Airconditioner 28' CCD International 2005

[drfredwb]

Sweating to death in Boise

I am in Boise with my 2005 International 28 foot sweating to death. I have been on the forum and others are having the same problem. Obviously Airstram undersized the air conditioner units on these trailers.

This is totally intolerable. I have to leave where I am supposed to be and head for the mountains in order not to cook. I have to loose RV park fees and spend extra gas to get out of here.

This really sucks. You think you buy the best travel trailer in the country and you cannot even get the temp below 85. I have had a number of trailers and motor homes. None of them had this problem. Extremely disappointing!!!!

Makes me want to get ride of this oven and trade it in ASAP for a properly engineered unit manufactured by a professional RV company that truly cares about its quality control.

Airstream should recall these units.

[jimmickle]

Have you checked with Airstream factory or a knowledgable AC technition. Perhaps your unit is not working up to par. If it is, try and get Airstream to pay for a larger unit. A agree that at the price of an Airstream, you should be able to stay cool.

[smily]

Something wrong for sure, the only sweating should be your windows from condensate of cold AC.

Especially at night time, these things can be like refrigerators
I assume you have reviewed owners manual

[Silvertwinkie]

If you have a 13.5k unit, they have been known to not do a good job cooling, particularly in full sun or extreme high outside temps. These units do struggle. It's one of the reasons I upgraded to the 15k unit when we moved up from the Bambi to the Safari SS. We had an 11k unit in the Bambi and though it didn't get as bad as you describe, it too struggled in full sun with high temps. From what I understand this isn't just an Airstream issue totally, IMHO. If I recall the news, I seem to recall certain areas out west are well into the hundred degree range which might be a struggle for any A/C too which is something to consider.

I am not sure why the 15k unit is not standard on any coach larger than 22'. As has been joked about in another thread, with the 15k unit, in full sun and temps in the 90s, I can set the A/C unit in the Safari on the hang meat setting and darn near see my breath.

[wingfoot321]

I would take it to an rv dealer and have them put a temperature gauge on the output air side. I don't know what the number is but, it will be a very definite temperature range if it is operating correctly. I would call Airstream then althought I doubt they provide the warranty on the unit. I assume it is a Dometic.
You can buy temperature gauges at auto parts houses for this job and I would think a dealer would tell you what the acceptable temp range should be if you don't want to hook up and go hunting an rv dealer.

My 29ft has an old Coleman and it cooled us at the international at 94degrees, although the front of trailer is cooler than back of trailer.

[Silvertwinkie]

Given that it's a 2005, Airstream will honor and service any device in the coach that was installed by the factory under the Airstream warranty. They will in turn take it up with the correct builder of the quirky device if not an Airstream built device. Technically, any Airstream authorized service center dealership could also deal with the issue, but as we all know the range of quality at dealerships can vary. Additionally, any Dometic service center could too, but again, quality of service here too could vary.

I see that you're from MO, I've heard great things about Bill Thomas (I think that's the dealer's name), but that may be of little help for you out west where you are....but perhaps others here may know of either a good Airstream service center or Dometic service center where you are now.

[redeagle313]

We have an '05 28' International. We just returned from six days at two state parks in southern Indiana. The last three days we were in a full afternoon sun site. Average daily high temperatures were about 90 degrees. The 13,500 AC on our unit had no trouble keeping us cool. We never took it off of the low setting. (although we do have the optional awning package and we did have all three awnings deployed) I would suspect you have some sort of problem with the AC unit on your unit.

[Pahaska]

My Classic 28 stays comfortable at near 100 degrees with a 13.5 unit. It gets almost too cool on the couch since the AC is well forward and my wife is always complaining about being cold. I do use a Fantastic "Endless Breeze" 12v fan to get more air flow back in the bedroom.

With the 13.5 unit, it does take a while to cool the unit down at near 100 degrees, but the lowered humidity very quickly makes the interior comfortable. I dio have the roadside and rear awnings which helps a heap, especially with the two big windows on the road side.

