Cruise air vs Roof air

[maxbeer]

Hi All, would anyone care to share the pros and cons of cruise air vs roof air?

I'm looking at a Marathon with cruise air, If this is a good system, are there any 'gotchas' I should be aware of ?

Thanks for the help, Larry

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Go to busted nuckles and greasy jeans thread-A/C inside the pipes- and start with post #41.

[BrianE]

GOOD JOB JOE!

We're accumulating so much good info on the site that we need a tour director (subject referral expert). I vote for you. :D
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94 Liberty XL

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Latley I've been trying to get into the habbit of searching exzisting posts and threads before composing.

We have almost got to the point of already having dissussed most topics.

[MangoMike]

MuchoBeerOne,

Even after reading those past posts you'll still probably have some questions. So don't hesitate to ask.

mm

[garyde]

The Pros: Quieter. The Cons; not as cool while driving

[Petervs]

The PROS quieter. A big one to me.

The Cons, none. I do not use them while driving. My Marathon has 3 dash type AC for use while driving, powered by the engine directly. If that is not enough, and it always has been, we could start the generator and run the 3 cruise airs too. So far it has never come to that.

But it is nice to have a back up plan in case of a 120 degree day, or even in case of a 90 degree day and something breaks.

The only con is a roof air is cheaper to buy and replace. If the cruise airs are already installed keep working, that is not a factor.

My main approach is to go places with pleasant temperatures and avoid the hot hot parts of the country unless absolutely necessary.

[Ben]

Larry,

Either system is fine and shouldn't sway you more than any other system choice on a coach. I nit picked it when I was buying and thought I really preferred Cruise Airs (and I still prefer them), but I'd buy a coach with roof airs... especially a Marathon because they do their systems a bit differently.

FYI: I'm talking about XL series Prevosts... I don't have experience with H3's or XLII's.

Here's what I like about Cruise Airs:
• Less noise since the compressor is located under the coach instead of right above your head. That makes for less of a rumble when it's running... but a similar amount of fan noise.
• I've only seen cruise airs controlled by SMX control panels, which offer some advantages: 1) they have a digital readout of current temp and set temp, 2) they can automatically switch between heating and cooling (which can be important when you are parked in the desert where it can get cold at night), 3) they have five fan levels whereas most roof airs that I've seen have only three, which also leads to them producing less noise once the set temp has been reached, 4) they are almost always setup in 3 zones for a 40'er and 4 for a 45'er while many roof airs are setup with fewer control panels.

Here's what I don't like about Cruise Airs:
• Takes up extra bay space compared to roof airs (I might have a bay entertainment center if I didn't have to give up my precious storage to add it... would have space if I had cruise airs... not as much of a problem on 45'ers though... I have a 40')
• Can overheat and cycle on/off if you park on a very hot blacktop area and have the coach low to the ground (this happened to be in Las Vegas and was not fun since it took until the next morning for them to return to normal operation... I had to spray water on them to cool them and raise the bus as well). It's only happened when the bus was parked low to the ground and was on VERY hot blacktop.

Here's what I like about Roof Airs:
• They save basement storage space while cruise airs take up the space behind my bumper and some of the space mid-ship
• They are easier to access to perform servicing on and should be easier to find someone to work on them since they are so common (although I don't have any experience with this since my coach as cruise airs).

Marathon is unique in that they pair roof airs with SMX controls, which gives you 5 fan levels, auto switching from cooling to heat and the digital readouts, so the main thing is a bit more noise when compared to a cruise air equipped coach. I've heard some people say that the hum of their roof airs helps them sleep... not in my case... any noise will make it more difficult for me to sleep.

In essence, both systems are a compromise and I'd prefer a Marathon if I was to buy a coach that has roof airs for the reason stated above. That doesn't mean I'd ignore other coaches... I'd just prefer Marathon's setup for roof airs.

Remember that these comments only apply to my vintage of coach with is a Series 60 XL. They might set things up differently on newer coaches.

[Jerry Winchester]

Max,

What Ben was actually trying to saying was;

Roof Air - Coach looks like a Winnebago
Cruise Air - Coach looks like an expensive Prevost

[Ben]

Jerry,

You just have to add integrated Garard or Zip Dee new century awnings to hide those roof pods and then you'll look like a sleek new XLII.

