Laredo owners with dual AC units read this..

[wayfun]

I recently picked up my new 2015 Laredo 322RL travel trailer which I had ordered with the second bedroom AC unit. I ordered that option based on Keystone's marketing materials that described the "race track" ducted AC system. See http://www.keystonerv.com/media/894566/laredo20x30tableposter_apr14.pdf
I wanted that system so that on moderately warm days I could run the bedroom AC to cool the trailer in order to keep the AC noise away from the living area while watching TV or conversing.

When I got home and tried the system I found that the bedroom AC was not tied into the duct work. It only blew out of the vents in the grill. It would freeze the bedroom and only cycle on for about 30 seconds at a time because it got cold so fast. I asked a service guy at the dealer and he said he didn't think any of them were ducted. The next day I called Keystone customer service to ask them. The rep there checked with the Laredo team and told me that none were ducted. Didn't care for that answer either. After thinking about it a couple of weeks I sent Keystone a certified letter requesting a refund of my option cost since I couldn't use it as advertised. I knew that was a futile attempt but it made me feel better. I promptly received a call from Keystone and there only suggestion was to take it back to the dealer and let them look at it to see what I had. Geez, I gave them my VIN number and I would have expected for them to be able to tell me what I had. I insisted that I would not take it back to the dealer unless they could assure me the ductwork was there to attach to. I saw no reason to take it to the dealer and leave it for who knows how long only to find out nothing could be done. I'm still waiting on that answer.

So today I decided to take the grills off and look at it myself. What I found was that each side of the AC air box was covered with foil sheets with nothing rigid behind it. So I cut a small hole in the foil to look behind it and found a 1 1/2 X 6 inch foam duct that was in line with the ceiling vents. I cut a small hole in the foam duct and felt air blowing out from the living area AC. Bingo, I found the "racetrack." The duct and the AC unit were separated by a 2 by 2 at the top and bottom. I then decided to go for broke and cut a 1 1/2 x 6 inch opening in the foam duct on each side. On the left the foam was a little further away from the wood so I fabricated a metal duct from some ductwork I picked up a Lowes. I then put it in place and sealed it up with aluminum tape. On the right side the duct was tight against the wood so I was able to just cut the opening and left one long side hinged. I then taped everything with tape to seal it up. This modification was much less effort that hooking the trailer to my truck and going to the dealer. Hope the photos help illustrate this.

Now I get air flow throughout the trailer from either AC unit. And with both units on together the air flow is incredible. There will be no problem cooling the trailer on the hottest days.

I am very disappointed in Keystone. One for not installing the AC properly at the factory to start with. And then secondly for the poor support and communication from Keystone customer service.

Dennis

[wayfun]

Here are a few more photos....

[JRTJH]

That's great news for you and I'm sure, a bit embarrassing for the dealership and for Keystone.

If you have it, would you please look at the "build sheet" that came with your trailer and see if both air conditioners are listed on it? I may be totally offbase by thinking this, but I'm inclined to think that the BR air conditioner wasn't installed at the factory. If it is listed on the build sheet in the same handwriting as the remainder of the trailer components, then it's installed in Goshen, but if it's not listed, or written in another handwriting, I'd strongly suspect that Keystone wasn't involved in the addition, but that it was instsalled by the dealership and not properly installed.

[wayfun]

That's great news for you and I'm sure, a bit embarrassing for the dealership and for Keystone.

If you have it, would you please look at the "build sheet" that came with your trailer and see if both air conditioners are listed on it? I may be totally offbase by thinking this, but I'm inclined to think that the BR air conditioner wasn't installed at the factory. If it is listed on the build sheet in the same handwriting as the remainder of the trailer components, then it's installed in Goshen, but if it's not listed, or written in another handwriting, I'd strongly suspect that Keystone wasn't involved in the addition, but that it was instsalled by the dealership and not properly installed.

John,

That was one of my first suspicions. I checked with and it was installed by Keystone.

