# Too Hot In Our 298Re



## Bear25314 (Jul 12, 2011)

Our Outback 298re is simply too hot. I have call a couple dealers in our area (Houston TX) and inquired about having an additional AC unit installed but they never get back to me. I get the feeling that they simply just don't want to be bothered with it. Anyways, has anyone else who owns this unit had an additional AC unit installed?

Also, I have read in here where others have installed additional AC outlets in there ceiling, tapping into the ductwork that is already there. I would like to put and additional AC outlet in our bedroom, since there is only one and our bathroom which doesn't have one. Any tips on how to go about doing this? Oh, and I have already opened up and taped all the vent where thy missed in the factory.

Thanks all for you help. I simply love this forum.


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

I just added a 2nd AC to my 312BH, and am awaiting new registers to install. Search my posts, and most/all of my most recent ones will be on the work I done. I'm not sure how much will be a direct correlation to your unit, but I'd be willing to share what I know.


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Bear25314 said:


> Our Outback 298re is simply too hot. I have call a couple dealers in our area (Houston TX) and inquired about having an additional AC unit installed but they never get back to me. I get the feeling that they simply just don't want to be bothered with it. Anyways, has anyone else who owns this unit had an additional AC unit installed?
> 
> Also, I have read in here where others have installed additional AC outlets in there ceiling, tapping into the ductwork that is already there. I would like to put and additional AC outlet in our bedroom, since there is only one and our bathroom which doesn't have one. Any tips on how to go about doing this? Oh, and I have already opened up and taped all the vent where thy missed in the factory.
> 
> Thanks all for you help. I simply love this forum.


298RE is very similar to the 298RE. In our 295RE I added an additional vent in the bedroom and one in the bathroom. take down the existing vent in the Bedroom and you'll likely see that the plenum extends an additional foot or two towards the front of the trailer. pick a spot and drill a hole through the ceiling and plenum and add another vent for the Bedroom. For the bathroom, verify that the plenum goes backwards directly over the bath and do the same for a vent into the bathroom. Then in the living area you'll likely find it easy to add at least one additional vent in the line going from the A/C to the bedroom. Add all these vents and make sure everything is taped up and sealed good and you'll find it helps a lot. also, in addition to taping up and sealing the existing vents take down the plenum cover and make sure it is sealed completely so that all the cold air can go to the ducting. You may also find the plenum to ducting openings aren't as big as they could be, enlarge them. I also replaced all my vents with the aireoport vents that direct air in a 360 degree flow and can be adjusted for air flow rate. another significant improvement in getting everything at the temps you want.

the 295RE/298RE is a pretty big trailer for only 1 A/C unit,


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## Bear25314 (Jul 12, 2011)

KTMRacer said:


> Our Outback 298re is simply too hot. I have call a couple dealers in our area (Houston TX) and inquired about having an additional AC unit installed but they never get back to me. I get the feeling that they simply just don't want to be bothered with it. Anyways, has anyone else who owns this unit had an additional AC unit installed?
> 
> Also, I have read in here where others have installed additional AC outlets in there ceiling, tapping into the ductwork that is already there. I would like to put and additional AC outlet in our bedroom, since there is only one and our bathroom which doesn't have one. Any tips on how to go about doing this? Oh, and I have already opened up and taped all the vent where thy missed in the factory.
> 
> Thanks all for you help. I simply love this forum.


298RE is very similar to the 298RE. In our 295RE I added an additional vent in the bedroom and one in the bathroom. take down the existing vent in the Bedroom and you'll likely see that the plenum extends an additional foot or two towards the front of the trailer. pick a spot and drill a hole through the ceiling and plenum and add another vent for the Bedroom. For the bathroom, verify that the plenum goes backwards directly over the bath and do the same for a vent into the bathroom. Then in the living area you'll likely find it easy to add at least one additional vent in the line going from the A/C to the bedroom. Add all these vents and make sure everything is taped up and sealed good and you'll find it helps a lot. also, in addition to taping up and sealing the existing vents take down the plenum cover and make sure it is sealed completely so that all the cold air can go to the ducting. You may also find the plenum to ducting openings aren't as big as they could be, enlarge them. I also replaced all my vents with the aireoport vents that direct air in a 360 degree flow and can be adjusted for air flow rate. another significant improvement in getting everything at the temps you want.

the 295RE/298RE is a pretty big trailer for only 1 A/C unit,
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## cdn campers (Oct 31, 2011)

srwsr said:


> I just added a 2nd AC to my 312BH, and am awaiting new registers to install. Search my posts, and most/all of my most recent ones will be on the work I done. I'm not sure how much will be a direct correlation to your unit, but I'd be willing to share what I know.


did you all the 50 amp mod and 2nd ac your self or did you have a shop do it for you.?doug.


