Such a little change - such a BIG difference!

[DutchmenSport]

We are sitting in Louisiana right now. The day time temps are now in the middle 90's. Sun is shining, and we are not parked under trees. Bottom line ... the camper is having difficulty keeping cool, both AC's running full throttle.

This camper AC's do great in 80 degree and we don't experience middle or high 90's very often, until now.

So, after several days of being uncomfortable, we found it odd that the bathroom is horribly COLD!

Our camper is a front living room, rear bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in the middle.

Rear AC is 13,500 BTU and front is 15,000 BTU AC / heat pump. Upper floor (living room) always seems warm. Bathroom freezing. We leave the bathroom door open but it does not help distribute the cold.

Both AC are on a single duct system, both running together opposite ends of the camper. So, on a whim I decided to simply block off the bathroom ceiling vent. It's the little round louvered vent that can rotate. I pulled the louvered cover off and simply place a sheet of aluminum foil over the vent cover and snapped it back in place, blocking the AC from pumping into the bathroom.

1 hour later .... bathroom is NOT freezing cold, but actually, quite comfortable. Front living room is actually getting cold now! Amazing, and really, no difference if the rear bed room.

The entire trailer is sooooo much cooler now! It's still in the middle 90's and the inside has dropped down at least 10 degrees (upper living room area) from where it was before I closed off that vent.

Amazing what one vent can, or cannot do.

 

[foldbak]

We are sitting in Louisiana right now. The day time temps are now in the middle 90's. Sun is shining, and we are not parked under trees. Bottom line ... the camper is having difficulty keeping cool, both AC's running full throttle.

This camper AC's do great in 80 degree and we don't experience middle or high 90's very often, until now.

So, after several days of being uncomfortable, we found it odd that the bathroom is horribly COLD!

Our camper is a front living room, rear bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in the middle.

Rear AC is 13,500 BTU and front is 15,000 BTU AC / heat pump. Upper floor (living room) always seems warm. Bathroom freezing. We leave the bathroom door open but it does not help distribute the cold.

Both AC are on a single duct system, both running together opposite ends of the camper. So, on a whim I decided to simply block off the bathroom ceiling vent. It's the little round louvered vent that can rotate. I pulled the louvered cover off and simply place a sheet of aluminum foil over the vent cover and snapped it back in place, blocking the AC from pumping into the bathroom.

1 hour later .... bathroom is NOT freezing cold, but actually, quite comfortable. Front living room is actually getting cold now! Amazing, and really, no difference if the rear bed room.

The entire trailer is sooooo much cooler now! It's still in the middle 90's and the inside has dropped down at least 10 degrees (upper living room area) from where it was before I closed off that vent.

Amazing what one vent can, or cannot do.

That's a great idea! I can block off the bathroom vent and gain output to LV and BR. We were in 90 deg weather in Yosemite and the AC's worked great. They ran all day but is was in the mid 70's inside.

 

[Daryles]

We installed this vent in the bathroom so you can turn it off when not needed. Fits perfectly.

THETFORD RV Camper 1.5 Flange CoolVent Deluxe Adjustable Ceiling AC Vent Polar White PN 94271 https://a.co/d/8u5Lagb

 

[Bourbon County]

The racetrack duct is a stupid idea as far as air movement, but I understand why they built it that way. If one unit is out or during low load times, one unit can theoretically condition the whole coach. Having the 2 airstreams meet head on will create the highest pressure in the duct midway between the 2 units; a lot of cases this is the bathroom which needs the least amount of air. By blocking or restricting the airflow at that point will push more air to the ends of the coach. If you can get to it, the vents closest to the entry door are some that can be throttled down quite a bit and still be comfortable and push even more air to the ends. I put an adjustable vent in my bathroom (link below), even screwed closed as far as possible there is still enough air flow for the bathroom.

Grand Design supposedly uses a figure 8 duct system so the air flow from both or all 3 units is going the same direction.

https://www.rvlocksandmore.com/Air-Port-for-Roof-A-C-4-Dia-White

 

[DutchmenSport]

Good morning!

Ran only 1 AC last night, the one in the bed room (rear of camper, 13,500 btu).

