Noisy A/C

[djsamuel]

If you have the 13.5K BTU Dometic Penguin 2 A/C unit that came with many of the Camplite Travel Trailers, you may find it very noisy.  I wrote to Dometic and they have a "vibration kit" that is used to reduce the excessive vibration on the penguin 2 models.  If you send them your model number and serial number they send it to you at no charge.  Mine is due to be delivered today.  Not sure when I'll be able to install it, but I'll update when I can.

[charliem]

[font size="3"][font face="arial"]Doug,

Very interesting. Please do let us know what's involved and if you can tell the difference.
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[djsamuel]

Will do.

[djsamuel]

I took the cover off of the A/C unit yesterday to install the kit.  It appeared as though the kit was already installed.  However, the isolation bushings for the compressor were a different number, so I replaced them.  There were already vibration dampers on the tubing where the instructions said to install them.  I turned on the A/C with the cover off and noticed that a piece of tubing that was crimped and had one end free was a source of a lot of vibration.  When I held it with my hand, the A/C unit quieted down a good bit.  So I added one of the dampers that came with the kit to that area of tubing.  That made a difference.  I then added another damper to a different spot, and that apparently brought that area of tubing right into a resonant frequency equal to the compressor.  So, I quickly removed that damper and left it off.  So in the end, there is a noticeable reduction in sound from the A/C (with the compressor running), but it is certainly not quiet.  But, I guess every little bit helps.

Doug

[charliem]

[font size="3"][font face="arial"]Doug,

For what it's worth I checked the A/C on my 2014 21RBS. The trailer was manufactured Oct. 21013 and came with the 13,500 Dometic Penguin II. I came from the Rpod world and had a similar unit on the fiberglass Rpod. It was very noisy both with the fan alone and with the compressor running. Conversation in the Pod was difficult with the A/C and sleeping was challenging. I could definitely tell when the compressor started, but attributed it to the fiberglass camper and the bunk placement.

I was prepared for a similar problem with an aluminum camper, maybe even worse. So I went out and tried the A/C today after reading your posts. I was very surprised at how quiet it was. With the fan on low conversation across the dinette table was not impeded. I could hear the compressor come on, but way less than the fan noise. None of the resonant rumbling I expected from my past experience. The high fan speed was of course louder and probably covers the compressor noise, but I expect I'll only use high for initial cool down. All in all I was pleasantly surprised.

A post on the Rpod forum refers to a soft grommet kit available for Penguins IIs built before 2012. It sounds like this is what you got. I'm also guessing that the kit or similar came installed with my 2014 Camplite. So I'm not sure what this means to you. Maybe I'm just not as sensitive as you or maybe you still have a problem which can be worked. Press on and let me know how it goes.

EDIT: Best I can determine the noisy A/C on the Rpod was an earlier version from Dometic. I can't be sure since I no longer own the Pod.
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[tinkeringtechie]

I had a very similar impression also coming from an RPod. The camplite A/C seems much quieter.