# Replacing A 13.5K Btu With A 15K Btu Ac On A 312Bh



## Jeremy0011

We just returned from or 1800 mile round trip to pick up our new 312BH. We got a great deal from Lakeshore RV. This is a great RV but the 13,500 BTU AC is no match for this NC weather. How easy is it to replace it with a 15,000 BTU unit? And will that be enough?


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## gzaleski

I have a 2008 28 KRS toy hauler with a 13.5 BTU AC unit and I live 50 miles North of Atlanta. The AC does pretty good. On really hot days we just turn theAC on early, it keeps up with no problems. We also spent 10 days at Briarcliffe campground in Myrtle Beach SC with 100 degree days and had no problems at all.

glen...


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## Jewellfamily

My 13.5k btu unit does good where we are but we have very low humidity in the west. Maybe looking at a quality portable dehumidifier in your unit would be a temporary option until you decide what you want to do permanently. When you lower the humidity you lower the heat index and it feels cooler. 80 degrees and low humidity feels very good compared to 80 degrees and high humidity.


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## Texas Friends

Jeremy,

I know KbrazielTx had the same problem when they bought there trailer from up north. They came down to Texas and the 13,500 could not keep up. He bought at 15k and replaced the smaller unit.

You might want to send him a message and ask him. KbrazielTX

Bryan

p.s. and if you are interested in selling the 13,500 unit let me know!


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## Jeremy0011

Thanks for the replies. We are taking it camping for the first time this weekend Its only going to be 89. We will see how it goes but I would like to upgrade to a 15k unit for those 100deg days.

Thanks
Jeremy


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## Blaque

So has anyone done this upgrade. We were debating doing this because the 13.5 btu AC is just not cuttin it. But we want to be sure that the $1200.00 tom johnson is charging for the switch is worth it. Another concern is we trip the circuit breaker now, that problem will increase with a bigger AC. We met a family this year in myrtle beach with a 312 and they had limo tint on all of their windows. They said the difference was night and day as far as how hot it gets in the unit. We just got a qoute of $250.00 and plan on doing this in a few weeks. Just hope I'm not back on here telling you that the tint isnt enough.


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## hautevue

Before spending for the upgrade, have you pulled down the vents and made sure the ductwork is securely taped/fastened to the vents?

Several folks have noted big air leaks because Gilligan didn't do a good job taping the ductwork, and a lot of the cool air was venting into the area above the ceiling. Tape is a helluva lot cheaper than a whole new a/c system.


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## therink

X2 on the vents/duct openings. The foil tape job from the factory is usually substandard. I used almost an entire roll of tape on mine when brand new to seal up the duct openings and plenum. Good airflow is important. I have a 13500 in my 329fbh and it is also insufficient when temps exceed 90. I'm not sure a 15k would be worth $1200 or make that much difference for the $. I would put the $ into adding a second unit, but I an wired fir second ac and have 50amp power.
I agree that window tint would help. 
Steve


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## Blaque

I will check my duct work before I make any moves. Thanks guys.


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## Dark Green Dmax

I added a Coleman polar cub low profile 2nd unit to my 05 5er & thats with a 15k unit already installed. I went through all the concerns that your experiencing now...back then. My link is to my older posts & another link to the original post about this subject & my Diy install & how much it cost me in 06. I'm kinda kicking around buying a 2012 283bre 5er & i'd do it all over again. I like it COOL & refreshing when i step in our camper. Hope this info helps FYI ...we had temps at & over 110 degrees this summer!
My link


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## Scoutr2

We have a 29BHS and that A/C worked fine at Disney World, in the summer. It does a great job of lowering the humidity, which is what makes even 80* seem uncomfortable. We were there for a week and it cooled our trailer admirably.

If yours is not cooling well, I suspect that there may indeed be a duct leak somewhere - maybe several places. I would also have the current unit checked out by a competent RV air-conditioning expert. There may be a problem with your current unit that can be corrected, which would be a lot cheaper and a lot less hassle than replacing it with a larger unit.

Just my opinion.

Mike


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## Tangooutback

A portable a/c unit could be the solution and is much less expensive.


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## LaydBack

I'm considering upgrading to the 15K BTU unit. I'm wanting input from people in the south and midwest climates (or just anyone that can attest to the true comfort level) that the difference is really justifiable. It seems I can purchase the unit online, and hopefully sell mine to recoup part of the cost. We had the experience of the 13.5K unit not being able to keep up, and I've checked the ducting for leaks, etc. We had pretty much resolved that we just may not be able to enjoy going camping during the summer months, and just focus on going in the spring and fall, but I'd really like to have that option. I have a portable AC unit, and will be upgrading the 312BH to 50A service, but I'd like to know if replacing the 13.5K with the 15K would make a big enough differece that I might not have to take up the space with the portable unit. If anyone thinks they'd be interested in the 13.5K unit, PM/email me. It has seen very limited use this first year, we only got out for 6 trips, and I think it got used on 3 of them.


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## LaydBack

I changed the plan a little bit..... I upgraded to the 15K BTU unit. I had the 13.5K BTU moved over to where the Fantastik Fan was installed near the stove, and had the Fantastik Fan installed in the bathroom. This way, the 15K unit will be the ducted unit, and the 13.5K unit will blast the living area. It has controls on the unit and the 15K works off of the thermostat. I had the dealer do the work on the roof, and I did the job of getting the electric to the relocated 13.5K unit. That saved a bunch of $$$$, as the hard part of the job is getting the power to it. For all the work they did istalling the new unit and relocating the original unit and Fantastik Fan, I paid 1.5 hours labor. I also had them run the raceway through the underbelly for the 50A service upgrade, while they were replacing the black tank. The new Surge Guard should arrive tomorrow, and this project will be in full swing. Here's some of the pics.


