Parked in this farmers paddock a couple of weeks ago, Wednesday the 27th of November actually, when SWMBO turned the Ibis Aircon on. BANG. Loud noise, no 240volt. Came to Esperance after leaving the job and got an electrician to isolate the air con. Had McKenzies Electrical and Air Conditioning come around. Saw a couple of parts that had exploded. They ordered them and cam today to fit. Still no good and after closer examination found the compressor had gone to God. What he does with useless compressors is a mystery.
About $2300 to supply and fit a new Air Conditioner to the home. It was 5 years old so and apparently spent a good amount of time in much warmer climates so there you go.
We had discussed the costs of "Clicks", "Thuds" and "Bangs". The guys from McKenzie said that a "Thud" was more expensive than a "Bang" but apparently not. I have heard that the sound of silence is even more expensive. "Clicks" are cheap, silence is really expensive, apparently.
Ouch !!! That hurts especially for such old technology, When mine goes bang, I doing what my mate did. Fit a Samsung Domestic Rev/Cycle It's a proper Air/con and heater as well, Hardly any noise, and works just like the one at home, cost to buy was $560, cost to install was around $950, works a treat, AND it will run on his 2 kva Honda, I notice quite a few vans are going this way now, As the Ibis and Dometic range are soo outdated,
According to my air con bloke, technology for Ibis has improved. The Dometic isn't, apparently, reverse cycle, the Ibis is. As well as the hole for the Ibis is already in the roof so it will be a straight swap. Don't want to tempt fate by needing to enlarge or reduce the roof cause this is home. Not that much of a difference in price, it is $800 but I don't see that as being overly bad as well as freight costs to Esperance. We don't use the heating side as we have a Snugger Diesel Heater which beats the pants off any other heating system. so only use the cooling side.
The only thing that has changed with an Ibis is the inclusion of a soft start facility, basically the same dinosaur technology that went out of fashion when modern inverter technology came on line.
We have a domestic type inverter Fujitsu split in our 5th wheeler, its quiet, efficient, will run from a 1kv genny if needed and if it died tomorrow I would replace with the same and still be well ahead money wise. Ours cost $1000 fitted.
We have lived full time on the road now for 19 months and used the AC for cooling and heating as required during this time, its never missed a beat.
Our last caravan with the Ibis was a joke ! noisy inefficient piece of rubbish.
I jst fitted a small 7000btu box aircon to the back of my slide on , and if anything it is too efficient. Went down to 18.6c before I put it on the lowest power setting. I checked on the web andyou can buy one for $350 if you shop around. I would also tend the house based aircons as they are cheaper and you can just replace them. Fridge mechs and electricians are expensive. Bill
Why is that an aircon for a van / HM is so bloody expensive while one for a bedroom at home is so cheap there can't be that much difference in their construction.
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Pets are welcome but children must be leashed at all times
My dometic blew up and I put a fantastic fan in its place (same hole size so fitted in).
I then installed a split system on the rear of the bus and it works a treat.
It uses a lot less power so I can easily run it from my batteries and still gain power from the solar.
I can pull the sleeping area of the bus down to 20 degrees in about 1/2 hour and then hold it using very little power.
Regards
Brian
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11 Mtr house Boat based at Mannum hoping to travel up the Murray as far as I can get then drift back again
Interesting discussion - I had just posted the below comments on another forum when I looked in here
"just had our ibis rooftop air con fixed (hopefully) We were discussing using split systems on caravans and serviceman said that soon it will be illegal to put a domestic split system on a caravan. He said it was because they are designed for an immobile situation and frequently leak gas into the environment due to van movement causing failure of pipes and connections. Has anyone else heard this? He has nothing to gain by scare mongering as he fixes all types of aircon."
-- Edited by villatranquilla on Tuesday 10th of December 2013 11:53:45 AM
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Jenny and Barry
2009 Roma Elegance / 2013 Colorado. Permanent travellers 2011-2015 now just travel for 4-6 mths
Interesting discussion - I had just posted the below comments on another forum when I looked in here
"just had our ibis rooftop air con fixed (hopefully) We were discussing using split systems on caravans and serviceman said that soon it will be illegal to put a domestic split system on a caravan. He said it was because they are designed for an immobile situation and frequently leak gas into the environment due to van movement causing failure of pipes and connections. Has anyone else heard this? He has nothing to gain by scare mongering as he fixes all types of aircon."
