My old Coleman roof AC's still work well but I think they are using too much electric. I thought about a mini split but don't feel comfortable installing one myself and none of the AC people around here want to install one in an RV.
I know at least some people on this forum have replaced their roof units. If so, what AC units did you use use and how do you like them? How do they compare to the Coleman Mach series? Are they more efficient?
Any input will be greatly appreciated.
Houghton- quiet- 15,000- expensive-1400+ bucks, but worth it.
115V AC / 60 Hz | Houghton Leisure Products Pty Ltd (https://www.houghtonleisure.com/115v-ac-60-hz)
Ernie, did you do 1500s front and rear?
Just bedroom. Middle air soon. Front air is the new loud penguin. All are 15k
Why do you want to lower electric usage? Are you metered? And do you think that the cost of other units installed will make up for a higher electric cost? All Air conditioners draw large amounts of electricity.
Thank you for asking. I am not metered where I am but I only have access to one 20 amp circuit and I've been tripping the breaker too often lately. I'm in Mohave Valley AZ where it has been over 120 the last week and there's no relief in sight. I don't know why I didn't think of this before but I switched my Norcold refrigerator from running on AC over to propane today and haven't tripped the breaker since so I may have solved the problem.
After doing some research and reading the replies on this topic, I don't think I have much to gain by replacing my existing Colemans.
I'm parked on a property that also has a house, garage and 3 stationary trailers besides my coach and I think the existing electric service coming in here is maxed out right now. I seem to be the only one who is tripping a breaker so maybe my breaker is going bad. All I know for sure is it's hot and the temperature in my coach goes up real fast when I lose power.
Boondocking? Less generator demand?
You may have a weak breaker, after they trip a few times they tend to release easier...
If you are on a 20amp service a mini split is the way to go. There are Mexican companies just across the boarder that do mini split installs for cheap up here. You might be able to find one of them to install it for you. I know there is a company in Puerto Penasco that will service the Prescott area
Plugged in a 20 Amp receptacle you are not off grid. How ever that thought opens up possibilities that you may be missing.
Does your coach still have a working generator, Diesel or Propane?
So consider adding more solar, batteries, and a modern inverter that can do load sharing. Consider in inverter that manages the incoming power limiting consumption for both supported loads and battery charging. At night when the AC satisfies it can use the available power to charge the batteries. Adding solar will help some. The ultimate approach is to have high capacity charging off the generator. Start generator, run both AC to cool the unit down, put 300 A/H back into a 600 A/H battery bank in 2 hours. Turn off generator and let the load share get you through the rest of the day. Just some thoughts.
Slim's desire for lower electric air conditioner is understandable. Glad Slim found the best way to keep from tripping breakers: reduce all OTHER loads. Progressive Industries hard wired EMS with remote display in an easy to read location is every RVer's friend. Turn something off before turning something on when electric service is limited. Check meter for amps & volts at that moment. Keep all electric heating elements off, like fridge, hot water tank, hair dryers, toasters, and also microwave, when not needed. EMS also protects when voltage drops because all the other RVers start their A/C units. All running motors will have some level of damage when voltage drops too low, causing the amps to increase beyond design specs. Circuit breakers are rated to protect wire size from overloading, burning, melting, etc. If all cables after the breaker, including shore cable to motorhome is greater than AWG-12 wire size and wire size feeding breaker is also greater than AWG-12, maybe swapping a 20 amp breaker for a 25 amp breaker could be considered. Wire size AWG-10 can handle 30-amps if cable length is not too long. Any breaker amp change, although not-unheard-of may be unauthorized. BTW, absorption refrigerators may cool better on propane than electric due to a hotter and more consistent heat source.
I can run my mini split on a 12/100 ft cord no problem. 4-7 amps.
The Coleman is around 10-14 amps.
One mini won't cool a larger bus than my old GV .
Wait a bit. It looks like there are manufacturers trying to use the inverter technology on the rooftop units. Half the power and 10% of the noise.
Do you have a safe ? That's where I put my compressor box.
The inside unit is over the mid door with the lines running through the cabinets. Werx perfect so far at 6 yrs. Solar will run it at around 2000watts
Any less won't keep up imho .
Those are great ideas but I am not off the grid boondocking right now. I'm plugged into a 20 amp circuit in Mohave Valley, AZ where it's been 120+ degrees in the daytime with lows around 90. I am scheduled for cataract surgery later this month and again in August. My propane generator runs great but it isn't economical.
Hi Mike. I've followed your solar and mini split posts. Good job. I do have a safe, probably right where yours is. I'm trying to research a lot of things with bad eyes right now and it's giving me a headache.
