One of my DuoTherm Penguin low profile AC units has failed.
Since nobody fixes these things anymore, it's time for a replacement.
Anybody have any experience with the Atwood Air Command ACs?
I can get two of their 15K BTU units for $150 more than the price of one low-profile 15K BTU Penguin II. . .
Coleman Mach 15 is another option, but more expensive than the Atwood.
The low-profile Coleman Mach 8 is competitively priced with the Penguin II, but reviews universally slam them as being extremely noisy both inside and out.
Thoughts?
TIA,
RJ
Good old Coleman 13,500 if you don't use ducting-meaning you have hang down controls. I know that when I bought my Penguins, the only difference between the 13,500 and the 15,000 was a stronger blower motor-the compressor was the same. Good Luck, TomC
Atwood was a good AC in the beginning, but not so good now since Dometic purchased it and took the manufacturing to Mexico.
If you don't want a Coleman the Chinese made Gree is about as good as any out there. FWIW there is nothing any louder than the piece of $#!% new Penguin ll with it's 2 speed fan I despise my Penguin ll
I have one Atwood heat pump unit RJ in the front of my bus. It heats and cools very well. However I heard they only work in a certain temp range like between 45 to 107 degrees. Any colder than 45 they do not heat and any higher than 107 outside, they do not cool. I called Atwood and they would not comment on this but if you are considering one, you should call and ask them about this. If you find I am wrong, I will update or remove my post. The nice thing is that these come with a remote control so I can turn it ON/OFF and adjust the thermostat from the front seat so I no longer have to rely on the Cruise Control to adjust the temp when I am riding solo. ;D
I need two more units so I am picking up a couple of other units at B&B Coachworks in Vegas on my way to the Thayne, WY rally in September. I think they are Coleman's but not sure.
I just picked up an Atwood Air Command on Thursday to replace the Dometic which has failed. Hope to have get it installed sometime next week. I'll be able to report on it then. Ordered it from Bills RV Appliance Repair in Elkhart and drove out from Milwaukee to go fetch it. Gave me a chance to stop at Brad & Hall to check out their furniture options.
I replaced my front ac unit (coleman mach) with the atwood air command heat pump unit (15026) last year. Works very well, draws much less power than the coleman, and is much more quiet. Digital controls with a remote is a plus too. I plan on upgrading the remaining units as well later this year.
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Where did you pick up the DC supply for the Attwood Derrick ?, my bouts with Carrier and the electronic boards if you didn't have a DC supply you had no AC
RJ
I have had the smaller unit in my bus for over a year now. It is much quieter than the Coleman it replaced. A few weeks ago I drove through Baker to Vegas, it was 115 in Baker and was comforable in the bus. I would buy one again.
Matt
Quote from: luvrbus on July 31, 2017, 11:26:21 AM
Where did you pick up the DC supply for the Attwood Derrick ?, my bouts with Carrier and the electronic boards if you didn't have a DC supply you had no AC
Same with the Dometic's and they are as noisy as the Colman's.As I have said before ,I have two original ducted Colman's on my '95 Dream that actually cools better than the three Dometics CW installed on the Money Pit.
These Atwood's are made in Australia according to a representative I just talked to and they all display degrees in Celsius. So remember you can change C to F with this formula from Physics 101...
F = C x 5/9 + 32
Or you can change your display by holding down the these two buttons for 5 seconds. This has been driving me crazy for two years now. :-)
Down Arrow & Fan
He also told me that the range for these units is from about 55 deg to 105 degrees but if you have more than one unit on your bus they should work above that. I am waiting for a call back from Marketing to get the exact specs. He said the hotter it is outside, and the more humidity inside, the harder they work and they become less efficient as they try to work harder especially if you have inadequate power so they start snapping breakers when it gets really hot outside.
I like the Atwood Air Command unit I have now and I may buy another one this year after I find out for sure if they will cool as well as the other A/C units on the market like this guy claimed.
If you want to find out more you can call the factory at 800.546.8799.
And they do seem to be much quieter than the Coleman's and they disperse air better. On High speed, they can be as noisy as the Coleman's I believe, but on low they are whisper quiet.
BTW, This is not the first time these units have come up on this Forum.
They are Air Command units with a Atwood logo is what I was told,I don't about the Air Command being built in Australia, I think they were Australian design
More than one person here has said their AC roof top has failed. Why not go on line with the number that is printed right on the Capacitor and go to Amazon type it in and order new Run capacitor (the bigger one) $10.00 to $25.00 and capacitor Same. These go out on AC every so often and have to be replaced. Also they sell new fan motors 30 to 40 dollars, fairly cheap, three screws and they are replaced. 1 gallon of condenser cleaner 19.00 1 gallon will clean 10 times. Spray it with a hudson and rinse with water. Tape a piece of plastic over the roof opening before cleaning.
