TOPIC: Poor roof AC performance

It's finally getting hot here in Colorado and I'm not too impressed with my roof AC performance in my 2018 3921GK. I have the two factory installed Coleman Mach roof AC units. Today the outside ambient temperatures got into mid 90's. I had both of my roof AC units set to 77 degrees. At the hottest part of the afternoon my rear unit (kitchen/living room) could not maintain the temperature and the only held to 80 degrees hence the AC unit never shut off. The front unit (bedroom and bath deck) held the 77 degrees fine but I'm guessing because the space is smaller. My coach sits in my full time spot in an orientation that allows the sun to hit the passenger side of the coach and of course the roof. I did close all the blinds on the passenger side of the coach and put out my awning but the rear AC could still not maintain a set of 77 degrees at the thermostat.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to balance the front/rear units or do I need to consider a third roof air unit to sufficiently cool the kitchen side of my coach? Thank you!

There should be a whole lotta help here on this subject. Do a search on the front cap insulation there are a couple of posts that will help a bunch as far as getting the front closet taken care of.

Then do a search on the air conditioning vents being a 2018 not sure if the factory corrected the way they install the supply line vents but if they did not this is a great place to start. Pull the outer ring on the incoming vent and under that there are three screws take the rest of the vent out and check to see what the clearance is between the top of the the vent piece you took out and the actual measurement from to the roof to the top of the supply line is. You will find that there is very little room for the cold air to get into the coach. I did this last Summer 1st year with the coach and it made a huge difference after I trimmed the vents using my dremmel with a cut off tool.

There are many things that I still need to check out and correct concerning the air system the design and build of this system well.... it is a shame that the RV industry is only interested in collecting your money by putting out a pretty product and the fact that they could careless about the customer once it is sold. However it is not only your Redwood effected by this mentality it is every manufacturer out there. The best part is forums like this can help you make your coach the best it can be with a little effort and ingenuity. One of those cheap extension cameras that you can get into areas that you cannot see can come in handy for finding many things that might be a problem you can easily fix without loosing your rig to a service department for months on end. good luck and have fun getting intimate with all the nooks a crannies of your new home.

Have you contacted the dealer you purchased your Redwood from or have you contacted customer service?

No I haven't contacted them yet. Just discovered the issue yesterday. I've also discovered how much of a pain in the butt it is to have service done when you are a full timer in your coach.

TomGina06 wrote: There should be a whole lotta help here on this subject. Do a search on the front cap insulation there are a couple of posts that will help a bunch as far as getting the front closet taken care of.

Then do a search on the air conditioning vents being a 2018 not sure if the factory corrected the way they install the supply line vents but if they did not this is a great place to start. Pull the outer ring on the incoming vent and under that there are three screws take the rest of the vent out and check to see what the clearance is between the top of the the vent piece you took out and the actual measurement from to the roof to the top of the supply line is. You will find that there is very little room for the cold air to get into the coach. I did this last Summer 1st year with the coach and it made a huge difference after I trimmed the vents using my dremmel with a cut off tool.

There are many things that I still need to check out and correct concerning the air system the design and build of this system well.... it is a shame that the RV industry is only interested in collecting your money by putting out a pretty product and the fact that they could careless about the customer once it is sold. However it is not only your Redwood effected by this mentality it is every manufacturer out there. The best part is forums like this can help you make your coach the best it can be with a little effort and ingenuity. One of those cheap extension cameras that you can get into areas that you cannot see can come in handy for finding many things that might be a problem you can easily fix without loosing your rig to a service department for months on end. good luck and have fun getting intimate with all the nooks a crannies of your new home.

Thanks Tom and Gina. Thanks for your response and suggestions. I'll do a bit of inspecting of my system to see if I can see any of these issues. I'll also definitely do a bit more research on the forums regarding my AC problem. I definitely understand the value of these forums and the knowledge and experience of other other owners as they have discovered issues and fixes for various problems.

It is indeed frustrating that a coach can't be delivered as designed and tested (hopefully design and testing occurs) and we must deal with quality issues on a brand new unit right after delivery.

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I did many modifications and improvements to our 2 A/C units on our Redwood 38FL.
Sure hope the factory has picked up on some of the A/C issues and addressed them.
I improved the flow by cutting down the collars, opening up the returns and placing spacers to hold up the bubble foil that was falling down, sealing up under the A/C units where the foam came out between the supply and return, adding the correct number of supply registers that the A/C manufacturer recommends, correcting the insulation in the front cap and more.
With all the changes and improvements our A/C units actually work pretty well in the hot summer heat.

