Replacing our Dometic AC....

[Mein Sprinter]

Hello fellow Roadtrekkers...

Our 12.5 year old Dometic #03099622 crashed in Quebec, QC. Exploded, caught fire while I was about to increase some more cooling. Caught it in time before a fire erupted. Been without AC for a month now and we're traveling this oppressive humidity along the East coast. Plan on replacing the AC with a low profile, newer Dometic or a Houghton.

Has anyone ever replaced such a unit? We're looking into a Houghton AC from RecPro. I understand that the Houghton is pretty quiet and effectively cools better than the Dometic. Thinking of getting a 9500BTU Houghton model as I understand that one does not require a "soft start" feature with a 9500BTU compared to a 13500BTU. I believe our Onan LP generated 2500w would easily power this!

Question: how do you hard wire A/C and generator power lines to one power line of the AC. The area where the previous connections were are totally burned inside giving me poor indication of where to connect power!

Thank you...

Cheers...

 

[Larry M]

We replaced the exact same unit with the Houghton 13.5 btu unit from RecPro. It was an easy install and couldn’t be happier with the unit.

In your last picture, the AC going into the control/thermostat on the Dometic wire into the Houghton directly. Just three wires.

 

[Mein Sprinter]

We replaced the exact same unit with the Houghton 13.5 btu unit from RecPro. It was an easy install and couldn’t be happier with the unit.

In your last picture, the AC going into the control/thermostat on the Dometic wire into the Houghton directly. Just three wires.

View attachment 229011

Thank you Larry M.... nice clean job your did there. Did yours come with a remote or manual operation at the plenum? Excuse my ignorance... How did you wire for AC and generator connections to the 3 wires of the Houghton?

Thank you

Cheers....

 

[Larry M]

The AC that fed the Dometic, the hot, neutral and ground (black, white and green) feed directly to the Houghton. The thermostat is already wired. It’s really plug and play with only three wires. It doesn’t care where the ac comes and there’s no switching for the unit. Your distribution panel where your converter determines the ac source.

They all come with the remote but you can also set it from the plenum but it is not as intuitive. We use the remote exclusively.

 

[Mein Sprinter]

The AC that fed the Dometic, the hot, neutral and ground (black, white and green) feed directly to the Houghton. The thermostat is already wired. It’s really plug and play with only three wires. It doesn’t care where the ac comes and there’s no switching for the unit. Your distribution panel where your converter determines the ac source.

They all come with the remote but you can also set it from the plenum but it is not as intuitive. We use the remote exclusively.

Thank you all.... just installed the Houghton 9500BTU unit. Runs fine on A/C and generator. Pretty simple to install albeit a bit awkward getting it on the roof. Used a long ladder, slide it upwards on the ladders ramp using ropes wrapped around and pull it up.

While it cools just fine and is pretty quiet.... when climbing atop the Vans roof and observing the fan on the housing. I noticed that when the fan is on, it spins downward(intake)... isn't the canopy fan supposed to "exhaust" instead of "intaking"?? Thank you.

Cheers...

 

[Kajtek1]

Get 15k BTU.
I installed 13.5k Rec Pro and now regret it.
When it is efficient, quiet AC with soft start, part of soft start is low power internal blower.
I have it installed in front of the van and you barely feel air flow in center.

 

[Mein Sprinter]

Get 15k BTU.
I installed 13.5k Rec Pro and now regret it.
When it is efficient, quiet AC with soft start, part of soft start is low power internal blower.
I have it installed in front of the van and you barely feel air flow in center.

Thank you Kajtek1 for your input; however already have the Houghton 9500 BTU (‎RP-AC2801) for our small Sprinter 2500.

Now...should the fan on the top of housing (shell) turn inward (air in) or outward (air out) when running... that's my question here. My top housing fan runs in the down draft mode.

Cheers...

 

[irvingj]

Shouldn't matter, that's up to the designers. As long as sufficient air is drawn in, passes through the condenser coil and exits somewhere, it should be fine.

I've only ever seen the inside of our OEM Dometic, which uses a double-ended axial ("squirrel-cage") fan for both evaporator --inside-- and condenser --outside-- air flow.

In the Dometic's case, the air is pulled in from two sides (far side/rt side in pic), passes through condenser coil, and exits the opposite side -- a more or less lateral airflow. By the look of it, it seems yours is designed to pull in through the top and exit out the sides.

 

[Mein Sprinter]

Shouldn't matter, that's up to the designers. As long as sufficient air is drawn in, passes through the condenser coil and exits somewhere, it should be fine.

I've only ever seen the inside of our OEM Dometic, which uses a double-ended axial ("squirrel-cage") fan for both evaporator --inside-- and condenser --outside-- air flow.

In the Dometic's case, the air is pulled in from two sides (far side/rt side in pic), passes through condenser coil, and exits the opposite side -- a more or less lateral airflow. By the look of it, it seems yours is designed to pull in through the top and exit out the sides.