[jcanavera]

As I documented in other threads of the forum, we struggled with this on our '01 27' Safari. Bill Thomas our dealer checked it out, Jackson Center checked it out, and I did too. Based on return air temps and the output, the temperature spread was within specificiations as verified with Dometic tech support. I just know that when the temps. hit 100 in full sun, the 13.5 Penguin could only hold to about 86. This was after a cold start so we weren't trying to cool down a hot trailer.

Quite honestly I never went out in weather like that in full sun again. Shade was a different story and I did get out into the upper 90's a few times in shade and the Penguin provided adequate cooling. I just consider it really is undersized when you deal with high heat and full sun conditions.

That's why I upgraded to the 15K unit on my Classic.

Jack

[kl8ton]

But its a dry heat, right? :-)

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by kl8ton

But its a dry heat, right? :-)

I've had dry and humid heat...in both cases the 15k Penguin exceeded my expectations.

[Tin Hut]

When we ordered our 28' CCD we upgraded to the 15k unit with the remote thermostat. I was concerned with the Texas heat coming through the vista view windows and two skylights as well. Ours does a good job keeping it cool & we also had awnings on both sides as well which helps.

[Devoman]

I was wondering about if my 11.5 A/C will do the job for my 25'SS as well.(I live in in Florida so it can get pretty hot here.)
Even though this Airstream is a new unit I would be happy to set it up with a 15 if it works a lot better.

[Lee Pace]

I would insist the factory make this right. Our 69 Overlander which is 27' has always done an awesome job of cooling. Yours should not have this problem.

Lee Pace
WBCCI 7287
Greenville, Tx

[wahoonc]

Devoman,
Airstreams in general are notorious to try a cool properly I vote for brute BTU's you won't go wrong with a bigger unit. I live in NC and the 13.5 that is installed in my unit won't keep up in the 90+ degrees in full sun. Eventually I will have to upgrade and at that time it will be the biggest unit that will fit.

Aaron

[jcanavera]

I'm a little shocked that an 11.5 is in your unit. I would think that may be an installation error. I remember in 2001 Airstream told me that some 27' Safaris went off the line incorrectly with the 11.5 unit installed. If you find that this is the situation with your trailer, I'd advise you to consider the 15K unit. Especially if you stay south.

Jack

[2airishuman]

hi jack and others.....

it's not a error....devo has an '05 25 safari ss (even though this is the international sub forum}....

only the 28 safaris get the 13.5k a/c.

the 22/25 safaris all have the 11k.

the classic 25 gets a 13.5k and the international/ccds down to 22 get the 13.5k.

so the interior volume for the 25 safari will put the 11.5 to the test.....
especially if the skylight is added...and with 3 warm blooded occupants....

the issues with upgrading now that he owns the coach...are cost for the 13.5 or 15k unit and does the breaker need upgrading...will the wiring handle the bigger unit.

sure i'd want more cooling.

however, having replaced the a/c unit on a brand new trailer TWICE during the first 4 months of ownership.....it isn't a simple issue.

i would only trust the factory or a VERY experienced dealer to do the work...

mine was screwed up (with leaks and other awful issues) twice by "airstream factory trained" certified service centers at a/s dealers.......blah blah...

finally i made a trip to ohio just to have the a/c re installed correctly on the 3rd effort ....a/s covered the work....but travel and time was on my dime....

i'd use it as is, for a season before doing this work....and i would only trust the factory...or 3-4 of the most experienced dealers.....

cheers
2air'

[Devoman]

I was thinking the same thing about having the factory itself do the job if possible.Seems they would have the right person to do this being that they did this specific job more than any of the dealers.
Bad part is...I have the sun roof and I realized it will work the A/C unit pretty hard.I will find out this summer but the good news is that I have to work alot during the summer months so I wont really be using the Airstream.When I go back to St.Augustine though I will probably get to use it once or twice but there are a lot of trees so no worries there also.If it really is a problem it will more than likely be the next year or so before I get one.It just depends on how I use it if any during the summer.

[wheel interested]

Just a thought but when I was in Florida, since I don't have a 15,000 btu unit or full awning package, I put the reflectix type foil bubble wrap cut to fit between the sky light and the pleated shade as well as in the vista views on the sunny side and seems to make a good difference. And conversely use that method in the extreme cold. I have made a bias tape edged cover with velcro tabs for the Fantastic vents too that also doubles to blackout light in rest stops.