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## Bear25314 (Jul 12, 2011)

cdn campers said:


> I just added a 2nd AC to my 312BH, and am awaiting new registers to install. Search my posts, and most/all of my most recent ones will be on the work I done. I'm not sure how much will be a direct correlation to your unit, but I'd be willing to share what I know.


did you all the 50 amp mod and 2nd ac your self or did you have a shop do it for you.?doug.
[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. I did notice that indeed the venting did go another foot or so forward, past the last open AC vent in the master bedroom before comming to an end. So, all I have to do is open a hole and connect into the vent to add an additional AC vent in the bedroom and bathroom? Did you find after doing that, that your camper was much cooler or should I still look into adding an additional AC unit? Camping here in Texas in the summer months requires alot of AC. Thanks again for all the replys.


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

cdn campers said:


> I just added a 2nd AC to my 312BH, and am awaiting new registers to install. Search my posts, and most/all of my most recent ones will be on the work I done. I'm not sure how much will be a direct correlation to your unit, but I'd be willing to share what I know.


did you all the 50 amp mod and 2nd ac your self or did you have a shop do it for you.?doug.
[/quote]
I had my dealer do the work on the roof.....move my fantastic fan to the bathroom, move the original AC over to where the fantastic fan was, and put the new AC where the old AC was. I did all of the wiring of the new AC and the 50A upgrade. It really wasn't hard, I just figured it'd be best that I kept my 280 lbs. off of the roof, especially if it involved me handling another 100+ pounds while being up there. For under $200, it was well worth it to have them do it. They basically quoted me 1 1/2 hours labor before they got the okay, and they stuck to it.


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Bear25314 said:


> I just added a 2nd AC to my 312BH, and am awaiting new registers to install. Search my posts, and most/all of my most recent ones will be on the work I done. I'm not sure how much will be a direct correlation to your unit, but I'd be willing to share what I know.


did you all the 50 amp mod and 2nd ac your self or did you have a shop do it for you.?doug.
[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. I did notice that indeed the venting did go another foot or so forward, past the last open AC vent in the master bedroom before comming to an end. So, all I have to do is open a hole and connect into the vent to add an additional AC vent in the bedroom and bathroom? Did you find after doing that, that your camper was much cooler or should I still look into adding an additional AC unit? Camping here in Texas in the summer months requires alot of AC. Thanks again for all the replys.
[/quote]

yup, all I did was drill a hole in the bedroom, bathroom etc. where I wanted to add vents, seal them up between the duct and ceiling then add a vent. In our case I can now keep the trailer comfortable in pretty hot weather even in the sun as long as the A/C starts early in the AM. A few times it's pushed 100 during the day and we felt ok. I can get the bedroom cooler than the Living area if I want to. All that said, most of our camping is in oregon, and A/C there isn't an issue. Only times I've taxed the A/C is in trips to southern Utah, Calfornia etc. so for us we live with the AC and it works fine. If we were in a hot, sunny climate in the summer, I would probably be more inclined to see what else we could do.


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## deanintemp (Apr 3, 2007)

My first thought is "what size air conditioner do you currently have"? Can you simply replace your current unit with a larger one? If so, I would also add vents into the bedroom as discussed earlier.


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## Bear25314 (Jul 12, 2011)

deanintemp said:


> My first thought is "what size air conditioner do you currently have"? Can you simply replace your current unit with a larger one? If so, I would also add vents into the bedroom as discussed earlier.


We have a 15a unit in the trailer. I would like to have an additional AC unit added but I'm not crazy about the added weight on the front end. I have talked to a couple of dealers in the Houston area where we live and both gave me the impression that they really don't want to get involved it adding another unit. Makes me wonder why. I am thinking I may just take the advice from those on here that say add additional vents and see how that goes. This is a pretty large trailer for the 2 of us so if I have to add one of those floor AC units and vent it out the window then thats just how it has to be. Still open to advice on the subject though....


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

Bear25314 said:


> We have a 15a unit in the trailer. I would like to have an additional AC unit added but I'm not crazy about the added weight on the front end. I have talked to a couple of dealers in the Houston area where we live and both gave me the impression that they really don't want to get involved it adding another unit. Makes me wonder why. I am thinking I may just take the advice from those on here that say add additional vents and see how that goes. This is a pretty large trailer for the 2 of us so if I have to add one of those floor AC units and vent it out the window then thats just how it has to be. Still open to advice on the subject though....


