Houghton Air Con - September 20, 2022, 05:40:08 pm Well - in June we picked up our new 2022 — 31’ Twin and drove home!Now we are in Willoughby Ohio exchanging our Dometic air conditioner for a Houghton at Advanced RV!The all day install was successful and the difference is more than amazing! Super quiet. 2 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #1 – September 20, 2022, 06:24:22 pm Which model Houghton did you get? I see there are least three 115V versions not counting the color option RV Air Conditioners.Charles 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #3 – September 20, 2022, 09:00:31 pm Jay,I thought you were going to White Pigeon to get Bigfoot levelers installed this month. Is that still the plan?- John 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #4 – September 20, 2022, 10:55:17 pm Quote from: Jay Krabbenhoft - September 20, 2022, 08:25:11 pmA3401 without heat pump.Interesting choice, I’d love a quieter AC, though I’d miss the heat pump. 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #5 – September 21, 2022, 06:27:22 am Hey Jay, welcome to Ohio!Question for you; aren't you the person who was selling a virtually new 2019 LD a year or two ago? I seem to remember the photos showed the Lazy Daze in a spectacular indoor building. I looked for the old post but it was probably deleted when the unit was sold.IF it was you, did you just immediately decide the Rear Bath wasn't going to work out and you ordered the 31 Twin? It sounds as though your 2022 might have been the last unit to leave the factory...Steve K 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #6 – September 21, 2022, 06:58:50 am Yes, White Pigeon this week for levelers too.After taking receipt of the Rear Bath - we decided we wanted the permanent bedroom and put in our request.Yes - we indeed have the very last Lazy Daze! 10 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #7 – September 21, 2022, 07:45:31 am Thanks for the reply Jay. Will you be making a stop at the Great Lakes Caravan Club gathering at East Harbor next week? We may make an appearance there on Tuesday.Steve K 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #8 – September 21, 2022, 05:48:59 pm Yes - we are stopping at the Great Lakes Group next week! Earlier we stopped at the RV museum in Elkhart!
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #9 – September 21, 2022, 06:22:13 pm Quote from: Jay Krabbenhoft - September 21, 2022, 06:58:50 amYes, White Pigeon this week for levelers too.After taking receipt of the Rear Bath - we decided we wanted the permanent bedroom and put in our request.Yes - we indeed have the very last Lazy Daze!Amazing. Literally yesterday a group of LDers were having lunch and pondered "wonder who got the very last one?" Thanks for the answer, and enjoy! -- Jon 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #10 – September 21, 2022, 06:23:37 pm Maybe the moderator(s) could somehow put Jay's picture of "the last LD" permanently on the forum? -- Jon 3 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #11 – September 21, 2022, 06:38:50 pm Jay -- thanks for mentioning this (and congrats on getting the very last LD, very special!). I have never heard of Houghton. I'm seriously checking these Houghton's out -- the A/C installed by the dearly-departed mothership (in 2017-2018 while the rig was still with the original owner) is the really only thing I don't like about our RB. Ours is noisy (not surprising), but also doesn't blow ANY air toward the front of the rig (which just so happens to be where the only permanent bed, the overcab bunk, is -- makes no sense -- there is no way that is the one they should have installed). You can imagine what a bed, mere inches from the ceiling, might feel like on a summer night in Florida. So, out comes the box fan set on the dinette, every night, to blow the air forward (which does solve the airflow issue). Ours LOOKS like it has a front-facing outlet, but that's just another Dometic trick. But, boy, does it keep that rear bathroom absolutely frigid. Dumb. Jay, does your Houghton send cold air forward? Kind of seems like a dumb question, honestly. One other thing, is they have nice-looking 12v fridges on that site that seem interesting...that would require a solar investment -- but a relatively modest one since we don't really boondock. Hmmm..... 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #12 – September 21, 2022, 07:32:41 pm Hi Jason; I'm sure that your roof air conditioner can blow air in both the rear and forward direction. What brand and model number is it? Have you removed the inside ceiling portion to see what issues it may have? Might it have been modified by the previous owner to only blow aft? RonB
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #13 – September 21, 2022, 08:08:36 pm Quote from: RonB - September 21, 2022, 07:32:41 pmHi Jason; I'm sure that your roof air conditioner can blow air in both the rear and forward direction. What brand and model number is it? Have you removed the inside ceiling portion to see what issues it may have? Might it have been modified by the previous owner to only blow aft? RonBHi Ron! It don't think it's been modified, but when I took off the "filter" for cleaning, it convinced me that this wasn't designed for forward flow. Pic attached. Some air trickles out (maybe a strong trickle when all other vents are closed off), but that's it. Maybe I'll take another look. It's a Penguin II 13.5k. We have to use our A/C quite a bit due to our climate, so the noise would still be a factor -- we just have to live with it more than if we lived somewhere else. Looking at the pic, sure looks like air would go through there. But, that dark area is structure, not airspace, with white plastic framing below it. Thank you!Jason