Just finished fixing our one at home for 200.00. They wanted 8,500.00 to replace it and said it could not be fixed. BS its fixed. Took me 3 hours of 1 day after the parts all got here. and that was mainly because I cleaned the condenser 3 times to make sure. ;D
Dave
I like Dave5Cs' approach.
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Quote from: buswarrior on July 31, 2017, 04:06:59 PM
I like Dave5Cs' approach.
I do too. . .
BUT -
When the start and run capacitors have been replaced three times within 18 months on the front AC alone, it's time to cut the losses on an 11 year old unit.
Two new 15K BTU Air Commands will be here Wednesday.
;)
If they fail that many times it has electrical problems maybe a Contactor that's gone bad and not the capacitors or problem with your wiring. But if its that it will show up with the new ones too. Sometimes it not getting enough amps because of an old wire to the unit.
Hope the new ones work for you. Have to be quieter than our 17 year old Coleman's. ;D
Quote from: luvrbus on July 31, 2017, 11:26:21 AM
Where did you pick up the DC supply for the Attwood Derrick ?, my bouts with Carrier and the electronic boards if you didn't have a DC supply you had no AC
No dc required on these units. Just the ac connection, the digital controls run off the main unit through a data cable. Remote control is wireless.
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Well, the new Atwood Air Command non-ducted AC units are installed and operating. For those interested, I went with P/N 15026 on the roof, with the 15021 interior trim kit.
Initial use brought the interior temp from 92 > 80 in about 15 minutes in 95o weather.
Better test starts tomorrow, with a journey to the hothouse known as Fresno, then over to the Bay Area before returning to WA near the end of the month.
Will provide progress reports. . .
RJ
Quote from: Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM on July 31, 2017, 12:58:31 PM
These Atwood's are made in Australia according to a representative I just talked to and they all display degrees in Celsius. So remember you can change C to F with this formula from Physics 101...
I think my Attwood Air Command defaulted to Fahrenheit when I got it. I seem to recall it is made in China as the that is what the boxes said. I don't think the Attwood units were ever made in the USA as they are a relatively new product.
I have three A/C units from different manufacturers and the Attwood is probably the best of the three.
They are made in China I went to a RV dealer here and we pulled the shroud on a new one,there are a few thing inside one that look a little cheaply made.The price is sure right if they last about 1/2 the price of the Penguin ll or the Coleman Mach 8.
I am going to try 1 on the camper van since I hit a low clearance bar at the LV air port and sorta of messed up the Carrier, I forgot I replaced the lo/Profile Penguin years ago on her van
Mach 8's still made in the USA? Probably with chicom parts.lol
Quote from: muldoonman on August 04, 2017, 07:00:30 AM
Mach 8's still made in the USA? Probably with chicom parts.lol
Nope they do have have some made in Mexico electrical capacitors in the Mach 8 and the compressor Copeland/Emerson are made in Brazil and the USA lol sounds American anyways
Quotethen over to the Bay Area before returning to WA near the end of the month.
@RJ - Make sure to toot when heading in. I got something to show you. Hope we connected, I'll be up in Oregon for the eclipse but back a few days after unless it's too pretty to return. LOL
We got our Atwood Air Command installed today. Wasn't really that difficult - the unit is actually considerably lighter than the Dometic it replaced.
Couple of things we noticed:
The power rating on the Atwood is just over 16 amps for a 15K BTU unit. The old one was 19 amps for the same cooling. Apparently they make them more efficient nowadays.
There were two problems. First was that there was nothing included for making the connections to the 120v power. The manual referenced something, but we could not find anything in the box to match the manual. The other problem was with the wiring to the drop-down control panel. The wire cable was strung in such a way that when the panel was pulled down it put a great deal of strain on the cable going into the panel. Apparently enough to pull it from its place on the circuit board. Lights on the panel would come on, but no action with the a/c unit. Fortunately it's possible to snap apart the layers of the control panel to expose the circuit board, and the cable end just needed to be re-seated on the board.
All is well now - it cools nicely and is indeed quieter than expected.
Richard
Quote from: Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM on July 31, 2017, 09:05:59 AM
The nice thing is that these come with a remote control so I can turn it ON/OFF and adjust the thermostat from the front seat so I no longer have to rely on the Cruise Control to adjust the temp when I am riding solo. ;D
Do you mix yourself a drink while you're back there also ;D
I'm in the market for 5 roof airs, so I'm very interested to hear RJ's report back.
Gree appears to be out of the roof air market.
Cliff and I both hate our Penguins. Noisy, leak condensate water, freeze up, and worst of all, it STOPS making cold air if it's in the high 90s or above.
It seems we have no really good quality options, at any price level.
Mark, I ordered one of the Atwood's for the Sonja's van to try,I removed the shroud you can tell they are Chinese made.
