air condition duct - Montana Owners Club

wal_mart · 10-12-2014, 04:08 AM

two of us in campground in Fl., 90+ degrees. i have a 2012 3582RL Other one is a 2013 3583RL. He has no ceiling opening for the airconditioner, and can't get the camper temp down lower than 85 even with window insulation. His only has ceiling vents.We get to 80 degrees with no window insulation.Trailer build dates are 6 months apart.Is this normal having no opening ?

wal_mart · 10-12-2014, 04:09 AM

Mistake on the 201, it is also 3582RL.

waynemoore · 10-12-2014, 04:57 AM

Yes he has whisper air. The return vents are on each side of the living room. They may be blocked as they have a foam filter. Try to remove and clean them.

Irlpguy · 10-12-2014, 05:07 AM

Take off the vent covers on both sides, put a flashlight in the vent and use a mirror to look from each side toward the AC, I bet you will find the opening is partially collapsed and the AC is not receiving enough air to work properly. We had this problem as have others, ours was "supposedly" repaired under warranty however we have never felt the AC works anywhere near as good as the one in our previous SOB.

Using a metal vent would have eliminated this problem, however once again Keystone and others choose to go cheap and use a poor alternative.

jlb27537 · 10-12-2014, 07:11 AM

On my '14 3150RL the rear A/C ducts were almost sucked shut. I removed the ceiling grills and cut 1 1/2" pvc pipe into 6" length's. I reached up thru the grill opening and placed 2 pieces of pipe in the outer edges of the foam return air duct.

The pvc pipe propped the return air ducts open and increased the return air flow.

Going to add a 3rd piece as soon as I scrounge some 2" pipe to put in the middle of the duct.

Jim

HOOK · 10-12-2014, 02:15 PM

I didn't see that either of you had a second AC . It is a must in the south. There are a couple around with three ACs .

Bill-N-Donna · 10-12-2014, 03:02 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by HOOK

I didn't see that either of you had a second AC . It is a must in the south. There are a couple around with three ACs .

Larry, I’m curious. How would one have the proper wiring for 3 A/C units?

**DQDick** · 10-12-2014, 03:22 PM

To second what Larry says, we spend our time where it's hot and have two full sized AC's plus extra shades, awnings and toppers.

Not sure about how they are wired, but I've seen 5 or 6 class A's with three in the last couple of years and a bus conversion we just spent a week next to had 5 AC's. He was transporting a band and each room had it's own AC. Never got to ask how it worked, my guess would be relays to only allow so many at a time.

jlb27537 · 10-12-2014, 03:37 PM

Some of the Bus stuff with 3-5 A/C's have 2x50a service. IE: 100a service.

One of our campgrounds in S Texas has several pedestals with 2 50A plugs to handle the large stuff. Hey guys, it's only money.......

Our 50A cords handle 50a per leg so running 3 A/C's on a single 50A cord is not a problem. You really have 100A available.

Jim

Wheelhouse · 08-12-2015, 02:30 AM

Looking at adding a 2nd a/c unit over the bedroom. I have been concerned about height clearances and was looking at the low profile high efficiency unit 13,500 BTU? What are the opinions out there of going to the bigger 15,000 BTU? My main concern is height clearance. Thank you 2007 3500RL w/ 4 slides.

twindman · 08-12-2015, 05:51 AM

I added a low profile unit. I am at 13'4" now. I believe that the low profile are 2-3 inches lower than the others. So I would be over the legal limit with the other. However, I do ride about 1-2 inches high in the front.

ranch560 · 08-12-2015, 12:11 PM

This older thread got me to thinking about my rear ducts also. Today and tomorrow will be 100 degree + days and I can tell my rear ac hasn't been working well. Did the duct check and my ducts have collapsed also. Went to the hardware store, bought a piece of 1 & 1/4 pvc pipe and 8 couplings. Similar to Jim (jlb27537) I cut the pipe into 10 pieces 6" long. I stuffed a piece into the duct, added a coupling, stuffed another piece, add coupling, etc putting 30'' and 4 couplings into each duct. I could tell immediately the difference in airflow. Simple $8.00 fix.

