Greenlee Turbro 13.5k Inverter AC / Heatpump install.

[CRM]

Finally got around to picking up a Greenlee Turbro Inverter AC/heat pump to replace the original Coleman that came with Hull 45 back in 2009. Been wanting to do this for a while now and couldn't resist once @jd1923 posted the about the anniversary sale going on that knocked the price down from a list of 1,499 to 1,099 with free shipping. 

Install was a breeze. The hardest part of the job was cleaning the gunk off the roof after the Coleman was removed. The seal for the Turbro is preinstalled so it's just a matter of getting the unit centered over the opening and bolting it down through the inside mounting plate. Since it doesn't have a wired thermostat, electrical connections were simple too. Just the 120v power and connecting the wiring between the rooftop unit and the inside cover panel was all that was needed. I have separate thermostats for AC and heat which made it easy but if you have a single thermostat for both AC and heat additional steps may be required. The Turbro comes with a remote with a wall mount and it also has a phone app available. 

Once fully installed, I connected our power cord to a voltage/amps/watts meter and used an adapter to plug into a standard 15amp outlet. I also turned off all other breakers to insure I was getting only the draw from the Turbro during startup and running. 

There were two main reasons I purchased the Turbro unit- One, because it uses the same extremely efficient "inverter" compressor technology used in mini-split systems and two, because of this technology the system is able to "ramp down" once set temp is reached and continue to run at a lower capacity instead of powering down and cycling like a standard single speed compressor does. Running in this manner reduces or eliminates the humidity spikes common with standard compressor systems and is very important to those of us who live and travel in hot/humid locations. Added benefit is that no soft start reuired and it can be easily run off the Honda EU2000 that we have as a backup. 

Since my brother is using our Ollie for temp housing while his house is being finished I didn't have much time for testing after the install, but here are some of my finding and opinions for the short time I had.

The good- 
Power efficiency is right about what I expected, which is excellent. The unit slowly ramps up starting around 120 watts and peaks just under 1000 watts. As it gets closer to setpoint, it begins ramping down and settles in around the 500-700 watt range. At set temp I was seeing watts in the 120-200 range but couldn't tell if the compressor was running or not at those watts. The compressor is so quiet that it was impossible for me to tell. The air output continued to be cool so I assume the compressor was still running. 

Cooling and humidity control were both excellent too. Cabin cooled quickly after which I changed the setting on the remote to "dry" mode which locks the fan on low speed with compressor running. No humidity spikes seen at all. 

Outside sound level is about the best I've encountered. You will not annoy anyone around you running this unit at night, even if they're in a tent right next to you. 

LED strips built into the inside panel can be left off or set to white, blue or yellow. I think this feature will come in handy for us at night when getting up to go the bathroom. 

The not so good-

While not close to Dometic level loud, and quieter than our old Coleman, it's not the quietest unit out there. Quiet enough for us for sure, but if sound level is the most important feature you're looking for then you should probably look somewhere else. On the bright side, I think the sound issue could be improved with an updated interior cover panel alone. I loosened the cover and dropped it a couple of inches down and the sound dropped dramatically. Another issue that makes me think the cover panel is the problem is that the airflow only can be felt across about 1/3 of the vent openings on both front and back vents. The ability to adjust the airflow between front and back vents with a damper would be another nice feature...

Temperature control... Wasn't happy here. It seems to be about 4-5 degrees off from actual cabin temp. Hoping that this can be solved with the addition of the external Cielo wireless thermostat that @Ronbrinkturned us on to and has had great success with. 

I wish I had more time to test and give better feedback, but I most certainly will update this post once I'm able to. I want to see how it performs in different environments, how the phone app works, and how it interfaces with the Cielo thermostat before I make a final judgement.  For now I'll give it an overall rating of A-. On power efficiency alone, an A++

[jd1923]

Congratulations @CRM, I know you have been wanting this for a while and I'm happy for you! 😂 And you didn't have to wait 'til Thanksgiving!

1 hour ago, CRM said:

The hardest part of the job was cleaning the gunk off the roof after the Coleman was removed.

Every time I've read an Oliver A/C installation thread, I've always thought this and you're the first to mention it. When I removed the Winegard dish from our roof it was a mesh underneath and I expect under the Dometic to be the same or worse. I'm hiring a guy to shine up the Oliver and hope to get him up top first after I've pulled the old unit and temporarily plug up the 14x14 opening to keep buffing compound out of the interior! The solar panels will come off too so most of the roof can be addressed.

1 hour ago, CRM said:

While not close to Dometic level loud, and quieter than our old Coleman, it's not the quietest unit out there... On the bright side, I think the sound issue could be improved with an updated interior cover panel alone. I loosened the cover and dropped it a couple of inches down and the sound dropped dramatically.

One of the Greenland YouTubers talked to this, re the interior airflow being noisy too. Given your description, I'm wondering, could a foam insert between the Oliver ceiling and the A/C interior panel help here? Did you have fan set to high or low?