I had a similar experience when we first got our coach. In my case, it "fried" my extension cord because the old CB did not trip. I have since replaced all the CBs and then replaced the affected outlet with 10ga wire and 30A receptacle (once again upgraded to 50A when I built the RV garage). You can judge whether or not this is feasible. Barry seemed to cover everything pretty well and I would add one thing: If you are using an extension cord, get the shortest highest gauge one you can find. Good luck, I don't envy you having to deal with that kind of heat.
Thank you. My 20 amp circuit has a 50 amp outlet that my shore power line plugs into. I picked up a new CB this morning and will probably (might) make the switch tomorrow. Meanwhile, I found out that I share 50 amp service with an Airstream trailer which is on another 20 amp CB, a heavy duty water pump, a chest freezer and a washer and dryer. The service box is in a small wooden shed where the water pump and tank are located. If I understand this situation correctly, there would be no power to the pump meaning there would be no water to put out a fire if this electrical nightmare starts a fire.
Hey Slim, any chance you could use one of these to get by on until recovered?
Amazon.com: GE Profile ClearView Inverter Window Air Conditioner Unit,... (https://www.amazon.com/GE-Conditioner-Technology-Installation-Energy-Efficient/dp/B0BVGF5RBB/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1OSFS11E5HZDO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._5V53k9eY1dz9S83qBOIpTYq0QhanT24tXiWXajomPeLtJ6gkJqaJvpGaDO-bLwiZ_wXDGCMtMDBgtWxaySxyA2zHG7bn2WFsqPT_KnJ2BnpkW2rEnKvSokLu6V4iEZZp1uwXBjQ8Uuxw2LhL_ffM-RpPmKDQzZ6cpM98pD3ps3btC59q8OqOegKpo61yCizfauzjOlQWecZ2-eGYnLd-kVA06ACMJTCCKgkPZJw6cM.F4Dq6r0BeHcssZ9o_7776eLD-GF_a5stUkswQNrgFr0&dib_tag=se&keywords=inverter%2Bwindow%2Bunit&qid=1720464568&sprefix=inverter%2Bwindow%2Bunit%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-5&th=1)
Very quiet and will run on a 15 amp 120 volt service. These little inverter units crank it out.
Thanks for the link. I like the U shaped feature. I'd probably need one up front and one in the back in this heat. I alternate between the front and rear roof units now.
As of right now, I'm not tripping the breaker with the roof units since switching the refrigerator to run on propane so I'm inclined to stick with this arrangement.
*** Before I could finish typing that last line, the breaker tripped and I had a "no" flashing on the Norcold. I shut the Norcold off and restarted in and got the same error message so I switched it back to electric. No rest for the wicked.
I wish Moby would have followed up on his Norcold "no" issue.
* Update: I got the Norcold working on LP again. Not sure what the problem was but switching it to AC and then back to LP did the trick.
Erniee, is it remote operated or connected to wall thermostat?
Don't know if you have solar or note but I discovered a trick when we were in Indio with 30 amp service. Our GV has separate unit for convertor and invertor. Turned off convertor ( 120 volt to 12 volt ) and used solar panels to charge coach batteries. Ran everything in the coach ( TV, lights etc ) off the invertor and just used the 30 amp service for nothing but the 2 AC units. Worked like a champ.
My U225 didn't come with an inverter. I installed one to operate one circuit in the RV. Long story but the bottom line is I am limited to a 20 amp circuit with its own breaker. There's only 50 amps coming into the service box and there's 4 or 5 20 amp circuits, each with it's own breaker in the service box. One circuit goes to my coach where one of my roof AC's is going 24 x 7. Another circuit goes to an airstream trailer that's running AC 24 x 7. Then there's a washer and dryer on another circuit AND there's a big water pump that draws about 10 amps on another. When my breaker trips, it's usually because the water pump or the clothes dryer is running. I told the owner of this place, who is a disabled vet who is friend of mine, that if there is a fire in the small shed where the service box is, the water pump isn't going to work and the shed will probably burn down and the fire could easily spread to his garage and his house because that pump supplies all the water for this property.
I should really start a go fund me drive for this guy. He has a nice property but it needs a ton of work.
We replaced the old Coleman ACs (working, but noisy and ancient) with the Furrion units. We like them a lot. Much quieter, cool quickly, and I can read the thermostat without glasses and a flashlight! No objective measure of efficiency.
Thanks to seeing this from Ernie and then talking with him, I now have two of them. I have only tested them for about an half hour off the genset while driving back to my storage. I'm very impressed thus far.
