AC not cooling

Ready2Ride · 06-17-2005, 03:16 PM

We left for our vacation this morning - heading to Myrtle Beach from near Orlando, with a stop just past half way. Ran the AC on genset (Onan 7KW) almost all day - room temp never got below 87 degrees - didn't seem that AC was cooling. EMS showed light for 2nd compressor. AC unit appeared to be running - even producing a little condensation, but never really cooled down. Made for an uncomfortable trip so far. Stopped for the night and am plugged in to 50 Amps and it appears to be cooling better, but not really sure, since it has cooled down outside as well. Wondering if possibly it could have a refrigerant leak and is now low? Any ideas or suggestions what I should check - it's gonna be mighty hot at the beach to not have working AC. I hate it when things break when you leave for vacation.

Ready2Ride · 06-17-2005, 03:16 PM

We left for our vacation this morning - heading to Myrtle Beach from near Orlando, with a stop just past half way. Ran the AC on genset (Onan 7KW) almost all day - room temp never got below 87 degrees - didn't seem that AC was cooling. EMS showed light for 2nd compressor. AC unit appeared to be running - even producing a little condensation, but never really cooled down. Made for an uncomfortable trip so far. Stopped for the night and am plugged in to 50 Amps and it appears to be cooling better, but not really sure, since it has cooled down outside as well. Wondering if possibly it could have a refrigerant leak and is now low? Any ideas or suggestions what I should check - it's gonna be mighty hot at the beach to not have working AC. I hate it when things break when you leave for vacation.

PhilRob · 06-17-2005, 03:51 PM

Do you have two ACs? Would be extremely unusual if both were not working, either on generator or shore power.

Ready2Ride · 06-17-2005, 04:03 PM

Basement air. It has to my knowledge, two separate compressors. Actually right now the thermostat still shows the "Room" temp at 83 degrees, although it feels cooler than that. The sun has gone down and it is much cooler outside also. Perhaps only one compressor is working...

AKBrick · 06-17-2005, 04:18 PM

Hi Ready2Ride,
I run AC units on our gas turbine motor control centers to keep the breakers cool. Occasionally one will ice up and clog the airway. We shut them down for a few hours and the ice melts, then turn them back on. You might want to check with a flashlight if you can get to them. I only have AC on the top of my '04 Brave. Of course I live in Alaska and I don't use them very often. Although it is in the 80s this week. ;-)
Granted, they are not supposed to do this, but they do. Don't know if this will help you. Also check for dirt.
AKBrick

bflem · 06-17-2005, 05:54 PM

There is a possibility that the ductwork from the basement unit has become separated somewhere between the unit and the ceiling vents. This has happened on some units where the duct runs up inside the rear cap.

DancinCampers · 06-17-2005, 06:03 PM

I would check to ensure the breaker for the #2 compressor is not tripped.
Also, since this is a new coach, check the filters & evaporator coil to make sure there is no construction debris plugging them up. Ours had some plastic sheeting covering the better part of the filters under the bed, & quite a bit of sawdust & foam lodged down in front of the evaporator coil.

Ready2Ride · 06-18-2005, 03:21 AM

Well, around 10:30 or 11:00 last night, the inside temp finally got down to around 75 degrees so the unit turned off. It didn't have to compete with the sun at that point. It seems to me that perhaps one (I'm thinking primary) compressor isn't running. I have checked all the breakers inside. There is a Winnebago dealer in Myrtle Beach across from our campground. It's doubtful they can get me in for service, but they may have helpful advice. If not, maybe I can find a "mobile RV repair" to come fix the problem and then try to submit for reimbursement.

tomsm · 06-18-2005, 04:04 AM

How is your airflow? The basement air, even on "low" fan, normally has a strong flow. If the airflow isn't strong, as bflem mentioned, there is history of the duct separating inside the rear cap. If this is the case, your A/C can be working great, but not delivering the cool air to the upper ductwork.

Since our units are different, I'm not sure how you access that vertical duct on yours. I think, if you slip under the back of your unit on the curb side, you should be able to see the duct coming out the back of the A/C unit and going up the rear wall. If you can't see all the way up, you can feel for cold air being blown out in that area. Good luck!

tomsm · 06-18-2005, 04:08 AM

Forgot to mention - you can tell if both compressors are running by the amps being drawn. With other big amp items, like the microwave, elec. water heater, etc., turned off, my unit shows 22-23 amps when both compressors are on.