A Prevost is a Prevost... roof air or cruise air... you can't detract from something as shiny as stainless with little boxes on the roof.

[truk4u]

Larry,

On my Marathon the 3 CruiseAirs are behind the front bumper, no loss of storage in the bays.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Tom post a picture of that if you can. We only have 2 up there and i'd like to see how they fit all 3? Our third is curb-side second bay.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Hey Jer, where have you been lately ? I missed all your BS.

Gary S

[truk4u]

Joe,

Will do... They put two in the rear of the space and a third on a swing out tray in front. Very easy to get to everything. I'll get you a pic..

[Jerry Winchester]

Spring Break with the chicks.......

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Spring Break with the chicks.......

You lucky Rooster you. :D

Gary S

[maxbeer]

Thanks to ALL that posted a reply to my question. Ben you gave me most of what I was after. Joe thanks for pointing me in the right direction, when I did a 'search' it didn't yield the info I was looking for but the question re-addressed did cover most helpful info.
I hate to re-read the same question over and over as most here do, however, if the 'search mode ' doesn't cover it, I always ask again, after all this is a 'forum.

Thanks again, Larry

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Hear Hear on that Larry. Those boring times when no one is posting are far worse than rehashing a topic. Makes me want to say helo, anybody there, anyone at all. Something new or a tangent subject usually surfaces. :rolleyes:
:) JIM

[BrianE]

Hear Hear on that Larry. :) JIM

Would second the motion. Also, would observe the Search Engine might stand some improvement. Would that be possible, Jim/Jeff? :o
__________
94 Liberty XL

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

BrianE;Would second the motion. Also, would observe the Search Engine might stand some improvement. Would that be possible, Jim/Jeff? :o
__________
94 Liberty XL

Brian, The best search method I have found to be: Think real hard for one or two key words on the searched topic, and search (show posts), you might have a lot of reading to do but I have usually found what I wanted. An additional way is if you can remember who said something, look up all of that persons posts. :eek:
About being off topic, in the incorrect post and the thread police and all that. I feel with sideline, personal and human interst comments, it doesn't matter where they are. They are only read one time (looked at) and do not require to be catagorized for no one to look them up a second time in the future. Just like this paragraph.:p
What would I like improved, well: the return of the use of the -quote marks-.
;) JIM...................keep clear of the prop wash

[Ray Davis]

There are some non-obvious extensions to the search engine which may help.

1. If you put in multple words, they ALL have to exist in the thread to be found.

2. You can specify or. For example: clutch OR compressor
(that will find posts with either of those words)

3. Words can occur together like: "country coach", will find posts with that brand of coach, but will not find posts which use the words country and coach, but not together.

4. As mentioned prior, if you know who may be involved in the thread, you can put the users forum name in the box on the right hand side of the advanced search.

5. You can also limit your searches to just titles, rather than complete post verbiage.

[garyde]

Jim. The part about 'think real hard' is going to be a problem for most in this group. Don't say anything Jerry. Gary

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Thanks Ray for the tip about ( OR ) I didn't know that. Hows come the Quotes work for you. Do you bother to cancel out that verbage that goes with them to finagle their use? :confused:
:) JIM

[Ray Davis]

Jim,

I think the quotes issue is actually a minor bug with the forum code. The administrator has the ability to turn off/on HTML in various forums. The problem is, the quote characters seemed to be turned into HTML automatically by the forum regardless of this setting, and then if the HTML display is turned off, you get the garbage we have been seeing.

If you look at the very bottom of this thread, you'll see (lower left corner) a list of what's enabled? I see that it says HTML is enabled on this forum. That's why quotes are displaying ok in this thread.

I would seem reasonable that the administrator would just turn on HTML for all of the forums, and that would eliminate the garbage we've seen.

The reason that these characters are turned into " is that a quote character represents a danger when entering stuff into a database (like these posts are). If the forum authors are not careful writing the code which databases this stuff, inserting quotes (mainly single quotes) is a way to hack into the server. That's why they are protected.