Cruise Air verse roof top

[davidbrady]

Hi Jerry,

My guess is cost. You can buy a 13500 BTU Dometic Penguin for $800, while a fully setup CruiseAir comes in at over $4K, $3K for the condenser unit and another $1500 for the evaporator and blower.

I guess there are pros and cons to each but I love my 4 16,000 BTU CruiseAirs. They work in the 110 deg F ambient temp of the Four Corners in the summertime, they're quiet, and I don't need to climb onto the roof of the bus to service them.

Other's are sold on roof airs, again mostly because of the cost and because you can pick up a new one at Camping World. CruiseAirs aren't disposable items like Dometic roof airs. They can be serviced and rebuilt endlessly. They offer quiet ducted cooling with virtually no fan noise. They do take up some basement space but in an H3 there's so much basement space this is a non-issue. I have two condenser units mounted in the nose where the spare tire is normally stored and I have two more in the third basement bay port side. Many folks say that they don't work well because they suck hot air off the payment whereas roof airs are exposed to maybe cooler roof air. I don't think there's much difference in air temps hitting the condensing units. By the time the air is sucked in bus body turbulence has thoroughly mixed it. They do cost some to service, but with a set of gauges and a tank of R22 you can do a lot yourself.

Good luck with your search!