1983 35FC A/C (Air Conditioner) Replacement Advice

[Pete Masterson]

When I purchased my coach, the rear AC smelled 'oily' -- and on the way home from where I picked up the coach, a low hanging branch in Denver gave the front AC a heck of a whack.

On my coach the OEM ACs were Dometic Penguin low-profile units. These are priced at a premium over the regular-profile units.

My coach did not have heat strips in the ACs... so (to avoid any complications) I didn't order them in the new units.

After analyzing the full situation, the best I could tell was that Coleman and Dometic were about equally disliked (or liked). (The Coleman brand ACs are (now) actually built by a separate company from the Coleman camping gear, etc. company.)

Ultimately, after exploring all the possibilities, I decided to replace my front and rear ACs with Dometic Brisk Air 13,500 btu high efficiency units. These were at a slight premium over the regular efficiency units. One important consideration was that the units I selected would work with the existing Dometic thermostats, saving the need to replace them as well. The high-efficiency units allow me to use both of these ACs even when hooked to a 30 AMP source (if I'm careful about other loads).

The regular profile units are about 3.25" taller than the OEM Penguin units -- but on my coach, there is a King Dome* installed just ahead of the first AC that's easily another 3" taller -- so the higher profile unit did not cost me any additional clearance. (It may be a different situation for you.) I'm also a LOT better at judging low clearance situations.

As it happened, at the time of my purchase, I found that a sale price at Camping World was the most competitive that I could practically take advantage of. CW did the installation. While the new units did not specifically say that they worked with the ducted system in my coach, by using the OEM interior pieces, they worked as a direct replacement.

*I think the King Dome may have contributed to my "tree branch encounter" -- it appears as if the KD pushed the branch up, so it swung down with more force on the forward AC, ripping the cover off it. The unit still worked, but I was concerned about its continuing good health after the mishap. And, like you, I ran into difficulty in finding a new cover for it. The best price I found was nearly half the price of a completely new AC! (Who knows, with more looking at surplus RV parts or wrecking yards, I might have found one at a reasonable price.)

The center AC is still the OEM Dometic Penguin -- and it works great.

Finally, the heat pump and/or heat strip thing -- again, it depends on your coach, but my coach had sufficient alternate ways of heating that spending extra on heat strips or for a heat pump didn't make much sense. Heat pumps (basically an AC working backward) also require the noisy fan and compressor to operate for the heat. I wasn't interested in all that extra noise for the heat. In my coach, between the Perfectoe toe-kick heaters (galley and bath) and the AquaHot system I have plenty of heat, and can't imagine using yet another heat source. During winter travel, I do carry a Delonghi oil-filled radiator heater for the bedroom. It's operation is near totally silent, an improvement over the fan noise of the AquaHot, so it doesn't disturb my sleep. (Obviously, shore power is required.) Delonghi used to have a flat "baseboard" model of the oil filled, no fan, convection heater, but it does not seem to be available anymore. (It would allow being put on the floor in the bedroom, giving a better distribution of heat through the room.)

Pete Masterson

'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42 (For Sale)

<http://www.aeonix.biz/BBforsale.html>

El Sobrante CA

"aeonix1@mac.com"

On Feb 19, 2009, at 8:52 AM, compmanben wrote:

Hi Folks,

How are you?

I have a dead middle Dometic 13.5 A/C unit. I am looking for a
replacement. I have been "wandering" around the adventurerv.net site
looking at the different models.

Does anyone have any advice on brands? Coleman, Carrier or Dometic?
Does anyone have any advice on low profile [i.e Coleman Polar Cub or
Dometic Penguin?]
Does anyone have any advice on heat pump vs. heat strip?
Has anyone tried the low energy models? [i.e. Colman Polar Cub?]

I also have a front Dometic 13.5 A/C with a broken shroud. I am looking
for a replacement shroud. As far as I can tell, the A/C unit is
original to the coach. Does anyone know of a good replacement? There
seems to be lots of replacements for A/C units made in the last 10
years, but none for older units.

Thanks for your help!

Nate Owens
1983 35FC
"It's a Wanderful Life"