Air Conditioned AC Receptacle!

[Shackrat]

It has been a week since we took delivery on our new Eagle HT 30.5 MLOK a week ago today. It's been sitting in the driveway a we slowly prep it for our first trip Sunday.

While I was hanging a TV in the bedroom I felt a strong breeze of cold air coming from the ceiling mounted receptacle. It was a hot day so the AC was on and the fan set to high. I decided to pull down the vent trim in the bedroom to see what was going on and found the duct on the drivers side had become disconnected, ripping through the tape which was ironically applied properly.

I don't know how this could have happened on a brand new unit, but I re-taped the ducts together with a couple layers of foil tape, re-installed the vent trim, but still felt a significant flow of cold air through the same receptacle. I checked the AC vents in the bathroom and bedroom, and saw a gap of 1/4" on the drivers bedroom vent, and almost 3/4" gap between the vent and duct on the other side. I pulled down both vents and make a plenum betweenthe duct and ceiling out of black tape (didn't want shiny foil showing in the vent). I re-installed the vents and was shocked how much more air was coming through them.

But... That still didn't fix the cold air leak through the ceiling receptacle. It's not coming out nearly as bad is it had been, but I can still feel a faint but cold draft. I'm not sure what else to look for. It bothers me to know that a significant amount of cold air is being lost in the rafters. Any suggestions?

[wabirch]

Pull inside ac cover and examine duct input.

[rsday75]

Pull and seal every vent and return. The gaps in mine were crazy bad.
I also sealed the AC duct runs at the ends where they extended past the last vent.

It is amazing how much better the AC works after doing this.....

[BJR]

Here is what I found in my ducted unit at the A/C:
Coleman Mach 3 A/C Fix

The thread has pictures of the caps in between the plenum and the ducts which would let conditioned air into the rafter space. Ours was not major but it was something. I'd be interested to see your results.

[Shackrat]

Originally Posted by wabirch

Pull inside ac cover and examine duct input.

I checked every vent, but the unit has ducted air returns which means there is no inside AC cover that I can easily pull to inspect. If I get ambitious I may pull the outside roof cover but at this point cooler weather is just around the corner.

Originally Posted by rsday75

Pull and seal every vent and return. The gaps in mine were crazy bad.
I also sealed the AC duct runs at the ends where they extended past the last vent.

It is amazing how much better the AC works after doing this.....

The ends of the ducts in the bedroom are sealed, but it's disappointing that they didn't put a foam cap on, simply choosing to use foil tape. I wasn't able to easily see the end of the ductwork at the back.

I may at some point fill the end of the duct with foam.

Originally Posted by BJR

Here is what I found in my ducted unit at the A/C:
Coleman Mach 3 A/C Fix

The thread has pictures of the caps in between the plenum and the ducts which would let conditioned air into the rafter space. Ours was not major but it was something. I'd be interested to see your results.

Those were some pretty sizeable gaps! It's disappointing to learn that such minor, easily fixed thing like that slip past quality control.

I didn't take any post-fix pictures. We're in a hurry trying to "move in" to the new camper in time for a weekend outing. I'll pull the cover next week when we get back and take a pic.