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Old 06-17-2007, 08:15 AM   #1
RC and Samantha
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Smoldering

I am not really sure if we have a problem or not, but it is awful hot in here.

We are in Indianapolis for the Formula 1 race. The outside temperature is currently 91 degrees outside under the awning, there are no trees anywhere, but it is partly cloudy.

The air conditioning has been on since we arrived on Wednesday. It will cool down over night to under the 70 degrees that I have the AC set on by early morning. (I am not expecting the temp inside to remain that low during the day, it's just my attempt to start the day off as cool as possible.) By midday it was 86 degrees in here and of course the AC is not shutting off. That doesn't concern me, I have already read on here that is not a bad thing.

I do wonder though if our AC is working correctly or does it need a charge? We are only 6 degrees cooler in here than outside. I remember being in Montana a few years ago with hotter temps and it being much cooler inside. The AC didn't shut off either but the difference inside and out was greater.

Just in case it's relative the humidity outside is only 39%. We are also on a 30 amp circuit here and I don't know if that makes a difference?

I do feel cool air coming out of the ceiling ducts but it's no where near cold. We do not have a bedroom AC unit.

So, do I have something to be worried about?

Patty
 
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Old 06-17-2007, 09:32 AM   #2
Ozz
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Patty, Check the supply air against the return air (room tmeperature air) if you have 20-25 degree difference, your air is doing it's job.
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Old 06-17-2007, 10:06 AM   #3
RC and Samantha
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Ozz

Patty, Check the supply air against the return air (room tmeperature air) if you have 20-25 degree difference, your air is doing it's job.
I hate to sound dumb, but to you mean degree in temperature difference at the return air vent? We have an 2003 3295RK so that vent/return is under the curio cabinet. I'll check it.

Thanks very much Ozz I'll be back when I get a reading...I hope I am looking for the right thing?

ON EDIT: Upon reading your post again I am pretty sure I don't understand. Check the air going into the AC unit on the ceiling unit with the air coming out?

The return air vent I was referring to is for the furnace.

Patty
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Old 06-17-2007, 10:27 AM   #4
stiles watson
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Your return air vent is in the cieling. This unit has it in the kitchen area. The output vent are the smaller round vents through out the unit.

You might also check the filter in the return air. I checked mine a couple of days ago and found it needed cleaning badly. It can be washed and dried fairly quickly.

I had to have the evaporator coil replaced on my main unit in May, before it got hot thankfully, because it would not cool sufficiently.
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Old 06-17-2007, 10:28 AM   #5
jrgwdenner
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When you loose your cool air coming from the AC but it is still running, the unit may be frozen up. You'll need to turn it off and let the ice melt. We have to run our unit's fan on high all the time to prevent it from freezing or icing up. Maybe that will help.
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Old 06-17-2007, 10:44 AM   #6
HamRad
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When we were in Phoenix recently our AC froze up on us. The fan was blowing just like it should but the air was not cooling. Turned it off for an hour or so and then turned it back on. While it was off we checked the filter.... it was a little dirty but not too bad.... and it stated cooling immediately. We then started running the fan on HIGH all the time.

To measure the AC temp take a thermometer up to where the cool air is coming out of the AC. Then compare that with the room temp. Talked to a fellow that said that after your rig sits for a long time without using the AC that this sort of thing can happen. I guess it would be a wise thing to go out and run the AC for a while every month or so. I don't understand how these things work so I'm just passing this info along.

Hope you get it working.

Dennis and Mary Kay
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Old 06-17-2007, 10:47 AM   #7
RC and Samantha
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Stiles, I just happened to wash the filter when we landed here. I checked it and it looked dirty so I washed and dried it. You're right it did dry quickly. I hope it's not the evaporator coil, how much do those things cost? Is is a repair one could do easily themselves?

Hi Judy, how do you tell if it froze up? We run ours on high all the time.

Thanks everyone,
Patty

It is now 89 degrees in here and 90 degrees outside. Something is wrong with this picture, right?
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Old 06-17-2007, 11:42 AM   #8
SlickWillie
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You can see the evaporator coil up through the unit with the filter removed. And no, it's not a repair the average person can undertake. While we're on the subject, that filter that comes on the Dometic unit is a piece of crap. Of course, our TT had a Coleman, and the filter on it was crap also.