While I agree that additional registers may be part of the solution, I don't think that they are the whole solution. The unit only moves so much air, and adding additional registers isn't going to increase that amount, but it may help distribute it more evenly. The duct in these campers is the same size for it's whole length, so as you increase the number of registers, you decrease the pressure or volume as you get further away from the AC unit. In most home or building systems, there are dampers and the duct gets smaller as it gets further away from the source, allowing adjustments to balance the system. Balancing the system is what allows more even distribution, and the ability to achieve overall comfort. Your trailer is as long as mine, and I'm sure your Texas heat is worse than my Missouri heat. In an area that doesn't see that type of heat and humidity, redistributing the air by adding registers might be a viable solution. In areas where the heat and humidity are just overwhelming, I'd say that you've definitely gotta add more cooling power. Unless you're already over on your weights, I wouldn't be all that concerned about adding another 100 lbs. to the Outback. In my case I've added more cooling power by adding the unit to blast the living area. The ducted unit will get registers added in the areas at the ends of the trailer to allow the air that would be going into the living area to still be diffused, and have it diffused where it is needed. If I just closed the vents in the living area and didn't add registers to offset that air distribution, then I'd be defeating my purpose. The system needs to be able to move the amount of air that it's designed to. In situations where I don't need both units, then I can damper the vents to fit my needs, and just run the ducted unit, or set both units to low, or whatever it takes.

I took a look at some pics of the 298RE, and it looks like your cord stores in the bottom of the right cabinet on your rear wall, and your panel is by the front door. In order to add a 2nd AC, you'd have to go to 50A or figure out a way to get something setup to run a 20A cord/circuit from the campground pedestal. I see ways, but I won't get into that unless you really think it's something you want to do, and you can confirm what I'm thinking.


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## deanintemp (Apr 3, 2007)

Another option is to use a portable air conditioner. These units have come a long way, we used one in our shop for a couple of years and it worked great. They simply vent through a flexible hose; you could simply add a hole through the camper side wall and install a flapper vent on the outside. the beauty of this is that they are fairly light and you would only need to take it during the hot summer months. You might find other uses for it too. They put out a lot of conditioned air with good air flow as well. Ours actually has a remote with a thermostat built into it and drains through the exhaust vent. I think we bought ours at home depot or lowes - don't remember. Its cost was about $400, probably a lot cheaper than adding a second roof unit and dinking around with the vents! Good luck...


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## Bear25314 (Jul 12, 2011)

deanintemp said:


> Another option is to use a portable air conditioner. These units have come a long way, we used one in our shop for a couple of years and it worked great. They simply vent through a flexible hose; you could simply add a hole through the camper side wall and install a flapper vent on the outside. the beauty of this is that they are fairly light and you would only need to take it during the hot summer months. You might find other uses for it too. They put out a lot of conditioned air with good air flow as well. Ours actually has a remote with a thermostat built into it and drains through the exhaust vent. I think we bought ours at home depot or lowes - don't remember. Its cost was about $400, probably a lot cheaper than adding a second roof unit and dinking around with the vents! Good luck...


Thanks for all the replys people. We decided to just take it in and have a dealership install an additional AC unit. I'm dropping it off this Saturday. They quoted me just under $1400.00 for a non vented unit installed up front in the master bedroom. I called a few dealerships and that was the best offer. I think that will solve the whole problem. In the summer we couldn't get the thing under 85 degrees during the day. I talked to other campers that have different models than ours but about the same size with 1 AC unit and they were having the same problem too. I think that they need to just build them with 2 units in them when they get this size.


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

Bear25314 said:


> Another option is to use a portable air conditioner. These units have come a long way, we used one in our shop for a couple of years and it worked great. They simply vent through a flexible hose; you could simply add a hole through the camper side wall and install a flapper vent on the outside. the beauty of this is that they are fairly light and you would only need to take it during the hot summer months. You might find other uses for it too. They put out a lot of conditioned air with good air flow as well. Ours actually has a remote with a thermostat built into it and drains through the exhaust vent. I think we bought ours at home depot or lowes - don't remember. Its cost was about $400, probably a lot cheaper than adding a second roof unit and dinking around with the vents! Good luck...