-- Edited by villatranquilla on Tuesday 10th of December 2013 11:53:45 AM
Well I would say total utter bulldust, another urban myth probably started by Aircommand Any air conditioner has internal piping and gas as part of their design, I have personally stripped an Ibis down to try and make it more serviceable and more quiet (in my last caravan) and there is absolutely nothing that makes it especially for mobile situations.
And yes I am a qualified electrical tradesman albeit now retired.
The principles are identical in both units apart from the domestic split unit uses modern inverter technology with a bigger evaporator and much larger slower moving fan.
The rooftop units use small condensers and small fans run very fast to compensate so are by design very noisy.
My 5th wheeler aussie manufacturer was so impressed by my unit he is now fitting them as an option in his new builds.
Aussiewide and I believe Evernew are now fitting them as an option.
And as for frequently leaking, I know of lots of retro fitted splits and also spoke to many we meet with them on the road and have not heard of one failure yet.
One particular chap I know has had his now for several years without any issues at all.
I have heard of many rooftop failures in all models !
I suppose to be totally realistic any electrical appliance can be killed by being shook to death on corrugations given time.
Fitted a Fujitsu inverter 1.5hp split system 7 years back and its still working, all up cost was $1200 if you go to the expense of fitting a domestic split, buy a well known brand as you get what you pay for, cheap brands use cheaper parts with higher rate of failure
Cheers
David
First I have heard of this as well, ?? But I bet he gets a LOT more work, fixing the Ibis and Dometic, than he would get fixing Quality domestic type split systems ??
One of teh most important aspects to look for is an "Inverter" system.
The speed of the non inverter system is controlled by the frequency of the alternating current (nominally 50hz), and they control temperature by starting and stopping the compressor. When they start they take a big gulp (technical term) of power to go from stopped to running speed, hence the reason they are so hard to run on an inverter or generator.
The Inverter types convert the 240V AC down to DC (don't know the voltage) then convert this back to AC and by doing this they can control the speed, thus if they only need half the cooling power they run the compressor at half the speed. Also in the start up they accelerate the motor gradually, thus they can control the amount of current required.
Personally I prefer Fujitsu, but regardless of the brand you choose check it is an Inverter, if not I would look for a different brand.
It's only taken 7 years since the original post, but Dometic now have two models on the market that feature inverter style compressors.
The Dometic Ibis MK4 and Dometic Harrier Plus are both inverter style roof mounted caravan airconditioners. Inverter compressors have the benefit of less start up power requirements and in the case of the Ibis MK4, it's a special "dual cylinder" compressor, which is supposedly very quiet when in operation.
However they are pricey compared to a domestic split system. Speaking of which, where do folks mount the external condenser of a domestic unit on a caravan? Bumper bar in the rear? Wouldn't that look rather odd?
-- Edited by tempestv8 on Friday 1st of October 2021 11:43:33 PM
Interested to know what generator and its capacity being used with IBIS 3 air con. trying to work out minimum start-up and running watts with different generators.
Some supposed RV units merely have a few globs of neutral cure silicon here and there to provide extra support and vibration damping for pipework.
I'll be doing that for the two-head split unit currently on the truck here.
Another thing to consider is R32 refrigerant as it will provide heating and cooling for ± 10 to 15 degrees beyond 134A refrigerant
I had the Dometic Harrier Plusfitted about 2months ago and it is basically the same as the Ibis Mk 4. both made by Dometic. Like Fester said it is whisper quite and cools the van very quickly. Am very happy with it so far.
Has anybody considered a reverse cycle household AC for under $700 compared with over $2000 for the Ibis stuff? Putting the unit on the drawbar makes van less top heavy,and more stable.Can't be heard from inside van,even with (front) door open.Cheers
Jayco did not offer a split system choice when we had our van built, they did however offer a Dometic Harrier. We have had this in operation now for 3.4 years and it has performed faultlessly.
It utilises Inverter technology and offers greater cooling capacity than the Ibis 4, something we are often grateful for, living in WA (44 deg C Today). Noise levels are very refined and it offers a true reverse cycle heating option, if you want to use the aircon for that.
It will start and run easily (all day), from a Yamaha EF2400iS. It will run on a Honda Honda Eu2.2 , but much longer on the Yamaha as it has a larger tank and seems to handle the job easier.
Easily the best caravan aircon I have had so far, and I have had several including Ibis (early models) and other Aircommand units.
-- Edited by bomurra on Monday 27th of December 2021 09:04:40 PM
Any air conditioner has internal piping and gas as part of their design, I have personally stripped an Ibis down to try and make it more serviceable and more quiet (in my last caravan) and there is absolutely nothing that makes it especially for mobile situations.
