Very unhappy with new AC system!

[Kampn]

Ditto on Rick Becker's fix. I have a 2016 3000RE with quiet cool and I'm disappointed with it for all the reasons stated in this post. The only way to make it livable in hot weather was running both units and even them it cooled poorly. I took one of my ceiling vents off out of frustration to see if there was blockage causing the poor air flow and WOW.. the flow without the vent was so much better. I also found the aluminum tape that they used to seal between the two pieces of ceiling was terrible.. some of it was sticking up into the air duct race way blocking air and in some areas it had holes. So I put the exact same vents in that Rick found and re-taped all the vent holes to get rid of excessive tape and to fill the holes. This made a huge difference in the cooling. This weekend I'm going to investigate the return vents closely and see if anything needs to be done there.

[richfaa]

We also took the vents off and there is a big difference. Right now we have big holes in the ceiling but we will deal with that later.

There is nothing wrong with our A/C system air temp at the vent hole is 59/60 with strong flow. These things retain the heat and the A/C just can not keep up.

[Lkelly3400]

One thing we do is turn the Fantastic Fan on manual and low - sucks the hot air out and depressurizes the rig, allowing the AC to really blow through the vents.

[dieselguy]

My 3150 was never air tight enough to build pressure ...

[richfaa]

quote:Originally posted by dieselguy

My 3150 was never air tight enough to build pressure ...

Good one..Our 06 3400 was like that it was a sieve our 13 3402 is much better.

[richfaa]

quote:Originally posted by rickbecker

I ordered these to replace existing diffuser- they work great and allow direction and volume flow adjustment. Snap the old ones off then drill small screw holes for mounting these. Look good and as well.

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/c...FQkwaQodgTQApw

We found 4 of these at a local Rv dealer today. Installed them in the rear of the 13 3402 it makes a big difference...Thanks for the tip.

[Mike117]

My 2014 HC last summer ran at full speed and was very loud. The front bedroom air just trickled out and we sweated terrible. I just put another air conditioner in the front. We didn't have air in the front part of,the rig. It was wired and is not in the duct work. Hope that will help. Will find out when I head to Eastern WA in a couple weeks. I hope it helps because the back air alone doesn't cut it. Not sure it is a whisper because it sounds more like a jet engine. Good luck!

[richfaa]

While replacing the A/C vents with the ones that blow down we did find the A/C ducting which is a fiber material that runs the length of the roof cracked. It looked like it had been crushed from the top possibly stepped on during the installation process. We taped it with gorilla tape at least what we could see. since we get good air flow I think we got it all. If the ducting should be damaged were it can not be seen you would lose airflow and cool air would be flowing up into the ceiling. Just something to consider in A/C troubleshooting.

[richfaa]

We are very impressed we installed A/C ceiling vents with the product posted in a above post. The system was working perfectly but still had problems keeping the RV cool in high temps and high humidity. We installed the vents and purchased a desk fan that we place on the floor outside the bathroom door in the 3402. With both A/c running and the front A/C vents open and blowing down and temps here in Nebraska in the mid 90's and 77% humidity and we are cold in the Montana .For the first time ever we hit the set point of 77 degrees in the rear of the Montana and the A/C shut off it has never done that before......Next day add on. We lowered the set point to 71 degrees.The outside temp is 87 degrees Humidity ....90%.Inside temp is 73 degrees. Unbelievable.

[kench]

Hi we also have the 2016 Montana 3790RD With Legacy Edition option. Using the quiet cool a/c on 30 amp we were only able to reduce the room temperature from 90 degrees to 84 in about 4 hours. Dealer says its fine. I guess its fine.

Ken & Janette

[pammer]

We just got our 2016 3721RL home yesterday. We are in New Mexico and yesterday was in the high 90's here. We could not get that 5th wheel cooled down. I am also very disappointed with the "Quiet Cool" AC. I will pass this thread along to the "boss" and have him check the vents for debris and take some of the vents out to see if that helps with air flow.

I love this forum. So much useful information here.

[Jimmer]

We have a 2014 3582RL. We have had the same complaint. If it is in the 90s we usually get it down to about 80-83. We have done all of the suggestions, we cleaned out the the return air vents, lots of sawdust and the insulation was collapsed. We repaired that and that made a big difference. When we are in hot weather we make sure we get the Air conditioner going early in the morning. That seems to work pretty good. We are going to try picking up insulation for the windows and cover all of the vents. We are also going to replace the vents so the air goes downward. My buddy took out his vents and he said that made a big difference. The bedroom air conditioner works great, it get so cold that you almost need a coat. We also use a fan to push that cold air out to the living room. It is too bad they went to the vented air did not have a higher speed fan to push the air out.

