[Rick & Denise]

I have 4 -15,000 on my bus and it cools it just fine but from what iss on the road entertainers use 5 air conditioners

[Alvie]

My former office in downtown Milwaukee overlooked down on the streets that the entertainer coaches took to a number of local venues (Pabst Theatre, Riverside Theatre, and Macus Center for the Performing Arts). My “hobby” while on endless conf calls was to watch these streets (Plankinton Ave and Wells Street) to see the cars turninging the wrong way on one way streets and to see the entertainer coaches drive by … sometimes as many as five or six in a caravan. Almost everyone one of them had five roof A/C units.

Do the entertainer coaches use OTR/bus air at all? or just rely on the roof units?

[AL]

Hello,

Some coaches are built with just the roof a/c’s and run the generator all the time and some are built with over the road air and just rely on the roof units at the venue. I am building a Star Coach with up to 6 bunks and the way the roof a/c system is broke down for maximum zone control and cooling/heating there will be 7 roof top units[maybe overkill,but I am tired of the coach being hot or cold] There will be 2 units for the rear stateroom and bath,both controlled by 1 thermostat,2 unit for the bunk house area with 1 unit for each stack of bunks,each controlled by a seperate thermostat[some people are hotter natured than others ,so we will try to break them up and put them together so they can all sleep in the same stack and be cooler] 2 units for the front lounge,galley area both controlled by 1 thermostat,and 1 unit for the entry,driver area in front of the solid wall with the pocket door for cool air when you enter the coach. This may seem like a lot,But I have been in this industry 28 years and these are some things I have learned and this will be my last coach so I am going to build it my way and see how it works. All the Bells and Whistles!!!!!

Thanks,

Robert

[Ron]

I saw an H 45 in Nashville with a 30 KW generator. installed. With 7 AC’s would a 30 KW be on the build-out ?

[Bob]

It may not affect the folks leasing a coach, but having that much refrigeration on the roof would drive me nuts with the noise, not only of the number of fans sounding like pushing a tornado through a key hole, but the drumming drone when the compressors are running.

For the dollars involved I wonder if there would be some way to get a whole coach generator powered unit custom designed with multiple evaporators located conveniently through the coach and a large flat roof mounted condenser?

[Bob]

Boateral,

Yes 30KW generators are planned in the build.

Thanks,

Robert

[Robert]

Seven roof airs at a conservative 15 amps each is 105 amps, a HW tank is about 10 amps, but figure high at 15, water pump, inverters, TVs, outlets, range, etc might add another 50 amps so if you have everything running at once a 20 KW generator is more than ample.

Why downsize? Our generators are the healthiest when we keep them loaded. The engines are sized to handle the loads so when one is running with almost no load on the engine it impacts the injectors, increasing the potential for needed service. I’d add up all the loads and see how much generator capacity is really needed and size the generator based on that. In this case more is not necessarily better.

[Harry]

Jon,

My main reason for using roof a/c’s other than saving bay space is ease of repair.If one goes out all we have to do is unbolt it from the roof,unhook everything and off it comes and install the other in reverse plus with 7 a/c’s on the roof I have a little back-up if one goes down as every zone in the coach is being designed with 2 a/c’s to cool it except the driver/entry area and that particular area doesnt usually get an a/c on most conversions any way. Keep the thoughts coming!!!!

Robert

[Bob]

The driver area has Prevost driver’s air and usually there is some house air vented into that area as well. At the very least I would consider providing some AC into the driver’s area if for no other reason than to provide a back up to the Prevost AC.

You may not do much driving in the day, but with the huge windshields we have now, driving south into the sun on a hot day can be brutal if the AC isn’t working right.

[Jim]

Robert

Marathon installed 4 new Colman roof air units on my coach July this year, these units will freeze you if they are all on. I have yet to use more than 2 at a time.

[Bob]

Hish,

As a damn Yankee I have learned what is freezing to some is a sauna to others.

When my aunt and uncle returned from living in Saudi to move to FL I visited them. If it was below 85 they were freezing. On the other hand the temps in my coach are just about right when I have to turn on the wipers to get the condensation off the windshields while driving.

I think Robert will need a large number of roof airs because his customers want to be cool. He will have them not necessarily to fight the heat as much as for backup. We used to see 4 roof ACs on enetertainer coaches. Then 5, and now it is not unusual to see six with them located side by side instead of in a row. Pretty soon he will not be able to find room for the two satellite dishes.