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Old 06-24-2018, 10:40 AM   #1
benny53
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Montana A.C. problems

I am very disappointed with air conditioners in my 2017 Keystone Montana. Last year we spent about 20 days in our fifth wheel in North Alabama, the outside temps were in high 80's to mid 90's, during the afternoon I could not get the inside temperature below 85. I have a electronic laser beam tester, the temperature of the air coming out of my A.C. vents was around 67-69. Shouldn't the air coming out of vents be lower than high 60's ???
I am puzzled, can any Keystone employees on here answer my question ???
Thanks Benjamin Horne
Yatesville, GA
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Old 06-24-2018, 10:50 AM   #2
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I had issues with my Fuzion cooling and did some inspections and found that the tape around the ceiling vents and the discharge on one unit was in terrible shape from the factory. I put up new tape and resealed and found that the discharge air on one unit was feeding back into the return air. This froze the coils and reduced wire flow and increased discharge air temperature. Hopefully this helps.
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Old 06-24-2018, 02:25 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benny53 View Post
I am very disappointed with air conditioners in my 2017 Keystone Montana. Last year we spent about 20 days in our fifth wheel in North Alabama, the outside temps were in high 80's to mid 90's, during the afternoon I could not get the inside temperature below 85. I have a electronic laser beam tester, the temperature of the air coming out of my A.C. vents was around 67-69. Shouldn't the air coming out of vents be lower than high 60's ???
I am puzzled, can any Keystone employees on here answer my question ???
Thanks Benjamin Horne
Yatesville, GA
There are no Keystone employees on this forum. Every member is either a Keystone owner, a previous Keystone owner, interested in buying a Keystone or trying to get information on Keystone RV's. The factory is not associated with this forum and to the best of my knowledge, does not have any presence on this forum, even as a "passive reader". The factory certainly has no active presence in answering questions or making comments.
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Old 06-24-2018, 03:15 PM   #4
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Do a forum search for "Amazing AC improvement" and you will find lots of ideas of how to improve your AC efficiency.
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Old 06-24-2018, 04:46 PM   #5
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Well I won't be looking for another Keystone !!!
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Old 06-24-2018, 04:57 PM   #6
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Well I won't be looking for another Keystone !!!
Hmmmm...okay. But you're still welcome to stay on the forum.

Not sure what your message was intended for, but okay.
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Old 06-24-2018, 06:07 PM   #7
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I have a 2017 Alpine 3660FL. I had the same issue with not enough cooling even with both a.c. on. I added an additional return air to each unit and more vents in living room and kitchen. Also changed out all the vents with some I purchased on eBay. Made a huge difference.
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Old 06-25-2018, 05:20 AM   #8
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I think the 15K Dometic in our trailer is low on refrigerant.

This is the 3rd season for it and when we went on our first trip this year, in April, it was not cooling very well.

We took a long weekend in it a couple of weeks ago and it was freezing up.

This weekend I bought some metalized duct tape and sealed up any leaks between the 2 sections of the system and checked the temperature differential... it was only able to maintain 8 or 9 degrees and from what I have found on the net it should be 16 to 20.

I am going to contact Dometic today and see if they are will to do anything for me, given the number of posts I have read with folks going through similar issues, some having to go through multiple units, but I am not too hopeful.

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Old 06-25-2018, 05:22 AM   #9
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Well I won't be looking for another Keystone !!!
You know that Keystone does not manufacture the AC units, right?
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Old 06-25-2018, 05:39 AM   #10
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You know that Keystone does not manufacture the AC units, right?
Of course, BUT IT IS KEYSTONES RESPONSIBILLITY ON WHO THEY ARE PURCHASING THESE UNITS AND SINCE KEYSTONE INSTALLS THEM THEY SHOULD STAND BEHIND THE PRODUCTS THEY INSTALL ON THE MONTANA KEYSTONE 5TH WHEELS !!!
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Old 06-25-2018, 06:28 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by benny53 View Post
I am very disappointed with air conditioners in my 2017 Keystone Montana. Last year we spent about 20 days in our fifth wheel in North Alabama, the outside temps were in high 80's to mid 90's, during the afternoon I could not get the inside temperature below 85. I have a electronic laser beam tester, the temperature of the air coming out of my A.C. vents was around 67-69. Shouldn't the air coming out of vents be lower than high 60's ???
I am puzzled, can any Keystone employees on here answer my question ???
Thanks Benjamin Horne
Yatesville, GA
What have you done to try to get the ACs checked and/or repaired? There may or may not be a problem in any number of places. Taking it in and getting it fixed before the 1 yr. warranty expires is in your best interest. Venting to us is OK but you definitely need to do something actionable to get this fixed. There are several threads on here about improving the performance of the AC system - it might be beneficial to check those out.