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #14 – September 21, 2022, 11:32:56 pm Quote from: SRQG8 - September 21, 2022, 08:08:36 pmHi Ron! It don't think it's been modified, but when I took off the "filter" for cleaning, it convinced me that this wasn't designed for forward flow. Pic attached. Some air trickles out (maybe a strong trickle when all other vents are closed off), but that's it. Maybe I'll take another look. It's a Penguin II 13.5k. We have to use our A/C quite a bit due to our climate, so the noise would still be a factor -- we just have to live with it more than if we lived somewhere else. I’ve not taken the cover off mine, but is is possible to reverse the whole inside portion to point forward? 2 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #15 – September 22, 2022, 03:45:26 am Hi Jason; So I looked up the part for the Dometic ceiling assembly, and it was listed as a universal air box distribution assembly. https://epi.dometic.com/externalassets/dometic-penguin-ii-13-5k-with-heat-pump_73164.pdf . The words 'universal' has me thinking that it has adjustments to fit different installations. Non ducted for sure. The ad mentioned that it has side vents for slideouts. Of course you don't have that. I wonder if it was installed properly, and as Dave mentioned may be reversed to point forward. Or possibly some removable inside vane or duct needs to be removed. My system is too old to match more modern 'stuff' like pictured here. Somebody with this unit will have to chime in. Figure 24 in the manual makes it look like it only blows to the back, and appears to be unchangeable. RonB
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #16 – September 22, 2022, 06:13:19 am Jason, based on the photo you attached, your air conditioning unit looks nothing like the unit Lazy Daze installed on our 2003 midbath. Perhaps a previous owner replaced the air conditioner?Steve K
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #17 – September 22, 2022, 12:50:33 pm The Houghton A/Cs are new to me, what type of track record do they have? I'm attracted to the low noise levels, along with a slightly lower power draw. Being able to talk or watch tv with the A/C on would be a nice change.Having cool air flow from both ends is absolutely necessary for our usage, every RV rooftop A/C I have looked at has outlets on both ends, it's hard to believe that the Houghtons are not made this way or cannot be converted.Larry
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #18 – September 22, 2022, 03:51:34 pm Quote from: RonB - September 22, 2022, 03:45:26 amHi Jason; So I looked up the part for the Dometic ceiling assembly, and it was listed as a universal air box distribution assembly. https://epi.dometic.com/externalassets/dometic-penguin-ii-13-5k-with-heat-pump_73164.pdf ... I wonder if it was installed properly, and as Dave mentioned may be reversed to point forward. Or possibly some removable inside vane or duct needs to be removed. My system is too old to match more modern 'stuff' like pictured here. Somebody with this unit will have to chime in. Figure 24 in the manual makes it look like it only blows to the back, and appears to be unchangeable. RonBThanks for the installation manual, Ron. That should help. Sometime over the next few weeks, I'll try to take the cover down and check it out more throughly. Maybe I can at least rotate as Dave suggested. I found the receipt, the LD factory installed this in 04/2017, so it's not like some random repair tech did the job. I'd hate to spend the money to replace it, but it's not doing what I need it to do, and it's super noisy on top of that. I'll check back in on this thread with the results of this, but stil appreciate Jay pointing out the Houghton units, because, as Larry said, having something that approaches a reasonable noise level would be a nice change. 2 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #19 – September 23, 2022, 09:02:26 am Yes Jason, the quiet is great. The Houghton isn’t for everyone, but would make a good option for replacement for unrepairable unit or if an owner wanted quiet - or wanted low enough air-con noise levels to watch TV or listen to music. The folks at Advanced RV were super efficient and friendly - the plant tour was fascinating. They produce a high quality van —B class unit.
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #20 – September 27, 2022, 06:18:46 pm I must say, I've been around a few RV air conditioners and these look to me like a good unit. I looked at the internal pictures on the link and they seem to pay serious attention to detail. A guy might think otherwise if he saw one in person. To me, these look worthy of a Lazy Daze roof.Jon 2 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #21 – June 17, 2023, 02:36:41 pm This is a very long post. Sorry about that, but just wanted to get all of our experience out there in case others can find something relevant to them. If you don't want to read through this long post, here's the summary: the Houghton A/C was a significant improvement in every way that is important to us. Worth every single penny -- so far. We just replaced our Dometic Penguin II A/C with a Houghton from RecPro due to performance issues. The Dometic was installed in 2017 by the original owner at the factory. Wanted to wait a bit longer as we just invested quite a bit of $$ into solar, battery, and compressor fridge. However, at 6 years young, this Dometic A/C was dying. Good riddance!Thanks to the experience Jay posted earlier in this thread, and from other reading, I knew the replacement was going to be a Houghton.We just finished our (hopefully recurrent) big 2 week summer trip, the A/C was replaced 2 days before departure. Here are the subjective/observational results of the change...1. Temp: The Houghton seems to effortlessly maintain a comfortable temp for us (we keep it at 74*F while driving and 72-73*F while parked). Of note, the Houghton is 15k BTU vs the 13.5k BTU Dometic. 