A/C cooling on a hot day

[Jimmer]

I have a 2014 3582RL and I have the same problem everybody describes. I have done all of the recommended procedures. Pulled down the fresh air vents and cleaned the filters and removed all of the sawdust in the vents. I put tubing up in the vent to repair the collapsed insulation. That really helped but the living area is still very uncomfortable. The bedroom it feels like you need to put a coat on. We have added a fan in the hallway and it pushes cold air to the living area. That helped also. I read an earlier article and they recommended checking all of you air vents. I have noticed that there is not a lot of air coming out my vents. They found excess vent hose, collapsed hose and also some connections that were loose and a bunch of the cold air was going in the attic area (area between the ceiling and the roof. A buddy of mine tried removing the grill covers on the fresh air and he said that improved the air flow and made it cool much better. It is a shame that Keystone did not check this new whisper air conditioning system out and make the improvements before selling these 5th wheels. My other buddy has a 2010 with the old AC system and he has no problems. His cools his living area down.

[1retired06]

Guess I am the odd man out. We love our whisper air, and it cools great. Guess they installed our ducting correctly.

[waynemoore]

I must be another odd man out as my whisper air works great. 96 out and 77 in. The front AC will sometimes come on and I do have the dump closed. I also put some cardboard rounds in two of the vents in the bedroom to restrecte the air flow. Bedroom can get so cold one could hang beef in there. The vent in the hall is pointed at the bedroom and keeps it cool. I do love the whisper air mush quieter that the old systems.

[richfaa]

Both our A/C work perfect in our 13 3402 Big sky. The primary problem in cooling IF the A/C's are working properly is the heat transmitted from the sun on the outside gel coat to the inside walls and I have the documentation to back it up. We did have some debris in the ductwork. When the temp taken with a IR thermometer with the gray area outside the bathroom in the direct sunlight at 124egrees and the temp on the inside of that wall in the bathroom is 96 degrees there is going to be a problem in cooling. There were hot spots all along the Montana and that heat was transmitted to the inside walls.

[guru1961]

Update - Got the Keystone supervisor's response. Keystone has stated that the bedroom AC will need to be upgraded to a 15K BTU unit. He said it would require enlarging the opening that is there now due to mounting difference for the units. A patch would be placed on the roof where the opening is enlarged but warranty still covers all. Well---IMO, adding 1500 BTU will do...wait for it...absolutely nothing to help with the cooling of this unit. I already have had 8K portable unit in kitchen and that helped 3-4 degrees on very hot (above 95 deg) days. But it is what Keystone has agreed to do, so off to the repair shop it will go in a month or so when my project is complete. This will be 3rd time...charm???? I doubt it. Trying to be optomistic but I have seen the inside wall temps and just can't see 1500 BTU doing anything except in Bedroom. Time will tell.

[guru1961]

Update - Big Sky back to shop in Andover, KS for 2 weeks to get new 15k AC installed in bedroom. Well I got the unit back from dealer on Saturday (service closed of course) and left before checking unit out. I got to my parking spot in Hays KS later that morning and plugged in. Waalaa....E1 error message on Zone 2 at CC2 thermostat controller. I contacted dealer on Monday am and response was ... wait for it ... well drop it off and we'll take a look at it. Really...190 miles away and I'll just drop it off. It's not like I need it to live in...I can get another motel room for 2 weeks while they "fix" it again! It is my opinion they installed a heat pump unit instead of a AC unit. They told me they installed what Keystone sent them. Really....shouldn't they check to make sure what they installing is the right equipment?? Amazing! I contacted Keystone about the issue (again) and they wanted me to carry it back to them. Not a chance...I'll carry it to some other authorized service rep but not them. So if you happen to need service, you might want to keep on trucking past Ledgerwood Drive in Andover Kansas. Just my opinion!

[guru1961]

If you want the "whole" story with the dealer and you have Facebook....check out Flint Hills RV review section.

[lostshakerofsalt]

Full body paint sucks. Need lighter paint colors or at least more insulation.

[stengels]

Jeff,
Sorry you had bad luck at Flint Hills. We have had our unit in twice for warranty repairs and once for a little body work and were very pleased both times.

[Melannie239]

Crow317 - I am wondering how you made out with Keystone with your new A/C? We have the exact same rig & the exact same problem. We purchased our 2014 343RL in 2/15 & while we live in FL it was a chilly day the day we did our PDI so we had no indication of trouble. But over the spring & summer I didn't think it was working properly but my husband blamed it on the hot weather. It never stopped running, cycling constantly. Then while recently in Disney we noticed dripping, indicating it had frozen up. After returning home my husband checked the air temp coming from the LR directly from the main vent & it was blowing 78 deg. while sitting in the shade all day & it was almost dark out. The bedroom unit was blowing 55 deg. We took it to the dealer & they told us after verifying the same temp that they do no warranty work on them. They pull the unit, return it to Keystone & wait for them to repair or replace & then ship it back for them to reinstall. He said most likely it will be replaced. Did they replace your unit & is it running properly now? How long did it take for you to get it done? They just got the rig last Thursday, we're hoping to have it back by Dec. 1st. but it's all dependent on how fast Keystone's turnaround time is.

quote:Originally posted by Crow317

We have a 2014 High Country RL343. The AC in the living area has gone bad! Had unit less than a year. Keystone has agreed to replace it. Waiting on unit to arrive. Going to have thermostat checked out as well. Unit never cycles off even when temp on thermostat is set high! Here s my question in dealing with all this we have discovered the smaller unit is in the larger vented living area. It is a 13500 btu. The drop down unit In the smaller bedroom is a 15000 btu. We have been round and round with keystone. They say unit is designed that way. Bedroom will freeze you out!! Living area HOT!! High ceilings just not enough force to blow cool air! Does anyone else have this configuration with a/c units?

