[GMCnet] Quietest Rooftop Air Conditioner

[Larry Nelson]

Just replaced my noisy OEM A/C unit and very disappointed in the Dometic unit I bought locally. 70% of the air blows to the rear, with the remaining
30% to the main cabin area. Also more noisy than I would like. I don't wish to consider re-inventing the wheel with a mini split or some other split
system. I just want a good, 13,000 btu rooftop that has most of the noise outside. These are not perfect machines, I know, but there must be one that
is "the best".

Thanks to all.
--
Larry Nelson Springfield, MO
Ex GMC'er, then GM Busnut
now '77 Eleganza ARS WB0JOT
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[Jon Roche]

Sadly there are lots of posts about the poor performance of the dometic brisk aire.

I hear the penguin one is better???


I have an atwood 15.5 that I am fairly happy with.

They keep changing air conditioning models and who owns what company every year. Hard to keep up.
--
Jon Roche
75 palm beach
EBL EFI, manny headers, Micro Level, rebuilt most of coach now.
St. Cloud, MN
http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/

[Mark Sawyer]

Best I've seen is the no longer available Atwood Air Command... Has separate fan motors for the internal and external blowers, so they can be run on
different speeds which seems to make it quieter inside.

However, Dometic bought out Atwood a few years ago. And it did not make sense to me that they would market 2 different AC units for long, and sure
enough, the Atwood was discontinued a year or 2 after the Dometic buyout.

Now I could be completely wrong here, but from some internet sleuthing and pure assumption on my part:

I think the newish Houghton RecPro RV air conditioners look awful similar to the old Atwood Air Command... I believe the original Atwood ACs
originated in Australia... So does the new RecPro AC... The brochures on both ACs look similar... They have similar specs... Both run separate fan
motors for inside and outside coils...

Again, pure conjecture on my part... But I do love my current Atwood. And if I ran it into a bridge, I would probably look into the RecPro as a
replacement.

https://www.recpro.com/rv-air-conditioner-15k-with-heat-pump-non-ducted/



Now, I also believe Dometic is coming out with an inverter based RV AC called the Harrier... I would bet it would be quieter than any standard RV AC
currently available, but I do not know if it is sold in the US, nor do I know the cost....

https://www.dometic.com/en-sg/sg/products/climate/air-conditioners/motorhome-and-caravan-air-conditioners/dometic-harrier-inverter-_-152020
--
Mark S. '73 Painted Desert,
Manny 1 Ton Front End,
Howell Injection,
Leigh Harrison 4bag and Rear Brakes,
Fort Worth, TX

[Mark Sawyer]

Here is a thread on another site comparing the Dometic to the Atwood:

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4517-got-earplugs/

They found the Atwood much quieter, and they posted some non-scientific comparison numbers I copied below:

Dometic:

Location, Baseline measurement, Low Fan, High Fan with compressor running

Front dinette seat (phone on table) - 35, 68, 71

Rear dinette seat (phone on table) - 34, 71, 72

Left bed (phone on bed at aft end) - 31, 70, 74

Right bed (phone on bed at aft end) - 32, 70, 73

Standing under A/C (phone held at 5') - 32, 76, 78



Attwood Air Command

Location, Baseline measurement, Low Fan, High Fan with compressor running

Front dinette seat (phone on table) - 34, 58, 63

Rear dinette seat (phone on table) - 34, 58, 63

Left bed (phone on bed at aft end) - 34, 58, 63

Right bed (phone on bed at aft end) - 34, 58, 63

Standing under A/C (phone held at 5') - 34, 64, 70

--
Mark S. '73 Painted Desert,
Manny 1 Ton Front End,
Howell Injection,
Leigh Harrison 4bag and Rear Brakes,
Fort Worth, TX

[Steve Weinstock]

Larry:

I've got a Coleman Mach8. Yea - different than yours - but I'm also disappointed with the noise it makes. I've replaced the external fan and that
helped quite a bit... I'm seriously considering the other modifications as discussed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhoTdLHkniw

Hope this helps a bit,
Steve W


--
Steve W
1973 : 23'
Southern California

[Dave Stragand]

The earlier Mach 8's had a very loud fan (part number 1472B5041) on top that they have replaced with a quieter one (part number 1472D5041). Worth checking into. There are a lot of pages on the topic on Google.

-Dave
1978 Transmode near Pittsburgh

[Scott Nutter]

Ditto on the Atwood Aircommand unit. Very quiet. I like the 3 speed motor, and the auto feature where it can automatically switch between speeds. The
only drawback is that it is a high profile unit. But the efficiency and quietness makes up for the height.
Scott.
--
Scott Nutter
1978 Royale Center Kitchen, Patterson 455, switch pitch tranny, 3.21 final drive, Quad bags, tankless water heater, everything Lenzi. Alex Ferrera
installed MSD Atomic EFI
Houston, Texas