ATF: North Trail - Weak A/C volume output thru vents

Upon delivery I just took on my 2012 32Buds I couldn't help but notice that the vents barely have any output. It's equipped with a Coleman 15k unit. All the 'dumps' are shut. The two vents closest to the door, forward to the unit, seem to blow stronger but not really normally. All the others just have a slight output. For perspective, they MIGHT blow a candle out but most likely wouldn't at a distance of over 4-6 inches. I seriously doubt this is a designed function. The PDI walk thru guy said that because it has two tracks of vents then the air is divided too much. Also, I'm new here but haven't really seen any other complaints about this. This leads me to believe that there is something not right somewhere. To clarify, when the dumps are open the unit seems to move the right amount of air out of the ports on the inside cowling.

I definitely don't believe there will be enough output in the summer. If anyone else has had a similar issue please let me know how it was resolved. Initially the dealer doesn't recognize it as an issue. They were in a big hurry to get me out of there as they had many deliveries that day. They just did s quick walk thru. I agreed to make a list of things and bring it back next week. Just need to know if this a/c issue is functioning as designed or I need to insist that it be investigated. Thanks so much!

Rusty... Not sure if this will be of any help, but we have a 21fbs with a 15k Carrier unit and it blows quite strongly through every duct opening. You have another 11 feet of trailer, so you probably have more feet of duct work and a few more openings, so it might not be as strong. I would have them demonstrate another similar trailer on their lot so you could do a real like comparison.

Thanks. That's kinda what I thought. I will probably have them look at another NT just to see.

Rusty0007:
You might want to look at this old thread, and a solution many of adopted for poor air conditioning air flows. There are many pages and many posts on this thread: //heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/1069-AC-air-flow-problem-SOLVED?highlight=timk

Thanks Bill, wow, after reading that thread it seems like this is an old problem. Surely they have addressed this at the factory since 2006!?! Mine is a 2012 unit. It will be interesting to see if it is actually the same issue or something else. I might pop the cover off in a bit and see what I can find out. Kinda hate taking apart a rig I've had for 3 days. Hehe. But I've learned, know the answer to the question before you ask it. Especially when dealing with service depts. .

Rusty:
The factory is in kind of a legal bind on this issue since they have to install major vendor systems like this to the vendor's specifications. If the vendor's specifications for ducting, etc. leave the performance of the system lacking, who is at fault? The vendor can deny warranty coverage for "misinstalled" systems.

Frankly, I haven't heard too much on this issue on the forum over the last couple of years, so I thought the factory/vendor had this fixed.

BTW, checking for adequate AC duct air flows should be a part of the PDI done with the delivering dealer, and this is an issue you should be able to make a warranty claim on.

Well, I'm impressed. I received a pro-active call this morning first thing from the factory, a Mr. JD Adams. He was very interested in this issue. After asked some detailed questions he requested me to provide his contact info to the dealer so that he may speak to them before they start working on it. He's got a few ideas he would like them to try. He agrees that it appears there is an issue but assured me that it would be resolved in a timely manner.

Frankly, I'm impressed with not only their attitude but their genuine level of customer care. I tell ya, it's rare these days to find a company that really wants to stand behind what they build. If you buy very many end-consumer products you know what I mean. Granted, it's not fixed yet of course, but I am much more confident that it will be fixed and also in the product I bought. Kudos to Heartland!

Whelp, I picked my new 2012 NT 32 buds from its 3 week visit to the dealer. It's been in the shop since I got it. We haven't even camped in it yet. Of course, the most important reason for the visit was this air duct issue. The tech stated there was a " really cheesy" flimsy piece of fiber board that was crammed between the return and output sides of the AC unit. It was supposed to keep output air from passing back to the return side. Supossedly it was not installed properly and the tech believed it was now fixed. I went to pick up my new camper and low and behold, the problem is unchanged. Totally shocking huh? The best part is I'm getting ready to pull it 3k miles with my daughters and wife on a trip to Florida, where the temps are in the 90s. I'm looking forward to the whinning about how hot the new camper is. Heh. A camper full of cranky, sweaty, growly girls doesn't sound like a cool vacation. Lol

So, while I was there we powered up a 29 ft NT TT with a 13.5k Coleman. It was slightly better, but whoever buys that thing is gonna be pretty unhappy too.

It appears to me the issue lies with failure to pay attention to a very simple principle of volume vs pressure vs resistance. The fan doesn't seem to create enough pressure to adequately supply the volume of square inches within the ducts. Also, you can't shut these vents off to redirect pressure to another area. Also, there are two runs to the duct work. One heading forward, and one aft. The aft run has more, by far, cubic inches of ducts and is the weakest. Like I said before, for perspective, I seriously doubt most of the aft vents would blow a candle out at a distance of 6 inches.

