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I’m a fan of Cruise Airs because they are more robust than typical roof air units. I like the lower noise levels and in my experience their apparent service life.

However your questions are valid and you point out things to be concerned about. AC performance is clearly affected by the ability of the condensing side of the system to cool the hot gases. A roof air unit is up above the heat radiating from the road surfaces. As the intake air to the condenser increases the ability to cool decreases.

So from a practical point of view if the coach does not have Prevost over the road full coach heat and air but instead relies on the use of Cruise Airs for cooling while driving I would be concerned. I would opt for a roof air equipped coach if the house AC units are used for cooling while driving.

It is a challenge to cool a coach in hot southwest summer temps. If I had to make a choice I would focus on an OTR equipped coach. With that you are dealing with at least 80,000 plus BTU of cooling. On later model year coaches the OTR systems are well in excess of 100,000 BTU of cooling. The benefit is you not only are going to stay cool, from a hot start you are going to get cool quickly.

A non-OTR coach is going to have driver’s air, but that is not going to help much as you go further back so either plan on staying in the front seats, or trying to keep the coach cool with the house AC units. Typically they are in the 13,000 to 15,000 BTU range per unit so as you can see they are rather anemic if the outside temps are hot and the sun is blazing. So at the very least try to get a coach with AC units that will work well while driving and in that case it has to be the roof airs because they are not drawing air into the condensing units that has been over heated by radiating off a hot road surface.

But also keep in mind the number of units. It is almost unheard of for an entertainer coach to have less than 5 roof air units. There is a reason. If one fails they have 4 left and should be able to stay comfortable. If a motorhome has only 3 or 4, then if one fails you may not be able to stay comfortable.

All AC units benefit from regular cleaning of the condensing unit coils. Typically roof airs are relatively cheap to buy so when one fails it just gets replaced unless the repair is simple. Cruise Airs are serviceable so if there is a failure they are typically fixed.

Bottom line, you have to decide if the coach is equipped to function properly based on how you use the coach. And pay attention to the performance numbers. Supplementing the driver’s air on a non-OTR coach with 2 AC units is not going to come close to doing the job of an OTR coach. But your definition of comfort may differ from mine which is if the outside of the windows on the coach is covered with condensation then I know it is comfortable inside the coach.

[Archived]

Welcome to PC….

We also have Cruise Airs and love them along with OTR…. this is our second coach with Cruise Airs and prefer them over the roof airs that we had in our prior coaches. We also live in Texas and you are right keeping the coaches cool here in the summer is a challenge. The OTR or some other form of dash type airconditioning is essential here in Texas.

Which 2004 Parliament are you looking at ? …. is it the H3-45 at Coachworx ?

I think Parliament is a nice coach we almost bought a 2004 H back in March.

We have also had a 45′ motorhome with 3 roof airs and nearly died all summer as they couldn’t keep the coach cool.. I think the insulation wasn’t up to snuff in that coach or in any plastic coach for that matter… If I had roof airs I would want 4 not 3 for Texas, but I prefer the Cruise Airs. Parts are available through the Marine industry in the Houston area for the Cruise Airs.

Would be very interested to know which coach you are considering.. you can also click on my name SEABYRD and email me if you wish.

Cheers, Diane

[Dick]

YOU WILL NOT KEEP A COACH COOL WITH 4 CRUISE AIRS IN TEXAS IN SUMMER, PERIOD!

[Jim]

I beg to differ on Joel Selman’s comment about 4 Cruise Airs not keeping coach cool in Summers in TX..

We live in Texas and have kept 2 H3-45s plenty cool as in 70 degrees in the hot heat of a TX summer… our secret was to keep the bus OTR on while travelling and never let the bus get warm inside then we keep it cool running only 3 of our 4 CruiseAirs… they must be tweaked and filters always clean… never a problem for us in 4 years experience, however our Holliday Rambler (45′ 4 slides) was always HOT with 3 roof airs… one reason we traded up.

So as you can see each person’s experiences are different… we have a beach front lot and use our bus there every weekend from early May until September and never a problem and believe me it is hot there.

You will have to draw your own conclusion… I would think that 4 roof airs (if you can run 4 on 50 amps) will do a good job too, but I don’t think running three will do it…however the insulation factors between a “plastic coach” and a Prevost would be another story too.

Roof airs have a huge replacement advantage over a Cruise Air too which may be something you want to consider and any RV repair center can work on them.

There is no perfect answer !!

Cheers, Diane

[Chas]

I also disagree. I would never suggest using Cruise Airs to cool the bus while driving. But when parked they are more than adequate.

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Diane, you say that cruise airs must be “tweaked”, would you expand on that please.

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Filters must be clean and Cruise Airs are very sensetive to correct amt of freon and pressures in a narrow band. Geo.

[Peter]

Larry,

Just as Geo stated the correct freon charge is critical to get ice cold air…I believe a lot of complaints come from folks that just don’t understand that and the importance of clean filters… I clean mine 3 times a year.. I think that’s probably an overkill but twice is needed for sure… I think some people think once a year is okay and it might be depending on the exposure to different environments. Everytime I clean my filters they are dirty but not filthy.

Cheers, Diane

[Peter]

Thanks Geo and Diane. I am sure clean filters are a must but, do you have problems finding some tech to charge the system correctly?

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Larry, where are you located ? Then we can easily tell you the closest place. Geo.

[Chas]

Have 3 in my old coach and even when there are all clicking in summer here in Texas it’s hard to stay cool. Have learned with mine how to check freon levels and add if needed. Chased leaks all summer on front criseaire and think I got it toward the end of hot summer. Next year will be another ball game.