New member from Florida with questions

[Sid Tuls]

Ray I think you have a little too much time on your hands

[dale farley]

Thanks Ray. Based on your calculations, I think we could assume if you used the actual weight of the 3 roof AC units that most of us have, the figure would be about 1 inch.

Now, I've got to be especially careful with every corner I turn in the bus. If I ever run off the road, some are going to say, "We tried to tell him about those Roof Airs!"

[Ray Davis]

Sid, actually if my boss found out that i spent 10 minutes on this on work time, he'd have my hide! I'm probably not supposed to read this forum on work hours either Oh well

[grross]

Gary & Bill: You hit the nail right on the head...WELL SAID!!!
Ray: Your calculation puts the issue in perspective. On winding roads or while experiencing crosswinds I wouldn't notice the difference with or without roof a/cs at 65-70 mph.

[Donnie_M]

What??? Did I miss something...lol

[Sid Tuls]

Hey Donnie, Glad your back

[HarborBus]

Welcome back Donnie. I hope you can see from the recent posts that the group really appreciates your input and was disappointed that you may have left us. It's good get the prospective from you as someone that is out there in the trenches working on our bus systems every day.

[Steve Mitchell]

Mark,
Your question regarding A/C's has been asked over the years almost as much as "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Marketing Prevost Conversions over 20 years, I can tell you from experience that "everyone" is different. What appears to be cold to one person, may still seem hot to the other person. I've been driving down the highway in about every conversion out there, and have been hot, look over at my wife, and she's covered up with a blanket. Now that we're getting older, she's hot (hot flashes) and I'm covered up with a blanket.

OTR A/C was developed by Prevost for a commercial application (seated buses) hauling a bunch of passengers that produce a lot of body heat. It's almost an overkill in a (2) person conversion, however, if you want to hang meat inside your coach in AZ. in the summertime, it'll get the job done.
It's wonderful, and if your generator fails, or A/C fails (roof or cruise), you have the OTR as a back up. Down side, it takes up storage and horse power (when running).

Three A/C's is "very marginal" in humid, southern climates. The technology of inverters in the newer coaches and battery power can allow you to run several a/c's without starting the generator. Then, you have some converters that do their own OTR system with an a/c compressor 1/4 the size of the Prevost OTR. Then, you can get into the cruise a/c's in comparison to the roof a/c's. All converters use to have cruise a/c's and I think it was Angola or American that put the first roof a/c on a Prevost in the early 90's. It was a slow evolution, but several other converters followed five to seven years later. Other converters opted to stay with the cruise a/c's. Then you get into serviceability, noise factors between each, etc. and so on and so forth. I agree with Donnie, (3) roof a/c's is not enough (at least in Florida this time of year).
Steve
Parliament

[GDeen]

I love me some OTR.....Jennifer says I am obsessed with it. I like it frigid in the coach while driving and anyone who doesn't, may feel free to bust out the winter wardrobe or crawl in the bed situated over the big ole series 60 heater.

I honestly think the 3 cruiseairs are at their limit in keeping the coach cool (70) in the very hottest summer days unless the shades are drawn or the awnings out shading the sides and windows. I am guessing the Deuce is a little easier to maintain cool given the thermal pane glass. Have always been a little jealous of the 4 cruiseair setup in the Liberty, although I am not sure how they run all 4 with the other electrical demands on 50A. Don't know how to compare to roof air, but the cruiseairs do seem to work well for us although we never use them when driving. Just fire up the big boy. Still wouldn't mind have 4 of them rather than 3 though.

[truk4u]

Thanks Steve, nice to have a Converters view!