As has been noted, there is no one on this forum that represents Keystone or any of the manufacturers of any of the components as far as anyone knows. If you read thru the posts you will also find there are many, many folks that have, or have had, problems with their RVs and work their way through the "dance" (dealer/Keystone/component manufacturer) maze that exists to find a satisfactory resolution....hopefully. I hope you figure out a course of action.
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Old 06-25-2018, 08:02 AM   #12
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Well I won't be looking for another Keystone !!!
Just curious!
Which make, brand, model, or price range rv are you interested in that you think would be built any better or warranted any better than the one in your driveway. If you've found one PLEASE post here what it is as there's probably several on this forum & on any brand of rv forum that would line up with you to get one.
As mentioned previously, take it back to your dealer, by the time they get the ac fixed you'll need the furnace or read through the threads concerning ac fixes & start fixing, none of them are difficult if you can use some common hand tools & a roll of tape.
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Old 06-25-2018, 03:27 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by benny53 View Post
Of course, BUT IT IS KEYSTONES RESPONSIBILLITY ON WHO THEY ARE PURCHASING THESE UNITS AND SINCE KEYSTONE INSTALLS THEM THEY SHOULD STAND BEHIND THE PRODUCTS THEY INSTALL ON THE MONTANA KEYSTONE 5TH WHEELS !!!
Have you filed a claim with Keystone, through your dealer? I didn't read that anywhere, but it sure sounds like they have let you down.

On another note, the downtime you had between the end of last season the start of this one would have been a great time to get this in yo be looked at.

On a second other note, last year in July you posted twice about your AC being disappointing. On both posts, you received several replies to your dilemma very similar to the ones posted here now. On the other 2 threads you started you never answered backs to what was going on. Have you tried any of the solutions that have been suggested to you in the almost last 12 months?
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Old 06-25-2018, 03:58 PM   #14
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I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THE LIVING ROOM UNIT ON MY MONTANA HC THE SECOND SUMMER I USED THE UNIT. The compressors are sealed so the cant be recharged. What I did is I found a dometic repair man that would come out to the campsite. You will have to pay his service call charge. He said the unit was bad he called Dometic and had a new unit shipped under warranty. He also replaced the unit on site. We just had to extent our stay in NC. a few days. I also had The awning motor replaced the same way only that was in ct. Don't bother calling dometic they really want you to go thru one of their repair people.
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Old 06-26-2018, 04:34 AM   #15
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We had the same issue with our Avalanche 361TG. I took it to the dealer and they had to redo all the taping on the ducts and added additional vents. It does much better now, but when it is very hot like it is at Myrtle Beach right now, I have to take the ceiling vents off to increase air flow in the living room.
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Old 06-27-2018, 10:29 AM   #16
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Well I won't be looking for another Keystone !!!
Hate to tell you, but almost all manufacturers (especially those in the Thor 'family') do things that will impair air conditioner efficiency. First off is tan or darker trailer colors. Then there's the shoddy workmanship where ductwork isn't connected or installed right. Vents that stick too far into the ceiling and block airflow are another thing. AC units aren't really as powerful as their makers claim either. What gets me is the claims of wonderful insulation that are totally not real. All added up, more and more large 5er owners are trying to put 3rd AC units on their roofs.

We've a mostly white 38' 2010 Montana with only one 15k btu AC unit. Using Mylar coated bubble insulation (looks like shiny packing material) in all the windows and plugs in all three ceiling vents (including the Fantastic Fan), we can get a good 20 degree drop from outside to inside temp. if shaded. With the awning out and in sun, this goes down to about 16 - 18 degrees. That's as good as anyone as far as I've heard. Doesn't matter that much what the temp is coming out of your vents, it's what it is inside the trailer, and there's not much insulation the roof anyway.

Now, with your tan or darker 2017 unit and two ACs, you can probably trim the plastic on your AC vents, fix the ducts, put plugs in your ceiling vents, put insulation in all your windows, and park in a shaded spot, and possibly get 20 to 25 degrees drop. On a outside 100 degree air temp day, that should work with some fans running.
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Old 06-27-2018, 11:16 AM   #17
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I’d be looking at ceiling AC vents
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Old 06-27-2018, 03:12 PM   #18
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We have a 2018 Sprinter, spent last week in Charleston SC and the outside temps were 94deg to 103deg. during the day with both A/C's running they maintained the inside temp between 71 to 74deg and at night we just ran the front unit and every morning when we got up it was 70deg. Not to shabby in my opinion. But we all know what opinions are like!!! (lol)
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Old 06-27-2018, 04:38 PM   #19
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It has always been my understanding that, if your a/c unit is working properly, you should see a 20* differential between the return and the discharge. The ambient, outside temp becomes a factor when the unit is too small, or there is too much air loss due to poor ducting or insulation and the unit cannot keep up. These RVs are too poorly insulated to remain comfortable in the hot sun with 100* temps. I can only run one a/c at a time because I only have 30 amps available. Today,it was 98*. Our 15000 BTU a/c kept the trailer at 87*. I have done all of the taping of ducts and plenum, etc. With the large rear window facing west, I guess that's about as good as it gets.
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Old 06-27-2018, 06:49 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benny53 View Post
I am very disappointed with air conditioners in my 2017 Keystone Montana. Last year we spent about 20 days in our fifth wheel in North Alabama, the outside temps were in high 80's to mid 90's, during the afternoon I could not get the inside temperature below 85. I have a electronic laser beam tester, the temperature of the air coming out of my A.C. vents was around 67-69. Shouldn't the air coming out of vents be lower than high 60's ???
I am puzzled, can any Keystone employees on here answer my question ???
Thanks Benjamin Horne
Yatesville, GA
I have a 2017 Alpine 3660FL. Was having same issue with cooling. I added an additional return air to each unit and more vents throughout unit. Here is a picture of the replacement vents I installed and in addition replaced all existing ones with the same .
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