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Topic: Front hatch design on the 1995 U series (Read 630 times) previous topic - next topic

Front hatch design on the 1995 U series

Quote from: Gary Bouland –
The easy way to identify the 95 U Series is the size of the front hatch, on years prior to 95 there are two small hatches for front access, in 95 they went to one large hatch.  Just some more useless trivia.
A slide tray in the bay is unusual as well as electric hose reels and autostart. Either this was a custom order or someone did a lot of upgrades. 
Gary B
Gary,
I just learned something about the 95 U280 front hatch.  Is this a storage or a utility compartment?
Peter & Beth Martin
No Forrest? What have you done?
MC# 15890 until Dec 2016; FMCA #F329677
Cincinnati, OH

Re: Front hatch design on the 1995 U series

Reply #1 –
Peter, I wish there was some storage behind the front hatch.
All that is there is access to the HVAC Plenum, wiper motors and arms and the vacuum pump and the condensor coils. Lots easier access to HVAC than in earlier models. I guess if you were real creative you could add some storage here, there is a lot of unused space.
Gary B

Re: Front hatch design on the 1995 U series

Reply #2 –
When I had my Unihome, I planned on building sheet metal ducting to force the air flow from the grill through the condenser and down. Would have made a big difference.
The selected media item is not currently available. Dave Head & Megan Westbrook
Titusville, FL - The Great Outdoors
'98 270 buying this month
Toad is a 2018 F150 XLT

Re: Front hatch design on the 1995 U series

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Dave Head –
When I had my Unihome, I planned on building sheet metal ducting to force the air flow from the grill through the condenser and down. Would have made a big difference.
Exactly what would that have accomplished?
1994 U225
build #4514

Re: Front hatch design on the 1995 U series

Reply #4 –
Forcing all of the grill inlet air flow through the condenser makes a huge difference in the thermal transfer across the coils The coils are about 2 feet back from the grill and about 3 inches from the firewall - which is essentially a dead air space. The majority of the air flow diverts down an out well before it gets to the condenser and the two pusher fans (which don't cover the condenser fully. Sure - at idle or in town it would make little difference - but on the highway it would make a huge difference.
The selected media item is not currently available. Dave Head & Megan Westbrook
Titusville, FL - The Great Outdoors
'98 270 buying this month
Toad is a 2018 F150 XLT

Re: Front hatch design on the 1995 U series

Reply #5 –
Dave, I had not really thought about air flow over the condensor.  One thing you could do is move the condensor coils closer to the grille area and then put some sheet metal to the side to direct even more air flow thru the coils. The increase in space between the firewall and the coils might help with the flow of air.
Like all MH AC systems this one is not very efficient and requires constant attention. Its almost like AC is added as an afterthought.
I can imagine that the Coach types with the condensors mounted in the rear are even less officiant, Its always puzzled me why so little engineering is applied to all MH AC systems, it should not be necessary to run a fuel hog of a generator to provide AC when you already have a big Diesel back there to provide the same motive power.
At the FL MC Brooksville Pre Rally I saw a one off FT that had DUAL AC Compressors on the engine that drove a basement mounted AC House system. Looked very viable to me, the owner was using only the Basement AC as there were switchover problems between DASH and BASEMENT air systems if I recall correctly.
Gary B
 

Re: Front hatch design on the 1995 U series

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Gary Bouland –
I can imagine that the Coach types with the condensors mounted in the rear are even less officiant
Gary B
The air conditioner on our '97 U295 works fairly well. It does a fairly good job of keeping driver and passenger comfortable in hot weather. It also does a fairly decent job of defrosting the windshield.

We control temperature by changing the fan speed. The temperature control is pretty much worthless. We turn all the way to hot to get dash heat and all the way to cold to get cooling from the dash vents.

The dash air didn't work at all when we bought the coach two years ago. I added a bunch of R134a. I could see that refrigerant was leaking at the compressor. The system is still cooling. I may need to add some refrigerant this year.

The condenser is on the driver side and "breathes" through a small grill similar to the big grill for the radiator and CAC. An electric fan provides strong air flow across the condenser.
J D Stevens
1997 U295 CAI 36' Build #5085
2002 Subaru Outback
Motorcade 16869
Bellville, TX