View attachment 232029

Thank you irvingj for your insight. Feel relieved that nothing was put together the wrong way!

Best regards...

Cheers...

 

[RT.SS]

Hi Mein, how's the new A/C? Does it cool better than the original Dometic 11,500 BTU? I read that the air output is not strong enough to reach the front cab unlike with the old one? Is there a huge difference in noise level? Lastly, I remember that you have a roof carrier butted against the A/C shroud, is the new A/C has same roof footprint? Sorry for asking so many questions, thank you.

 

[Larry M]

Get 15k BTU.
I installed 13.5k Rec Pro and now regret it.
When it is efficient, quiet AC with soft start, part of soft start is low power internal blower.
I have it installed in front of the van and you barely feel air flow in center.

Replace it and sell it. Their prices are going up and it should be an easy sale.

I question though that part of the soft start is "low power internal blower". The external fan and internal fan each draw 0.8 amps or 1.6 total. The low amp draw on start up is in the design and how the inrush current is managed. The fans aren't part of that circuit.

 

[Mein Sprinter]

Hi Mein, how's the new A/C? Does it cool better than the original Dometic 11,500 BTU? I read that the air output is not strong enough to reach the front cab unlike with the old one? Is there a huge difference in noise level? Lastly, I remember that you have a roof carrier butted against the A/C shroud, is the new A/C has same roof footprint? Sorry for asking so many questions, thank you.

Hi RT.SS , excuse my tardiness..didn't know you posted>

So far so good..actually wanted a white shell(shroud) cover but they (RecPro) were out and didn't know of any future delivery, so got the black one. One can actually fry eggs on that cover in the summer....sooooo hot. Might spray paint it glossy white using polyurethane (Imron).

Yes, it cools better than the 12 year old Dometic 11,500 BTU and none of that annoying noise. Doesn't require any "soft-start". Easily kicks in even with 15amp power or the LP generator. Basically has the same footprint as the Domestic with some slight trimmings of our 2x4 studs that were placed there by Roadtrek. Really pretty low profile! Although being hearing impaired.... I sensed that the noise level is pretty low according to my hearing aid and "hearing" visitors. Ours is a 9500 BTU, so takes a while to cool the entire Van, especially the front! Cool it does...then gets pretty cold after a few hours, assuming you have all windows closed and the curtains drawn.

Best regards, Cheers...

 

[RT.SS]

Hi RT.SS , excuse my tardiness..didn't know you posted>

So far so good..actually wanted a white shell(shroud) cover but they (RecPro) were out and didn't know of any future delivery, so got the black one. One can actually fry eggs on that cover in the summer....sooooo hot. Might spray paint it glossy white using polyurethane (Imron).

Yes, it cools better than the 12 year old Dometic 11,500 BTU and none of that annoying noise. Doesn't require any "soft-start". Easily kicks in even with 15amp power or the LP generator. Basically has the same footprint as the Domestic with some slight trimmings of our 2x4 studs that were placed there by Roadtrek. Really pretty low profile! Although being hearing impaired.... I sensed that the noise level is pretty low according to my hearing aid and "hearing" visitors. Ours is a 9500 BTU, so takes a while to cool the entire Van, especially the front! Cool it does...then gets pretty cold after a few hours, assuming you have all windows closed and the curtains drawn.

Best regards, Cheers...

No worries Mein, thank you for the update, really appreciate it. I might upgrade mine too when the old one goes kaput.

 

[Mein Sprinter]

No worries Mein, thank you for the update, really appreciate it. I might upgrade mine too when the old one goes kaput.

Due to my stupidity and excitement forgot to take some pictures of the set up!.... after removing the old Dometic there was quite a bit of rust on the roofs sheet metal. Roadtrek seal/caulking was done in a poor way and failed over the years. Roof sheet metal wasn't primed properly nor sealed. The sheet metal cutout was raw sans sealant/primer.

Cheers...

 

[RT.SS]

Due to my stupidity and excitement forgot to take some pictures of the set up!.... after removing the old Dometic there was quite a bit of rust on the roofs sheet metal. Roadtrek seal/caulking was done in a poor way and failed over the years. Roof sheet metal wasn't primed properly nor sealed. The sheet metal cutout was raw sans sealant/primer.

Cheers...

Thanks Mein. That is not unusual of RT, on mine, the cutouts for the fridge vents, outdoor shower, and the water heater were all showing some rust, the cutout edges were all resealed.

 

[JimmieNay]

We replaced the exact same unit with the Houghton 13.5 btu unit from RecPro. It was an easy install and couldn’t be happier with the unit.

In your last picture, the AC going into the control/thermostat on the Dometic wire into the Houghton directly. Just three wires.

View attachment 229011

Hi: Did anyone post a youtube video of replacing the dometic with the RecPro 13.5 unit?