Problems with the heat and possible issue with the A/C

[jayconklinsr]

Re: Momentum 351M

Hello, I want to throw this out there to all those more experienced campers than myself to see if you may have a good idea where to start with an issue or two. My wife and I just took our maiden camping trip last weekend in our 351M and nearly everything went very well. I have two items to mention.

1) The heat. The 24 or so hours of camping, the heat worked like a champ. It was a balanced heat where we needed it. Sometime AFTER day one, something happened whereas whenever we turned the heat on, it ONLY blasted our bedroom. Nothing would go out to the kitchen area or the garage although, I was less concerned about the garage. The heat smothers us in the bedroom and we have to turn it off completely. We brought our pet birds with us on this trip and had them in the kitchen area and it was VERY cold in there. No heat at all. After another day or so, we turned on the fireplace for heat that that worked for now. Any ideas?

2) The A/C. While we needed heat at night, it got very warm during the day and we wanted to test the A/C. We have THREE units. The A/C worked great in the bedroom and the garage and partially in the kitchen. When I say "partially", cold air DID come out of the small vents in the ceiling but NO air came out of the A/C unit itself in the ceiling. Is this right? The other two units in the camper, the air blasts out of the A/C unit. My concern was that we weren't even in very hot weather and the kitchen area was struggling to get cool. Shouldn't that ceiling unit have air blowing out from it OR is it ALL redirected to the 3 or so little round vents in the ceiling?

Thank you very much,

Jay Conklin
New Market, VA
Momentum 351M being pulled by an F-350 SRW

[Jkwilson]

You probably have some ductwork that fell off the furnace. Open up whatever covers it and have a look.

Depending on air conditioners you have, there may be a dump control on the air conditioner face plate to select whether the output uses the vents on the unit or the ductwork in the ceiling.

[Country Campers]

I agree with checking the duct work at the furnace.

Air should not come out of the bottom of the AC, GD units are provided with the RV airflow foam insert in the AC units, this may not be in all 3 units though. What this does is force the air out of the small vents on the ceiling. If the AC unit has a sliding gate on the bottom this will allow air to be dumped into the coach and not out thru the small vents.

Brian

[Jlawles2]

If the center AC has the airflow foam insert it will render the dump valve inoperable.

If you cannot drop the coroplast to look for a loose duct and all AC are on the same ractrack, you could turn on one of the rear AC and have it move the hot air from the bedroom to the rest of the camper.

[DarnDave]

jayconklinsr to expand a little on Joseph's post, there is a way to run the fan in your a/c without the compressor running. If you have the airxcel thermostat with three buttons, select "cool hi" (NOT cool hi auto), and set a high temperature of like maybe 82 or higher. This will draw air in from whatever a/c unit you requested (in this case should be the bedroom), and distribute it through your ducting. Make sure the air dumps are closed (the outlets mounted on your a/c unit) as you want to use the ducting in the rest of the trailer to distribute the heat. I recommend closing the ducts in the bedroom.

I would start at the furnace itself looking for your sudden flow problem.

[jayconklinsr]

@Brian & Michelle That's very interesting and useful. It is ONLY that one A/C unit where the air does not come out of the unit itself. There is a sliding vent gate on the sides of the unit but it does not do anything. I wasn't totally certain if I was looking at a problem there or not. The air coming from the small circular vents IS cold, it just didn't seem to be cooling the kitchen (central) area like I thought it should.

[jayconklinsr]

Thank you everyone for your comments so far. I will work with these and see where it goes.

[Country Campers]

@Brian & Michelle That's very interesting and useful. It is ONLY that one A/C unit where the air does not come out of the unit itself. There is a sliding vent gate on the sides of the unit but it does not do anything. I wasn't totally certain if I was looking at a problem there or not. The air coming from the small circular vents IS cold, it just didn't seem to be cooling the kitchen (central) area like I thought it should.

When tagging use the username of the person you wish to tag, jayconklinsr , like that. Good try though and we will help you along the way.

If you could post a pic of the AC unit that would be helpful, there have been many substitutions, make and model would help as well.

Brian

[Bob P]

@Brian & Michelle That's very interesting and useful. It is ONLY that one A/C unit where the air does not come out of the unit itself. There is a sliding vent gate on the sides of the unit but it does not do anything. I wasn't totally certain if I was looking at a problem there or not. The air coming from the small circular vents IS cold, it just didn't seem to be cooling the kitchen (central) area like I thought it should.

Sounds like the center A/C unit has the Airflow baffle in it. That will not allow the dump feature to work. With the dump open in the other units, the center unit is sending air to all vent openings in the ceiling, minimizing the effects of cooling in the kitchen area.

[jayconklinsr]

By the way folks, I just went through my GD documentation for the 10th time and lo- and behold, I found a single sheet technote that stated in so many words that on the kitchen A/C unit, the sliding vent dump openings are purposely sealed up.