1996 U270 Dual Central Air Conditioning
I no longer have air conditioners on my roof. My reason for doing this was to get rid of the noise from the roof units. Now I have dual central air conditioning that I made from 2 new LG 15K BTU window air conditioning units. Basically what I did was saw the units in half creating a condenser/compressor part and an evaporator/air handler part similar to a split air conditioning system found in most homes. The 2 condenser units are installed behind the left rear wheel and the air handler is in the bath closet above the washer/dryer cabinet. Roof air and window units are about the same, just built differently. Both use one fan motor to drive 2 fans, so I had to buy 2 extra motors for the air handler. I moved the dash air condenser to a new location, reworked the fiberglass panel, made a grill similar to the one for the radiator that is on the other side. The 96 coaches did not have a drop ceiling with ducted air, so I installed that to duct air to the bedroom and front of the coach. The holes in the roof were converted into skylights. I used 2 window units instead of one larger unit as 15k BTU is the largest size that will operate on 120 volts anything larger uses 240 volts. Almost all ac electric in an RV is 120 volts and some campgrounds will only have 120 v 30 amp electric. A window unit has all the parts needed and costs less than parts purchased separately, not to mention the control panel with a remote control that I reused.
I started this job in Jan of 2012 and finished in June. As soon as the system was recharged with refrigerant we left the next day for Las Vegas. It worked well on the way there and while parked at the Main Street Casino's campground, basically a paved lot with full hookups and the temperature 110. I went to Vegas to pick up my son's family at the airport for their scheduled 2-week vacation. Although, it cooled well it was even noisier than the roof units. I was able to solve that problem after I returned to Austin. It is now quiet with almost no noise up front and just a tiny amount in the bedroom. These units are more efficient than the old roof air, about 13 amps each, so I have been able to run both on a 30 amp hookup if not much else is in use. If the temperature is not too hot, say about 80 to 85, one unit can cool the whole coach. I have also used just the fan air to heat the coach by placing 1 or 2 1200 watt heaters in the bathroom.
While I am happy with what I did, I cannot recommend that anyone else try this. If I were to do it over, I would put new units on the roof, install the drop ceiling and duct return air from a remote location to the roof unit. I don't believe that would be as quiet, but a lot simpler, cost a lot less, and easier to repair or replace. When I started I thought it would cost about $2000, but it cost $4054 and that does not include some of the wood, metal, and tools needed, plus driving to buy stuff and driving 11 miles to the storage lot almost everyday for 5 months so it was really more than $5000. What ran up the cost was mainly everything, but mostly it was the price of copper for the wiring, tubing and fittings that had to be silver soldered together. Refrigerant tubing is heavier than the stuff at Lowes. Refrigerant 410a is not cheap either at $300 to have the both systems charged. I did get a good buy on the window units $718 for both at HD on a tax-free weekend.
Topic: 1996 U270 Dual Central Air Conditioning