[guru1961]

Update - The LR AC (15k heat pump) failed recently (March) and was warrantied by Dometic. They have agreed to replace with one of the new Blizzard heat pumps. Arnold's RV (Enid OK) came out this week and installed the new unit. It seems to be doing the trick. We also recently installed the 3rd AC in the kitchen area but not having to use as much now - temps here in low 90's and RV maintaining 75 degrees in heat of the day. Oh BTW, the CCC T'stat is controlling both AC's since the Arnold's tech knew how to set the dip switches on the unit. Time will tell but for now - we are cool campers!

[richfaa]

First hot and humid day of the year up here in Northern Ohio 93 degrees.We had both A/C running set at 74 degrees since 1PM.Inside temp was 79 degrees at 7PM both A/C's still running.This pretty Big Sky has plenty of large areas of black and gray paint. We shot temps in the 113 to 124 degree range on the outside gel coat with our IR gauge. Wonder why the RV will not get down to the set point. We had a 100 degree day here last year and could not get close to 80 degrees inside temps. we shot temps of 85/90 degrees on the inside walls. The A/C's are working well. The insulation is not all that bad but we are basically in a tin can painted black and gray baking in the sun. S&B today same conditions 2200 square feet inside temp 70 degrees Montana is 2 feet away along the side of the house.

[Bill.vannuys]

We spent time in Barstow, CA (no shade) last fall right after we bought our Montana. Pretty hot there and ours seemed to keep up fairly well. I think around 76 was about as warm as it got in the living room and the bedroom was 70.

We do have the dual pane windows and they have made a difference for us after having the regular windows on a previous unit. We mainly got them for winter camping (grand-daughters in Colorado - down to -2 last Christmas!), but the windows do seem to help us in the heat also (and quieter).

A friend I made in Elkhart right after buying my unit just recently had to fix some restricted AC ducts in his Montana. He told me it made a huge improvement. Guess the ducts collapsed.

Thanks for the Fantastic fan tip; I think I will get those insulators for the 2 fantastic fans, since that is where the warmest air goes in winter and enters in summer. I do have black vent covers; wonder if that helps?

[richfaa]

We have done all we can do with our A /C system. Today outside temp 94 degrees humidity 66 %. We shot the temp right at the output of the A/C vent in the rear on the 3402 at 62 degrees. That is good,We shot the temp at the output of the front A/C vent with the front A/C NOT running just the cool air being pushed through the ductwork from the rear A/C at 66 degrees..not bad at all considering the roof temp has got to be well over 100 degrees. However the inside temp was at a steady 77 degrees that is also OK.Why do you think that with cool air out of the vents at 62 and 66 degrees the inside temps will not go below 77 degrees. Could it have something to do with the pretty dark colors of this Big Sky soaking up the heat and transmitting it inside. I know so.

IMO the A/C system is doing a very good job considering what it has to do.We will be in Nebraska and Oklahoma in July and it will be very hot. I expect the inside temps to keep us in the low to mid 80's.

BTW this 2013 3402 Big sky is far better insulated and has a better A/C system that our 06 3400.

[DQDick]

White rig parked next to a full body paint and the AC's will come on a lot earlier in the morning in the full body paint rig. This has happened to us not once but several times during our work for Fish and Wildlife. Since we are frequently where it's hot that's another thing keeping us from a new rig.

[richfaa]

The dark colors make a big, big difference.

[davidaf]

I was wondering how we'd do with the heat wave in Southern CA. We had a sustained outside temp of 109 for several hours and the Montana kept the rig at 78 through most of the day. Once the sun really started to hit the back of the rig and the picture window temp inside reached 80. I can live with that. We have sunshades on most of the windows and only closed the blinds when the LR starts to heat up. If I had closed the vent off to the basement and covered the skylights we could have done a bit better. Today is 96 and we are holding at 80 degrees inside with only the rear air running. Granted we have no humidity so it's probably easier to cool.

[guru1961]

Update - we are off to Goshen Indiana in November to drop off Big Sky to get many repairs done. Major repairs to AC return vents. Keystone sent site investigator to DE to inspect RV. He found 90% blockage of return air vent in LR ceiling. He found 40% blockage in BR ceiling. He stated this could all be fixed in the Keystone factory service center. Several minor issues also to be fixed during this stay. They will keep RV for a month then we pick up in December. Only time will tell (June-July 2017) if the "fixes" they have proposed actually work to allow this RV to maintain a "comfortable" inside temperature when it is 90+ outside.

[guru1961]

Update - Unit repaired by Keystone last year. Took roof off, reworked both return air vent ducts, replaced both a/c's to newer blizzard units & cut inside ceiling vents that were sticking up 1/2" into duct work. Prognosis - RV will maintain a comfortable temperature in 90+ heat with no shade trees around. We will still use the 3rd A/C that we added in the kitchen ceiling if needed. We have dropped the lemon law suit against Keystone on our unit. They did repair all of the other issues we were having with this Big Sky out of their pocket since it had passed the 1 year warranty. Michelle D. and others were good to deal with. I did hear through the grapevine that newer 2018 models may come with 3 A/C option - imagine that!!

[jameswbarton]

Lots of great info in these posts. Keystone will refuse to work on it since you have more than a 20 degree differential from return air to supply air. Your issue is like others said to seal up all the holes in the coach, the floor ducts, the furnace air intake and make sure all your ceiling ducts and vents are in good shape. My two units both approach 30 degrees temperature differential and now that I spent many day sealing the coach and adding three ceiling registers I now can cool to 70 degrees inside in 100 degree heat. Dometic was far more help to me than Keystone.