I don't think they are made for the long haul light weight and plastic with wiring that looks a little iffy to me.They are cheap enough in price though less than 1/2 the price of a Mach 8.
The dealer I purchased mine from says they may last 4 to 5 years in the AZ heat which is ok by for the price.
Seems like the AC units that would blow 50 degree air in the 100+ degree temperatures are a thing of the past now
The three Dometics that I bought were also made in China!!!
Dometic should be made in Mexico mine are, what really worries me about buying the Atwood for the van a single unit is it going to work in the AZ heat when you need it lol 104 degrees is spring and winter time temps here but for the price I am going to give a shot,plus I am getting some heat for knocking off Sonja's roof top ;D
Guys, we've been running twin 15,000btu air commands in our bus for a year now. They are perfect. Two different models: one needs a 12 volt power source and the other doesn't. My advice is to only buy the ones that don't need the 12v source. They work perfect, and I have used them to heat our bus down to 0 degrees F successfully. They are awesome.
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Only time will tell how good the Atwoods are, how long have they been on the market 3 years now ?. They have a 2 year limited warranty you need to read the fine print in the warranty,I have one coming for the price they are worth a try IMO
Quote from: Scott & Heather on August 06, 2017, 06:33:38 PM
Guys, we've been running twin 15,000btu air commands in our bus for a year now. They are perfect. Two different models: one needs a 12 volt power source and the other doesn't. My advice is to only buy the ones that don't need the 12v source. They work perfect, and I have used them to heat our bus down to 0 degrees F successfully. They are awesome.
You got your Attwood to produce heat at zero degrees? I stayed in my bus one night when it was around 30 degrees outside. At that outside temperature the Attwood was making a lot of noise and producing almost no heat. I finally shut it down and turned on an electric heater instead.
Does anyone else have problems with the Attwood not maintaining the temperature when in heat mode? The temperature reported on the display will drop well below the set point before the unit starts producing heat again. There is no such issue in cool mode that I know of.
Those are amazing heat pumps if they put out heat down to 0 degrees F, sure it's not Centigrade? I had three Duo-Therm heat pumps that would quit putting out heat when it got down to the low forties F. I returned all three of them under a satisfaction guarantee (Camping World) and got the Penguin low profiles with heat strips (which are still great twenty years later).
Any of these ac's have a smaller footprint inside the bus on the ceiling, where controls are located?
On page 37 here I believe Scott has a photo of -4 in Michigan of the Atwood's working says the bus was 75 degrees inside with the bus covered with ice
For folks that go up in the cold country that would be nice. I want something other than these cruisairs here in this Texas heat that works. My problem is I'm gonna have to redo my ceiling as they have lights down the center.
The installers did a number on the Cruisair I had 3 in the Eagle that never missed a beat in 10 years and Matt has owned the bus for 7 years now and they are still going strong in the AZ heat down in Yuma.My installer knew what he was doing though,I seen some that were major problems because of the installation.The Cruisair are high dollar for someone to screw up I paid $9000.00 for 3 installed in 1999
Glen if you go to roof tops spend some of money and duct the units they cool and heat better duct it more even and most of the time when it takes 2 non duct units 1 unit will give the same results.I have 5 duct roof top and parked in the AZ heat I never use over 2 @ 110 degrees to reach 75 degrees in the DL3 45 ft
Quote from: luvrbus on August 07, 2017, 07:06:35 AM
The installers did a number on the Cruisair I had 3 in the Eagle that never missed a beat in 10 years and Matt has owned the bus for 7 years now and they are still going strong in the AZ heat down in Yuma.My installer knew what he was doing though,I seen some that were major problems because of the installation.The Cruisair are high dollar for someone to screw up I paid $9000.00 for 3 installed in 1999
Glen if you go to roof tops spend some of money and duct the units they cool and heat better duct it more even and most of the time when it takes 2 non duct units 1 unit will give the same results.I have 5 duct roof top and parked in the AZ heat I never use over 2 @ 110 degrees to reach 75 degrees in the DL3 45 ft
Thanks for the info. Just kicking it around. Thinking about selling and buying a truck conversion.
LOL you may be one of the lucky people and get your money back on that bus
I have had one for two years now, but one year the bus was in storage. But so far, I am very impressed with how quiet they are, how well they disperse the air, and the remote control which allows me to turn it on and off and adjust the temperature without having to set my cruise control and leaving the comfort of my captains chair. :-) I plan on buying two more soon as soon as they go on sale in my area. What are others paying for these so I will have a ballpark of what I should spend?
Hammer on the RV supply Gary they have a 60 to 80% markup on those
Thanks Cliff. I am working on my advertiser Pacific RV Parts for a good deal for everyone. He is discussing this with his distributor and can drop-ship them directly to anyone interested.