ACs on during day?

[robboyle44]

Hi we will be at the Fort 9 nights mid to late August. We are coming from Mass in a travel trailer. I imagine the campers must get pretty hot during the day while at the parks. Also, I would think un-refridgerated food would spoil. Do you leave your ACs on low during the day?

 

[kc5grw]

My A/C runs full blast during the day in summer when I'm not in the trailer. I want to return to a really COOL trailer after a day at the parks.

 

[clkelley]

Yep, mine stays on all the time when I'm away. (I pay the same for the campsite there whether I use the electric or not, so might as well use it!!!)

 

[DisneyBishops]

Same here when its hot, I never turn mine off.

 

[Shan-man]

We have pups in the motorhome so we definitely leave the AC on... the only question is do we do max cool or not. BTW, I discovered the hard way that in a super-humid environment like Orlando, setting the AC to max cool and low fan will lead to an ice shield over the coils and NO COOLING!... on my old AC anyhow. So I always leave the fan turned up hi regardless of how cool I set it. The high airflow keeps the humidity from freezing on the coils.

 

[SCCamper]

We always leave the AC on during the day when not in the camper.

 

[Tigger0624]

Even when my pups arent with us- the camper AC is on full blast all day long! Disney charges enough for the sites as it is! I might as well get my money's worth and have a cool camper to come back to

 

[3gr8kids]

Exactly what everyone has already said. AC on even when we're not there. After a long, hot day at the parks, it's soooooo nice to come back to a cool camper. Have fun!

 

[graciejane]

AC on!!!! Much more enjoyable to come back to a cool and comfortable trailer then to wait wait wait for it to cool down.

 

[I'mDownWithDisney]

We leave ours on 24/7, but not on full blast. Our smallish TT (24') feels like a meat locker with it on high.

 

[SunshineCamper]

Without a doubt-leave the A/C on-this way hopefully your bath towel can dry-and food will be "dry".
August is HOT, Humid and when it rains-more wet.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I would like to hear from some of the technical gurus who frequent this board about this issue.

Early on in my pop-up camper ownership, we camped with another family who had rented their pop-up. This trip was in May, and it was pretty hot during the day. They left their AC running 24/7. When they got back from a visit to one of the parks one hot afternoon, their AC was not working. The unit was iced over. I would think that once the unit ices over, it could be damaged by continuing to run.

So, ever since then, I never leave my AC on, unless we are at the campsite, or are only going to be away briefly.

Are there any AC experts out there? Is there a potential of damaging your RV's AC by letting it run 24/7? Also, wouldn't this make you coolant (freon? or whatever) run out sooner? What conditions cause a unit to ice over, and what can be done to avoid this?

TCD

 

[DisneyBishops]

Ok here goes, running it all day won't make it ice over. Just like at your house, running the a/c all day won't make it ice over. Usually a problem like low refrigerant, dirty evaporator coil, dirty filter. A bad thermostat could cause the problem also. Also running the thermo wide open and the fan on low could cause you a problem, but not likely. As long as your a/c is in good working order you should have no problem running it 24/7


while not an a/c guy, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one night.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Ok here goes, running it all day won't make it ice over. Just like at your house, running the a/c all day won't make it ice over. Usually a problem like low refrigerant, dirty evaporator coil, dirty filter. A bad thermostat could cause the problem also. Also running the thermo wide open and the fan on low could cause you a problem, but not likely. As long as your a/c is in good working order you should have no problem running it 24/7


while not an a/c guy, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one night.

The A/C that I have in my pop-up does not cycle on and off, like a home AC does. It just runs and runs. There is no thermostat. There is just a dial to turn to somewhat control the temperature. But, when it is on, it is on. Fortunately, mine has never iced up, but that is because I have been cautious on when I let it run.

I still say that with a pop-up you are asking for trouble to leave your AC running 24/7, especially if you are away from the camper.

I would like to hear from an AC guy (or gal).