PackerFan · 08-12-2015, 01:47 PM

I like the idea of using the pipe. Does it appear that it is kind of locked in there and won't move around while traveling?

ranch560 · 08-12-2015, 02:10 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by PackerFan

I like the idea of using the pipe. Does it appear that it is kind of locked in there and won't move around while traveling?

Scott, it's very tight. Even though it's only 30" long, it took a lot of force to get the last couple of pieces in. There's no way it can move. And it's been several hours since I finished the job and my interior temperature has dropped 2 degrees while it's 101 outside, to 74. That tells me something.

Jim

PackerFan · 08-12-2015, 02:16 PM

Jim, Did you also cut down the exit vents? I trimmed mine down and that really increased the flow too. They stick up to high in the vents and block a lot of the air flow. I trimmed at least a good 1/2" to 3/4" off each of them.

twindman · 08-13-2015, 04:10 AM

Pretty ingenious. Did you put a cap on the first one so the edges didn't dig in to the duct? Or is that necessary?

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by ranch560

This older thread got me to thinking about my rear ducts also. Today and tomorrow will be 100 degree + days and I can tell my rear ac hasn't been working well. Did the duct check and my ducts have collapsed also. Went to the hardware store, bought a piece of 1 & 1/4 pvc pipe and 8 couplings. Similar to Jim (jlb27537) I cut the pipe into 10 pieces 6" long. I stuffed a piece into the duct, added a coupling, stuffed another piece, add coupling, etc putting 30'' and 4 couplings into each duct. I could tell immediately the difference in airflow. Simple $8.00 fix.

ranch560 · 08-13-2015, 05:19 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by twindman

Pretty ingenious. Did you put a cap on the first one so the edges didn't dig in to the duct? Or is that necessary?

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by ranch560

This older thread got me to thinking about my rear ducts also. Today and tomorrow will be 100 degree + days and I can tell my rear ac hasn't been working well. Did the duct check and my ducts have collapsed also. Went to the hardware store, bought a piece of 1 & 1/4 pvc pipe and 8 couplings. Similar to Jim (jlb27537) I cut the pipe into 10 pieces 6" long. I stuffed a piece into the duct, added a coupling, stuffed another piece, add coupling, etc putting 30'' and 4 couplings into each duct. I could tell immediately the difference in airflow. Simple $8.00 fix.

I didn't put a cap or anything on the front of the first piece of 6" pipe as it felt like it wasn't digging in or damaging the duct as I pushed it in. I wanted the pipe open so it wouldn't impede any airflow also. It's nearly impossible to know how wide the duct opened up at the end of my 30" pipe, but it sure changed the volume of airflow on the cold air registers.

And Scott, I checked my round registers earlier and they were cut down correctly to maximize air flow.

Today is another 100 degree day and the real test will be switching to one ac unit. We only have 30 amp service, so I've been using a Y adapter plugging into my neighbors 30 amp. I'm supposed to get a neighbor today. For all of you that don't know what a Y adapter is, it uses to 30 amp services and gives you 50 amp service even though it's not 220 amps. Similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Electr...trical+adapter

PackerFan · 08-13-2015, 11:00 AM

I added the pipe to the return ducts today...WOW!!! What a difference! I used 1" PVC pipe instead of the 1 1/4" pipe. The 1" couplings are about 1 1/4" in diameter and this is a little easier to push into the duct but it is held tight and will not move around. When I first removed the return vent cover and looked in there with a mirror, the inside of the duct was collapsed to the point that it was almost completely closed off through the entire length of it. Using cardboard ductwork is completely ridiculous, they should be metal ducts!

Jim, thanks for the tip on using the pipe as it doesn't block any airflow.

Dam Worker · 08-13-2015, 06:04 PM

Has anyone taken a picture of this issue? Before and after pictures would be nice to see. Maybe I will get ambitious tomorrow as the unit is still at home and try to see what shape mine are in as there is not much airflow in the lower part of the unit. No problem with the bedroom AC.

Tom Marty

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