Amazing A/C airflow Improvement

[concours]

Just a quick update I used a piece of 1" pipe insulation the type that is split to wrap water pipes it fits perfectly I also slid some aluminum foil insulation into the void as there is no insulation in that empty area which is 30" by 8" every little helps with the heating and cooling

[Richard Noble]

What a great hint! I just checked mine out and same problem. I used a Harbor Freight 3' video inspection camera and found the bedroom duck goes way past 3' and that each vent is losing cold air into the ceiling due to terrible taping job. I'll rectify this problem tomorrow. Thanks!

[Dave W]

I did ours this morning using that piece of sheet insulation noted above and some aluminum foil tape to seal it completely. There seems to be somewhat better cooled air flow --- or at least I want there to be more. I also have blocked one side of the louvers on the vent in the bathroom which is only about 3-4 feet away from the one in the bedroom. One of the ducts had 18 inches of deadheaded area and the other 6-8 inches.

[rbev2308]

Well after a year of fighting my AC in my Alpine, I have finally gotten some resolution. I have had a heck of a time keeping the unit under 77 degrees even when starting it off pegging the thermostat at 68 first thing in the morning. The unit would stay at 68 and by 10AM be at 72 and by 1PM be at 74 and then settle between 76-79 after 5PM all depending on outside air temps. Mainly due to two large opposing slides mainly with windows in the Alpine 3535RE. So I ran a test for air flow rate and then compared to a replacement vent I placed in one and detected a large improvement in air flow. So I spent $70 and replaced all 7 in the camper. The older installed vents have only a hair under 2" of avail airflow in the nearly 4.5 in width. The newer vents which can be closed completely, have nearly 3.75" of air flow. Ordered off Amazon but are avail several places. Just be mindful of your collar size which mine was 1.5 inches. Anyway, turned AC on this morning and it was 81 inside at 845AM. Outside temp was 83. At 4PM this afternoon, outside temp is 89 with heat index of 97 and camper is in full sun. Inside temp is 69 in living room and 68 in bedroom. The camper has never seen any temp below 74 this late in the day since I bought it...Why does Keystone find the need to restrict airflow so much. Even my HVAC buddy came by and read to make sure I was not allowing too much airflow to cause a problem back in the return to the unit..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by rbev2308

Well after a year of fighting my AC in my Alpine, I have finally gotten some resolution.....................

I had a couple of their damper version only on our Titanium and now just ordered six deluxe from here:https://www.rvupgradestore.com/

Thanks for the reminder that these 'gadgets' work well

[papi]

Thanks for the idea. I actually did it on mine and there is a big difference. I found two of the vents with no tape at all but I got it all fixed.

[Richard Noble]

Finished this mod Sat. temp was 102 and the A/C ran the inside temp down to 77. I've never had that good a drop off before. Thanks again for this hint!

[lesleyinky]

I am so glad so many people have found this helpful! We finally had a chance to take ours out last weekend since the mod and we were very please with the difference it made! The bunkroom in particular, had never cooled so well before.


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[JimQ]

I checked the vents in our Bullet and found the duct in the end vent in the rear kitchen continued past the opening. I used a piece if soft pipe insulation(3/4") about 8" long, curled it and placed it in, nice snug fit. No need to cool the void beyond! The vent in the bedroom was fine. That duct ended at the vent opening. Thank you for sharing with everyone this great tip. Jim

[Dr Bobs Patient]

I'm a new owner of a Cougar 333MKS 5er and found that the AC was having difficulty in keeping up in 95° heat. I found this thread and decided to check out the AC ducts. Not only did the ducts extend well beyond the last vent, I found that the outlets from the rooftop unit only had about 1/2 of the outlet open. When the AC was installed, the 1-5/8" x 8" openings were taped over when the installer sealed the unit then poked a hole through the tape with only three fingers. After opening these outlets and sealing off the extra ducts, the airflow was great. So thank you OP for starting this thread and everyone who has chimed in. Next mod will be replacing the vents with something that can adjust the flow or even close it off.

Peace
Bruce

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by Dr Bobs Patient

................ Next mod will be replacing the vents with something that can adjust the flow or even close it off.

Peace
Bruce

Bruce, after replacing the vent, I have found that it is the possible best thing done to improve the flow. Just be careful mating the louvers with the base if using the JR pieces. I was able with little effort to break a pivot on the last one. Oh and on ours, 95 degrees and was able to take the temp to the thermostat set point of 76

[txbowhunter]

Mark for later


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[zenbuck]

Filled the void on mine as well.. Back vent was far worse then the front... Great tip to improve the air flow!

[Blrmaker]

With an all black camper, AC has been tough to keep regulated. Thanks for this thread. We will be looking at the ac flow as soon as i get home.

[Jhanemann]

We just checked ours and found lots of wasted air space. this is the master bedroom in the back of the camper

This is the bunkhouse in the front. We are considering using spray foam insulation. Has anyone considered this? Looking for opinions, pros and cons.
Thanks!

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[Jhanemann]

BTW we have a 2014 Keystone Sprinter 320bhs

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[bitten]

I will have to try this on my Montana


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[Bolo4u]

Originally Posted by Jhanemann

We just checked ours and found lots of wasted air space. this is the master bedroom in the back of the camper

This is the bunkhouse in the front. We are considering using spray foam insulation. Has anyone considered this? Looking for opinions, pros and cons.
Thanks!

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The AC duct tunnel at the front of our Cougar 333mks, extends about 2 feet beyond where the lone vent is located. I blocked off the vent in the bathroom, and cut a piece of pipe insulation a couple of inches longer than the tunnel is wide. I stuffed it in the tunnel where the bedroom vent is and shaped it like a U, curving around the vent. Now the air dumps out at the vent with greater volume/force than before. I also purchased a tall rotating fan at Costco and it came with a small (about 12 inch tall) fan (multi speed, rotate on or off) which we use in the bedroom, sitting on the dresser, to circulate the air.


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[Johnny's Journey]

Hmm?, my AC isn't ducted but the floor furnace is. Seem's I wasn't imagining things when I thought it's ducting continued to no where. Thanks for the cool hot tip off.

[concours]

I did the same update about a year ago but instead of just blocking off the excess dead space in the duct work I cut 4"strips of foil insulation and slid them along the dead space i think that you can stack the strips about 4 high, which helps with the insulation factor. As for checking the foil tape in the air conditioning unit its worth taking the time to do this as the original install is usually a poor job. If you go online and look at the install instructions for your unit it shows exactly where the tape should be. I suggest that you disconnect the shore power while working in the AC unit