Dennis

[JRTJH]

Then I'd say that points the finger at Keystone and Goshen. If the ducting is present, I'd be led to believe that a worker failed, but with your comments that the Laredo "leadership" was not aware of any A/C's that were installed with the "racetrack feature" would lead me to believe that the "engineering and supply" functions are doing a "racetrack" build, but the assembly line and workerbee's are unaware of why those funny things are in the bedroom ceiling. We already know that "leadership" is the last to know, so we can leave them out of the loop on being the blame. Being the problem, now that's an entirely different matter and they definitely need to get onboard the "tracks" for this one.

Sounds like a big "failure to communicate" at Keystone.

[byrdr1]

long weekend equals mods to the campers.
Another nice mod. Looks good
randy

[Bob Landry]

Congrats on finding and fixing the problem. The more posts I read on the RV forums, the happier I am with my trailer.

[hankaye]

wayfun, Howdy;

Have you communicated your 'Discovery' and your results to Keystone?
I'm sure that they may find it enlightening and someone may also find
it necessary to communicate the problem on down the line to the build teams.
After all you didn't seem to shy about asking about the 'problem' .....

hankaye

[wayfun]

wayfun, Howdy;

Have you communicated your 'Discovery' and your results to Keystone?
I'm sure that they may find it enlightening and someone may also find
it necessary to communicate the problem on down the line to the build teams.
After all you didn't seem to shy about asking about the 'problem' .....

hankaye

I haven't yet but I will. They still owe me a return call to tell me if the ducts are present or not. I just got tired of waiting on them and investigated on my own.

Dennis

[cnykamp]

Hey Dennis,

Well done. We traded in for a 2015 Laredo 320tg in August. I was shocked at how pathetic the AC design was. One vent by the door blew hard. By time you get to the bunk room in back there isn't a farts worth of air blowing. When I brought this up with the folks at Lazy Days they said, "yeah, this is a known design problem." Gee, thanks Lazy Days for telling me that afterwards.

I figured I'd add the second unit in front and the extra airflow would get cool air to the back. When I asked about ducting in the second AC unit they said no, you can't. Translation, they aren't going to do it. However, can see the duct runs past the roof vent in the front bedroom. I've been contemplating cutting in ducts myself but have been hesitant. Thanks for blazing the trail and providing pictures.

First question I have is about controlling the unit (on/off and temp). Are you tied into the thermostat? If so, how? Or are you just using the controls on the second unit?

Second, just to confirm, you didn't need to remove the second unit to access the side/ducts?

Thanks for the feedback.

Chad

[sourdough]

I know this is a little late to this thread but I'm curious like cnykamp. I had a 2nd ac added to our 14 cougar high country 319rls. When I bought it the sales guy said it was prepped and ducted for a 2nd ac. When it was installed they said there was no ducting for the ac. Now, after reading the OP I'm not so sure. My questions are similar to the previous post; did you have to remove the entire ac or just the interior control unit portion? Once removed was the ductwork evident or did you have to remove additional piece parts to access them? I also had an ac installed that did not use a thermostat but wonder if that would be required if it was ducted in?

I am tempted to dig into it but it's still in warranty, and in fact, in the shop now for various fixes. I don't want to mess any of that up.

[wayfun]

Chad & Sourdough, the second unit is controlled by it's own thermostat on the bedroom wall. Without being tied to the ductwork, the bedroom air just blows too hard out of the grill vents and they are directed right on the thermostat. It runs for just a minute or two and then shuts off. It's a very poor design.

I did not have to remove the AC unit to access the ducts. If you remove the inside grill cover and look up into the air box you will see that the sides are made of foil. I just cut holes into the sides to explore and found the duct. I assumed I could always tape them back up if I failed to find the ducts. The ducts were only a couple of inches from the AC wall. See the pictures in the second post of this thread.

We spent 6 weeks in the trailer at our place in Florida in Oct and Nov and the AC worked perfectly. In the evening while watching TV we would just have the bedroom AC on and it provided adequate cooling to the living area while keeping the noise in the other end of the trailer. At night we would switch and turn the living AC on and the bedroom off to keep the noise at the opposite end. On a couple of days it was quite warm during the day and we needed both units on. With both of them running there was no problem keeping comfortable.

