[Ed]

Although I haven’t owned a Prevost with roof airs, I have owned several plastic coaches with them, and I have spent considerable time in the southwest during the summer months.

In my opinion, three roof airs would be marginal, at best, during the summer months.

If I were considering a bus with roof air that I expected to spend considerable time in that part of the country during the summer months, I would want 4 roof air units.

Our Liberty Coach had four CruiseAir units and Prevost OTR air conditioning and we never had an issue cooling the coach when the ambient temperature was consistently in the triple digits for weeks at a time.

Good luck in your search….

[Ed]

I did forget to mention we have a 42′ Foretravel with three ACs now and have not had any issues cooling in Texas heat but not sure with that added three feet and stainless.

[Kevin]

Tom, I have zero Royale experience. I have zero roof air experience. But we have dealt with temperature extremes from one end of the country to the other and I can offer an opinion which is worth what you pay for it.

First of all understand comfortable temps mean different things to different people. I like cold. I want the windows sweating on the outside when I am in a CG in 80 or 90 degree weather with high humidity. My aunt and uncle would be sitting in snowmobile suits in my coach because they want it much warmer than I do. So you have to gauge my comments based on my definition of comfortable.

On a 2 slide coach if I do not allow the inside of the coach to get warm two AC units are capable of maintaining the temperatures I consider comfortable until it gets about 90 out. After that I need at the very least a 3rd AC unit working. The sum plays a big role in maintaining comfortable temps so rather than let it heat up the black windows or the interior we will often pull down the shades on the sunny side.

But the key is to never allow the coach to get too warm. We have come back to a coach in the mid nineties outside temps and only 2 AC units have been running all day and the inside temps are about 80 or 85. At that point we turn off stuff that will trip the shore power breaker like the HW heater or the aux air compressor and we put on the remaining two AC units. It takes forever to cool the coach down even with 4 units. That experience was with a non-slide 45 footer.

Keep in mind my target temp is 70 degrees.

Will three work? As I said if you never let the temps get ahead of you 2 will work in almost any situation, but occasionally you might need the 3rd. But you have no margins on hot sunny days unless you are OK with 80 degree temps in the house. If one quits until you can get it repaired you could be in trouble.

If you notice entertainer coaches you will rarely see less than 5 AC units.

Personally I think 3 units are OK on a 40 foot non slide coach, but I think 4 AC units on a 45 foot coach without slides is required if for no other reason than as backup. and a 45 foot slide coach really needs at least 4 units.

Just so we can quantify that I am talking about 13,000 BTU units. 15,000 would be better, but I will still feel safer with 4 units.

[Archived]

I owned a nonslide 2001 Royale for a couple of years. We loved it, it was a great first coach due the simplicity. FWIW, we looked at late Royales, before we bought our Liberty, and it looked like thay had layered a lot of new systems on top of a formerly beautifully simple coach. Just take a look behind the access panel in the battery bay.

As far as AC goes, ours had the typical 3 roof air units. We traveled a great deal in Florida in the summer. While it was always “OK”, there were many times I wish we had more AC capacity. Katy bar the door if one unit went out! Also, I have no doubt that it would be far less than ideal in a slide coach. I think 4 units would be a must, and I wonder if a 4th could be retrofitted,… I btet it could.

Enjoy the quest!

[Doug]

I have a Legendary 45′ XLII with 4 roof airs. I often only run 3 and it keeps the coach quite nice most days. But there are times when using the 4th will make the difference between being very comfortable, and maybe just a little hotter than I would like it.

Sometimes I may only run the 4th one for a few hours, but it is nice to have it. Plus it does give you a backup if one fails.

Only you can decide if 3 are enough to make you happy. If everything else on the coach suits your needs, see if there is a way for you to try it to see if you will be ok in the temps you would be using it in.

[jack]

Tom, Welcome. Forgot to welcome you in my first post.

One thing to keep in mind is money. If you spend the time looking all over the internet learning the asking prices of comparably aged coaches you are going to begin to understand roughly how the market values coaches. Even if we were to buy a new coach we would realize we cannot have everything so there are areas that are going to be a compromise.

In your shoes I would consider 3 AC units marginal, and thus a compromise. But if the coach is very competitively priced or is exactly what you want in every other way then I would have to determine is getting a coach with the 4th AC worth the $50,000 or $100,000 more I might have to pay for one with everything I want plus that 4th unit. Or if the price of the coach is consistent with the pricing of other coaches but has that nice wood interior that you really like are you ready to live with the couple of days per year when 3 units might not keep you as comfortable as you like?

So far the concensus is you would be happier with 4 units instead of 3, but none of us knows what is comfortable for you, when and where you use your coach, or if the price on the coach makes the lack of the 4th AC unit significantly less important.

[Brady]

I had a 2002 singke slide Royal coach. It had 3 roof airs. I traveled the SW 110 degrees while parked or running with gen down the road with dash air on the units kept the coach at 72. With one unit as it is set up after the inverter at those temps it would not keep up. On 95 degree days it did the job. I know Jon believes the AC needs to be able to replace his refrigerator we found it ok. I agree the systems were simple compared to some other, however be sure the maintenance has been done including the oil water seperators on the Jun Air compressor or you may have a contaminated air system that will make a Royal or any coach seem very complex and troublesome.

[Paul]

I don’t know much about Royals but all of the 05-06s that I have seen with double slides have 4 roof airs,I have never seen a double slide coach with 3 AC units.Has anyone seen any converters double slide coach with less than 4 AC units?

