How old is your roof top air conditioner?

[LEWBAY500]

Got a 1978 Ambassador w/ original Magic Chief unit still going strong

Gino D

[AtomicNo13]

Original 1991 Penguin I runni g cold in my 34' in Savannah heat. Its 100 here today... Im chillin at 79 in partial sun.

[2Tex4Fun]

J Morgan-
What is the key/tricks to keeping your Airstream so cool?? Out 13,000 in our 25' doesn't seem to cool as much as we would like. Thank you-
Victoria

[e5earley]

Original 69 Armstrong in mine. Rebuilt condensate drain pan and replaced fan motor. Thermostat is acting up a bit so I'm looking for a replacement. Still cooling strong.

[Gene]

Nine years. A couple of weeks ago it was well up in the 90's where we were and the A/C in the sun brought the temp down 21˚. It seems that it worked better in the past. I know the standard for an RV A/C is a 20˚ difference, but I believe it used to do better. Shade, awnings and keeping it on all day will bring the temp lower after a while.

A trick I learned from Bob Cross was after driving in the sun, the inside of the trailer is really hot. Turn on the A/C and set the thermostat to 60˚ and it seems to bring down the temp much faster. I can think of no reason that would work, but it seems to.

An A/C is just a refrigerator and the technology is very old by now. They can make these things able to last lifetimes and for not much more money, but they don't. Buy a fridge for your house and every salesman tells you they only last 10 years. How long the newer A/C's last is still being determined, but I hope it is better than a home fridge. Same for the trailer fridge too.

Gene

[Air83]

I called Holiday World in Katy, Texas on July 11th to get my 33 year old Coleman a/c serviced or replaced. Everything was going good until I told them I had a 1983 Airstream. Once they found out I did not buy my AS from them, they could not touch my trailer.
I guess they can sell AS but they do not want to work on them… I will remember this when I go to buy my new one.

[alantbird]

All the AS A/c units I had from 64 to 79 (10) had the orig a/c and it worked great! I suggest you give it good cleaning on both coils in and out and while your up there oil the fan motor. The one I had to replace , I got a new carrier and popped it in myself in one afternoon.

[68 TWind]

My AC is the original Armstrong and it is 48 years old and still works great. The motor has been replaced by a PO and I replaces the on/off switch and the transformer.

[ole81]

Our 1981 Excella II has its original unit. It is noisy but still cooling OK.
Just keeping our fingers crossed.

[J. Morgan]

What if the air conditioners in Airstreams really are not that awfully loud, but the interiors of Airstreams, (new and old alike), absorb very little sound, and reflect a lot of sound?

#FoodForThought
#JustSayin...


Gradiens super tenui glacie.

[J. Morgan]

Originally Posted by 2Tex4Fun

J Morgan-

What is the key/tricks to keeping your Airstream so cool?? Out 13,000 in our 25' doesn't seem to cool as much as we would like. Thank you-

Victoria

See post #18!

Much Grace,

J. Morgan


Gradiens super tenui glacie.

[J. Morgan]

What if what we like most about our Airstreams make them very difficult to cool?

The conduction of the aluminum skin, trusses, and inner skin is often cited as a cooling issue, but the coveted shiny skin itself is not often cited.

The aluminum skin gets VERY hot in direct sun, and not just very hot, but very, very hot. Like to the point where a person can see a trace of steam rise from the surface when sprayed with water on a hot sunshiny day.

A person would think that a very reflective surface would reflect most of the heat away, but that aint so.

Our air conditioners would have a much easier time if our trailers were painted a lighterish color.

I have to think that our friends with Argosy trailers fare better in the summer....


Gradiens super tenui glacie.

[dennis3751]

We have a 10 year old Dometic Penguin on our trailer. When I changed out the original plastic pan to the cup drains last year the sound level in the trailer was much less obnoxious. I think the foam gaskets helped to "decouple" the AC from the trailer so less sound is transmitted to the trailer.
Dennis

[blkmagikca]

The original Coleman died while I was having my AS serviced at JC 4 years ago. Was replaced with a Dometic.

[ijustlee]

The Armstrong unit on my '73 is still working well but I had to fiberglass over the shroud and paint it because the sun was dissolving it. The condenser airflow exhausts straight up out of my year and that allows leaves and other debris fall into the grill, a slight design defect that was corrected a year or two later. The unit will probably run for a long time to come as I don't use it much. There is really no set lifespan for an AC unit, it sort of involves a bit of luck as far as I can tell. Just keep the airflow free, the voltage up and don't short cycle the compressor and they can last a long time.

[CCGAL]

Our A/C unit is an Emerson, and it appears to be the original from 1988. (We have an 88 front kitchen, single door "squarestream" Argosy.) It does a fairly decent job except when the outside heat is over 100 degrees. It's not super noisy, but the thermostat has failed, so now we have to turn it on and off with the wall switch that turns the A/C off when the circuit for the Microwave is on.

We've been wondering if replacing it would be our best bet, but before we do that we hope to add one for the bedroom - there's a ceiling vent that we think we can use to install a second one.

[Jacob D]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

What if what we like most about our Airstreams make them very difficult to cool?

The conduction of the aluminum skin, trusses, and inner skin is often cited as a cooling issue, but the coveted shiny skin itself is not often cited.

The aluminum skin gets VERY hot in direct sun, and not just very hot, but very, very hot. Like to the point where a person can see a trace of steam rise from the surface when sprayed with water on a hot sunshiny day.

A person would think that a very reflective surface would reflect most of the heat away, but that aint so.

Our air conditioners would have a much easier time if our trailers were painted a lighterish color.

I have to think that our friends with Argosy trailers fare better in the summer....


Gradiens super tenui glacie.

Newer A/Ss have some sort of white coating on the roof which apparently does a better job reflecting heat than the shiny aluminum. There is a thread on this Forum regarding this subject that discusses the use by some posters of white roof coatings they claim substantially reduces the heat load inside their A/Ss. One I recall was called "Buskote" if I've spelled it right. My off season project will be to try that on my '67 which still has the original operating Armstrong on the roof which needs a little help though it runs well..

[Stephenssg]

Originally Posted by cdufault

What the maximum life expectancy is for a roof top air conditioner? The A/C in my 1977 Argosy 28 MH blows about 20 degrees cooler than outside temp. My local Camping World said a new A/C wouldn't cool much better (but I suspect replacing my AC was too much work.)


As far as I can tell I have an original roof top air conditioner on my 1977 Argosy 28 MH. The shroud has the same beltline trim as the motorhome, and the inside roof control matches the ceiling finish.

The shroud is still in tact and doesn't seem too brittle although I've painted it to provide some sun protection.

I'm just curious if there are older air-conditioners still in the service among air forum members.

I know it's been a couple of years since you posted your note about your Argosy A/C unit, but I'm curious whether you decided to stick with what you had, or if you replaced the unit. I'm also wondering what kind of generator you're using and how well it works with keeping the a/c going. We have a '77 Argosy 28', and we're looking to replace the generator. We also have the original Armstrong A/C.

[J. Morgan]

I run my 72 Armstrong unit on a Yamaha EF 2400 ISHC.