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IS Otr/bus air a must have or like to have?
I would really like to have OTR/bus air in the bus that I will purchase when I find one. I would like to get your thoughts on this subject. Is OTR/Bus air a must have or a like to have on your coach. Do the other a/c systems cool the bus down to like 70-72′ while on the road and running the genny? The reason I am asking the question is, many who are selling buses in my price range say 1) we are able to cool just fine with out OTR. 2) Roof air does just fine while going down the road. 3) OTR is either broken/needs freon…we have never missed it. 4)Don’t have a clue as to what OTR/Bus air is.
So I would like to get your thoughts on the matter since I thought one of the reasons people buy Prevost is for the bus air.
Hope everyone is having a great and safe weekend.
Thanks
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77 Replies
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We’ve had both. Our 1992 Beavrr XL 40 had OTR. Two coaches before the Beaver Bus was two Marathons. Both had two cruiseairs you could run off inverter while driving. Our 1992 Prevost OTR did well, but it was R12 gas which is expensive or hard to find or both. Our current 40 foot Marathon XL, once again we can run two cruiseairs off inverters. With dash air and Galley cruiseair on, we are cool and happy without OTR. One thing we noticed very much, the OTR draws in air from outside even with access door closed bringing lots of dust into coach. We needed to “dust” more often. One inconvenience.
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Ron and Jane, IMO, with Cruisair basement ac units its almost a must. With roof ac its nice to have. Plus, if you live in the south, its almost a must.
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OTR is “over the road” heating and air conditioning which is a whole coach climate control system which can be used any time the bus engine is running. Think of it like the heat and air in your car, only big enough to keep 50 passengers warm or cool regardless of the outside air temperature.
The vast majority of coaches do not have OTR. That is for a variety of reasons. It costs more. It is far more difficult to convert a bus with OTR because air distribution has to be considered. It makes the shell more expensive to buy for a converter. If storage space is a concern OTR uses two partial depth bay spaces, usually in the third bay for the condenser and evaporator sections.
Those with it like it, and for some like me, the lack of OTR is a deal breaker. There is more cooling power available with OTR than any other means of cooling a coach.
If you find cool temperatures important consider it. If you are OK with warmer temps you may not have to even make it part of your thinking. I happen to consider my coach comfortable when it is so cool inside the windows are sweating on the outside. If I have to run my wipers to clear the condensation life is good.
If you decide you really want OTR you have narrowed your search to Liberty coaches with an occasional rare coach converted by others.
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The roof AC in our last coach cooled the coach very well, with 3 15k BTU ACs for a 40-foot coach. I have talked to some Prevost owners that were not satisfied with the cooling they got from their roof ACs. Many earlier Prevosts used 13.5k BTU roof ACs. We looked at a 2004 Prevost at Marathon Texas with roof ACs, and it seemed to cool just fine. The big issue with roof ACs is the noise when parked, since the compressor is right over your head. CruiseAirs are much quieter than roof ACs, and cool the coach fine when working properly. Since you are looking at older coaches, unless you have new or rebuilt CruiseAirs or roof ACs, chances are they will leak Freon. If you have bus AC, you have a back-up if your roof ACs or CruiseAirs start putting out less than optimal cold air–as long as you are driving. Redundancy is always a good option. Also, bus air has a ducting systen that distributes air throughout the coach. We have looked at some Prevosts that had little or no duct systems–just blew air straight down from the roof ACs. Well worth checking out how air flows from the cooling system in the coaches you are looking at.
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Our 2000 Marathon XL 45, has 3 cruiseairs like Jim and Chris 40 footer. Usually we are quite comfortable running the dash air and the galley ac. The system allows the use of the bedroom and galley ac at the same time off the inverter. Occasionally in really hot climates in direct sun we start the generator and run all 3 cruiseairs and the dash ac. Sometimes it barely keeps up with all those air conditioners running. This is when OTR would clearly out perform. One reason is because cruiseairs are located under the bus just inches from the hot asphalt. Roof airs don’t have this problem but they have to deal with direct sun. I’ve not owned a bus with OTR, but like you I researched this in my search for a bus. It was my understanding that OTR systems are used in passenger transport buses where there are many windows and all those passengers generating heat. From what I’ve read OTR systems perform very well in that environment.
