2015 Ducted A/C Question (need help)

[usachasen]

Good morning,

I am a first time Airstream owner. I recently purchased a pre-owned 2015 25RB International Signature. It was delivered to my property a few months ago and has been sitting. After some time, it is time to get the thing ready to hit the road and start Air-streaming.

I have a 3000 Honda Generator that I planned on using for the thing, especially to run the A/C. The trailer just has the single A/C unit, and I have a 30 AMP cable running to the generator with an adapter.

I tested the A/C for the first time yesterday. I have nothing to compare it to, but it seems very weak to me. The air blows pretty cold, so temperature is not the problem, but there is hardly and air that blows out of the vents. I have the ducted air system. It blows a little better in the rear bedroom and in the bathroom, but the front kitchen area is a joke. When you put your hand up to it you can barley feel any air.

Last thing I will say is that if I change the fan speed from low, med, high, I can hear the difference in the unit on the roof, but still the same amount of air leaves the vents.

Is this normal?

Is it possible the generator is not powerful enough?

Could this be a clogged air filter? (the indicator symbol for that on the thermostat is not on)

Is there a valve somewhere I do not know about?

Do you think this problem would go away if I was connected to shore power at a campground?


Thank you all in advance. Have a great day.

[BayouBiker]

The airflow has nothing to do with the generator or power, don't worry about that. Each vent has adjustable dampers in them so take a look at how those work. the damper cuts off half the area so fully open they are still half closed. With one AC airflow is what most would describe as a bit weak. The only filter is the screen over the inlet. They may be plugged. they should have a fiber second screen inside so you have to unsrew it to clean the fiber electrostatic filter. If it is just the screen, the coils may be partially plugged, you can see if they are clean with a flashlight once you remove the inlet screen. You only need to remove one, you can clean the other with one removed.

With full flow the temperature difference should be 20 degrees inlet to outlet.

Good luck.

[usachasen]

Hey Brian thank you for the reply. When you say each vent has adjustable dampers in them, where do I find this? Do I remove each vent screen, or is this adjustment done somewhere else? Thank you, sir.

[turk123]

This ongoing thread might be of value!

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f42...ac-211344.html

[BayouBiker]

Indeed the vents and dampers are well described in that thread.

[Captn.Ken]

I had the same experience and was glad too see so much information about this problem on this forum. After removal of the vent dampers I have so much more air flow. The vent damper design is just not effective. It reduces the airflow by more than half. There are many photos on this forum that show the modified vents some owners are using, and how they made them.

[Oregon Ms]

I have a 25' 2015fb Interstate. The dampers from the factory are not adjustable, that came in 2016. We are slowly converting the non-adjustable dampers to adjustable as we can pick them up from parts. 2015 was the first year that ducted AC/heat pump, came available.

I have found that it takes a little while longer to cool things off when the rig is hot than it would from a standard AC blowing straight into the trailer. The cool air has to cool off the ducts first before it blows in cool to you. It doesn't take that long.

[Doc Foster]

We have a 2015 International. Remove the rectangular intake vents and wash the thin foam filters inside.. we have to do this frequently and it does make a difference in flow.

[silverlabs]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

The airflow has nothing to do with the generator or power, don't worry about that. Each vent has adjustable dampers in them so take a look at how those work. the damper cuts off half the area so fully open they are still half closed. With one AC airflow is what most would describe as a bit weak. The only filter is the screen over the inlet. They may be plugged. they should have a fiber second screen inside so you have to unsrew it to clean the fiber electrostatic filter. If it is just the screen, the coils may be partially plugged, you can see if they are clean with a flashlight once you remove the inlet screen. You only need to remove one, you can clean the other with one removed.

With full flow the temperature difference should be 20 degrees inlet to outlet.

Good luck.

The 15's did not have the adjustable vents/dampers. They came with just an open screen type vent. Early on in 15 after the release of the ducted system, there were cases of some clogs and low airflow in the front of the trailers. I can't remember the exact issue but some blockage was in the system.

On mine I took off the vent covers and did in fact get some foam scraps out of the ducts which improved flow. I think there were some who found the ducts to be partially collapsed as well. Just as a note, I changed several of my screens to the adjustable ones and have since gotten rid of them. They reduced the airflow too much. I have returned all to the original open screen vents as originally came on the 2015's. Good luck in solving your issue. You might search other threads on this (maybe the one noted above addresses it) or consider fine JC a call.

Chuck

[Seanlb]

Originally Posted by usachasen

Good morning,

I am a first time Airstream owner. I recently purchased a pre-owned 2015 25RB International Signature. It was delivered to my property a few months ago and has been sitting. After some time, it is time to get the thing ready to hit the road and start Air-streaming.

I have a 3000 Honda Generator that I planned on using for the thing, especially to run the A/C. The trailer just has the single A/C unit, and I have a 30 AMP cable running to the generator with an adapter.

I tested the A/C for the first time yesterday. I have nothing to compare it to, but it seems very weak to me. The air blows pretty cold, so temperature is not the problem, but there is hardly and air that blows out of the vents. I have the ducted air system. It blows a little better in the rear bedroom and in the bathroom, but the front kitchen area is a joke. When you put your hand up to it you can barley feel any air.

Last thing I will say is that if I change the fan speed from low, med, high, I can hear the difference in the unit on the roof, but still the same amount of air leaves the vents.

Is this normal?

Is it possible the generator is not powerful enough?

Could this be a clogged air filter? (the indicator symbol for that on the thermostat is not on)

Is there a valve somewhere I do not know about?

Do you think this problem would go away if I was connected to shore power at a campground?


Thank you all in advance. Have a great day.

This has been an ongoing issue since the ducted ac system was introduced.

The early screen type registers actually perform better than the current directional diffusers. So I would definitely hold onto those because everyone here wants a set and the factory isn’t willing to make them available again.

There is also a common issue with the duct insulation lining peeling off and clogging the system — much of it is extremely difficult to access for a repair and the ac commonly needs to be removed from the roof to fix blockages that are too far from the diffuser openings.

There is another thread about this problem and other members have some interesting workaround solutions.

But unfortunately, airstream really does a subpar job of insulating these coaches and if it gets hot enough in the sun then sooner or later your air conditioner will not be able to handle the heat load.

I created some mounting adapter collars for 6” spot diffusers — the performance increase was substantial. However, even with the open jet nozzles it is impossible to keep the interior temperature in the 70’s when it crosses 105 degrees outside.