Can I hack into my heat ducts in new TT? Extra AC / heat.

[EstorilM]

I love this thing to death, but the horse shows we've been at (two in the past month since we've owned it) have been brutal heat / humidity. 95 w/ 105 heat index - Central VA, Kentucky, etc.

The TT is a 30' Springdale Summerland 2570RL with a good size slideout, but only has a 13.5k AC unit. I guess this is right about the limit before they install a 15k unit? Towards late afternoon it gets up to about 78 inside which bums me out since I thought the thing would be ice cold.

Anyways, we have a 12k BTU portable air conditioner - I just don't really want it inside the trailer. One thing I dislike about them is that the condenser air supply is at the unit, yet the condenser exhaust is vented out the hose. This creates a vacuum that most people don't think of. Generally it means that same amount of exhausted air is being sucked in from somewhere (which is HOT air!) But that's not really my concern, I just want to keep things clean and open.

I have all these lovely floor furnace vents that are connected together somewhere.. is it possible to run a supply duct tee off the furnace that I can just attach to the face of the portable unit? I can just sit it under a table or near the RV, etc. Same for the heat. If I get a semi-powerful forced air or ceramic heater, can I hook it up to the vents so that (if I ever actually go winter camping)I know the pipes are safe? It has the "arctic package" which I guess just means it has an enclosed floor.

It only has a single pass-thru storage on the front of the unit and I have ZERO clue where and of the ducting or components / tanks for the unit are located otherwise.

[EstorilM]

Watched the vids and took the cover off again (last time I just did the filter and didn't check, I figured a brand new TT would be fine still right?) NOT.

Intake side had two large (1"x4") gaps on either side of the rear side wall, plus many other small seams that weren't sealed well. Tape wasn't stuck well and was peeling everywhere.

Outlet side was even worse. There are only TWO outlets which are foam boxed channels they made out of what looks like 1/8" foam board, but both were sagging from pressure of insulation on top/bottom of them, and were pinched shut probably blocking about 20% of airflow. I'm going to actually screw them up to the plywood to squish the insulation, creating a larger "funnel" type inlet area. ALL AROUND each inlet was open, to the insulation. Some areas I had to lightly push the tape to inspect it, but basically it was just blowing into the ceiling area.

I'm going to try to widen those inlet ducts and seal the heck out of every tiny little gap on both sides of the unit. I may need some additional plastic sheet or board for the outlet areas, as foil tape on insulation doesn't sound like it'll work so well.

I'll let you know soon, but either way that's gotta help a lot. 😄

[RedRocket204]

EstorilM wrote:
The TT is ducted (is that pretty much standard?) but I pulled the vents off on the first trip and was surprised to see that a lot of the tape had pulled away from the ceiling cut-outs and was starting to flip up and block the vents. That helped a little bit.

How are the ducts run? It seems to just be an air "gap" between two panels, not a "hose" or a duct.

I understand the "better" constructed, "pricier" trailers use ducting. What I've seen on mine is since the roof to ceiling gap is small, there is no pre-fabbed ducting like what you see in houses. It seems builders create the ducting during the trailer build process. Could there be gaps in areas you can't reach? Very much could be the case but I do not know.

Once you watch those videos, you will see the main AC unit is a series of folded sheet metal put together to create the unit. The gaps between the sheet metal are what is normally not sealed very well. On mine, there was some aluminum tape used but was very sparingly used. That created the situation you'll see in the videos linked. I was losing a good amount of cooling out those gaps and on the intake side, seems it was pulling in outside hot air.

The biggest change in proper cooling on my AC unit was from sealing the main unit, not so much from better sealing on the ceiling vents. Although, I was desperate to make sure the AC was working as efficiently as possible, I tried sealing up every AC related ducting I could get to.

An additional item you could address would be changing the AC ducted vents to adjustable flow and directional vents. You probably already have direction vents.
The adjustable flow vents are available if you start searching around. This would help your situation of closing off the bedroom.

Good luck and keep us updated if the better sealing works. A roll of aluminum tape is significantly cheaper and less work than replacing the AC unit!

[EstorilM]

RedRocket - thanks, I'll check out the videos when I get home from work. The TT is ducted (is that pretty much standard?) but I pulled the vents off on the first trip and was surprised to see that a lot of the tape had pulled away from the ceiling cut-outs and was starting to flip up and block the vents. That helped a little bit.

How are the ducts run? It seems to just be an air "gap" between two panels, not a "hose" or a duct.

I'm assuming this would also make adding a second unit almost impossible as I'd need to hack into the existing ducting. It's only 30a service anyways so I don't think a second unit is gonna fly, plus if I can keep things light I'd prefer it, though I suppose my portable is almost the same weight.