Ready2Ride · 06-18-2005, 01:18 PM

Well, so far so good today. We had it down to 75 this morning when we left, and it has pretty much maintained that all day for us. Perhaps it was a frozen coil or something that has finally resolved itself. I will certainly keep an eye on it. Now if I can solve the problem with the driver's door I posted about....
Oh - thanks for all the help guys.

CalTex · 06-18-2005, 01:34 PM

I was told by a service technician to always run the fan on high speed. He said that the coils have a tendency to freeze up on low. I have no idea whether this is true, but it's another input.

LouRobin · 06-18-2005, 04:19 PM

Ready2Ride

I am also from near Orlando, and am on my second Winnebago with Basement Air. The "exact" same thing has happened to us on several occassions in both motorhomes. We have checked all of the items listed, and our our Sunflyer Winnebago repalced under warranty the thermostat twice as well as much investigation into the ducts, ect. After a number of trips to the dealer we discovered when the temperature stops cooling down or even starts to rise and the unit is running and blowing we turn it off for about 5 minutes turn it back on and it always starting cooling down. Non one seems to know why. It happens when it is running on the generator and also 50 amp service. One of the mysteries of life I guess.

We travel with pets so the good thing is this motorhome has to automatic fans so it "hangs up" the fans will start to protect the animals it we are out.

We are heading for the FL Keys for 10 days, so I am sure we will give the AC a good workout.

Trek-Cyclist · 06-19-2005, 06:18 AM

On my 03 38G the Duct work came apart in the rear cap. The only way I found out about it was this forum. I needed to use a long pole with a piece of light cloth on the end. When I placed it near the duct work it blew straight out like old glory in a gale! They had to remove the rear cap and the Tech wrapped the whole duct using foil tape, used about 4 rolls. Now it gets too cold sometimes! All Winnebago does is make a box and tape the open side with a piece of metal tape, Pretty cheap if you ask me! It doesn't take much of a open split to loose cold air especially when moving at highway speeds it makes a vacuum and will suck the cold air out of the duct before it gets to the top!
Good Luck

R Gordon · 06-19-2005, 04:14 PM

I am sure you checked the two circuit breakers in the generator, believe there is a 20 and 30 amp breaker. If one was tripped might keep the second compressor from coming on when running on generator. Just another thought!!!

Pap, Penna · 06-23-2005, 07:58 PM

Ready2Ride

I just had my basement AC repaired in our 2002 35U. Problem was that one of the capacitors had a short, and caught fire, and burned the wiring, but my problem when this happened is that after it caught fire and went out immediately, (Thank Heaven) the compressors would not start. I just had the 2 compressor capacitors replaced , also they replaced the fan capacitor. Scarey part is we did not know it caught on fire until the garage called to tell us the problem, although my wife did say when it happened that she smelled something hot, and I did not detect the smell at the time.

But the AC now works fine, but you may want to have them check the capacitors, maybe one is not working.

Hope you get the problem resolved soon.

Pap

indy rv folks · 07-10-2005, 01:34 PM

Had the same problem with the basement A/C in our 2005 35A Suncruiser. Stopped outside if Amarilo, TX on our way to New Mexico. Outside temperature was 100+. Could not get the interior of the coach below 90? and noticed little or no water was dripping from the A/C. Took the coach back to our dealer when we returned and got the usual run around. They adjusted the duct work (whatever that means) and assured us the A/C was working properly. Took the coach home and ran the A/C off of the generator with the same results. Not cooling. Back to the dealer. After 3 weeks they finally decided the reversing valve was bad. One compressor was running but the other was causing the heat pump to run so the A/C was essentially "eating" itself. Of course, they didn't have a valve in stock. Waited another 4 days for the part to come in which did not fix the problem. The dealer finally removed the A/C unit and decided the condensing coil was defective. We were leaving for Colorado in 3 days and the dealer decided to remove an A/C unit from a new coach and install it in ours. That decision was probably based on the fact that we were calling them every hour and were really getting ticked. New A/C works great and did not have any problems in Colorado.