Dear New PrevostGurus Members

[travelite]

Hi Mpage,

Welcome to the forum, even if it is a little belated!

The RVAC was actually made by the some folks who made the Cruisair, Taylor Made Corporation. It's no longer available. It's a good unit but old in the tooth and folks who have them have been nursing their control boards, which is the component that typically fails. Some folks have had success rebuilding their control boards. Coleman makes a unit which is close to the same footprint. Parliament will install it for you. There's quite a bit of ductwork modifications needed, so it's not exactly a cheap upgrade. Vantare used the RVAC, but around 2004 they went with four 16,000 BTU cruesairs. My coach has four cruisairs. I love them. We spent 3 weeks in the southwest (four corners) last summer and I had no issue keeping the coach cool whether parked or driving. They're quiet and the SMXII thermostat controller is very configurable. I don't even use my chassis air. There's a cruisair directly over the driver seat which keeps me plenty cool. My wife is usually turning the tstats up throughout the coach to warm things up. My coach does have a dark tint on the windows which helps. It also has the Hunter Douglas Duette blinds which are honecomb and offer added insulation. My chassis year, 2003, is also the first year Prevost offered dual pane windows throughout the coach on the H3-45 VIP. The roof of my coach is bright white as are all Prevosts I believe. All of this helps the air conditioners keep the cool in and the heat out. As Chuck said, four ACs is a must, whether Cruisairs or roof airs.

Getting back to the RVAC. RVAC is different from Over-the-Road Air (OTR). OTR Air is offered by Prevost and is the air conditioning used to cool 56 passengers - a little overkill for a conversion designed for two. The RVAC is kind of neat. It's mini-split like the Cruisair, but it has two compressors which can be wired to the two separate legs of your 120VAC distribution. It'll run with only one compressor. This is handy if you only have a single leg 30A hookup. If you have 50A two leg, then both compressors kick in. It was designed to be very flexible in its requirement for power. The Coleman replacement is a single compressor unit. Vantare used a single RVAC with two Cruisairs. HTH!