1 hour ago, CRM said:

Power efficiency is right about what I expected, which is excellent. The unit slowly ramps up starting around 120 watts and peaks just under 1000 watts. As it gets closer to setpoint, it begins ramping down and settles in around the 500-700 watt range. At set temp I was seeing watts in the 120-200 range...

This is why you insisted on the Inverter A/C! BTW, I purchased one on sale too a few days after you! It just arrived. With help of the FedEx guy, we put it in the back of our GX for lack of a better place to put the huge heavy box! It's still in the box. I have to finish up some current projects and line up the guy to buff the roof.

We'll both have new Greenland Inverter A/Cs before Thanksgiving and perhaps we can work together on modifying the interior air exchange for quieter operation. I'm looking forward to running this inverter A/C on batteries. Already thinking about where to put a 3rd battery for total 1060Ah (maybe an Epoch 460 in the doghouse)! 😎 Bummer is the extra battery would cost more than the Greenland Inverter A/C!

[Ronbrink]

2 hours ago, jd1923 said:

While not close to Dometic level loud, and quieter than our old Coleman, it's not the quietest unit out there...

2 hours ago, jd1923 said:

One of the Greenland YouTubers talked to this, re the interior airflow being noisy too.

I’m one of those where sound level matters, being a light sleeper! Before installing a soft start on the DPll, I was constantly awakened with each load thud of the compressor cycling. The soft start made a huge difference regarding that issue, but the noisy fan was still an extreme annoyance. While reorganizing a storage bin recently I found these lurking in the shadows, made the hair on my neck stand up! Hard to believe I didn’t think to purge them from the Oliver a long time ago; oh well …… out of sight, out of mind.

Edited October 29 by Ronbrink

[ChristianD]

Congrats CRM on the install.   Looks like a nice unit.  My Tosot install was very similar with just the power wires, but with mine the gasket removal was much cleaner. 

I think whomever put that old Coleman on accidently flipped that seal on install.  The sticky side is supposed to be on the AC unit.  Makes a mess for you when swapping out the way they did it.

This was mine right after I removed the Dometic. Hopefully, John's is like this.  I just sprayed it off, then gave it a quick buff to clean it.

[CRM]

3 hours ago, jd1923 said:

One of the Greenland YouTubers talked to this, re the interior airflow being noisy too. Given your description, I'm wondering, could a foam insert between the Oliver ceiling and the A/C interior panel help here? Did you have fan set to high or low?

That's another thing I should have added to the "not so good" list- the fan speed noise doesn't seem to change much between the low-med-hi settings. Maybe it was something I was doing wrong? I'll look closer at this when I'm using it over Thanksgiving.

Also, I don't think adding foam between the two who do much since it's not vibration causing the noise, but who knows? I really think the air channels in the cover need a redesign to fix it, especially since airflow is only coming from a 1/3 of the register openings. That alone has to be creating some extra noise. 

3 hours ago, jd1923 said:

We'll both have new Greenland Inverter A/Cs before Thanksgiving and perhaps we can work together on modifying the interior air exchange for quieter operation. I'm looking forward to running this inverter A/C on batteries. Already thinking about where to put a 3rd battery for total 1060Ah (maybe an Epoch 460 in the doghouse)! 😎 Bummer is the extra battery would cost more than the Greenland Inverter A/C!

Will definitely be experimenting! In the end, it's not horribly loud,  but Just a little quieter would be icing on the cake! 

[CRM]

1 hour ago, ChristianD said:

I think whomever put that old Coleman on accidently flipped that seal on install.  The sticky side is supposed to be on the AC unit.  Makes a mess for you when swapping out the way they did it.

This was mine right after I removed the Dometic. Hopefully, John's is like this.  I just sprayed it off, then gave it a quick buff to clean it.

 

 

Yep, it would have saved me more than an hour if it were installed correctly. 

[jd1923]

4 minutes ago, CRM said:

airflow is only coming from a 1/3 of the register openings. That alone has to be creating some extra noise.

Restricting airflow creates noise. Just like when you restrict the nozzle of a hose it creates noise. We'll have to look at a way to open up the air handler to increase airflow across the register! 

Good news is, it's just the air handler! Outside sound is likely much quieter than standard compressor models, and inside & out no compressor ONs and OFFs. And when the manufacturer redesigns the air handler, it's a low cost part with little effort to replace.

[CRM]

14 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

Restricting airflow creates noise. Just like when you restrict the nozzle of a hose it creates noise. We'll have to look at a way to open up the air handler to increase airflow across the register! 

Good news is, it's just the air handler! Outside sound is likely much quieter than standard compressor models, and inside & out no compressor ONs and OFFs. And when the manufacturer redesigns the air handler, it's a low cost part with little effort to replace.

I think they might have been more concerned with the size of the cover than managing noise level. Might want to take a close look at how the ducting is ran before installing. I didn't have the time to do so myself but will when I return on Thanksgiving. 