Got up this morning, the entire camper was freezing! But the bathroom was still, just comfortable.

Outside heat is now approaching the middle 80's, sun is beating down, we're still running only 1 AC (front one now, 15,000 btu) over the living room, and the entire camper is like ... 68 degrees! Stepping from outside in this Louisiana swamp weather to inside the camper is now like, experiencing the hot tub and immediately jumping into the cold tub at a Turkish bath!

My wife and I are both absolutely amazed at the difference! Why didn't I figure this out 5 years ago when the camper was brand new!

 

[lajitasgal]

We did the exact same thing. It works great! We wanted something we could open & close at will. Sometimes we want to get some cool air into the bathroom after a hot shower.

 

[scootsk]

Just want to add that I’m in the catskill mountains in NY. The temp probe (in the shade) is reading 96°. My body isn’t ready for this temperature yet. I keep the bathroom door open. That does the trick but if it’s kept closed, I could hang meat in there. Lol

 

[WaltBennett]

Went to CA (not far from Yosemite) about 8 yrs ago during the wildfires around there. Temps hit 115 and we only had one 15k btu AC. Before going, I cut Mylar bubble insulation window shades for every window and stuck them in. The single AC kept the inside to very low 80's and with fans, that worked well enough. The Mylar rolls cost less than $50 back then and were well worth it.

 

[Cbrez]

Great tip. We don’t often camp in the heat of the summer but sooner or later this tip is going to come in handy. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mikelff]

I made solar screen shades for my windows which are mounted on the outsides of the windows with heavy duty velcro type fasteners. I can still see out my windows but greatly reduces the heat from the windows. Texas summers can be brutal so I don’t camp that much in the 100 degree heat but when I do the shades are a must. I also use a 12k btu portable ac. The 5er will maintain 74 degrees during the heat of the day. In cooler months I take out the portable and A/C units cool fine.

 

[whutfles]

We had a similar issue with the heat duct in the bathroom of our Mountaineer. The duct traveled straight up from the furnace and then made a 90 degree bend towards the bedroom. The register for the bathroom sat right above that bend. We froze in the bedroom and it was so hot we couldn't sit on the stool near the register in the bathroom. I removed the rectulangular register in the bathroom and fit a piece of sheet metal with 2-90 degree bends so the air couldn't go straight up but had to make the bend towards the bathroom and whatever air wanted to then travel back over the sheet metal back to the bathroom could. It was just enough resistance to make both rooms comfortable.

When they say tested to 0 degrees, they evidently only checked for frozen pipes and didn't do the comfort test in each room.

 

[skippydo]

Fantastic.

Glad you figured out a fix that makes your rig much cooler. Yep, you are in a hot neck of the woods.

We are in the equally hot Carolinas. Being cold in our Rig is a necessity
Had to make some modifications as well. So far so good. We freeze with indoor temps around 65 indoor.
Works for us when it is 90plus outside

Your fix may help others in the same boat.

 

[Rondo]

Well at least you have a cooling duct in your bathroom. Ours is a 2013 unit and I don't think they put them in then. We have the heat duct but no A/C duct and it gets rather warm in there in the Nebraska summers. May have to remove a ceiling panel to see if they forgot to put the duct and register in.

 

[Tess-MOC]

We have a 2014 3750FL and we don't have a duct in the bathroom. Not looking forward to the hot weekend prediction for central Arkansas!

 

[Bourbon County]

Congratulations; you guys have reached enlightment! The secret to making air conditioning work is putting the right amount of conditioned air in the right place.

I see many discussions about which brand is the best; truth is they aren't that different. Outside of the housings and maybe the coils, everything else is generic made by a fairly small number of companies. The compressors, motors, blower wheels, fan blades, capacitors, valves are all generic.

Balanced air delivery is the key to efficiency in your home and RV. Any other things you do like the solar shading on windows, insulation, etc are just icing on the cake.

 

[pburger]

In my old camper I had a freezing bathroom so I 3/4 covered the vent and the air circulated to the rest of the camper better

 

[Bourbon County]

If you're pumping an overabundance of cool air into the bathroom, and you go in there and turn that big exhaust fan on for a few minutes where do you think a large portion of that air is going?