Ducted air command ac with aquahot

May 25, 2016, 01:14:20 pm

Our coach has ducted penguin ac's and has aquahot with front zone and bedroom zone controlled by a 5 button thermostat. We would like to install two Atwood air command ac's, but I'm concerned about controlling the aquahot.

From others posts, appears I can get adapters from Atwood to use the existing thermostat wiring to connect the Atwood thermostat for the front AC. I'm assuming the existing 5 button thermostat wiring will still control aquahot in the front zone. I spoke with James Triana at FOT about the existing sensor in the bedroom. He sent me a schematic showing aquahot zone 2 is grounded at the existing bedroom ac. I don't know enough to understand the implications.

Has anyone with ducted ac and aquahot installed these air command ac's? Hate to think of buying two ac's and then paying 15 or so hours of labor to get everything wired up.

Would be simpler to just install ductless units but would take a big hit on headroom - and Molly objects to losing the ducted air.

Thanks

Re: Ducted air command ac with aquahot

Reply #1 – May 25, 2016, 03:30:35 pm

Check with Rudy Legett. These might be the AC units he put in.

Atwood Heatpump

Re: Ducted air command ac with aquahot

Reply #2 – May 25, 2016, 04:24:06 pm

Thanks, I did check with Rudy. He installed the Atwoods, but ductless with no wall thermostats.

Rudy did suggest I consider just pulling new wire and not disturbing the current 5 button thermostat. Looks like I could put a wall mount thermostat on the side of the buffet or the pantry, but I still worry about that zone 2 ground at the existing bedroom AC.

Re: Ducted air command ac with aquahot

Reply #3 – May 25, 2016, 05:57:03 pm

I replaced my two A/C units with two Air Command 15K Ducted A/C Units/Heat Pumps. The best price I found was PPL online and I bought them. They were delivered to my door two days later! (They called the charge "freight" but they actually came Fedex IIRC.)

I had thought of installing them myself, but could not figure out how to get them on the roof. I checked with two different RV dealers in the "local" area, and their estimates were about $200 each for installation. I picked Dave's RV in Claremore OK, because they were listed as an authorized dealer. I took it to them on a Friday morning and waited all day. about 4:00, they told me they would not be able to finish it that day, I had to call my wife to come and pick me up.

My recollection is that they finally finished a week later. When I went to pick up my RV, their bill was $1200! They claimed to have run into problems routing the wiring. I do not know what they actually did, but I had the 5-button thermostat, and told them to put the front thermostat there and the wiring was all there. The rear one already had power (AC and DC) and they just needed to run the rear furnace wiring from under the closet to the Air Command 15" from the closet.

Lessons learned:

I will never go to Dave's RV, for ANYTHING.

I did not ask for anything from the old system; I should have at least kept the thermostat.

The rear did NOT require a 15K unit; It is only cooling the bedroom and bathroom, (ignoring the ducting, which actually puts some cooling in the rear from the front unit, and probably *some* cooling into the nearby forward outlets from the rear unit). I got it for the heat pump, which Atwood only makes in the larger size.

The Atwood Air Command (ducted) thermostat will only control one unit and one heater. I have not found a way to set the thermostat below 60 degrees. I wanted to set it about 40 degrees to prevent freezing. I may wind up getting a separate thermostat for the Atwood furnace so I can accomplish that. (Any suggestions?)

The front unit has always worked flawlessly and is very quiet. My only complaint, is that my ducting stops after the kitchen and cannot cool the cockpit without the dash air (which needs a new compressor, at least). I may investigate extending the ducting closer to the cockpit to get the front air up there.

I do not use the rear unit very often, but it gets very cold very fast. Recently, it has started making a noise that sounds like the squirrel cage fan is rubbing against something. I need to check with Atwood while it is still under warranty.

If at all possible, use an RV facility that is used to Foretravels. I think one of my problems with Dave's RV is they did not understand the existing wiring, and wound up running wires from scratch.

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask eyler@cox.net.

Hope this helps,

Trent
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