Getting a 15k is probably my best bet, however isn't that only a ~10% difference? It's a 2016 so I hate just throwing away a brand new 13.5k I guess I could eventually sell it.



ALSO thanks you EVERYONE for all the good ideas on tweaking the insulation, pillows, shades, etc. Again, I'm new to this so I have yet to learn tricks like that. This floorplan has a LOT of big windows in it for the size, so I'll need to figure that out. I definitely kept the blinds down though, and also definitely realized that even with a range hood / fan, using even one propane burner almost instantly made the AC useless.

For now I'll focus on better insulation of the AC, ducting, and the install of the unit - which as people said, is probably NOT the best in the business.

During the day I also point the two front-most vents (ones in the bedroom) away from the bedroom towards the main living space. The bedroom gets warm, but no ones ever in there during the day, well except the dog..

[RedRocket204]

I posted this in another thread earlier today... just copying it here...

OP, if you haven't done this, it should be something you should look into as it only costs a little time and very little money... cheap is always good 🙂

I've also got a single AC unit on my TT and was having issues with it cooling properly. I did some research and ended up watching a few videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_GNjfFpTGU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzdQoDublzs

This is not specific to certain models, really it most likely involves roof mounted AC units. I went ahead and used aluminum ducting tape to completely seal up the main unit and also better sealed the AC registers so those didn't leak too. Tightened the four AC mounting bolts to know no air was leaking out there too.

I can't begin to tell you how much of a difference sealing up the AC unit and registers makes. We all know RV construction can be marginal at best and this also seems to be with sealing of the AC units. My TT is even on the better materials and construction side but still, the AC unit was improperly sealed. I used to have issues cooling my TT when it was in the low 90's, sometimes I could not cool the trailer below 85 degrees. As an example, we recently returned from Moab, in July, where temps reached 108 degrees. I was camped in shade but I was able to maintain a set inside TT temp of 74 degrees.

That recent trip also had us in Capitol Reef area, Glendale, UT near Zion and Glenwood Springs where daytime highs were no lower than 85 degrees and in some places mid 90's with no shade. I never had an issue maintaining an inside temp of 74 degrees.

[stickdog]

I'm with uping the AC size easier than fooling around with duct work. By the way have you checked and cleaned the topside of the AC unit it might need a good cleaning.

[darsben1]

Your size rig had a factory option for a 15,000 BTU A/C trading out to the larger unit may be the ticket

[BBFD]

kmbelt wrote:

hawkeye-08 wrote:
Some other improvements might help, sunblock window shades, reflective vent "pillows", etc that may help the unit you have work better.

The vent Pillows are the best thing you can do. I have one for my crank up vent and another that is snapped into my shower dome. Makes a WORLD of difference.

CLOSE ALL BLINDS also helps. My trailer can stay cool in 100 degree weather by doing these things.

Vent pillows do a great job and finding a way to also insulate the heat coming from the shower skylight can make a big improvement. I accidentally found that the reflective insulation piece they sell for the entry door window was the same size as the skylight on my previous TT. I just pulled out some of the screws from the frame and put the cover up and used some washers when I put the screws back in to hold it tight. Made a big difference. Velco did not hold up I found.

[janstey58]

Also, start the day with the A/C screaming cold, it will have more of a chance to keep up. And limit entry door use.

[kmbelt]

hawkeye-08 wrote:
Some other improvements might help, sunblock window shades, reflective vent "pillows", etc that may help the unit you have work better.

The vent Pillows are the best thing you can do. I have one for my crank up vent and another that is snapped into my shower dome. Makes a WORLD of difference.

CLOSE ALL BLINDS also helps. My trailer can stay cool in 100 degree weather by doing these things.

[pianotuna]

cover the windows from the outside. Park with the bedroom facing the sun. Close all the doors. Cook outdoors. Do not run the water heater.

[hawkeye-08]

Some other improvements might help, sunblock window shades, reflective vent "pillows", etc that may help the unit you have work better.

[Chris_Bryant]

The problem with using heat ducts for cold air is they will sweat, being uninsulated.

[Johno02]

Probable best just to install a 15k unit, best in addition to the one you have, if there is another roof vent opening. The Maximum you can expect is at most a 20 degree drop between the intake and the outlet. In the area you are talking about, unless you are in full shade, one 13.5 unit will not handle the load. Either get another unit, get a bigger unit, or another cold beer. These units just don't have the air handling capacity for a 30' rig. Probably OK in the shade, but in full sun, no way. Sorry, but that;s the way it is.. Notice in my sig picture, there are two 13.5 units on top, with 4" at least of roof insulation.