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

[compmanben]

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"

[compmanben]

Here is some model information from the unit.

Cooling amps - 15.5
Serial Number - 2D 062508
Model Number - QC135-A
Cooling BTU/HR - 13,000

I suppose it is actually a 13 instead of a 13.5 unit.

Thanks for your help!

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

[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"

[Chuck Wheeler]

When we purchased our unit the previous owner gave me a Dometic Brisk air that he had purchased but not installed. I installed it with no problem. Next year the front AC failed and I purchased a Carrier. It was more difficult to install due to the curve ceiling on our FC. I wouldn't pay extra for the heat strip, they don't provide much heat in cool weather and a lot of drafts are created. If I was doing it over I would get another Brisk Air. I also damaged the cover on the Brisk Air and got a replacement form United RV here in Fort Worth. They are not cheap ($115).

- Chuck Wheeler-

1982 FC 31SB Fort Worth TX

---

From: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of compmanben
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 11:10 AM
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: 1983 35FC A/C (Air Conditioner) Replacement Advice

Here is some model information from the unit.

Cooling amps - 15.5
Serial Number - 2D 062508
Model Number - QC135-A
Cooling BTU/HR - 13,000

I suppose it is actually a 13 instead of a 13.5 unit.

Thanks for your help!

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

[Glenn Allen]

Nate,

I had one bad unit and decided to go ahead and replace all three units. I found
3 new
Dometic penguin low profile units for $300 each. There are definitely pros and
cons in any
brand... High efficiency, low profile, thermostat compatibility, fan cycle/duct
options etc. It
seems like dometic and carrier are approaching parity and it is down to user
preference.

The replacement is straight forward if you think through the logistics of
getting the old
down and the new up. I placed a hoist in the garage rafters and hoisted the old
unit up,
and then drove the coach out from under and then lowered it down. I did the
reverse for
the new unit.

Glenn

[compmanben]

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for the advice. I don't know if I can swing three for new
Penguins. I may keep my eyes glued to eBay for a while for some deals.

Otherwise, I will have to settle for the lower cost solution of a
buying one new unit and a replacement shroud.

I did find a post in the archives referencing the old shroud part
number.

Here it is:

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:57 am Post subject: Dometic-Aire AC
Shrouds

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all - I contacted Dometic to check on a replacement shroud for my
Dometic-Aire roof mount AC unit. Here's their response:

---------------
Our system shows that the shroud part A 60061 has been substituted to
3108703.335 which is available. We are sorry but we do not sell retail but
you should be able to order replacement parts through any RV dealer or
service center. We do maintain a dealer listing by state/province at
http://www.dometicusa.com. Click on the "Dealer Locater" link at the top of the
screen and then click on "RV Dealer Search" at the right side of the
screen. Then enter the country code as USA or CAN for Canada and the
appropriate two-letter state/province code and also either a city or zip
code if possible. That should present a listing for you.

Alb. Rick (1985 FC-31)

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Glenn Allen"
wrote:
>
> Nate,
>

>
> Glenn
>