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Since the majority of motor homes, camper trailer, or RV A/C systems are used during the hottest time of the year, it is a must to keep them in good operating order. Merely cleaning and replacing the filter is not good enough to maintain your RV AC in tip-top condition.There are certain procedures for guaranteeing the maximum efficiency of your motorhome or camper trailer A/C unit. These steps are not as difficult to perform as you might think and will save you money and inconvenience as well.Cleaning the condenser and evaporator annually will make a huge difference in the cooling ability of the or camper trailer RV unit. Lubricating the A/C fan motor may help extend the life and performance of the unit itself.You will also learn a little about how these RV cooling units differ from regular household units by following the tips in this article. Be sure and check the many actual questions and answers in the comments at the bottom of this page to find a problem similar to yours if the info is not found in the main text. There are several main producers of rooftop units.
Air conditioners are common on many of the best equipped motorhomes and camper trailers. The same can be said for Carrier AC units, as well as Duo Therm A/Cs. Dometic made one of the first rooftop air conditioners, as well as camper refrigerators and ice machines.Thankfully, all of these units are similar in function and design. Some of these cooling units may even be identical under the shroud. Being familiar with household AC units will aid you greatly in servicing and repairing your air condition system, but there are a few differences as you will see. Before beginning any repair or maintenance step, it is helpful to familiarize yourself with the main components of the itself.
A fan motor circulates the air from the interior of the motorhome or camper trailer through the RV AC unit where it is cooled and then returned into the RV interior.The performs the job of circulating the Freon through the condenser and evaporator coils cooling fins and the cycle is repeated as the thermostat setting deems it necessary.Both the compressor and the fan motor use capacitors to provide a high voltage charge to get them moving and a lesser charge to keep them running.Often, only one capacitor is used for both fan and compressor. It the capacitor goes bad, neither the fan nor the compressor will start.
Dutchmen Manufacturing Owners Manual 4/1/2017 1 This manual is based on the latest information available at the time of publication. Due to continuous. Appliances, and equipment unique to a recreational vehicle and understanding how they function will be important to your overall enjoyment and safe operation. The Owner’s Manual not only.
This part is easily replaced and is not very expensive to purchase in most cases. In order to clean or repair the RV AC unit, it is necessary to remove the shroud from atop the unit. Ordinarily this is a simple job requiring only a Phillips screwdriver or small wrench. Remove the four screws or nuts from the AC shroud and carefully slide it up off of the unit.If the shroud is old, it may be cracked around the retaining screws or the vent holes on the sides and back. Now is the time to repair the bad spots before replacing the shroud.A good quality epoxy cement, or other glue made for plastic repairs, should be used to reinforce the weak or broken place before replacing the shroud. It is also advisable to use wider washers on the shroud retaining screws to prevent further cracking.If the damage seems too bad to repair, a new RV shroud may be the only option.
A broken RV A/C shroud will decrease cooling efficiency plus pose a danger of flying off while the camper is in transit. With the shroud removed, it is easy to inspect the fan motor for any repairs or maintenance needed. Before doing any repairs or maintenance to the rooftop RV AC be sure to turn the breaker off or unplug the motorhome or camper trailer from the electrical power source. The starting capacitor may be still charged with high voltage, so be sure not to touch it with the bare hands.The fan should spin easily when turned by hand.
Even so, it is a good idea to oil the bearings and clean the accumulated debris from both front and rear fan blades. It may be necessary to loosen the fan motor from its mountings to fully access both ends of the motor bearings.If the RV fan motor has oil tubes to lubricate the fan, then simply put a few drops of machine oil in the tubes on either end of the motor. If the motor has sleeves instead of ball bearings, you may still dribble a small amount of oil on the sleeves where they contact the fan motor shafts. Even a small amount of oil will do wonders for these types of fan motors.If the AC fan motor still seems to start slowly or needs a nudge to start working, it is recommended that you replace it with a new one. If the fan motor has oil tubes evident on each end of the motor, it may be rebuilt and replaced for much less than buying a new one. It all depends on the particular unit on your If either the fan motor or compressor fails to start a new starting capacitor may solve the problem.
Be sure to order the right size and voltage for your rooftop unit. These capacitors may be found at your local AC parts dealer or you may find them online for greater savings. Be careful when handling these capacitors as they may still hold some electrical charge. It is recommended that you clean the condenser and evaporator fins every couple of years to maintain the efficiency of your RV air conditioner. Eventually, the cooling fins on these units will become clogged with dirt and dust.Use a good spray or foaming cleaner, such as those shown here, to loosen the debris and then use a wet/dry shop vac to remove the loosened dirt and dust.
Be sure to cover the vent leading down into the interior to keep the grime from seeping down inside.Be careful not to bend these fine fins as they will bend easily. A special fin comb tool made just for straightening these fins may be purchased from an RV AC parts dealer or through links on this page. Once again, be careful when performing this maintenance procedure.Bent fins inhibit the flow of air through the unit, so be sure to keep them as straight as possible using the fin comb. You may need to use a fin straightening tool to align any bent fins in the evaporator or condenser coils. The most costly and difficult part of an RV AC unit to replace or repair is the compressor. In many cases it is advisable to simply replace the unit instead of trying to replace the compressor. With a new unit costing about $500 to $600, spending $300 to $400 dollars for compressor replacement doesn’t make much sense.The labor involved, plus the prohibitive cost of the compressor, can almost pay for a new RV rooftop unit.
These units are very easily replaced and will have a new warranty to cover future repairs for a few years. This is usually the correct option when the compressor goes bad.The alternative is to find a used compressor. Unless you are skilled in replacing the compressor and are able to recharge the unit with freon, this is not advisable. This step is entirely up to your skills and pocketbook. There are used RV A/C parts available online and locally in some cases. If properly maintained and serviced, your motorhome or camper trailer A/C will last for many years of camping excursions. Most maintenance can be performed by the owners if they have basic mechanical skills.
