13500 a/c

[suz15]

Hi guys,

I have been looking at B's for over a year and love them. My challenge is that I live in Houston, hot and humid. I hear horror stories about people with b's living in hot humid weather and the a/c not being able to keep up. But, I have not heard from people with the larger 13500 a/c units. I know only a very small handful have them on the B's, but, I would love to hear from you.

Thank you very much.

[Davydd]

The 11,000 btu air conditioner seems to work fine on our regular body Sprinter and we used it when temperatures hit 100 degrees last fall on a trip. That was the highest we ever encountered. It helps to have a sliding screen door on the side and a full screen enclosure on the back as it keeps your B from overheating if you are spending time outside. Of course you wouldn't be running the AC with the doors open. But then you won't be faced with trying to cool a superheated B either when you do turn on the AC.

Great West Vans and Advanced RV have 15,000 AC units for their extended body (24'-1") Sprinters. I assume one could be installed on a regular body Sprinter as well and those two companies tend to customize to owner desires. I thought Sportsmobile would provide anything you asked. The rest seem to provide what they list.

Most of our RV travel has been south and southwest in the winter, spring and fall and north in the summer. We follow and coordinate with the weather and with 120,000 miles in over 8 years we have rarely used our air conditioner, but when we have, it has done the job.

[suz15]

Hi Davy,

I really wanted to hear from people who have actually experienced the 100 degree weather, it helps. I really appreciate your feedback. I would love to camp north, but, for the weekend camping, its going to be impossible, as hubby and I both work full time. We will stay within 500 miles of Houston, max. Unfortunately, it wont cool down that much in June,July, August and parts of Sept within a 500 mile radius. Its really important that we are able to stay cool. The rest of year, will be temperate.

I do love the Great West and Advanced, beautiful vehicles.

Thanks
Suz

[Davydd]

Suz,

One other thing we do is seek an electrical hookup anytime we think we'll need an air conditioner. We did that last spring in South Padre Island not so much because of the heat but the humidity control. I know some people say they like to boondock in the wilderness and run their generator to in turn run their air conditioner but to me that seems like an oxymoron. I would never want to be out in the desert or woods and have a generator running constantly and also if I am in a boondocking situation I darn well want to be outdoors as much as possible anyway. Another trick I have learned in the Southwest is if it is hot then seek altitude. There is nothing better than camping in the coniferous forest line in the mountains. We have that in the upper midwest but at a lower altitude. We are going to be in Texas again this coming spring. We try to plan our trips according to the weather as much as possible. In Minnesota we are just the opposite. We just hibernate our Bs in the winter or go south.