To anyone considering the Houghton units from Recpro please note they wont work on a 2001 U320 unless you were ready to undergo major alteration. The inside cover for plenum/diffuser is 2-3" too large and would require either cutting the plastic cover or removing both recessed ceiling trims and notching. Not sure about later models but if you don't have flush/flat ceiling don't imagine it will work. Dissapointed was looking forward to quieter A/C. On it's way back. Suggestions for reliable, quieter units?
I recently saw these but do not have any information or experience with them, so just passing along another mfg you can check.
The do have 15K BTU units with Heat Pumps and ones for use with ducted systems.
ECO-COOL (https://ecocool.premierproducts.net/)
My rear roof AC just crapped out a week ago. Compressor runs but no cool. Heat strip in it died years ago. looking at :
TOSOT Conditioner Non Ducted Rooftop High Efficiency (https://www.amazon.com/TOSOT-Conditioner-Non-Ducted-Rooftop-High-Efficiency/dp/B0CDWR5RP9/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=Rbz7g&content-id=amzn1.sym.f8fbf489-893c-481c-b7fa-18e0b0ecaa0c%3Aamzn1.symc.a68f4ca3-28dc-4388-a2cf-24672c480d8f&pf_rd_p=f8fbf489-893c-481c-b7fa-18e0b0ecaa0c&pf_rd_r=NCDB918RCK5VBTZT8623&pd_rd_wg=YwJkW&pd_rd_r=dda152d1-0660-4d68-b3dd-42a876dee7f9&ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_hp_atf_d&th=1)
That looks like a great option . The description says minisplit . So the interior air handler has its own fan pack and the upper unit simply makes compressed gas on its own . Great idea and should be lots quieter and more efficient that any of the one piece units.
Im a little surprised at the power use. I have found that most of the new units draw less than advertised.
The penguin II has an eer rating of 2.75 compared to 8.5 of this unit so it must use less power.
Good find ... that is the same unit as the Eco-Cool, just a different distribution channel (and currently $100 less). Its made by Gree.
Anyone one have any info or experience with Atmos 4.4 A/C heat pump units with soft start. Initial research looks good. Trying to confirm interior plenum cover will work on my ceiling in 2001. Considering these for my coach if they fit.
You might try reaching out to SDG in Elkhart, Indiana on this one. Some photos in the following thread show an original Dometic interior trim re-used on installs of the Atmos, but it's not clear if those are ducted or non-ducted installations Atmos 4.4 - Quieter 15k Btu Air Conditioner with Heat Pump | Sprinter-Source.com (https://sprinter-source.com/forums/index.php?threads/130538/)
Note some of the most recent posts in that thread indicate the Atmos itself does not actually have a soft start.
You'll also need to deal with the thermostat, especially in light of having an AquaHot.
Called SDG yesterday. I actually spoke to owner. It was pretty impressive and he answered a lot of questions. Soft start is available. I am sending pics of interior plenum cover and he said he will be able to tell if their unit will fit. I still have concerns with the thermostat issues and aquahot. Appreciate anyone chiming in with thoughts
Curious if you pursued the Atmos further. It looks a little like the Eco-Cool, but literature shows it to be 1.25" less tall.
https://www.sdgelkhart.com/_files/ugd/3c6d89_2e97e7c5b365493cb122d034a9be061f.pdf
I just installed two (2) Tosot
Last Month I installed two (2) of these A/C Heat Pumps on My 1994 U300. Prior to that I had One original "Penguin" in the rear and a New Furrion Chill A/C that I had installed just 9 months ago. The Furrion Chill was by far the loudest/Noisiest A/C I could have imagined. After Our Camping season up in Ohio I decided to change out both units. I sold the New Furrion at a loss, just to get rid of it. I also sold my old Dometic. These Two New Tosot are super quiet and very efficient. Much better air distribution than the Furrion, and has a remote control as well as unit mounted controls. Another plus is when on the "Heat" side the thermostat controls the fan and cycle switch , so you do not have to keep turning the unit on or off to regulate the temperature.
I have one in the mail right now for the GV. Super happy so far dealing with the company will report back after it's installed
It seems to me that roof top RV AC units have a low SEER rating.
The SEER rating is calculated by dividing the total number of BTUs (British Thermal Units) of heat removed from the air by the total amount of energy required by the air conditioner in watt-hours. The higher the ratio, the more energy efficient the air conditioner is.
The Houghton A3800 has a cooling capacity of 15,000 BTU/HR, the volt rating is 115v @ 14 amps
115 watts/HR X 14 amps = 1,610 watt/HRS.
BTU/HR are 15,000.
SEER equals 15,000 / 1,610 = 9.32 SEER
Compare that to a 20 SEER Mini Split.
Think of a mini split ceiling cassette replacing the roof top unit.
Tim
I would love to be able to do that, but i can't find a ceiling cassette that runs on 120v.