[jd1923]

7 hours ago, CRM said:

I think they might have been more concerned with the size of the cover than managing noise level. Might want to take a close look at how the ducting is ran before installing.

Your comment got me to open up the smaller 2nd package containing the interior air handler. The design is certainly poor for cold air handling. There is barely more than 1" clearance from where the air is forced straight down from the exterior unit to where it has to turn 90-degrees towards the front and rear (pic1).

They only have a 4mm sheet of foam glued to the air deflector panel (pic2). And notice the thin plastic curved air baffle. It is designed to push more air to the front since the cold air ducting is further from the front. This extremely thin plastic baffle must alone be a source of noise. it looks like it would vibrate like the reed of a wood instrument! Some butyl or rubber on the back side of this baffle could help. You could remove this piece but that would push more air to the rear and your Oliver Attic would get very cold!

Removing it and mounting a more substantial baffle further back would push more air to the front. I may do this after I find out how much these parts cost (in case I make a mess of things)! 🤣 In the Oliver, we'd prefer if the majority of air came out the front, towards the kitchen and dinette. The sleeping area will get to set temp soon enough.

You can see why you noticed only 1/3 of the vents flowing. Without interior baffles, the air will exit mainly through the closest vents.

All they had to do is have an extra inch there, room for greater airflow, and add some curved baffles to turn the 90. This air handler is smaller in length and width than many A/C brands I've seen. Though I've not measured height off the ceiling.

They used 1/2"+ of height for an LED feature! 🤣 Notice the recessed opening around the perimeter (pic3). This space could have been utilized inside the Air Deflector. The recess will collect dust.

It will be 4 weeks before I get ours installed. I'll run the A/C first without the Deflector Panel to see how quiet it should be. The inverter compressor, the rooftop unit, must be quiet. Somehow, we'll get more air/less sound out of the air handler, TBD! 😎

Edited October 30 by jd1923

[CRM]

8 hours ago, jd1923 said:

You can see why you noticed only 1/3 of the vents flowing. Without interior baffles, the air will exit mainly through the closest vents.

All they had to do is have an extra inch there, room for greater airflow, and add some curved baffles to turn the 90. This air handler is smaller in length and width than many A/C brands I've seen. Though I've not measured height off the ceiling.

Yeah, seems as though little thought went into designing a proper plenum to distribute the airflow and reduce sound.  Aesthetics over function?  

It's amazing that it's as quiet as it is... If enough of us complain, maybe they'll redesign a new inside cover? 

[jd1923]

4 hours ago, CRM said:

It's amazing that it's as quiet as it is...

This makes me feel better! 😂

[Ronbrink]

On 10/29/2025 at 3:05 PM, CRM said:

That's another thing I should have added to the "not so good" list- the fan speed noise doesn't seem to change much between the low-med-hi settings.

As I recall, many complain about the exact same issue with the Dometic Penguin ll.

[CRM]

2 hours ago, Ronbrink said:

As I recall, many complain about the exact same issue with the Dometic Penguin ll.

I only had about an hour or so to play with it so I could have being doing something incorrectly in the settings. Looking forward to spending more time with it, especially once I get the Cielo thermostat installed. And, If the Cielo is able to override the internal temp sensor, that will be worth its cost alone. 

[CRM]

On 10/29/2025 at 11:38 PM, jd1923 said:

All they had to do is have an extra inch there, room for greater airflow, and add some curved baffles to turn the 90. This air handler is smaller in length and width than many A/C brands I've seen. Though I've not measured height off the ceiling.

 

This is exactly what I'm thinking about doing- adding an inch spacer in between the two inside covers to increase the plenum area. I have a sheet of thin white PVC that I can cut 1" strips from which will be easy to mold into shape to go around the outside edge between the two. I'll also have to do the same with the inner return air opening to keep the return and supply air from mixing. Will add better sound deadening foam too.  I didn't measure the height off the ceiling, but I'm sure there's plenty of room to bring it down another inch, at least for 6' tall me.... 

[Ronbrink]

1 hour ago, CRM said:

This is exactly what I'm thinking about doing- adding an inch spacer in between the two inside covers to increase the plenum area.

On 10/29/2025 at 10:38 PM, jd1923 said:

All they had to do is have an extra inch there

There is a product you may want to look at to maybe get some design ideas in a spacer while trying to improve airflow. The RV A/C Silencer is primarily for noise reduction and incorporates strategic placement of foam, which also helps in better airflow. 

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, CRM said:

This is exactly what I'm thinking about doing- adding an inch spacer in between the two inside covers to increase the plenum area.

As they say, "Great minds think alike!" 🤣

Keep in mind the incoming air would have to be ducted another inch too. Perhaps the multiple foam layers they supply would work for this. I haven't looked at how that works.

Just took measurements. The Oliver ceiling, center of the 14x14" opening, is 77 1/2" tall (1/4" taller in front and 1/4" shorter behind). The Turbro air handler is only 2 3/4" (1/2" less than the Dometic p2). After adding an inch, there would still be 74" clearance at the front, no problemo! 😎