One thing, if you're using the oven or stove (gas) the one AC won't keep up with the temperature what it is outside. We found that out last week. Cook outside or use the microwave.
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Old 06-17-2007, 11:53 AM   #9
Ozz
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As stated, the temperature of the cold air coming out of the A/C unit, at either the 'dump vent' or a vent very close the the A/C is coldest, then it's just the room air temperature, or air that goes back up into the A/C for cooling. 20-25 degrees is good. I agree that high speed is best, and if your unit has the 'dump vent' under the unit, leave it open, there is more airflow from it, than running the air through the vents. The vented air has more restriction, so the air slows, some A/C's freeze up because of a possible restricted ducting system.
Good luck
Ozz
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Old 06-17-2007, 12:57 PM   #10
jrgwdenner
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Patty, when it cools off in the evening, try turning off the AC for an hour or so, like Dennis mentioned. Then turn it on and run the fan on high all the time. That's what we have to do. Ours froze up again this spring and worked after turning it off for a while. If this doesn't work, you'd best go see Mr. Fixit. Good luck. Hope you can find a cool spot somewhere.
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Old 06-17-2007, 12:58 PM   #11
Dustytuu
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Your AC sounds like our AC did when we finally had to have it replaced. It was still under warranty. Our AC was also freezing up a lot too. Couldn't get much air out of it in the bedroom.
We worked with a Durtherm repairman. He tried several things and determined it needed replacing. There is a world of difference in the new AC than the old one. Air comes out of the bedroom ducts like never before. We had added a bedroom AC when the other one was not working well. Probably wouldn't have needed it since this one works great!
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Old 06-17-2007, 01:38 PM   #12
OntMont
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If it is very humid, a lot of the cooling capacity will go into condensing water from the air, in which case there should be a lot of water running off the gutters. If it is frozen, it will stop condensing any water from the air, and the gutters will drip little or no water. Just my rule of thumb, but it may help you figure out what is going on.

How's the F-1 racing? Would not mind being there, but I don't know about all that heat.
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Old 06-17-2007, 03:10 PM   #13
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Do you have day and night shades in the unit. I found that when the sun is beating down on the camper,I have the white part of the shade down to the bottom and the dark part up to the top. The dark part seems to attract the heat where the white part dose not. Also the dark windows attract the heat also. We have the 15000 BTU AC so that helps also. Like stated above run the fan all the time to keep the air moving and from freezing the unit. These are my ways and it seems to work well for us.
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Old 06-19-2007, 02:15 AM   #14
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I live in the southeast US and in the heat of summer it takes 2 ac units working their hearts out to keep it cool inside. I open the quick cool vent in the LR and turn the bedroom ac on. I put a 15k BTU unit in the bedroom during the first summer of use.
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Old 06-21-2007, 07:04 PM   #15
RC and Samantha
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Hi everyone!

First, I would like to thank each one of you for your replies. They helped me a lot and gave me something to do besides think about how darned hot it was inside and out of the camper.

HamRad
Thanks my friend. I ended up turning it off for a couple of hours and it did seem to help some. It wasn’t all that humid this past weekend so I was pretty surprised.

SlickWillieI could not see any ice with the filter removed. I was not cooking inside the unit except for one evening. It was just too hot.

Ozz
Thank you so much for your replies. I checked out everything you recommended. I even did use the Quick Cool feature but it didn’t seem to help much. The air coming out was cool but it no way would it be considered cold at all.


jrgwdenner
Judy, I did just that. I shut it off for two hours and when I did turn, it back on it helped some, but no nearly as much as one would have thought.

Dustytuu
Dusty, thank goodness I don’t think that we need a new unit now. I was really concerned that might be the case, especially after reading your reply. I am sure we are out of warranty on that unit but your mention of how well your new one works gets me thinking it would be nice addition.

OntMont
John, it was not very humid but indeed I do think it iced up. There was water coming off the roof but near the amount, I thought there should be.

Quote:
quote:Originally posted by OntMont

How's the F-1 racing?
Well, as you can imagine Dick was having the time of his life and loving it. He was up everyday at 6 am or so, made himself breakfast and at the track by 8 am. The team and drivers he wanted to win did so he was one happy guy.

