I've been researching roof AC's and my head is spinning! Dometic makes a commercial grade roof top model which is constructed of metal and according to them.....is made to take the pounding of the road (unlike their other models????). Anybody have experience with them? Then I started thinking about a Carrier truck roof air or even a reefer unit but the reefer unit isn't very adjustable unless you want it between 32 and -40.
Bruce
The owner operators that I deal with are mostly using the Coleman Roughneck on their sleepers. Some have had no issues, some are dead in 5 years. Doesnt seem to a pattern of failure. I have a 15 yo Coleman that runs fine and 4 yo Dometic that shuts down when its hot and dumps water on me when i shut it off.
I'm also looking for a final solution for AC for my bus. I dont want roof air but cant find a good solution yet.
Going with the lo profile units limits you to Coleman or the Penguin ll,at RV shows on the S&S you see a lot of the Attwood, Advent and Gree with heat pumps.I replaced my Penguin ll with the Coleman Mach 8 so far I like it but time will tell,fwiw my old Penguin lasted 15 years then the newer model ll I had to replace twice in just over a year
I have 3-13,500btu Coleman from 1994. All still work well-course I store my bus indoors. But-I use the bus all year round as an apartment also when working on my bus. Stayed in three nights this week. Even though the Colemans are noisy (only two speed fans) they cool well. I use two going down the road since the rood tops are the only A/C I have.
I converted two Penguins to basement units. These are the older design with metal fans and injected plastic housing. Most A/C's now have plastic fans and Styrofoam housings. Like most other things are made in China. I guess the best we can expect now is that the units are assembled in the USA. Good Luck, TomC
See what you can find on the Gree . I tried to locate one to buy this summer and the suppliers I found were sold out . I understand they are inverter technology. So would deliver more cooling per amp used. I'm past that point now but might be one to research. Bob