Understanding how an AC unit works may just save that camping trip you have been looking forward to for so long.Be careful and take photos of the unit before removing any parts which may cause confusion during reassembly. Be sure to protect the of your RV while servicing your rooftop unit. Good luck with your repairs and maintenance.
Randy, have a 2001 Road Ranger with Dometic roof top a/c. Today while a/c was on, the motor just slowed down to a stop. After turning off for about 30 minutes, turned it back on but it seems to be running at less than half speed. My 12v system went out 4 days ago when turning on some lights since it was getting dark. After maybe 20 minutes the 12v system came back on but lights are dimmer than beforeHimking i need to replace converter. Could this also be why a/c now has problems or just a coincidence?.
Connected to 15amp receptacle on new plug (new construction). Everything in camper works fine except the AC unit. Will not make any noise, will not turn on. Not even the fan will come on.
AC prep connected properly. Should I start replacing the capacitors (believe there are different ones, (run, hard start, and fan capacitor) in my Coleman Mach? Not sure where to start? I did use my non contact voltage detector on the wires in the interior of the campers ac unit where the wiring harness was with no red light meaning no power. Maybe something is wrong with the AC prep?. Chelsea, you may need to clean the coils in your AC.
The one behind the filter especially. The reason water is dripping is the coils are too dirty to allow the fan to disperse the excess moisture into the air.Dirty coils will also cause the compressor and fan to work harder than necessary and can cause the compressor to overheat.
They also obstruct the airflow from the AC.Get some no-rinse spray foaming coil cleaner and follow the directions on the can. You can find it at Home Depot, Lowes, or ACE Hardware.Randy. We r down in Louisiana full time for the summer with weather reaching 110 daily. We have our bedroom 2016 Dometic ac running 24/7 and it will drip water most commonly at night but will occasionally drip during the day off and on for a few hours.The drip tray is really clean and not clogged, we have noticed condensation collecting in other areas where it is not supposed to then going straight into our camper.
This is not surprise us considering our location, is this normal and we are just over running our AC, or should our AC able to handle this kind of weather as much as we want it to?. I have a 2016 Cherokee limited by forest with a dometic ac unit.
My question is it was working just fine then all of sudden stopped blowing air and started making a humming noice. Also i have norcold fridge that red check light came on to check gas. Can these two problems be related.
By the way i had a 'repair man' come out and told me i need a new ac unit that it wasnt the capacitor like i thought. Idont feel like he checked it correctly he the capacitor he tried looked used. But what do I know. Keystone Loredo '04' our AC will run and keep it cool if the temp outside is 90 degrees and below but it will be only somewhat cool while my daughters camper beside us is freezing. If the temp outside gets higher than 90 (and its been 95-100+ degrees all summer thus far) The AC seems to either not work or pump warm air into the trailer. My husband is going to camping world today to purchase a capacitor and I wanted to know if this sounds like it maybe the capacitor failing?
At the same time, I have noticed after talking with other campers that our electric bill is much much higher than other people, so I could conclude that it is using a lot of amps as stated in conversation below and I'm not sure if that's because it's not working at its best so we have to leave it on all day? Thanks, Natasha. The dude who wrote this article seems very knowledgeable.
Im an a/c tech with universal epa certification and i am NATE certified and everything he wrote seems spot on. One thing i noticed that he didnt address, in the summer when used almost 20 hours a day sometimes, the compressors can get over heated.
The compressors have a temperature safety switch located in them on the tops of them, if you notice your a/c turn on but quieter and everything else checks out if u LIGHTLY touch the top of the compressor and its blazing hot, this switch could be keeping it from turning on. If this is the case keep the breaker turned off and let it cool. If just left to cool off by simply keeping it off 'meaning breaker off, very important' it will take a very long time. To speed up the process, with the breaker off and shroud off use a water hose to cool it by continuously keep a stream of water flowing on top of the compressor untill it is completely cool to the touch all over it. Don't just cool off untill it kicks back on, its better to let it completely cool down this will prevent damage to it. For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: Show Details NecessaryHubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam.
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Have been searching the internet for hours trying to find some place we can get an owner's manual for this used 2001 Komfort trailer we just purchased. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated.Welcome to the forums!Unfortunately the owner's manuals for most RV's are extremely generic, here is the l I could find for your year of trailer along with the. What you need to do is make a list of all your appliances, their model numbers and serial numbers then hit up the manufacturer's websites for the specific manuals. If any questions pop up come back here and ask away.Aaron.
Welcome to the forums!Unfortunately the owner's manuals for most RV's are extremely generic, here is the l I could find for your year of trailer along with the. What you need to do is make a list of all your appliances, their model numbers and serial numbers then hit up the manufacturer's websites for the specific manuals. If any questions pop up come back here and ask away.AaronThank you for your reply. I've downloaded the.pdf file. It is very limited, but will be a start.
My husband will check with some local RV dealers in the Missoula MT area also. Thanks again. Trust me the new trailer manuals are worse!I have owned a wide variety of RV's over the years, the overall quality has gone down, and the manuals have become more about CYA legalese and less about how things actually work.
One of the best manuals I had was on my 1975 Airstream, the owner's manual along with an additional service manual were outstanding. There were a few mis-prints and odd things, but they were very complete.
I also had a 1970's Eldorado? Pickup camper that came with a binder for the manual and was very complete. The only recently built things I have seen with decent manuals have been some higher end things like the Born Free coaches and some bus based ones.
The regular stuff it all generic. Part of the problem being that they switch stuff up constantly and no two units appear to be built exactly the same.Aaron.
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