Looking for comments from users of RecPro Houghton Air Conditioner units

CharlesinGA

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2018
Messages
441
Location
West Central Georgia
I think I have read all of the threads on installation of RecPro houghton A/C units, but would like to hear from folks that have been using them for a while.

I have a Bigfoot 21 foot model and the Dometic Penguin 11.5K BTU has apparently leaked out the freon. It is a 2008 model and In 2022 I installed an Easy Start unit and it worked well after that, Only made one trip in 2023 (long story, not worth telling) and this year I have already been to Lake Charles LA and that is when I discovered the A/C unit was not cooling. No lights on the Easy Start so its working normal, compressor is running and gets rather warm, suction line MIGHT feel cooler than ambient temp by a degree or two, hard to tell. This unit is loud, so I'll be eager to see it go actually.

I thinking the best choice is to step down to the 9500 BTU Houghton, but want to see what others say.

Charles
 
I think I have read all of the threads on installation of RecPro houghton A/C units, but would like to hear from folks that have been using them for a while.

I have a Bigfoot 21 foot model and the Dometic Penguin 11.5K BTU has apparently leaked out the freon. It is a 2008 model and In 2022 I installed an Easy Start unit and it worked well after that, Only made one trip in 2023 (long story, not worth telling) and this year I have already been to Lake Charles LA and that is when I discovered the A/C unit was not cooling. No lights on the Easy Start so its working normal, compressor is running and gets rather warm, suction line MIGHT feel cooler than ambient temp by a degree or two, hard to tell. This unit is loud, so I'll be eager to see it go actually.

I thinking the best choice is to step down to the 9500 BTU Houghton, but want to see what others say.

Charles

I installed a 9500 on our E21 and was quite pleased. We now have a Houghton A/C on our E23 and enjoy its added heat pump feature. I see no reason not to recommend it.
 
We have the Houghton on our 2022 5.0. Our second trip took us to Denton, Tx. We ran the a/c the whole time and loved it. The unit is far quieter than the Dometic 13.5 we had on our last travel trailer. We used the dehumidify mode on two nights and we had no condensation inside the trailer. All this said, the temp inside the trailer rose into the upper 70's during the day when the sun was on the trailer, as if it couldn't keep up.

We'll need a few more trips before I get a full picture of this unit. But the quietness of operation and the flexibility are outstanding.
 
I installed a 9500 on our E21 and was quite pleased. We now have a Houghton A/C on our E23 and enjoy its added heat pump feature. I see no reason not to recommend it.

Concur with the above… and for the exact same reasons: 9500 in our E21 and now with a Houghton in our E23.
 
We swapped out the dometic wind tunnel for a 9500. It keeps our 21 at 72/74 degrees when it’s 103 outside here in Texas. Love how quiet it is. No longer get woke up when it kicks on at night. With it now having the option for the heat pump, it’s a win win.
 
Update. I ordered and have received a 9500 (black) with the heat pump option, $1255.45 with shipping direct from Rec Pro. My old Dometic Penguin (aka Jet engine) is off and I spent a week of nights, when it was cool, on the roof with a buffer, foam pads and Maguire's RV and boat polish and then #210 polish to finish up. Very shiny as opposed to the chalkiness it was before. I then gave it a coat of RejeX which I hand wiped off and then ran a wool buffing pad over to catch any spots I failed to wipe. Very slick.

Mounting ring (which is used in place of the typical foam A/C gasket, was put down with a layer of butyl tape, clamped in place and a broad filet of Geocel applied all around. Will get some help this weekend to set the unit on the roof (using my scissor lift) and then carefully in place.

Charles
 
I have the 9500 BTU Houghton in my 2017 21C. My only complaint is I bought it a month before they started offering the heat pump version of the 9500. I did have to add a battery operated digital thermostat for the furnace to replace the Dometic combined AC/Furnace version.

The real test will be in 2 weeks with a 5 day stay at Cherry Hill RV Park in the DC area...
 
Cooling capability of 9500 unit

Still on the fence on the Houghton since we do not camp in very hot weather; e.g., Florida or Texas in summer. For those that have changed out their stock unit to a Houghton 9500 unit, is the 9500 BTU capacity sufficient for an E19 trailer. For example, does the 9500 unit cool down the trailer sufficiently after a hot day or travel?

thanks
 
Still on the fence on the Houghton since we do not camp in very hot weather; e.g., Florida or Texas in summer. For those that have changed out their stock unit to a Houghton 9500 unit, is the 9500 BTU capacity sufficient for an E19 trailer. For example, does the 9500 unit cool down the trailer sufficiently after a hot day or travel?

thanks
That's what we installed on our prior trailer, a 21. And it worked just fine.
 
Have a 17B with a 9500, had dometic 11.5, best improvement I have made on the trailer. I live in Fl. it works fine. Just installed a softstartrv and now it runs easily with my Honda 2000 generator in eco mode. They now offer a heat pump version and a soft start version, I would get both and not look back.
 
