353FWDEN Air Conditioner

[cfensty]

I just bought a 2016 Sprinter 353FWDEN. This is my first experience with a fifth wheel, although I have owned several travel trailers over the past 35 years.

I am disappointed at the fact that the AC unit in this trailer does not adequately cool the inside of the trailer. I have been in 85 degree heat outside and I could not get it any cooler than 78 degrees inside. Took the trailer back to the dealer and they replaced the Coleman AC with a brand new unit. Unfortunately, the result was the same. Does anyone else have this model trailer with the same issue?

[Festus2]

You might want to inspect the A/C's ductwork to make sure that the cold air is finding its way to and passing through all of the ducts. Quite often, members have found gaps in and around the ducts and their connections resulting in the cold air being blown into the "attic" and not reaching the ducts.

You can start by removing the interior shroud and then work your way through the unit and remove each outlet cover/cap and inspect the connections.

[JRTJH]

The 2016 Sprinter 353FWDEN is a 39'4" fifth wheel with four slides. From the statements you've posted, it looks like you only have one air conditioner on your RV. If this is the situation, you'll probably never be able to cool the RV adequately if the temperature is above about 90F.

If you read through some of the threads located here, you'll find that almost everyone with an RV over 35' strongly recommends a second A/C for adequate cooling. Many (me included) feel that any RV over about 32' in length will not be comfortable with outside temps higher than 90F with only one air conditioner. Our Cougar is insulated comparably to your Sprinter, but it's only 31' long with only one slide, and is painted white with no "tan or dark colors" anywhere. We have one 15,000 BTU A/C and find that with outdoor temps above about 95F, we can't get the interior temp down below about 78-80F if we're parked in the sun.

Checking (and repairing) the ductwork as festus2 suggested will improve the airflow of your existing A/C system, but don't expect to be comfortable with high outdoor temps.

I'd suspect that your only solution is to install a second A/C in the "upper bedroom" and expect to use both if you want to "beat the heat" while in your RV.

[cfensty]

Thanks John.. Actually, I do have a 2nd AC in the bedroom and I had it running as well. Forgot to mention that. Yet, still the interior temp was in the low 80s, outside temp about 95. Your explanation seems logical. I'm just wondering why Keystone would not install a larger capacity AC unit, if this is a known phenomenon.

[JRTJH]

Here is a "comparable length" RV (Fuzion 371) which is 38'11" in length. The owner is also having issues with cooling his RV, even though he has two 15,000 BTU units. If you look at his floorplan, he has only three slides, one is a wardrobe (doesn't add square footage to be cooled), a kitchen slide (houses the refrigerator, stove and microwave) which doesn't add a lot of cubic feet to be cooled, and one slide that's comparable to one of your two "den slides". So, effectively, he has significantly less "cubic feet to cool", has 30,000 BTU's of cooling capacity (compared to your 28,500 BTU) and he is having issues as well.

Here's the link to his thread, several members have offered some ideas to help him "ease the burden" of staying comfortable. Possibly some of those ideas may give you some solutions as well: http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25771

[Rhino]

Another thing to remember is that you are camping. It's never going to be like home, that's why you went camping. Mobility requires a lot of trade offs.


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[Tim-Rhonda]

Our 2015 333MKS came with the one 15k A/C and we found very quickly it couldn't keep up adequately when temps where around the 90 degree temps. We had the low profile Penguin 13K A/C added to the bedroom and it made a difference. The 333MKS has a big back window so last trip out I put reflectix in back window and was able to get temp down to 74 inside. Thats doable for us since we are outside most of the time.

[heyaim]

We have the same model...purchased in May this year.

Neither a/c unit was cooling our camper. If the outside temp was 85, the inside temp was near 90. The technician at the dealership agreed to troubleshoot with us over the phone. We removed the a/c covers and neither a/c unit was sealed (we could see into the ceiling). So we sealed everything up.

This past weekend, our high outside temp was 85. The coolest we could get the camper was 75. Either the units aren't big enough for the camper or there are more issues.

[Tom N OH]

There are more issues. Take down the ceiling grilles from the A/C units themselves & make sure that the divider between the warm air & cold air sides of the units are adequately taped to prevent air crossing from warm to cold sides. Then take down each vent on the ceiling & make sure that the openings in the ceiling are taped properly & measure the amount that each vent assembly protrudes into the ceiling. is the protrusion is significantly more than the thickness of the ceiling, they can be trimmed easily. Some people on here have also gone so far as to remove every other louver in each vent to allow more airflow. Also, check the voltage when you're plugged in with the A/Cs running. Voltage should be at least 105. Inadequate voltage will affect performance & over time, will damage your A/C units & some appliances.

[Pull Toy]

One passive thing that we have done with every camper that we have ever owned is to put a piece of clear Plexiglas in the lower section of our screen door. You can still look out while passing the "eggs and bacon" thru the latch slide, but you avoid the waterfall effect of the cold air leaving at floor level. This also helps contain small children and pets better than the "screen guards", at half of the price! If privacy is a concern, substitute foam backed school project poster board (Walmart) for the Plexi.

Good luck,

We also do all of our cooking outside in hot weather, including the coffee maker.