[tom]

Tom,

Lots of opinions. I can say that my 45-foot, non-slide, primarily brown colors, stays nice and cold in the Florida heat and humidity with 3 roof units, all 15,000 BTU. A can also say that although barely adequate the quad slide 42-foot plastic coach I had with 2 15K BTU roof units and a 13.5K BTU was adequate. I’m talking parked in both cases. On the road I don’t use my roof airs as I have CC OTR Air. On the plastic coach going down the road the 3 units were well more than adequate. Coach color, how well its insulated, how effective the ducting is, where its parked (shade versus open sun), use of awnings, and how much the door is used all factor into how much cooling you need.

FWIW, when I see someone with 4 roof airs I ask them if they use all 4. The answer has always been that they may use the 4th to get a heat soaked coach cool, but otherwise they don’t use the 4th. Clearly, some replies say they use all 4 airs, so for some it’s necessary. At least one said his 4 airs are all cruise airs and rated at 13,500 BTUs. 4 units at 13.5K is 54K whick is only 9K more than 3 15K roof airs.

Facts are that many converters put 3 roof airs on so I’d be inclined to believe they knew what they were doing. Would a converter get a bad rap for a $1,500 roof air; I doubt it. I suppose it’s possible someone special ordered a coach without a standard 4th air, but that too seems remote.

As already said, if you find the coach you really like it may be worth going with 3 units, which I still believe to be adequate. You can do this knowing a 4th can likely be added at not much in cost, especially if the unit already has a common shared ceiling duct system.

BTW, I really like the rich wood interiors of the Royales, my plastic coach was a Beaver which has to be top of the line when it comes to quality wood products and joinery.

[Paul]

Welcome to PC Tom, you found the right place to answer your questions.

I had a 40′ Royale non-slide and the 3 roof airs did a good job. I don’t think 3 airs in a slide coach would cut it, especially in your part of the country in summer time. Once it gets heat soaked it would take forever to cool down. It really depends on the individual, we’re happy at 75 – 78 and Jon has to have meat hanging in his, so it all boils down to your comfort level.

[Archived]

thanks for all the great feedback and tips on what to look for when inspecting. Royales at least the 05-06 range only installed 3 roof airs. All being 15,000 units with heat pumps. Duotherms.

I will check with the guys at Royale Pheonix about adding another unit.

Now, my question is, why would you let your coach ever get heat soaked? Even with our Foretravel we never let it sit without shore or genny power with AC running. Storage is enclosed with full power and AC running inside.

OTR would be great but Royales did not come with that.

Not signed any checks just yet nor found the perfect coach, if that’s possible!

Thanks for all the info! Great help!

Tom

[Archived]

My two cents – our 2001 Vanare has 4 roof airs Front, Galley, Bathroom area, and Bedroom. As a general rule we run 3 units, Front, Galley and Bedroom and the coach stays quite comfortable. This last trip we had some issues with the Galley unit dripping condensate so we shut it down and ran the Bathroom unit.

We couldn’t wait to get home. Even though we had the same BTUs of cooling, the distribution of air was such that we couldn’t keep the front of the coach cool in the heat of the day.

I did place a fan on the bathroom floor to blow the cooler air forward but the dog wanders back and forth and the fan freaked her out so that didn’t last too long.

I agree with others, 3 marginal, 4 good, 5 great.

As to your heat soak question, I for one do not like to run my A/C units when the coach is stored so it will get upwards of 80 degrees inside. I will run the roof airs while we are loading up for a trip and within 30 – 40 minutes, the inside is quite comfortable.

Paul

[gary]

Tom,

There are going to be times your coach is going to get heat soaked. If it is a 90 plus day and you leave your coach to go shopping and your shore power trips or drops to a marginal voltage level the AC will go off and they will not restart automatically. Or you will forget to turn on an AC unit and it gets hotter than expected. The point is there is no way to quickly cool the coach unless you have excess capability. And coaches will get heat soaked.

But keep in mind there are folks completely satisfied with the 3 AC units on their 2 slide coach. I believe CC had three units, not four. Rumors I hang meat in our coach are not true, but over the years we have learned we bought a luxury coach and not an aluminum tent. We want to enjoy the luxury and we do not want to compromise unless we have to. We also realize AC units break. When they do if you are marginal when all are working, you are suffering when one is not working.

But the bottom line is still you. What I need may dictate 4 AC units, but your standard for comfortable might be 10 degrees higher than my definition and that might make a 3 AC coach perfect for your needs.

FWIW our current 2 slide coach is very comfortable in 90 degree temps with one front and one rear Cruiseair working as long as we are able to use the awnings to keep the sun off the windows so how you use the coach assets also comes into consideration when determining how many AC units get the job done.

[Kevin]

Living in the Southeast with a 45 foot, 4 slide SOB, we find that 3 roof air conditioners (15,000 BTU) do fine when the front windshield blind is deployed. We have dual pane windows, except for the windshield. The heat gain from the front windshield is huge. We also use an external sun screen on the front windshield and driver’s and passenger’s window. Parking facing North is also significant.

Over the road, even at 100°F outside temperatures, we need all three roof airs running along with a good functioning dash air. We will get to 75-78°F at the worst, so that would certainly not be to Jon’s liking.

Having 4 roof airs would be very attractive for us on a Prevo conversion.

[Archived]

Welcome Tom,

I’m a new Prevost owner, in Texas and a prior Foretravel owner. First the folks on this forum are an incredible source of information and expertise. Second that does not include me but I have recently been thru your current research problem and can offer a Texas perspective. I have a 40′ nonslide coach with 3 roof units. It does seem so far that 3 units will work fine for my unit. I have no 45′ or slide experience to offer but My Texas perspective — Impossible to have too much cooling ability in our climate. I have never been shy about using the generator and agree with the prior posts about taking any steps to prevent the coach from heating if possible. If you haven’t discovered him yet Brandon Blythe at Legacy Coach in Rockwall Tx is a very good Royale resource and very helpful.