We replaced our two 13500 Roof AC units with 15000 btu heat pumps and the dash air works well on our Patriot crica 1997. It takes all three on the Florida Sun 95 degree plus sunny days with 100% humidity.

You may be due for a dash air service.  Wonder why you can only run your basement AC on low with the generator.

I'm wondering about that also - the generator should fully power the house AC with no trouble, and that's how a lot of folks make for a comfortable drive in hot weather.  And though the dash AC can be relatively weak, it should provide some relief.  Many BAC members report various problems with the hardware that facilitates dash AC, so you might want to have it checked out.  Loose fan wires, bad fan motor, bad switches or wiring or fan in the dash, poor coolant flow, or even just plugged or badly bent radiator fins among other problems could be affecting your dash air.

For example, the frame that holds the AC radiator fan on our coach literally fell off when the rig was less than a year old.  I just happened to notice it while doing daily "rounds" (inspection);  all that held the fan and its frame was the louvered access door and the fan's wiring.  We were on the road at the time, but found a dealer whose technician and I configured a better frame mount (at Monaco's expense) that won't allow the fan to go anywhere, and keeps it squarely in front of it's radiator where it belongs.

You shouldn't be that uncomfortable in your coach, so I'd have both the dash AC and the house AC checked.  And how long has it been since your generator was serviced?

-Joel

  

Our generator runs both rooftop A/C's (15000). This works well till the mid to high 90's. Then we also use the dash air which works well also. Additionally, with the generator on we run a 12" oscilating fan which moves the air. Next week we will be traveling Las Vegas and into CA's central valley. Out comes the the squirt bottles. A wet T-shirt with a liitle cold air and a fan works wonders.

Like others have said, your dash air should be working better than you described and your generator should run your A/C at full power. Something wrong there.

ken 2007 Contessa

Rob,
I have a 2000 Marquis (same basement A/C AND 10k Generator as your coach) and the generator will run both of the compressors on the basement A/C unit without any problem. There should be no reason for your basement A/C to operate any differently on the generator than on shore power if it is properly wired.

My dash air keeps me comfortable into the mid nineties without the basement A/C running, and being a fulltimer, I try to stay out of temperatures that high and higher. If your dash A/C is considered a joke, you need to have it serviced, because it should provide reasonable comfort to the driver and passenger seating area, but not any further back in the coach.

The 134A systems (dash air) in all coaches have a tendency to loose refrigerant over time. Most coach dash A/C units will need to be serviced at least once every two to five years and have a partial charge added to keep the system operating at maximum efficiency.

Gerald

How can the basement A/C be serviced now that the company in Texas that made the unit has gone bankrupt? We don't get any cold air when we run our A/C on low, only on high, so we need service.

I am surprised by the number of coaches with this problem. My 03 Monterey has always kept me comfortable and when the temp gets above 90 I hang a cloth curtain between the kitchen and bathroom. Believe me, being from Oklahoma I have traveled in temps above 100 degrees numerous times without starting the generator. Guess I got lucky when I bought my MONTY. The dash air serves me very well.

We just made a round trip - Fort Worth to San Antonio - with temps up to 104 during the day. The dash air had recently been serviced and performed well. It doesn't handle the mid-day sun coming through the windshield. Otherwise I'd just call it adequate under normal circumstances.

The basement air has never been adequate to the heat of Texas in the summer. That seems odd when the unit is, or was, built in Fort Worth.

Last year technicians discovered a hole in the refrigerant coil and SCC Frigette, the manufacturer, built a totally new basement unit for us. It performed the same as the original unit. Driving during the heat of the day is not possible. It blows the circuit breaker, one of two 20 amp breakers, continually. We have installed new breakers with no change in the result.

I would appreciate any helpful suggestions. Everything else in our 2002 Jasper is a delight.

Bob and Wanda Lindgren

I cannot comment on whether or not the newly built and installed unit is properly designed for the application or not but here are some things you could take a look at.

First, are the breakers being used HVAC types which tolerate higher starting current without tripping?  I would consider exchanging the air conditioner breaker (black) wires for the air conditioner circuits just to be sure that the problem transfers from one breaker to the other. A breaker to buss contact problem can cause this tripping issue for instance and if you change the breaker out it will continue. I had that problem in my last coach.

I would get an AC amp probe (clamps around the black wire and uses the magnetic field) and measure the starting and steady state current for each air conditioner circuit at the breaker. They should be very close to each other. The starting current should typically be less than 20 amps and steady state current should be between 12 and 17 amps depending on the outside temperature and the level of freon charge. If you find the current level for the circuit that trips is higher than the other compressor load circuit, I would see how the unit was charged with freon and would suspect that there may be a freon overcharge condition. A weighted charge of freon is the proper way to set up this unit but the folks that built the unit would have to calculate that value for the component configuration that they built. They may have other technigues for setting up the charge level of freon.

Bottom line, if one compressor is pulling appreciably more current than the other which results in the breaker going beyond rating then they should trouble shoot the problem and correct it.

Regards Ed

Mary,
if you find anything out,especially how to access the evaporator coils thru the basement would you please let me know.
   Thanks,  Jeremy

Beaver Coach Sales and Service removed the air conditioning unit from the basement and had it rebuilt by a residential A/C repair company. In our coach the A/C unit is on the driver's side, forward and partially behind the utility compartment. It took the technician some time to remove and replace the unit. It worked last fall and we have not needed A/C since.  

Mary,
  Thanks for the info. I need to call Beaver Coach Sales.