Adding a 2nd A/C

[Hoistman]

New to this I have a 3400rl and I am thinking about adding a2nd ac has anyone done this. If so did it help enough to justify the cost ?

[2011 keystone]

Welcome to the forum:wave: I cant
help with your AC question but I am sure
someone will chime in and help you out.

[JoeofNSB]

I added a second unit to my 3812 Raptor and am very happy I did. The heat in Florida mad it worthwhile for me. my secoond unit is in bedroom and has strip heat that I can use on cool but not cold nights too.

[Handysam]

Welcome to the forums. Something to remember, if you add a second AC to your unit, I don't think it is ducted to the original setup. In other words if you put the unit in the bedroom for example, it will only cool the bedroom. Not saying it won't help, but I remember reading some other posts, and you can do a search here, that some were disappointed that it did not tie it all together. Happy Camping, Sam

[JoeofNSB]

Very good point Handysam, it is not connected to the ductwork and is completely independant. I have heard of second units being ducted and thermstat controlled but mine is not.

[webslave]

I added a second A/C to my 318SAB... Well worth the money to me. We've spent time in various places where the daytime temps got well over 110 degrees (118 in El Centro last summer). Hot air rises and the bedroom area only has 2 vents and is so far from the living area A/C that it never was able to keep up with the rising heat and the heat from the walls and ceiling. The bedroom A/C, while no thermostat and no ducts easily keeps up with the heat that is rising from the living room and the lack of ducted A/C through its main housing output. Now we can set the main thermostat for the living area and the bedroom A/C on low/cool and all is right in the world. When we stop for the day, two A/C units make the interior cooler that much quicker. Money well spent.

I may, in the future, research a mod to add a thermostat, but, the DW actually likes the constant drone of the A/C as "white noise" when we go to bed so that is at the bottom of my list. Even when it is cool, cool enough to need heat, she likes the blower on just for the noise. The constant drone masks the little "bumps in the night" that you get from neighbors in the campground that wake her up.

Bear in mind that you'll need 50 amps to run both of them simultaneously if you aren't already setup for it...;)

[Alpinecummin]

We added a second AC to our 2011 Alpine and it made a world of difference. Our unit was wired and ducted for the second AC. Looking back I wished we had put a AC/heatpump in instead of just the AC.

[smiller]

If you frequent or live in the south in the summer months a second A/C is closer to 'mandatory' than 'worth it.' ;) Well worth the investment to be cool under any conditions. It's true that the second A/C does not (and should not) connect to the vent system but I haven't found this to be a problem. When the sun goes down and only one unit is required I will often run the bedroom unit while watching TV in the living room, which works fine because the colder air sinks and cascades down into the main living area. It's nice to not have to listen to the main A/C and have it complete with the TV, the bedroom unit keeps things both cool and quiet in the LR. When I go to bed I simply reverse things.

[mikell]

If you can get the heat pump put it in the living room and move that one to the bedroom. My heat pump has been a wonderful thing. Works down to 30 then automatically switches to the furnace

[jje1960]

Our SRX is wired for the bedroom aircon unit, I'm thinking of going this route in the next year or two. There is really nice cost effective units out there, coleman has a unit that draws really low amps, will cool the bedroom and bathroom with the doors closed very nicely. When we are running on generator, cooling the entire unit during the day is a challenge and having the little unit in the bedroom running will give my wife somewhere to take a nap. Also, at Myrtle Beach in July, man can it get hot, no shade and blistering sun, electric is included in the site charge and having the extra unit up there will definitely be a huge plus in keeping the entire unit cool. If I do this myself, believe the cost will be under $600.00.

[smiller]

When I was shopping for a second A/C (also for a 325SRX) I wanted a low profile unit and the Coleman Polar Cub has an open grille on the top of the unit that I thought would be a chore to keep free of debris, so I went with the Dometic Penguin. In the end I'm not sure that a low-profile unit is all that important since as long as you are not higher than the rear A/C then you won't change the total height of the unit, although I do think the low profile unit looks better way up front, if nothing else. Getting one of the low-power models (from either Coleman or Dometic) isn't a bad idea as looking at the current consumption specs it seems that the couple of amps you save might make it possible to run one of these with a lone Honda eu2000 (not sure of that though.)

The install itself is easy, once you figure out how to get the thing up on the roof that is...

[jje1960]

Yea, looked at a few units, amp draw and profile were considered. Will look at the Dometic Penguin, have to make sure what ever I get is low profile, have now added a Dome behind it, so need to make sure it's not to high. From what I noticed, the Coleman was the lowest of the amp draw, need to look again.

[smiller]

As I remember the Colemans draw a little less current than the Dometic, but the condenser and fan on the top of the Coleman low-profile model was a non-starter for me as I can't imagine that being anything less than a PITA when parked under trees, not sure what they were thinking. Maybe it's less of a problem in the real world than I imagine though.

One consideration with the Penguin... it uses a fancy 'low profile' interior air distribution unit that doesn't have enough clearance to support a heating element, so it you must have the electric heat option then that one would be out. In the cooling department it works great however ;).