| Author |
Message |
john wood (206.252.250.201)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 11:28 pm: | |
Was just in south idaho, temps at my rig were up to 116F and the front a/c is suffering for it. Now locks up over about 108F so i'm planning on replacing it. presently a coleman lo profile and noisy.
my question: which manufacturer makes the quietest 13,500 BTU unit? Carrier, Colemen or DuoTherm.
Secondly: Which is the least fail prone?
Thanks!
jw |
jmaxwell (66.42.92.4)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 12:38 am: | |
Carrier does not make a low profile. For noise, Carrier beats Coleman and I can't say about Duotherm. Reliability: I never have been impressed with Duotherm or Coleman and the Carriers have not been on the market that long, but they are the oldest A/C company going. You find a lot of re-conditioned Duotherms, so that may say something about reliability or it may be because they are such a big seller, therefore more of them fail. I think u will find your best price on Carrier. Try www.rvcatalog.com for starters. Haven't found anybody to beat their price yet. Carrier is also the most efficient of the 3 and u might consider a 15k unit |
Peter Broadribb (Madbrit) (170.215.59.70)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 10:13 am: | |
My neighbor changed out his Duotherm for a Carrier as, even though it made the tests, it never quite kept his RV cool. The Carrier has a moving vane system which spreads the air around the RV. He is very happy with it and says it's much quieter than the other brands.
Peter. |
Frank Allen (205.188.208.39)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 10:14 am: | |
I cant really answer your question since the only ones i ever had was duotherm, in 20 years never had one fail, im not saying they are the best just telling you my experience with them
Frank Allen
4106 |
Rick White (Ipn) (206.176.148.173)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 10:33 am: | |
It's not a bus but I do work on the Rehab Truck for Dallas Fire Rescue. We just got a new Rig this year and it has 2 of the 15.5 Carrier units on top. Our old rig had 2 13.5 Colemans. The Carrier's are much quieter. When using Shore Power (Generator is PTO driven. Can't hear anything over it) we knew that the Coleman's were running but with the Carrier we have to stop and listen to make sure it is running.
The Carrier is taller than the Colemans but that is not a issue for us. Actually the taller Carrier works better because it catches all the low tree limbs instead of the Command Light ($7k).
The jury is still out on the dependability of the Carrier. We run at least 1 A/C non-stop from Early May until Mid October. We never had any problems from the Colemans. The new truck has only been in service for about 2 months now so it is still too early to tell how the Carriers are going to hold up. |
joel garcia (24.27.98.67)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 10:34 am: | |
if it locks up that means it is freezing and makes a loud noise check evaporator core it must be realy dirty since there might be stuff going around the filter, turn on the ac so the evaporator gets wet and that makes it easier to clean hope this helps |
pat b (68.46.40.60)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 12:01 pm: | |
Just want to give my view. I had a duo therm roof top. It blew the circuit breakers after running for a long time.Took it in for service nobody could find the problem. contacted the manufacture several time and listen to alot of double talk, blaming my installation ..in the meantime spoiled several vacations ... I found the fix right here on this board . just a sensor that is too sensative covered the sensor with a little duct tape (as per ?)and has worked ever since..seems like many duo therms vintage 1995 had this problem. but the manufacture blamed everbody but themselves.never the less I will never buy a product from that manufacture again. |
Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 3:26 pm: | |
I had both a duo-therm (13.5kbtu) and a Coleman about the same size mounted on the bus. The Coleman was in front taking care of about 1/3 of the bus and the duo-therm is in the rear taking care of the remaining 2/3. The coleman uses 2 amps more power, is lots more noisy, it's fan was never balanced very well from the factory so it vibrates things (so does it's compressor) and it cools less than the duo therm. It also seems to have a higher velocity fan which makes more air noise.
What I think of the coleman is that last week I gave it away to a friend for free and bought another new duo therm to replace it...
Cheers
Gary |
john wood (206.252.250.67)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 3:53 pm: | |
thanks for the feedback! Will look at evap (re; joel) before I condemn the coleman. If I go with the carrier, I'll let you know my experiences.
jw |
Frank Allen (64.12.96.235)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2003 - 10:08 am: | |
Make certain both evaporater and condenser are clean and free of dirt , a air flow resriction will cause a lot of problems. like freezing and high compreeser head pressure causing lock up or fuse failure.
Frank Allen
4106 |
Geoff (Geoff) (66.238.120.71)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2003 - 12:34 pm: | |
If you need a repair manual/troubleshooting guide for your Coleman you can download it from their website:
http://www.rvcomfort.com/ |
Harold mc8 (205.188.208.39)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 21, 2003 - 3:12 pm: | |
I bought a carrier and used it for 2 years,it was a little quieter than a coleman or dometic and it cooled good. However,it would leak water out of its condensate tray when traveling or if parked unlevel. The ads say call any carrier dealer for service,you can call but they won"t service your rv unit, they have very few service centers and were never able to get my ac to quit dripping inside. I finlly gave up and bought another dometic. Good luck with your choice,carrier may be made better now,mine was first year introduced. |