What Soft Start model did you get for the Houghton 9500? I installed one about a month ago and when I ordered was told by Recpro that the 9500 was not available with a Soft Start so I ordered without it. I would like to be able to leave the generator on eco mode as well. To the original question, I live in Michigan and last week we had temps up to 95 with high humidity. The Houghton 9500 in our 5.0 cooled it from 95 (as high as my heater thermostat reads) down to 70 in 45 minutes sitting in the sun in the driveway. That is the only experience I have had yet and I am hoping the heat stays South of us so I don't get the chance again!
 
SoftstartRV by NetworkRV. I did a post on this a few days ago, look under mr.stang
 
Still on the fence on the Houghton since we do not camp in very hot weather; e.g., Florida or Texas in summer. For those that have changed out their stock unit to a Houghton 9500 unit, is the 9500 BTU capacity sufficient for an E19 trailer. For example, does the 9500 unit cool down the trailer sufficiently after a hot day or travel?

I don't have the 9500 Houghton, we're still using the original 11k Dometic. But I can make some comparisons even with our higher BTU cooling capacity. Note,,, Our E19 has the added insulation and thermal window option, but no spray foam underneath. This is important info to know when you're comparing cooling capacities and times to cool off. Its also important to know if a full sun or shaded site.

We had the opportunity a few times now while traveling in mid-summer in Texas to test this. This includes traveling and setting up hot in the late afternoon in a full sun site and then cooling in the late afternoon/evening with temps @ 100F or more. Last week we traveled to a park in central Texas, we arrived @ 5PM with the outside temp right at 100F and the trailer in a poor spot, in full sun and not an ounce of shade. The trailer was fully heated inside from sitting outside in our driveway and then traveling. Once powered up it took about 45 - 60 min for the 11k Dometic to catch up and get it respectable inside our E19 in this situation. Eventually the 11k AC pulled the trailer down to 74deg and cycled off after about 75min. Of course it was about 6:30 by then and beginning to cool off a bit outside. I do not expect a trailer with the 9500 Recpro will be better, it should be a bit slower to recover the trailer. Unless the trailer has the spray foam option which may help it.

If you're looking for fast turn-around time after traveling then having the higher BTU (say 13.5k) unit will be better. However short cycling the rest of the time likely will be a problem.

Without the spray foam underneath our trailer floor stays quite warm when its 100F outside. However, last week the 11k AC was still capable of reaching 72F and cycling off, even in full sun, mid-afternoon @ 99 - 100F.
 
Still on the fence on the Houghton since we do not camp in very hot weather; e.g., Florida or Texas in summer. For those that have changed out their stock unit to a Houghton 9500 unit, is the 9500 BTU capacity sufficient for an E19 trailer. For example, does the 9500 unit cool down the trailer sufficiently after a hot day or travel?

thanks

We have a Houghton on our 5.0. We just enjoyed three nights at a state park in SW Arkansas. Temps were in the mid-90's and we had a shady campsite. The Houghton did great. It kept us cool during the days, and when night time lows were at or below our 70F set temperature, I switched it to dehumudify mode. We were very comfortable.
 
We have a Houghton on our 5.0. We just enjoyed three nights at a state park in SW Arkansas. Temps were in the mid-90's and we had a shady campsite. The Houghton did great. It kept us cool during the days, and when night time lows were at or below our 70F set temperature, I switched it to dehumudify mode. We were very comfortable.

Is that the 9500 BTU unit or the 13500 BTU unit that you have?
 
I don't have the 9500 Houghton, we're still using the original 11k Dometic. But I can make some comparisons even with our higher BTU cooling capacity. Note,,, Our E19 has the added insulation and thermal window option, but no spray foam underneath. This is important info to know when you're comparing cooling capacities and times to cool off. Its also important to know if a full sun or shaded site.

We had the opportunity a few times now while traveling in mid-summer in Texas to test this. This includes traveling and setting up hot in the late afternoon in a full sun site and then cooling in the late afternoon/evening with temps @ 100F or more. Last week we traveled to a park in central Texas, we arrived @ 5PM with the outside temp right at 100F and the trailer in a poor spot, in full sun and not an ounce of shade. The trailer was fully heated inside from sitting outside in our driveway and then traveling. Once powered up it took about 45 - 60 min for the 11k Dometic to catch up and get it respectable inside our E19 in this situation. Eventually the 11k AC pulled the trailer down to 74deg and cycled off after about 75min. Of course it was about 6:30 by then and beginning to cool off a bit outside. I do not expect a trailer with the 9500 Recpro will be better, it should be a bit slower to recover the trailer. Unless the trailer has the spray foam option which may help it.

If you're looking for fast turn-around time after traveling then having the higher BTU (say 13.5k) unit will be better. However short cycling the rest of the time likely will be a problem.

Without the spray foam underneath our trailer floor stays quite warm when its 100F outside. However, last week the 11k AC was still capable of reaching 72F and cycling off, even in full sun, mid-afternoon @ 99 - 100F.

Thanks. We have the standard windows and insulation, but so have the underfloor foam. It also takes about 1-1.5 hours to remove the heat to reduce the temperature to the mid 70s.
 

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