Other than the AC problems and poor customer service from Keystone we've been very happy with the trailer.

Good luck.
Dennis

[sourdough]

Dennis - thank you for your reply. I am going to investigate as you did but wait until my warranty expires in March. Thanks for a very helpful idea and doing the legwork to implement it.

[wayfun]

Dennis - thank you for your reply. I am going to investigate as you did but wait until my warranty expires in March. Thanks for a very helpful idea and doing the legwork to implement it.

Sourdough, do you know if Keystone promotes the ducted racetrack AC system in their marketing material similar to this Laredo piece? http://www.keystonerv.com/media/8945...ster_apr14.pdf

If so, I would suspect that the duct is there. Also, you might look at your existing AC vents. Are they in two in-line rows from front to rear? If so, you might pull a vent cover off in the bedroom and fish a tape measure into the duct to see how far it extends toward the front. If it extends beyond your front AC unit you may be in luck.

[GmaPaTime]

When we ordered our 5er this past summer, that is exactly what was told to us. Keystone does not install 2nd. Ac units, only at the dealer.

[Festus2]

Sourdough, do you know if Keystone promotes the ducted racetrack AC system in their marketing material similar to this Laredo piece? http://www.keystonerv.com/media/8945...ster_apr14.pdf

.

wayfun:

It seems as though the above link doesn't work. When clicked on, I get a message that "The page is no longer there" along with an error code.

[wayfun]

wayfun:

It seems as though the above link doesn't work. When clicked on, I get a message that "The page is no longer there" along with an error code.

The first post in this thread has the link and it worked. Try this one:

http://www.keystonerv.com/media/894566/laredo20x30tableposter_apr14.pdf

[wayfun]

When we ordered our 5er this past summer, that is exactly what was told to us. Keystone does not install 2nd. Ac units, only at the dealer.

I ordered my Laredo with the 2nd AC option and I was told that it was factory installed.

[denverpilot]

What model year did the "racetrack" marketing start?

Just curious if I should ask about this when having the 2nd AC installed in the 2014 Laredo or if it's a 2015 thing?

[wayfun]

What model year did the "racetrack" marketing start?

Just curious if I should ask about this when having the 2nd AC installed in the 2014 Laredo or if it's a 2015 thing?

I can't tell you when it started but it was there in the 2014 materials. The poster was in all new units that I looked at while shopping and was in my 2015 when I took delivery in August.

[denverpilot]

I can't tell you when it started but it was there in the 2014 materials. The poster was in all new units that I looked at while shopping and was in my 2015 when I took delivery in August.


Thanks. I may ask the dealer about it since we will be going into the shop next week to hunt the leak we had found earlier in the fall.

While its there's we are planning on having them add the bedroom AC so might as well see if we can get it hooked to the ductwork.

I like your idea that on a reasonable day that's not too hot, running the bedroom AC keeps the noise down in the living room a bit if talking with folks or watching TV. And with both blowing into the ductwork, that'd make rapid work out of a quick full trailer cool down!

Plus as mentioned the bedroom unit blowing hard in just the bedroom would cycle quite a bit. Stealing a little air to send elsewhere seems smart.

[dcg9381]

So I had to pull the front AC today for some roof work. Here's what the factory duct work with the race track system looks like. This is a Carbon, so might be worth checking all RVs with this system. Duct work is a common issue item, not just isolated to Keystone.

http://i.imgur.com/JF4hUIN.jpg

[BSHGTO]

So I had to pull the front AC today for some roof work. Here's what the factory duct work with the race track system looks like. This is a Carbon, so might be worth checking all RVs with this system. Duct work is a common issue item, not just isolated to Keystone.

http://i.imgur.com/JF4hUIN.jpg
Is that an example of the Amish craftsmanship I keep hearing about and paid all that money too.

[dcg9381]

Basically anyone with a ducted system needs to pull their cover and check it. I'm sure that the above workmanship is "cosmetic" and isn't a warranty issue.