Fingers crossed that a new board and some weatherstipping finally complete the repairs Monty.

 

I talked to my service manager today after talking with Roy and then some others on the Montana forum. The consensus is that, when in humid environments and on LO, the units freeze up quickly. So, we decided to wait until the next trip to see if is does it again. With the fan speed on HI, enough warmer air is going across the coils to stop a freeze up. He went back and found a TSB from a couple of years ago stating this potential problem. Same with the Tstat on AUTO.
I came up with an idea today and went to the dealer for a piece of weather stripping to see if would work. The doors of this rig are so close to the frame that when closed, the top of the door rolls up any new weather stripping before it has time to seat. So, I got a piece about 4 foot long and put it on the TOP of the flange instead of the back of it. Now the top of the door swings up against that area and seals instead of trying to rip it off of the back. I'll try this and see if it works. If it does, I think I'll patent it

 

Monty, I used to have a similar issue with my A/C freezing up when on low as well. If I had no air blowing through the vents, I knew exactly what the issue was, and would shut off the compressor, but leave the blower running on high. Soon, I could start feeling air circulating again. After an hour or so, the coils would be thawed and I could resume normal operations again. Mine had a temp probe that was supposed to stick to the coils to detect freezing, and shut off the compressor, but it wouldn't stick to the coils. I had to manually adjust for freezing the evaporator.

Edit: I have to add that it was worse on milder days when the outside temp was low enough that the coil temp would more easily drop below freezing.

 

If i recall correctly Monty, both me and Roy have had problems with the thermostats in our units. Yours been behaving?

 

The rear Tstat was replaced just before the rear control board was found to be the problem. According to Dometic, there is no way for the new Tstats to go bad

 

Forgot to post a few pics of the trip to Myrtle Beach this year so here are a few. The second pic is just before leaving home. The first is the meeting place for all that was going that morning. A couple of shots of the rig at the campground and then, each night at the campground, people drive their decorated golf carts around up and down Ocean Blvd just as a social thing. My son and his friend wanted to decorate ours. Even though this is pretty cool, I didn't tell anyone my 17 year old did it
The last one is a new sprayer that I cut the end off of and put a couple of adapters on to a garden nozzle. I fill it with water and and then either take it to the lake or beach and I have water to wash off the sand/dirt before putting shoes or regular clothes back on. Keeps sand/dirt out of shoes, clothes and camper.

 

Monty. So far so good with Montana?

 

Yes sir. No more flex in the nose, the AC units did ok at the beach but the hottest it got was 87*. We will know more about them in the next two weeks as we go to the lake for just over a week. We now have a warranty that goes through Sept 7. We have a few items that will have to be fixed including the right upper part of the nosecap where they damaged the paint when they removed it. I'm glad it is back. We had it fully loaded and went on this trip up I-20 from GA to SC, which is a ROUGH part of the interstate and she did fine. Thank you for asking.

 

This is so great to read. Worried when I noticed this thread at the top of this section with a post from Monty. You take the best trips with lots of family and friends, thanks for posting camping pictures.

How are you feeling when it comes to Montana? Some of the anger and disappointment gone? Getting happier with your RV once again? It's an RV so there will always be something. You already know that though.

Bruce

 

Thank you. We like to travel with a host of friends that is for sure.
As far as the Montana goes, I feel much better about it now than I did for quite a while. It appears to be repaired and I am glad it's back so we can use it. The anger now is towards the way it was handled and the company, not so much to the rig itself. I don't have to remind you how poorly this was handled. I'm still a little skeptical of the AC "fix", but should know more in a couple of weeks when it is much hotter here. Yep, just like a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into, the RV is the same on land

 

GolfMedic,

it has been so long, remind me of ac concerns. I might have some ideas.

we are in Florida where I think we get a bad rep for "humiture. ". When we head north each year in early July, Georgia, and the Carolina's are even higher humidity and temperature, with no sea breeze-- Yuk!.

we travel with a dehumidifier on the east coast and in eastern Texas, but install of the ac unit return air may be your problem.

 

The rig had no air flow anywhere in it last year and would not keep the unit cool. When it went back to the factory, they sealed up a couple of places in the ductwork and then put much shorter vents in the ducts so air would come out instead of just going around the collars of the vents. It seemed to help at the beach, but still wondering about the lake and the high humidity we have here in July and August. I have just spent about an hour on Facebook in the Keystone Montana Rv Owners group talking to several more with the same issues. Although it is not just Montana. All of the newer rigs do not have the AC units with the quick cool feature instead they are a ducted racetrack or oval design. The air just gets circulated without and endpoint to boost the pressure to force the air out of the vents. My dealer has two new Sandpipers that have been turned back into them due to not being able to cool the units. One of the owner's attorneys has already asked for class action.

 

Monty has anyone used a thermal temp gauge for seeing how cold the air is at the vents. I checked ours at 90 deg and vent temp was 55 deg.
We need a second unit as there is too much volume in the rig for ac to keep up at that temp

 

I use one on every trip. At the beach last year the unit was only putting out 64* air from the rear one. That's what led to us finding the control board bad. This year at Myrtle, we had 46* air up in the vents as shot with a laser. There is still a flow problem though. This new design has the ducts in an oval with the other AC unit on the other end. There is not a dam for the air to hit and build up pressure within the ducts to force the air out of the vents. You add to that making the new unit's roofs tan instead of stark white, you've added heat gain to the roof. Plus all of the darker colors on the sides and bigger windows and you've done more of the same. Also, when on 30a and only using one AC, you can take out the vents in the front bedroom and our your hand on the upper side of the duct through the vent opening and you will find that it is very warm. Doesn't appear to be much insulation if any in the roof between the decking and the ducts.

 

Another black eye for Montana. A couple on the FB Montana Owner's Group have a brand new camper that the rear AC line split on and emptied all of the freon out. So, it's useless. GET THIS. They are starting a year long trip tomorrow and have reservations all throughout the midwest and NO ONE can get them an AC unit. Why??? Well, reportedly there is a major recall about to be publicized from Dometic on their units. So, no one has them in stock and can't get them. At least out on the west coast. Even Montana, on a brand new camper is telling them they have no way of helping them. INFURIATING at best. This is ultimately Dometic's problem, but Montana will not even put on another one off the lot of one they know is in stock. Very sad.