hot days equal less AC?

[thatdjguy]

Prob. a stupid question but I was always told that there are no such things...just stupid people who ask them! We camped in The OBX this past week and it was blazin' hot--mid 90's three straight days with a reprieve during our last one. As usual--we had the A/C crankin' set to 68. No way it ever got close. In fact, it was down right balmy sitting, playing cards after lunch. Is it just a compromise when camping in hot spots? There wasn't a tree in sight, so no shade to help. A buddy of mine said that we might be at the "end of the line" in terms of sites, and the power supply may be suspect. Also--During the evening, the A/C would shut off at times. After waiting for a bit and realizing that it wasn't going to cycle, I decided to turn it off, wait a min...then turn it back to A/C and presto--it cranked out again. (Till it shut down--maybe 2-3 times a night. The nights were much cooler inside the unit than the day time, and it was pleasant to sleep in after the sun went down

During the last night I set the AC to 75 instead of 68--figured it wouldn't be so stressed. Id didn't shut off.

We have a Passport 2920--is it just a matter of to much heat, or should I be looking to fix a problem?

[byrdr1]

Prob. a stupid question but I was always told that there are no such things...just stupid people who ask them! We camped in The OBX this past week and it was blazin' hot--mid 90's three straight days with a reprieve during our last one. As usual--we had the A/C crankin' set to 68. No way it ever got close. In fact, it was down right balmy sitting, playing cards after lunch. Is it just a compromise when camping in hot spots? There wasn't a tree in sight, so no shade to help. A buddy of mine said that we might be at the "end of the line" in terms of sites, and the power supply may be suspect. Also--During the evening, the A/C would shut off at times. After waiting for a bit and realizing that it wasn't going to cycle, I decided to turn it off, wait a min...then turn it back to A/C and presto--it cranked out again. (Till it shut down--maybe 2-3 times a night. The nights were much cooler inside the unit than the day time, and it was pleasant to sleep in after the sun went down

During the last night I set the AC to 75 instead of 68--figured it wouldn't be so stressed. Id didn't shut off.

We have a Passport 2920--is it just a matter of to much heat, or should I be looking to fix a problem?

At night the temps get lower some what and the unit could have been freezing up and then it warmed up after shutting down melting some of the ice and started again. The common thing is the AC will only keep you 10-15 degrees cooler than the outside temps. so if its 90 plus 80 plus inside would be good.
One of the main reason when we bought our new camper we got 2 ACs the main is 15k and the bedroom is 13.5K. I know this doesn't help you but I have been there done that in NC & SC during the summer months. Also try and block out the sun/heat from getting inside your camper. Those window shades for cars work good to block the sun/heat from getting inside and warming the interior up.
take care
randy

[thatdjguy]

Thanks Randy--we blocked off both skylights and that seemed to help. Boy was it worth it though to be on the shores!

Can I upgrade the A/C or would that require upgraded electrical?

[GaryWT]

Have not been down south but when it is hot here I let the AC run it as cool as it can over night and then maintain the best we can during the day. We are generally not inside during the day and if we keep the shades pulled it does ok. From time to time ours does some strange things as well but it keeps working so we are good.

[sourdough]

High temps combined with high humidity are hard to combat in a travel trailer. It's really hard for a 13.5 AC to cool a trailer that's almost 33' long in conditions like that.

You may have been freezing up then defrosting causing the AC to shut down. It may have some sort of internal shutdown if it runs too long or gets too hot.

Put the little pillows in the vents and cover the windows. If they are dark like ours putting the auto shades in the windows helps but not a lot since the dark windows themselves gather heat. Another factor may be the color of your slide. Ours is black and it really pulls in the heat. Again, with the construction of a trailer it's just tough. I have 2 ACs and I'm very glad I do.

If your trailer is prewired for a 2nd AC that might be an option, or, if it isn't you might consider replacing the 13.5 with a 15k unit.