Thanks for all the replys people. We decided to just take it in and have a dealership install an additional AC unit. I'm dropping it off this Saturday. They quoted me just under $1400.00 for a non vented unit installed up front in the master bedroom. I called a few dealerships and that was the best offer. I think that will solve the whole problem. In the summer we couldn't get the thing under 85 degrees during the day. I talked to other campers that have different models than ours but about the same size with 1 AC unit and they were having the same problem too. I think that they need to just build them with 2 units in them when they get this size.
[/quote]

How are you going to run them both on the 30A service? I've never tried it, but being an electrician, I say it'll trip the circuit, based on the spec sheets saying the load is 15.3A per unit. You basically wouldn't be able to run anything else, and would probably have to turn the receptacle circuit off to kill the converter. I sent you a PM on this, if you can't actually run them simultaneously, will it be worthwhile?


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## Bear25314 (Jul 12, 2011)

The dealership will install a 13.5 dual therm AC unit above the bedroom up front. It will have its own breaker box, it's own wiring and there will be an additional extension cord that plugs into a new rat hole next the the 30a cord that comes out of the trailer. We have a frond who has had this set up don't to there 25ft trailer and it works out just fine. The new AC unit is not vented and all the controls are actually on the unit. The just run the wires behind one of the closets in the bedroom and plac the breaker box in there.


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

Bear25314 said:


> The dealership will install a 13.5 dual therm AC unit above the bedroom up front. It will have its own breaker box, it's own wiring and there will be an additional extension cord that plugs into a new rat hole next the the 30a cord that comes out of the trailer. We have a frond who has had this set up don't to there 25ft trailer and it works out just fine. The new AC unit is not vented and all the controls are actually on the unit. The just run the wires behind one of the closets in the bedroom and plac the breaker box in there.


Very good, I just wanted to make sure you weren't being misled to believe that you wouldn't need to add power to the Outback. I PM'd you that I looked at your unit when I was at my dealer last week, so if you think you want to convert to 50A someday, catch me while my memory's fresh. As long as they've got you covered, then good deal. Hopefully you don't run into a campground that piggybacks the 20A off of the 30A circuit, or you'll only be running 1 unit. I don't know if that's a common practice, or how common a practice that might be. As far as price, you seem to be fine with what you were quoted, and I don't think it is far fetched. I paid $938 for the new outside unit and same ceiling assembly you will get, plus a new gasket for the old unit. That included installing the new unit, relocating the old unit, and relocating my fantastic fan. That also included $178 in labor, about an hour and a half at $119/hr. The bulk of the job would have been getting the power to the relocated AC unit, so I opted to do that, otherwise, I'm sure my quote would have matched or exceeded yours. You do the math and assess your ability and decide. I'd recommed that at the point they are removing the underbelly to run power from the bedroom back to the power cord area, you might want to consider whether you'd ever think of going to 50A, very seriously. If they're not removing the underbelly, then disregard this. You could just as well be paying them to run a raceway that you could pull future circuits through, vs. paying them to run power for a single circuit. The raceway would go from behind the existing panel to the cord storage area. They would then run the new AC unit power through the raceway to behind the existing power panel and splice it in a junction box attached to the raceway. That way if you ever decided to mount a 50A panel back in your cord storage area, it would be easy to pull circuits back to the junction box, and separate your loads in the existing panel. Just my $.02.....not being persistent, only giving you and idea that you might not think of. For the $$ you're spending, you're awful close to a 50A setup. Good luck.


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## Bear25314 (Jul 12, 2011)

Thanks for all the reply's about my AC in my 298RE. Living in Houston TX where the temp reaches 115 in the summer it is very hard to keep my trailer cool during the day. I followed another thread I found on here that tells you how to cover all the holes in you AC ducting that the factory should have covered to keep the AC from bleeding into your "attic" in your trailer. That did help a bit and maybe a "fix" for those people not in the south like I am. However, I still was not able to get this large camper under 86 degrees during the day. So, I "bought" the bullet and had an additional AC installed in the front bedroom from a dealer just outside of Houston. I have 15A AC originally in the camper and I had a 13.5A AC added to the front master bedroom. I includded photos here because I couldnt find anything on the net showing what it would look like after it was done. As you can see, all the wiring is hidden in the "attic" of the camper and it plugs into the camp post using a regular extension cord. We plan on taking it out next month "Feb" but cant wait for the hot summer to come to really test her out now that we have 2 AC units to keep us cool. Total cost was $1600. I bet some can get her cheaper but after 3 different bids, that was the best we could do. Im just glad that we dont have to sweat in the camper again. Again thanks for all the insight on trying to fix this problem with being hot in the camper. You all are the best.	I love this site....


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