By the time, he returned in the early evening he had consumed enough of those very large Fosters that he was feeling pretty darn good. He’d been out in the sun all day long, so to him the Big Sky felt cool and it short order he was asleep anyway.

Dick says that F-1 racing was the best and he had the time of his life.

hazmic
We do have the day/night shades but ours are very light in color. I think the Mocha Frost interior of some of the Big Skys must have been the only color scheme that had light colors for the night part of the shade. I keep them pulled down to keep the sun out and the cold air in as much as possible. I do the same in the winter to keep the warm air in too.

kmh3212
Kevin, I have never been in the South East during the summer so I have no idea how hot and humid that might be. We were in Florida on our first trip in the Montana but it was in February. It was warm but not hot and we had no problem with the air conditioner. We have been in Montana in the summer when it was well over 110 degrees many days and did not have a problem. It was always noticeably cooler in the camper compared to the outside. Montana is very dry though.



Now here comes the confession…it is embarrassing.

We did the thermostat modification a couple of years ago. We assumed that the fan was always on high since we did not put an additional switch in to change the fan from high to low.

Since reading everyone’s wonderful replies, I kept thinking about what really must be happening with the AC. I remembered that there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of air moving compared to what I had remembered in the past and while I was using the Quick Cool feature it was much quieter than I had remembered it ever being in the past.

So I started reading old posts on the forum regarding the Thermostat mod and looked at some of the Show and Tell photos that were on the pages that Glenn has done for the club.

I finally found the one from fulltimedreamer and read it over a couple of times besides looking at the photos. I noticed where it said if you were not going to add a switch for high and low to make sure you wired both the orange and the blue wire into the connector labeled “G”. I went out to the Montana to examine the thermostat. We don’t have the Hunter thermostat but I decided that they must work the same or hoped they did. Lo and behold, the blue wire was not attached to anything! I attached it to the connector labeled “G” along with the orange wire that was there already, replaced the cover, turned the unit on, and WOW, what a noticeable difference. The air was cold and really moving through all of the vents. Today was a nice breezy day with a high of 85 and only 50 percent humidity.

So THANK YOU fulltimedreamer, VERY MUCH! Without your step by step instructions I am not sure I would have ever figured it out. With your instructions along with everyone else’s comments, I just may have it licked.

We are going to Bay City this weekend for the River Roar so Dick can watch the Champ (Formula 1 tunnel boats) boat races. We are taking our grand daughter Aleyah with us (she's very excited), so we’ll be able to tell if it is all fixed. Sunday it is supposed to be 91 degrees and I imagine the humidity will be right up there.

I cannot thank you ALL enough for your help. If it hadn’t been for all of you and your comments, I doubt seriously I would have ever figured it out and it would have been off to the dealer for what probably would have been an expensive repair bill when it really was just a dumb mistake on our part and an easy fix.

Patty
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Old 06-21-2007, 09:36 PM   #16
JH Sechelt
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Stories don't get any better than that..... great reading.
Glad every thing worked out OK.

J&D
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Old 06-22-2007, 01:44 AM   #17
jrgwdenner
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Yeah, hip-hip hooray, and all that stuff!. Caulk up another success story for the forum. What would we do without it? This community has helped solve so many problems. So glad it worked out for you, Patty. Have fun with your granddaughter this weekend.
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Old 06-22-2007, 11:02 AM   #18
RC and Samantha
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John and Dawn

Thank you and yes we are glad it worked out too.

Judy

You're so right it is about the forum, where would we be without this place and the friends who step up to help.

We will be enjoying her for sure. She learned to ride her bike! We are all in the truck as we speak on the way to our destination. Not a long trip, only about 2 hours total.

She's watching the movie "RV" on my portable DVD player. A great way to keep her entertained. She's a little short on patience. She must have asked me a dozen times when Papa was going to get home, which translates to when are we going to leave.

They have a catch and release fish pond there and she's excited about that too. She'll have to get Papa Dick to help her with that one though as Grandma just doesn't do worms or bait hooks unless it's with pieces of bologna or hot dogs.

Patty
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