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Thanks for the replies ladies and gentlemen. We plan on moving with the seasons. But that may not always be possible. I am like Jon in the fact that I like the condensation on the outside of the windows. Jane likes it warmer.
Ron
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You can always turn up the temp, or invest in heavier clothes.
On the other hand if you get a coach that does not cool to your liking you can always drive nekkid.
The lowest performing OTR system had about 80,000 BTU of cooling. Most Crusairs or roof air units were about 13,000 to 15,000 BTU each. I do not know the output of the driver’s AC that comes on coaches without OTR.
But…..understand if the coach does not have a big six cylinder AC compressor in the rear next to the RH tail light stack it is not true OTR and some converters called their systems OTR. Make sure you know the difference because the ability to cool the coach is not the same.
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Ron and Jane,
We don’t have OTR air as a four slide coach can’t accommodate it. We were totally fine with four roof units and our dash with an aux. unit.
The coach stays nice and cool. Now, we don’t spend time in the hottest parts of the USA when we enjoy the bus. That’s the purpose of the tires….. keep’m roll’n!
We have four inverters so we ‘could’ run all roof units without the generator running. But, the generator needs exercise, and as someone mentioned, if the generator were to go on the blink, we have a redundant system.
Liberty installed 4 13,500 BTU low profile units with CAD (computer aided design) hidden ceiling venting. There are no hard curves so that it will work efficiently and quietly. It will knock your hat off if you walk under a vent! (almost). LOL!
Our coach stays very cool with 2 roof airs running and the dash air. I can only imagine what it would be like with all four units going, we would be frozen out!
‘All’ our coaches have 50 amp plugs no matter how we look at it. We might be more likely to have the chance to use all four roof units vs. a coach with 4 15,000 BTU roof units as our amp draw might be less.
Good luck on your search!
Mark
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Had my 91 OTR converted to 134 a few years back and it went down middle of summer. Have refilled and it goes down in a week or 2. That’s a big leak. Going to get it fixed by somebody next spring as I can’t live without it after having it so many years. Spend a lot of time down around the Gulf Coast of Texas and the 3 cruisairs just don’t cut it on mine in summer running down road with shades up for vision. Prevost Houston quoted me minimum $10,000 clams to get it back in shape. That’s a lot of clams. Will try to find somebody else to fix. Prevost said they replace entire Compressor and that’s one of the biggest charges. Think it was $3500 alone. Have already replaced back 2 hoses coming off compressor but that the only ones I have. When they work and mine did for years , you can hang beef in your coach. Don’t need a freezer. I’m hot natured. Wifey bundled up in co pilot seat, not so much.
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Jon
Drivin nikkid a scary thought.
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M and C
101 AC using inverter. I thought I had these systems figuired out. Here is my question. You say you have 4 acs run by 4 inverters. Are you driving down the road with 2 acs on plus the dash air. Are the inverters recieving power from batteries charged by an alt? Thanks
Ron
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Thought I may need it when I looked at a bus a couple years ago; however, we’ve only turned on the generator once going down road to turn on the Salon A/C (Instead of using Inverter). It was 95 degrees going into the sun.
Like Mr. Mark, we avoid the SW in the summer, despite living in Tucson for 14 years, there’s no reason to travel to those parts in the summer.
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Tim and Cindy.
You do not have bus air?
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Sorry,
We “do not” have bus air. Unlike Jon who likes his coach at 60 degrees going down the road, we’re fine with normal human temperatures, and I’m from Chicago!
In our H, we also have an “Aux” Dash A/C which certainly helps.
We left Marathon in Coburg a few days ago and I met a guy who had a 2000 Marathon with Cruiseairs and now he has a 2006 with Roof Airs. He misses his Cruiseairs, primarily because he thinks the roof A/C’s are more noisy than the Cruiseairs.
Having only had the Cruiseairs, I have nothing to compare it to, but if I upgraded coaches, I would certainly buy a bus with roof A/C’s. OTR “very optional” and, since I’ve become very familiar with my Marathon, I would most likely stick with a Marathon. After circa 2002, Marathon stopped ordering their coaches with OTR. Don’t know why they did and why Liberty and Featherlite continued.
Maybe others could opin …
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Tim and Cindy
No problem. I am trying to get an understanding of how all three ac systems work. So how are the cruise airs powered? This is another 101 ac question.
Thanks
Ron
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