So, I took the cover off again just to see what I could notice. There is no way this thing is functioning as intended. One thing I noticed is the fan itself creates a strong pressure directed towards the the duct that runs forward. Actually, the vents forward of the unit are borderline, but acceptable. If the fan was reversed this problem could be a lot better. I believe that it was intended that the weak side of the output fan was to be directed to the shorter run of vents and the strong side directed to the long run. Common sense. I can even open the dump on the strong side of the unit and it doesn't really even drop the pressure on the aft vents. That's how illrellvent the air pressure created on that side of the output box is. From the link supplied by wdk450 it appears that this problem has existed for a few years now. From speaking to Heartland, the Coleman is a fairly new unit for the TT NT models but is seems that this problem has happened before, with other units. I really can't imagine this being how these coaches are designed. Could it it be something as simple as fan direction?

I don't know but obviously there is nothing the dealer can do to fix this. I guess, as much as I don't want to, I'll try to figure out a way to fix this myself by modifying or redirecting air pressure. My previous coach was a 2010 34 ft Sunset Trail with a 13.5 Duotherm. This was a lite camper that was over 1400 pounds lighter than this NT. Merely stating it wasn't built as well or have near the wall and ceiling thickness, nor the price tag for that matter. The air blew strong out the ducted vents and rapidly cooled the coach. For some reason I expected at least equal proformance.

Anyway, any input would be appreciated. Also, any 32Buds owners that could let me know how their AC units work out that would be great. Thanks so much!

I would recommend doing the 'tent in a vent' mod that wdk450 provided the link for. I did that in my last trailer and it helped a lot.
It only requires a couple of empty pop cans, or some light weight sheet metal, and some good duct tape.
The job should take about an hour.

Peace
Dave

Rusty0007 said:

Also, you can't shut these vents off to redirect pressure to another area.

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I've seen replacements that have shut offs for the heat vents. Has anyone seen any replace vents that have shut offs for the AC vents?

I haven't seen them in a NT but my 2010 Sunset Trail had close-able vents. They basically looked the same but had little wings you could pinch close.

I believe that the manufacture advises against closing vents. With that said you can buy closesble vents both heating and cooling.

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@Phil- sorry, re-read your post and the key word was 'replacement'. Sorry for the thick head lol. It was late, what can I say? Hehe@ The Galants- thanks so much. I'll look into the closable vents too. I plan on doing a mod this weekend that hopefully will help. But I can see why they wouldn't want ya to close a bunch of vents up. It could very easily cause the u it to freeze up. Thanks again!

Rusty0007 said:

@Phil- sorry, re-read your post and the key word was 'replacement'. Sorry for the thick head lol. It was late, what can I say? Hehe@ The Galants- thanks so much. I'll look into the closable vents too. I plan on doing a mod this weekend that hopefully will help. But I can see why they wouldn't want ya to close a bunch of vents up. It could very easily cause the u it to freeze up. Thanks again!

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Did you mean @Cliff? lol Too funny! I have a poker and golf buddy named Phil and it's common for others to accidently call him Cliff or me Phil. Even happened with a different Phil last week! Made me laugh anyway.

The most I'd want to do is close one or two vents (heat or AC) depending on the situation. It would be nice for the bunkhouse or bathroom.

Closing a bunch of vents (heat or AC) could also restrict air flow too much and be hard on the blower.

My 32 BUDS has the exact same issue, barely any air blows through the vents. Havent looked at it yet and my dealer is 6 hrs away. Only had the unit 1 1/2 months, had lots of issues. Also anyone notice that the heat is not evenly distributed, washroom is like an oven, bunkroom is cold, noticed that bunkroom heat vent is restricted to about 1/3 the openning annd washroom is wide open, thinking about swapping them.

kwtech said:

My 32 BUDS has the exact same issue, barely any air blows through the vents.

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Heat, AC or both?

Havent looked at it yet and my dealer is 6 hrs away. Only had the unit 1 1/2 months, had lots of issues.

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Make sure to make a list of everything so it can be taken care of in one trip. We'll have to make two trips back to our dealer (about 2 hours one way) to get everything resolved. Maybe heartland (or your dealer) could arrange to have someone closer work on it. Just a thought...

Also anyone notice that the heat is not evenly distributed, washroom is like an oven, bunkroom is cold, noticed that bunkroom heat vent is restricted to about 1/3 the openning annd washroom is wide open, thinking about swapping them.

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I've noticed the size differences and that sounds like a good idea to swap them. Not sure if we'll do that, it depends how much heat we end up with in the bunkhouse. We might just leave the bathroom door open (when not in use) to let the heat out.

We could fix most of the issues we have had ourselves. We want to have or dealer fix everything since we have to go back for other things. We love our camper now, just not thrilled with some issues but can forget that once every thing is resolved.

Good luck and try to keep it all fun.

Cliff and Miindy

I believe the duct size is smaller going to the bunkroom. This would explain the smaller opening in the vent.

I put adjustable vents on the heater vents and we keep the bathroom set at about a quarter open which has the effect of increasing the flow from the other vents.