Second A/C Install Complete

[Glenn the fifth]

Hello all. I installed my second A/C on Saturday morning (Coleman Mach 8 low profile 15K BTU). To get the unit up on the roof I ended up opening my slides and backing my truck up to the big slide on the right side of the 5er. I set an extension ladder up in the back of the truck and braced it against the end of the bed towards the cab. I then extended the ladder about a foot beyond the top of that slide to make a "ramp" of sorts (with a blanket under the ladder so it did not damage the slide edge). I tied some straps around the unit (weight about 90 lbs) and attached a couple of 5 foot 1/4s crosswise to the bottom of the A/C to give it something to slide on and not damage the gaskets on the bottom of the A/C. I had a friend stay in the truck bed to guide it up and I went up on the roof of the 5er and slowly pulled it up the ladder. Once it got to the top I stepped onto the slide roof, grabbed it by the straps and gently set it on the roof of the 5er. The 4 bolts that came with it to attach it to the roof from the ceiling side were about a half inch too short to reach the bottom of the A/C from inside. They were 7 inches long and I needed at least 8 inches to get sufficient thread into the A/C. I went to Home Depot and of course they did not have 8 inch 1/4 - 20 bolts. I bought some 1/4 - 20 thread stock, took it home and cut 4 pieces 8 1/4 inches long. I put double nuts on the bottom side to make a bolt out of it that I could screw up into the bottom of the A/C and it worked fine. I snugged it down about a 1/4 inch to get a good seal on the gasket. The only other "rigging" I had to do was to splice into the junction box forward of the vent to get more wire length. The wires for the A/C were in there, but they were not long enough to be ran into the vent opening to get to the wiring area of the new A/C ceiling controls. I added about 2 feet of 12/3 to it and everything seems to be working well. I went up and scrubbed the roof again yesterday (using my favorite blue Dawn detergent). I purposely shot a little water all around the bottom of the new A/C unit to check for leaks. I went inside a few times after that to make sure it was dry and low and behold, it was! I am going to check the mounting bolts a couple of times after the first road trip to make sure they are staying snug, other than that...should be good to go! Thanks for the advice offered here. -Glenn

[1retired06]

Great post, super installation

[bigskyjimmy]

Yep good post Glen,this will help anybody that wants to do the same,now when you go to the heat in EA Wash and Idaho the whole family will say Thanx DAD!! AHHHHHHH

[Glenn the fifth]

Thanks Mike and Jimmy. The only part I was "worried" about was getting up to the roof without breaking something. I was happy when that part was over.

Also- removing the Dicor sealant from the EPDM roof around the old vent was a little bit of a pain. I set up there about an hour Friday evening after work with some tools carefully scrapping and pulling to get as much off as I could. I think the Keystone folks purchase that stuff by the barrel because they don't seem opposed to using it. I could not get it all off without possibly damaging the roof, but I got is as clean and flat as possible to provide a good seal for the A/C gasket. -Glenn

[bncinwv]

Good to hear, the best part of any successful installation occurs at the conclusion knowing that the job was done right (by yourself) and that the hard work is not only over but worth it!
Bingo

[DQDick]

Sounds like a great job and some thoughtful engineering.

[CORattler]

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

Good to hear, the best part of any successful installation occurs at the conclusion knowing that the job was done right (by yourself) and that the hard work is not only over but worth it!
Bingo

Well said! We think the same way on this subject.

[BB_TX]

So Glenn. What did you finally figure out about a circuit breaker for the 2nd AC?

[Glenn the fifth]

Bill, I did find that there was indeed a separate 20 amp breaker in the panel for the second A/C. The writing on the panel was very poor and hard to make out but with voltage checker in hand and flipping a few breakers I verified what that writing was supposed to say. I then went though all of the breakers in the panel and made sure they were labeled properly. -Glenn

[WeBeFulltime]

Did you have any problems connecting the duct work and thermostat?

[Glenn the fifth]

David, this one is non ducted and the controls are separate.

[Glenn the fifth]

Follow up- we are now back from our very warm trip over to central/eastern Washington and Idaho. At the second RV park I was at I only had 30 amp service, but I was able to run both A/Cs there by putting the fridge and hot water heater on gas. We weren't able run much anything else without turning off one of the A/Cs, but they ran fine on 30 amps without any other major draws. One A/C is a 15K and the other is only a 13.5K, so that might have helped a bit. Funny thing is that the new 13.5K unit (non ducted) put out much cooler air up in the bedroom. I could have hung meat up there even in the 100+ degree weather. -Glenn