Thank you so much GipC. I actually bought some Reflectix and cut a piece and placed it inside the dining room window. It worked wonders to cut the heat but then I read about the potential damage to dual pane windows. There seems to be differing opinions on if the windows can actually be damaged but I don't think I want to take a chance.

www.forestriverforums.com/forums/f97/ref...nd-glass-119243.html

Anyway, your exterior Reflectix installation looks pretty clean but I'm not sure my RV resort would allow it asthetically. I did find this product that I'm going to call about tomorrow. Since we have frameless windows I think the 3M adhesive fasteners would mount directly to the glass and I could cut the fabric the exact same size as the glass and it would look very clean.

ezsnapdirect.com/products/rv-shades/

I don't know if these would cut the heat as well as the Reflectix but I did have mesh window covers when I had my Class A motorhome and they did cut the heat and UV significantly and I could still see outside.

Thanks again for your help! Paul

We had custom made solar screens made for our last SOB & they made a huge difference in helping keep it cooler with only single pane windows and you could still see out.
My DW would NEVER go for the reflex covering all the windows regardless how much it might help.

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Recent topic over on RV.net . -
OK so wanted to bring all up to speed on my AC issue. So I called a local RV service guy, who came to my place and serviced my AC.

SO he says that units coming from factory with a "light charge" is not uncommon. It is also very easy to diagnose. He puts a multimeter on the compressor to measure amps. Mine should be pulling 13.3; it was pulling 9.

He used a line tap that resembled what we use to use to tap a water line to get water to an ice maker, only higher quality. Put some 410 in it, and it was blowing 54 degrees in no time. No cutting, no braising.

Warrantied for a year, $135 and $50 was him coming to me. He said dealers don't advertise this as an option, and many AC's get replaced when all they need is a bit more Freon.

Which brings me to ask the question: other than AC sales...why are RV systems sealed, and not serviceable like our cars and homes???

and another response -

Your unit may be under recall. Dometic had a bad run in late 2014, most installed in 2015. Call Dometic with model number and serial number to check. They sent a mobile tech to replace my 15K on our 2015 Sierra in June of 2016, RV was out of warranty. They also gave me a 5 year extended warranty on our 13.5k as it was under the recall but still working great.


THOUGHTS ????

Joe that's very interesting about the "light charge". Definitely something worth looking into. My coach was purchased last year in August so I could try and see if I could get this addressed under warranty. It's just a damn hassle when you are a full timer unless Redwood allows it do be done on a mobile service call. They did cover some of the mobile cost when my furnace control board tanked early this spring.

My AC units are Coleman Mach units and not Dometic so the recall doesn't apply to me.

I bit the bullet an purchased the materials to apply the EzSnap window coverings on all my windows. Everything was less than $500 and I think these will work well. I'm planning on installing the adhesive snaps directly on the glass of my frameless windows which will allow full function of my windows without removing the shade plus you can see through them from the inside. I'll report back on how well they work.

ezsnapdirect.com/products/rv-shades/

I pulled my Ac covers off last Friday and went to tighten the mounting bolts that keeps the gasket compressed so they don't leak. Well I could not tighten the bolts because RW didn't install them. I could see that I had rain water going in the opening in the roof. Called Keystone sent Pics and even though I am out of warranty by 6 months the are going to do all the repairs because it falls under poor workmanship. scheduled for repairs on July 16 . So maybe you might want to check and see if your mounting bolts are missing.

Great to see Redwood standing by the product, regardless of warranty, when their workmanship is less than stellar.

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The difference being, as your cruising down the highway 65-70 mph & the insulation falls out of your front cap it's not going through someone's windshield, but a 100 lb ac unit that's just sitting up there with no bolts, well the lawyers would be lined up at RW for miles.
Yes both situations are poor quality control, but my issues, your issues, & most others aren't likely to kill someone due to that poor workmanship, just your typical rv. Should we be happy with the poor quality, well apparently, as I'm reading the rv industry is having another year of record breaking sales.

Although I have yet to do any modifications to my AC System I did install exterior shades which have essentially solved the issue I was having staying cool.

www.redwoodrvowners.com/index.php?option...8&id=1997&Itemid=159

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Agree. I just had a PLASTIC AC fan blade fail. They use to make them out of metal...which would never fail. I called a mobile RV repair company to check on prices to replace the blade...$150 service call, labor (min of two hours), plus the part and their mark up! When it was all said and done, I could have almost bought a new unit. I ended up ordering another cheap replacement plastic blade (could not get it in metal). $33 and I replaced it myself. Unfortunately, most RV's are not built to last...nor are the sub-systems. It's a money pit where people make a profit hand-over-fist from RV owners. Just my opinion.

Bob

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