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## Joe/GA

What I found with my AC is that the cold air outlet was not sealed and cold air was entering the hot air return. This drastically reduces the efficiency of the unit. I have a post on here somewhere with pictures, but I'll be durned if I can find it!


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## LaydBack

More progress.....almost done
































All in all, not a bad 3-4 days of modding. I got the new AC unit wired. I totally broke up the electrical circuitry to give us unlimited scenarios of not tripping a breaker.

The bunkhouse receptacles have been put on a seperate circuit than the bedroom/entertainment center receptacles. The GFCI circuit has the kitchen receptacle removed and put on it's own circuit. The old panel is now fed from the new panel on a 30A breaker, and now only feeds the water heater, converter, refrigerator, microwave, all of which are on their own circuits. I added a receptacle on each side of the linen closet, each on their own circuit. Each of the AC units are on their own circuits. Aside from seeing the added panel and the 2 added receptacles, the rest looks untouched. For those contemplating the receptacles on the linen closet, be advised that each side of the closet has a double wall, and there's only about 3/4" between the layers. Here's a pic of that, and a few more of other steps along the way.









Microwave cabinet after removing kitchen receptacle from original GFCI circuit








New J-box under stove where I did most of the splicing.








Power routing through refrigerator access








I've got more pics, if anyone is interested in anything in particular. To the best of my knowledge, for those interested in the receptacle circuitry, it appears that on my unit, for the regular receptacle, they left the panel and went to the receptacle on the bunkhouse rear wall, then to the one in the bunkhouse cabinetry....refrigerator.....entertainment center.....bedroom slide side receptacle, then bedroom door side receptacle. The GFCI circuit, I believe went to the bathroom GFCI first obviously, then to the kitchen, then the outside TV receptacle, then outdoor kitchen counter, and last, outdoor kitchen refrigerator. I broke/intercepted the regular receptacle circuit in the refrigerator access where the original refrigerator receptacle was. I broke/intercepted the GFCI circuit in the microwave cabinet. Everything basically got fished down the left side of the refrigerator. The kitchen counter receptacle is protected by a GFCI breaker in the new 50A panel. I don't think you could get a box big enough for a regular GFCI to fit in that location.


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## LaydBack

The new cord hatch came today and I installed it, and that makes me officially done. It's opening is big enough (6.25" x 6.75") that I can actually reach in and form the cord as I put it in. I can also see the LEDs on the Surge Guard through the new hatch, in case it needs to be viewed. At $9.99 shipped, that was much better than the $30+ that the RV centers want, and I didn't have to do the expensive marine cord type setup. There's also plenty of room in the space for me to put adapters and such in.

Now that it's done, I think it'll prove to be very worthwhile. Last summer we camped once in June, 4th of July, and not again until mid September. Now I feel like we are equipped to make the best of the entire season, even the heat of July and August. Spreading the electrical loads will definitely give more flexibility in using things throughout the camper, without constantly having to turn something off to turn something else on. It's great to know that there are so many more things we can do now, and not have to worry about stressing the 30A system. For those of you who aren't totally getting the whole electric scope of this, let's just make it make sense numerically.

Watts (W) are essentially how much power you are using/consuming. It is the product of Volts (V) x Amps (A). In my original setup, the TT had a 120 V service rated at 30 A, so if you maxxed it out, you could consume 3600 W (120 x 30 = 3600). With my new setup, the TT now has a 240V service rated at 50A giving me the potential to use up to 12,000 W, more than 3 times what the original service would allow. That all comes into play when you consider the essential loads in the TT: water heater 1440 W, AC 1900 W, microwave 1350 W, refrigerator 330 W, and converter 1380 W (potentially based on input current). That totals 6400 W, and you haven't plugged in anything. For me, add another 1900 W, and I'm at 8300W, running both ACs. Now, I can run all those items simultaneously, and still have room for TV(s), coffee pot, electric skillet, griddle, blender, whatever.....not that we're not out to enjoy camping, but we now have a lot more options. Now, think about camping in cold weather. Most electric heaters run at about a max of 1500 W. With the way that I've broken the circuits up and added circuits, subtract 3800 W from the 8300 W (wouldn't be using the ACs when I'd be trying to heat the trailer), and I'm back at 4500 W of consumption with the other essentials. I can easily accomodate up to 4 electric heaters, 5 if I cycle one with the microwave. I really think that 3 would do it for most cold situations that I'd want to camp in, and I think 3 would have it pretty cozy.

As I stated earlier, I had the dealer do all of the roof work for just under $200. None of the rest of it was hard or strenuous, it just took a little thinking on fishing power cable through some of the areas, and electrical knowledge to figure out where/how to break the circuits up. Once I figured out how I thought things were wired together, I broke a couple of splices to confirm it, and then proceeded to get the new power to those locations. Obviously, it helped that I had the dealer run the raceway from under the stove (power center) to the new panel location, while they were replacing the black tank under warranty, but it wouldn't have taken much effort to open the underbelly, just more time.

Here's the last few pics.


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