[rickbecker]

As your front AC seems to be cooling well, then solving the flow problem will go a long way toward helping. Make sure you have pulled the plastic ducts completely out and trimmed the excess off of the vent that protrudes up into the duct - I think I took about 3/4 inch off of mine. Then change out the air flow covers. While you have the ducts pulled out, use a mirror and flash light to see if you have a collapsed duct. I have good flow from all ducts with either front or back unit running. Got ours from what you describe to actually working pretty good.

[Golfmedik]

We just returned from trips to Wisconsin and the lake about an hour from here. The AC units did ok as we were on 50A. The temps the last few days were in the mid to higher 90s with the humidity above 80%. The AC units did fine as the rig was in the shade most of the day and was very comfortable. However, when we got home today I found a new problem. Obviously broken welds around the pin box!!

[Golfmedik]

THERE MAY BE HEADWAY in our battle with these units. While at the dealer this morning, my service manager showed me a new kit that Forest River is sending out to dealers with customers complaining about the new "Whisper Quiet" units. I took a couple of photos of the install sheets that are below. Also included were new vents for the system as well. He said someone, somewhere is listening. What I could NOT tell was if this is made by FR or if it actually came from Dometic. I also wonder if Keystone units will be getting the same "kits"!
It is a set of vents and two new return air vents that are to be cut and installed directly under the AC unit, like where the "quick cool" feature used to be on the older style. Reportedly this is NOT a vent for air to come out of, but a return, so we'll see. Just thought I'd update you on something I've found.
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[jameswbarton]

I just bought a 2016 375FL New and it has the second AC unit installed. No slide covers and single pane windows. The AC units could only cool the coach 9 degrees below outside air temp with the unit sitting in full sun and the uit facing North and South putting morning sun on the curb side and afternoon on the driver side.
General RV the selling dealer told me the units were working fine and would not fix anything. (later I discovered General RV is the absolute worst dealer to buy anything from they are worse than camping world). When I called and emailed Keystone I got little help other than they asked me if the warranty dealer had performed the 12 point ac checkout. When I asked General RV they acted like they knew nothing about the 12 point check. After reading these posts and researching specifications from Dometic it was clear to me the issue was airflow and not the ac compressors. I pulled every ceiling vent, cut the flange insert to the proper length, cleaned the ducts and retaped the flange to duct with AC foil tape. I got a 20 degree temperature difference with none of the rotating vent louvers installed and an 18 degree difference with the 7 rotating louvers installed. It was 95 degrees outside temp, full sun, and the units running 100%. This is far better than the 9 degree initial difference. I also found sever major air intrusion leaks that need repaired. Under my two living room slides the gasket cannot seal as there is a small cable that keeps getting caught in the bottom flap seal. I am working with Dometic to see if adding 3 more ceiling vents will help. I need one more in the hallway by the back door and two more in the Kitchen living area. I am also trying to determine if my 15K btu unit is low of freon. I have a 30 degree temperature difference on the front living room 13,500 btu unit a Penguin unit, but the rear 15,000 BTU unit a Brisk Air II has only a 20 degree temperature differential from return to supply air. I have not pulled the rooftop covers to have a look around. My IR thermometer tells me I need a slide cover on the dining area slide badly. The other 3 slides are not good either measuring roof temperature but the dining is horrible. I am shopping to see if I can find some back screen window covers fr some of the worst biggest windows.

[kozzy]

I have not witnessed the issues that are all listed here, thanks god. Im sure my units can perform better. One thing I can add, that made a difference I can feel was simply removing all the air return covers and cleaning the ducts with a shop vac. I could not believe the amount of saw dust and wood shavings from the install left in there. I also removed the covers on the units themselves and vacuumed them out. Now I have not done any actual temperature readings, but I instantly felt a difference in the cool air coming out into the coach. I am curious if there might be some type of recall to fix the air flow issues?>

[rickbecker]

Seriously doubt Keystone would do any kind of recall, especially as it is not a safety related issue. One would hope that they at least monitor these forums and can address what are really quality control issues on their assembly line. I have a good friend with a new Custom Suites 38 footer with all these same problems. I had to pull his vents off to prove to him that the front and back units were in fact on a common duct system. His air flow was non existent - same issues.

Let me again say how much I appreciate this forum and the members willingness to voice and respond to problems. Thanks again to Ozz for originally starting this topic quite some time back and providing tips and solutions.

[jameswbarton]

All I get from Keystone is to take it back to a Warranty Repair Center. The Warranty Repair Centers either want to charge me for fixing it or tell me It is working as designed when it cannot cool the coach more than 9 degrees. I am now waiting for an appointment with a 3rd warranty repair dealer. Dometic is far better to work with than Keystone. My duct repair so far has gotten me up to a 18 degree differential of 75 degrees in 93 degree full sun. I also noticed the install is not to Demetic Specifications as it is one ceiling register short of minimum requirement of 4ea. 14 square inch free area registers per AC unit.

[kozzy]

I would think if it is not to specs, that would be a warrantee issue...