Low Profile second air conditioner - Montana Owners Club

Snownyet · 03-30-2008, 03:22 PM

Looking for feedback on low profile ac units for the front of our 5th wheel, Im not going to go thru another summer with 1 air conditioner struggling. It looks like the only 3 choices are carrier, duo therm and coleman. Im kinda leaning toward the carrier simply because of its advertised 7 1/2" height but Im open to sugesstions.

SlickWillie · 03-31-2008, 01:57 AM

We have the Dometic Penguin 13.5 on our Mountaineer. Pleased with it so far. I know a number of folks on here also have the Carrier units. I looked at the Carrier, but the specs are that the unit is not to be installed with the front tilted below level. Specs here. The Mountaineer has a pretty good downward slope on the front. I felt a wedge was a good place for a leak to develop. Is it going to be an issue with premature failure with the Carriers? I would think the verdict is still out on that one.

billhoover · 03-31-2008, 12:51 PM

We opted for Duo Therm...since just about every thing else is DT.

illapah · 03-31-2008, 12:56 PM

I had too much problem with the Penguin on our 2955. Maybe works fine as front AC.

I think I will go with full height and 15K when we add front AC. Not that much more $ than the 13K.

Hemlockusa · 03-31-2008, 12:57 PM

Dometic Penguin, has three year warranty and most places'carry the shroud parts if you need them. just an inch difference, but the warranty is better by a year I think.. Your profile doesn't show where you live, if you were close to me, I could get you a very good deal on a Penguin (New) you would have to put it in or have someone do it but you would save a lot...
BRANSON IS GREAT IN 2008

Later John

stiles watson · 03-31-2008, 01:46 PM

Have dealer installed Carrier. Like!! Would do it again.

Steve and Brenda · 03-31-2008, 02:49 PM

We have a 13.5K for the second AC. Wish ours was a low profile. Standard non ducted Dometic, makes too much noise for sleeping. If we do run the second unit at all, it is during the day and the main 15K unit at night which is quite adequate for the Texas summer.

Snownyet · 04-01-2008, 12:17 AM

Thanks folks, I certainly cannot do a standard height, Im just not comfortable with that much overall height of the rig, which is too bad because theres some great deals out there for them.

illapah · 04-01-2008, 03:07 PM

How much taller than the vent covers is the full height?

bncinwv · 04-01-2008, 04:44 PM

I think if you read the tolerances for the Carrier AirV at the top of page 8, it is stated that there is a 10 degree side to side tolerance as well as a 10 degree front to back tolerance. 10 degrees is a lot of leeway and I don't think (haven't measured) that any part of a Montana roof exceeds 10 degrees. Our AirV is dealer installed without any wedges.
This information as presented represents my opinion only, and any installations or selections should not be arrived at solely on behalf of this post (Sorry, got a little carried away with the disclaimer there, Ha Ha!!)
Bingo

FLSTS03 · 04-01-2008, 05:11 PM

Nancy and I will be adding a second air soon as well and since we allready have a sat dome the 2nd air reg height should't be a problem, we were more concerned about amp draw and while looking through CW I noticed a Dometic unit that drew only 10 amps(everything else was closer to 15amps). Steve

FLSTS03 · 04-01-2008, 05:18 PM

sorry was not a dometic, it was a coleman mach iii heat pump 13.5 @10.2 amps cooling--heat strips were another thing @ 16 amps . Steve

bsmeaton · 04-01-2008, 06:08 PM

FLSTS03,

Don't worry about the amp draw unless you typically only hook up to 30A. I've had this new 3400 plugged into the 50A and actually tried to overrun it. Can't happen.

SlickWillie · 04-02-2008, 12:55 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

I think if you read the tolerances for the Carrier AirV at the top of page 8, it is stated that there is a 10 degree side to side tolerance as well as a 10 degree front to back tolerance. 10 degrees is a lot of leeway and I don't think (haven't measured) that any part of a Montana roof exceeds 10 degrees. Our AirV is dealer installed without any wedges.
This information as presented represents my opinion only, and any installations or selections should not be arrived at solely on behalf of this post (Sorry, got a little carried away with the disclaimer there, Ha Ha!!)
Bingo

Bingo, I think if you'll look at the link I provided earlier, the spec for the front of the Carrier unit is Above level - 10* Below level - O*. IIRC, the front of our 303RLD is something like 7*.(I checked it, but have slept since then.) I have a neighbor with a Montana, and the front looks to have very little slope to it. I'm don't know about the 307RKD, but I suspect the Mountaineers might have a basic design.

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