Air Conditioning:

[MMI]

Has anyone had any experience with adding an A/C unit to their trailer. I ordered mine without an A/C but and thinking about adding one myself. A link to a you tube video would be great and also some advice on what unit to buy. Thanks

 

[Jeremy Kessenich]

I ordered our 2023 5.0TA without an AC as ETI at the time wasn't offering the Houghton heat pump. What trailer do you have? There have been quite a few folks do their own, switching out a unit or ordering one without. Where are you located?

 

[MMI]

Hi Jeremy:
Thanks for responding. I have a 17B, it has two openings in the roof, Max Fan in one and a Roof Vent is the other. I am located in just outside Portland, Oregon in a town called Hillsboro

 

[Jeremy Kessenich]

I'd suggest a smaller unit, such as the 9.5k BTU heat pump version found here, it's a bit pricey at about $1,250. It is very quiet as others will confirm. If I can put the larger 13.5k BTU unit on the roof of a 5.0 without much issue you certainly can do it to a shorter 17 and lighter 9.5k unit. The hardest part is most certainly removing the OEM vent. If you decide to go this route many of us have installed a unit and will happily give you pointers. You could also search for the Houghton install, If I remember correctly GK Lott has done two of them.

 

[penwia]

I did not add the AC either. They were out of the Houghton 9k Btu, which is the one I wanted. They were giving me the Dometic for $500 off, but I turned it down. I heard how horrible it was and did think it was worth it even at a $500 discount. I am planning on having it installed before summer at a local RV shop. The shop said it should be about $300-$400 USD to install since it's already prepped for it. The Houghton is about 1200 with the heat pump, so it is pretty close to what ETI was charging me.

 

[jjdeluca]

We also ordered our trailer without the AC and installed a (RecPro) Houghton 9.5K Btu unit with heat pump. The installation was straight-forward and the toughest part was probably removing the sealant around the factory-installed roof vent.

Here's a video that I watched prior to doing the install (I used the "ladder trick" to get the AC up onto the roof, & it worked great!):

I also installed a "soft start" on my unit (I found another video online showing that process) & it works just fine. However you should know that RecPro says doing so will void the warranty, so do so at your own risk.

 

[coaster]

Has anyone had any experience with adding an A/C unit to their trailer. I ordered mine without an A/C but and thinking about adding one myself. A link to a you tube video would be great and also some advice on what unit to buy. Thanks

I too am looking for a portable ac unit

 

[Ron in BC]

I'm not sure that the OP was referring to a portable unit but it's possible and easy to do.

I added an exterior shelf to the emergency window on my E19 and could use a portable unit if needed.

Ron