Bighorn ac question

Bighorn 2006 3655 AC question

Shallowskiff, do a forum search on tent in the vent. It's a technique most of us have used to greatly improve the air flow efficiency of the air conditioner. We have done this modification and now rarely use our bedroom a/c.

On edit, never mind the search. Attached is a pdf file of the modification

The second A/C makes all the difference on really hot days, especially when there's no shade...one of the best options we ordered!!

skip the vent tent mod thing and get a second A/C, Then you will be happy with the A/C in your camper.

ncrebel8 said:

skip the vent tent mod thing and get a second A/C.

Click to expand...

Why skip it? Anything you could do to improve the efficiency of the existing unit will help. Running two A/C's isn't always the best solution, and you can't always get shaded sites.

I cant speak to the 3655 floorplan directly, but I do not believe one A/C will ever cool to your expectation in very hot and/or humid conditions. We've seen many times (for weeks on end) after 2 full summers in Florida that both A/C's would run continuously for probably 16 hours per day (and maintain 80*-82* at best during the daytime), and the main unit would cycle frequently throughout the night. That's probably extreme for most peoples environments, I understand. As a long-term tenant on a metered electric site, we endured many high bills in the summer. Two A/C's running can be annoying between the noise and airflow.

I would encourage adding the 2nd A/C, and would definitely spend 2 hours of your time (and no cost) to do the tent in the vent mod. That mod made a huge improvement in comfort.

Rickhansen said:

Why skip it? Anything you could do to improve the efficiency of the existing unit will help. Running two A/C's isn't always the best solution, and you can't always get shaded sites.

I cant speak to the 3655 floorplan directly, but I do not believe one A/C will ever cool to your expectation in very hot and/or humid conditions. We've seen many times (for weeks on end) after 2 full summers in Florida that both A/C's would run continuously for probably 16 hours per day (and maintain 80*-82* at best during the daytime), and the main unit would cycle frequently throughout the night. That's probably extreme for most peoples environments, I understand. As a long-term tenant on a metered electric site, we endured many high bills in the summer. Two A/C's running can be annoying between the noise and airflow.

I would encourage adding the 2nd A/C, and would definitely spend 2 hours of your time (and no cost) to do the tent in the vent mod. That mod made a huge improvement in comfort.

Click to expand...

Exactly my point, ONE AC is not going to be enough if they are camping in hot and or humid conditions. Install the 2nd AC you will be comfortable. You can turn it off when you dont need it. Leave the tent thing out of the vent so that you can open the air dump on the main ac when it may be needed and enjoy life. I would be much more concerned with making sure the main AC unit is sealed properly so that it isnt pulling hot outside air into the unit than trying to divert the airflow. And just to justify my opinion, I did the tent in a vent trick when we first got our camper, i know it helps a little with airflow. the OP is in NC, I know how hot 99 or 100 degress with extremly high humidity is when the rig is parked on a site by the water on Kerr Lake, even in the shade. Only installing a 2nd AC is going to make them happy. But, that just my opinion..............


Shallowskiff, where in NC are you located?

Thanks for the input and my gut told me that one ac is not going to be enough. Nice to be able to get some advice from other owners.
We are located near Charlotte NC. So it will be hot and humided for sure.

Having been in the Heating and Air Cond. business for 35 years I will say when I was looking for our coach I insisted on having 2 A/C units. The biggest problem I ran into was contractors undersizing equipment... and people really complaining about their equipment running all the time. There will be times when you won't both units, but when you do you really need it, and you will be glad you have it.

larrykeever said:

Having been in the Heating and Air Cond. business for 35 years I will say when I was looking for our coach I insisted on having 2 A/C units. The biggest problem I ran into was contractors undersizing equipment... and people really complaining about their equipment running all the time. There will be times when you won't both units, but when you do you really need it, and you will be glad you have it.

Click to expand...

Larry, what is your expert opinion on the "tent mod"? Thanks!

I dont want anyone to get the wrong idea about what i said. Maybe i said it wrong. The "tent in the vent" mod will increase the airflow to the ducted vents in your rig. Some people claim it helps alot, Some havent had great success with it. There have also been several threads that dealt with resealing the main unit to keep it from drawing in hot air, trying to adjust blocked duct work, even adjusting the dead end in the longer vent runs. Different owners have had different luck with all these different modifications.

I did the tent trick when we got our new bighorn. yes, with the unit sitting there in our yard I believe it helped with percieved airflow from the vents in the rig. Was it enough? No, not even close. But we are talking about very hot temps and very high humidity for some of us. If you only camp in areas that aren't really hot and have very low humidity, You may be fine with a single A/C unit and the "tent in the vent" mod.

My opinion, and this is only my opinion, I have never been to HVAC school or worked in the industry.... On these larger Rigs, the main ac unit (15000 btu), simply is not big enough or designed to move enough air to cool the rig the way that we want it to. This is not a Heartland problem, there is nothing wrong with the way they are installing them. It is an industry wide thing. Every manufacturer of large RVs is doing the same thing. And every manufacturer designs with the thought that you will end up with a second A/C unit. Heartland has just been thoughtfull enough to include the wiring and breakers already in the larger rigs. Some maufacturers dont unless you order it.

So, if you are going to install a 2nd A/C. I dont really see the need to divert air from the rear unit through the ducts to the bedroom where I have a front A/C pumping cold air already. I would rather be able to open the air dump if I need to increase the amount of cold air being pumped into the living room of the rig.

Again, this is just my opinion, And im not saying you wont like the "tent mod". It does increase percieved airflow to some of the vents further from the main A/C unit. But if you camp in areas with high heat and humidity it isnt going to change the fact that you need more cooling and air moving ability.

I have a 3400RL I bought last yearas a leftover. It came with 1 15,000 A/C, this year it will have a second unit in the bedroom. We camped in Charlotte last June when it was 95 plus and it struggled during the day time.