windows and heating and cooling
In response to the Waller's questions,
We kept our coach warm in the winter, especially when it 30 below, by doing the following. Please keep in mind that we lived in our coach for 8 months while we built our home.(june thru january)In Vernal, Utah this year was one of the coldest in the last 15 years.
- We had to seal two of the tipouts around the inside base with towels.( we are 3 hours from dealership and couldn't take rig to get tipouts adjusted for a while)
- Got some expandable foam and sealed every hole or crack in all the basement and compartment areas to keep cold out.
- We insulated around the hose from the house faucet.
- Put extra insulation on the inside of the basement doors.
I'll be real honest with you. There were days that we did get cold. The furnace would sometimes need help with a little plug in heater.
As for the airconditioning. This is a sour subject for us still.
The air conditioner that came with the coach is very poor quality in my opinion. We have had lots of challenges with it. Are dealership and Heartland have been excellent in trying to reamedy the problem. I would highly recommend getting 2 airconditioners when you get your coach. Here are some of the things that we did to help keep the rig cool in 95 to 100 degrees:
- Our Bighorn came with a dual-therm aircond 1500 BTU Ducted. I pulled the cover off it and we found a copper tube that was bent so that the freeon couldn't circulate through the radiator panel and cool down the incoming air. We fixed that problem.
- After another couple frustratingly hot days (70 to 80 degrees). The airconditioner still would not put out cool air. We then pulled off the inside intake panel and found that the partition that seperated the intake from the outake was not sealing properly, so the cool air that was blowing out, was being sucked right back in the intake to be cooled again. We fixed that problem.
- The air conditioner worked better, until the temprature reached about 95 degrees, then the air conditioner ran all the time and would freeze up periodically.
- In the end, we ended up going to a local RV dealership and purchasing a 13500 BTU Non-ducted Carrier brand Air Conditioner and putting it in the bedroom. This air conditioner, not only worked properly, but cooled the trailer off better than two Duo-therms probably would.
In summary, we have talked to three different dealerships, including the one that we bought the coach from and they all say that the Duo-Therm is by far the worst air conditioner in effeciency and the one that is most frequently serviced. Our coach is currently having the Duo-Therm air conditioner replaced with a second comparable Carrier air conditioner. If your coach is as big as ours (38 feet long), then I would strongly advise putting in two airconditioners and make them both Carriers.