TCD

 

[Shan-man]

I'm no guru, but as I said a few posts back, I find that my unit ices over when I have it set to too low a temperature and not a high enough fan setting... especially if the humidity is high. However, I have never had it ice over with the fan set to high. I would think that icing over is bad for the coolant coil just like it is for any other plumbing, stressing the metal. As for prematurely running out of freon, I believe that freon leaks are unaffected by use... a leaking system will run out just as fast whether it is being used or not. I could be wrong. Of course, there are moving parts in the system that have a certain lifespan and constant use certainly counts against that lifespan.

Oh, one more thing, I have an AC like TCD (i.e. no thermostat) but mine does cycle between what I assume is a cooling phase and a defrosting phase. In the first, the coolant is being compressed and making cold air, in the second, the compressor turns off and I assume this is so that frost can be melted from the coil. I believe this is where the condensate (water) from the AC comes from, melted frost.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Now that Shan-man mentions it, my AC unit must go through phases where it is cooling and then defrosting, too, because I definitely get water running off of it. The fan is always blowing, though.

Put me in the minority camp on this issue, I don't think it is a good idea to leave your AC running all day in an unoccupied unit, especially a pop-up camper. I certainly understand the need to air condition a hard sided unit if pets will be in it, but I think it is a colossal waste to have the AC run when a unit is unoccupied. Except when it is in the blazing sun, my camper will cool off nicely with the AC on high in less than 30 minutes. And, if it is in the blazing sun, the AC cannot keep the inside very cool anyway. So, why leave the AC running when nobody is going to be in the camper all day? To me, that is wasteful, and asking for a mechanical failure.

TCD

 

[DisneyBishops]

All the a/c units have a thermostat. They don't have temp numbers like the one in your house. The knob that you are turning is the thermostat. When the unit reaches a certain temp. ie: what ever position you have it set on.
The compressor will shut off. the fan will keep blowing. The condensate on the evaporator is not frost, if it is then you have a problem. the water will be cold but not frozen in the least. The water from the evaporator is the water removed from the air inside the camper. Like i said there are many things that can cause them to freeze but the most likely and common are air flow restriction, dirty evap coil or dirty filters or low refrigerant level. Freon doesn't ever go bad, unless you burn your compressor. If the charge is low it will freeze up. But only for a while because it will quit cooling when the suction pressure falls too low. The pressures can flucutate depending on ambient temperature.

So if you have a good working a/c you can run it all you want and it won't freeze. Thats why the compressor cycles on and off.

Also on a pop-up or smaller camper, no big deal as they will cool off quickly. but on bigger units they need to run as they take awhile to cool off.

These units operate just like the ones in your home. I live in florida and in the summer mine never shuts off except for late at night and it never freezes up.

Oh well enough rambling

 

[Mmketeer]

I don't care if we have to have a window unit to go camping, an a/c must run full blast for us all day as we have precious four-legged cargo in ours. We also usually don't travel more than an hour from home, so we always plug the 5th wheel up a day or two before we leave and get the fridge going and a/c unit too. This gets the camper cooler and the a/c doesn't have to work as hard when we do get to our destination.

Problems with our overhead a/c unit is a major worry of mine, so we never leave the BT's alone for more than an hour or two when it reaches the 90 degree mark around here. We also usually have a fan on to help circulate the air better and we love camping at Disney as their is always a really good possiblity that our 5th wheel will have some shade. Food is replaceable if the fridge quits working, but my babies aren't.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

yup.

 

[motofamily]

Our Coach is Black and has 2 ac units that run non stop when we are in hot conditions. These work like house units but we keep them cranked. In our last vending trailer it had a regular rv ac and one of my customers was at a race with us at Loretta Lynn's "about an hour south of Nashville" I think Its actually more humid there at times because we are in a valley with a river and NO breeze anyway to keep equipment cool the ac must run all the time and it was freezing up. Anyway he pulled the filter cover door open and pulled this copper looking thing down so that it actually was in the trailer and not in the unit he said that this would help to keep it from freezing up and it did. Be careful I don't know what I am doing so if you want to try it please be careful not to break anything but its worth a try.