the returns and the air coming out the vents.

I was parked at my brothers house in Dallas (110F) running on generator facing south....and the coolest I could get the coach was 85F.  

So, I am at Newell having a single roof air unit added to my coach.  This thread is to document the experience with the install and to tell you guys how this experiment works out.

[encantotom]

hi Bill,

thanks for sharing. it will be really nice to have the additional air and that it will be made to be totally hidden and ducted like it should be.

it will be interesting to hear if it makes a huge difference or not, i suspect it will.

tom

[rheavn]

Hello Bill,
It will be very interesting to see pictures of the final product and your report on how effective the additional roof air works. Where in the coach are you adding it?

[bikestuff]

Steve,

I will follow up with pictures. The unit is just above the galley and will pour its cold air out towards the front and the return will come in near the fridge.

It will be pretty noisy I bet, but when its hot outside....I can stand a little noise.

Cheers,
bill

[smagown]

Bill:
I went thru the same scenario as you and ended up putting three roof airs on mine. If you come back thru on I-20 I would love to see your install.
Thanks,

[bikestuff]

Steve,

Did you get rid of basement air units? Or do you have 3 on roof and 2 in basement? I hope this works! I have the top unit working now (along with basements) and it is blowing straight down into the galley. Once they finish though it will blow towards front of coach.

Right now it is 103 outside and around 70 inside (65 in back). Already a big improvement, but the front of coach is still much hotter than rest. I have a laser thermometer that says the window frames and such on front are 100F or so. I guess that is where the heat gets in.

I will be picking up a new boxer puppy near Houston in a couple of weeks...maybe I can drop in!

Cheers,
bill

[smagown]

Bill:

I disconnected the basement airs and used the same labeled breakers to power the roof airs. I rarely use all three and can "hang meat". I didn't use the ducted models with thermostats, just went with the simple manual controls. I'm pulling the basements for Ron Skeen to use for parts.
Let me know when you are coming thru!
Thanks,

[bikestuff]

Well, the guys are finished with the AC add-on.

My impression so far is that the unit is far, far more efficient than the basement units.  When it blows, it has a huge air volume compared to the basement units.  I think this is because of the way that the basement airs are ducted around the slides.  I have a four slide and I think that is really a critical issue with basement airs.  In the lounge area, there are only four ducts and two of those are in the dash.  

The new unit is not quiet, but then again neither are the basement units.  

The way that this is built is that all the air from the new unit shoots out the front toward the front of coach.  The return is back towards the bedroom and is runs along inside a duct made of wood and covered with naugahyde.

So how does the unit perform?  Yesterday I was sitting in the direct sun with outside temp around 112F.  I did not deploy awnings or put down the shades so this was a worst case test for me.  I was able to keep the coach around 82F inside.  Actually some parts of coach were cooler than that..but that is the hottest part of coach.  The new unit pushes a lot of air towards the front of coach so it does not feel as hot by the driver as it did.

So far this looks like a success.  The Newell guys did an amazing job in hiding the plastic stuff.  Some might think this is a little overkill ...but it makes me happy!

The funny thing is that this is well within the reach of someone with modest carpentry skills.  The oval is made of plywood covered with vinyl  the bronze plexiglass was mounted like mirror frame holds the glass.  The floating pieces are more plywood and vinyl.  The light fixtures were recycled except for the big on (and Newell is still using the big on one new coaches)   The oval is mounted with 10lb catches so it can come down to clean the filter.  (they put safety straps on it in case it falls during driving)  I have a lot more pictures if someone wants to tackle the job!

Cheers,
bill

[folivier]

So the vent and return air are up under the oval?
Really nice job and can't tell it's an add on. Where are the controls?

[bikestuff]

Yes, the outlet cool air exits right above the oval and the return is further back. They are separated by the ducting that supports the floating pieces. (pretty ingenious).

The control is a normal thermostat and is mounted above the other one that controls the basement system.