2. Sound/noise: While it is certainly quieter than the Dometic, it is not magical, but still appreciated. On low fan speed, it still moves a really good amount of air, and we can easily hear the TV from the rear seat of the dinette (our RB has the TV mounted at the front adjacent to the cab-over bunk). While the compressor is running, the interior fan speed increases to high (when set to Auto) and the outside fan turns on. This max fan level is dramatically quieter than the equivalent Dometic fan speed. No sudden transient increase in noise/vibration when the compressor does kick on, which is nice. 3. Humidity: We live in a very humid (mostly hot) part of the country. We noticed, completely unexpectedly, that the air coming out of the A/C felt significantly drier. Maybe this is a function of better design/having two separate fans. When wiping down the counter, or leaving dishes to dry, the moisture quickly disappeared from those surfaces rather than languishing there. This made a set temperature feel that much cooler. I haven't yet tried the available dehumidifier setting.4. Efficiency: Hot, humid climate with trips mostly in what would be considered horrid summer weather in much of the country. Running the coach A/C while driving is a requirement -- for us. I dislike running the generator while driving (one of the reasons is that I cannot easily monitor if there is a problem). With our DC-DC charger, 660w solar, and 560ah of lithium batteries (a system mostly inspired by seeing Mike Coachman's setup -- thank you Mike!), the Dometic would drain our batteries down to somewhere around 70-75% on 3-4 hour drives in full sun conditions (i.e. driving in Florida last March on a sunny day from 11a to 2p). On this last trip (our inaugural trip with the new A/C), we stopped monitoring the batteries while driving because every single time we checked, they were at 100%. This is also with the built-in Dometic compressor fridge and the Kohree 53qt compressor fridge running on 120v A/C. I was shocked (pun intended): This happened during overcast days driving through Illinois as well. So now, I believe, the DC-DC charger is what is keeping up in situations where it could not prior to the switch (that were far more ideal in terms of solar output). Most of you would probably have figured that out way earlier than I did. 5. Heat pump: There was one morning, in Illinois, where the outside temp was less than 50*F (inside 65*F). So, we tried the heat pump (just for fun), and out came hot, dry-feeling air. It will be a nice supplement to the furnace (when it's above freezing outside). Also, no pained groaning sounds when the valve reverses (from A/C to heat) like on our home Carrier heat pumps. On our drive home, which was 400 miles and 8 hours of actual driving (that is a farther and longer drive leg than is typical for us and there is a story behind that), it was raining for that entire leg. The A/C obviously would not have had to work as hard (but the solar panels were likely of little help), the battery was still at 100% when we pulled into the driveway at 7:30pm. When parked without hookups (like if we went on a hike or went down to a lake to fish with the RV in the parking lot), we set the A/C to 78-80*F and came back after a 2-3 hours to batteries with 85+% SOC. Usually above 95% in sunny conditions. It should be noted that these situations I'm discussing is with a coach that was already cooled to 74*F before parking.This obviously isn't a story on whether the Houghton will outlast the short-lived Dometic. Who knows. But, for the way we use the RV right now (we both work full time, the kiddos are in school, and we mostly stay at State/COE campgrounds), this has been a MAJOR improvement for us. The Houghton also keeps the cab cool (and unlike our poorly-designed Dometic A/C, I could feel a nice cool gentle breeze hitting my neck). I did run the dash A/C to help lighten the load of the coach A/C, just like when running before the switch. The Houghton also keeps the cab-over bunk cool, something that our particular Dometic model was seemingly designed to NOT do.BTW, ordered the A/C on RecPro's website. After ordering, I called them to inquire about expedited shipping as our trip was 10 days away. The option would have doubled (!!) the overall cost. I explained the situation and asked if they would allow me to **request** that the warehouse ship the A/C the next day. They said "no problem," and held true to their word. The A/C arrived 3 days later (sooner than when the RV tech was ready for it). I just had knee surgery, didn't want to climb up and do it myself, so had my RV tech install it for what I felt was a fair price. Hope there is information in this diatribe that is helpful for others!Jason 5 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #22 – June 17, 2023, 05:57:25 pm Hey, Jason. Thanks for that detailed review. I've replaced Penguins with Atwoods in the past as the Atwoods were much quieter than the Penguins. Then Dometic bought Atwood so who knows what they are like now. The Houghton sounds like the way to go. Almost makes me wish that loud Dometic would give up the ghost! jor
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #23 – June 17, 2023, 10:31:08 pm Thank you jor! I will try to post a one-year review when appropriate, sooner if there are any problems. Jason 1 Likes
Re: Houghton Air Con - Reply #24 – July 31, 2023, 06:13:50 pm We’d also be interested in a review. There’s a few reviews on YouTube. One of the negatives is the air conditioner runs all the time even when the temperature is satisfied. Those owners report the sound isn’t so loud as to be bothersome. At least two RVers reported the unit struggles with removing humidity. All the reviews found the unit to be substantially quieter than their previous air conditioners and they were not disappointed in their decision to buy it. Without question, we wish our air conditioner which is a Coleman Mach 8 was quieter. This Coleman puts our really cold air, quieter than our Dometic, and works great in high humidity. The decibel level on low fan in the lounge is 68-69. The Houghton is reported to be 10-12 decibels lower. I’d certainly like to see one in action. 1 Likes
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