one more basement air bites the dust.

[autofish]

Air and heat pump has worked well for 10 yrs even on last trip to death valley 3 weeks ago. But no go this morning. So had to start trouble shooting to day. Compressure 1 will run but little cooling comp.2 will not come on. Opened up the side of mh and the controll box to the ac unit. Found the wire from the comp 1 relay burned and the wire from comp2 relay burned off of relay. So things realy got hot at some point. Was able to get new relays from dig a key for $9.84 each. Pt #T92P7D22-12 also had to make 2 new jumper wires and repace 4 quick connect ends on the wires going in and coming out of the relays. Total cost to fix less than
$30.00 and 4 hrs. ALL is good now works fine lucked out cheep fix.

 

[Sammie-WO]

Air and heat pump has worked well for 10 yrs even on last trip to death valley 3 weeks ago. But no go this morning. So had to start trouble shooting to day. Compressure 1 will run but little cooling comp.2 will not come on. Opened up the side of mh and the controll box to the ac unit. Found the wire from the comp 1 relay burned and the wire from comp2 relay burned off of relay. So things realy got hot at some point. Was able to get new relays from dig a key for $9.84 each. Pt #T92P7D22-12 also had to make 2 new jumper wires and repace 4 quick connect ends on the wires going in and coming out of the relays. Total cost to fix less than
$30.00 and 4 hrs. ALL is good now works fine lucked out cheep fix.

The more I hear about burned wires and relays I wonder if low power voltage can cause this problem?

Sammie

 

[SargeW]

That is exactly the type of problem that low voltage will cause. He got out lucky, there may have been a damaged compressor as well. That's why a Surge suppressor with a low voltage cut out is worth it's weight in gold.

 

[Sammie-WO]

That is exactly the type of problem that low voltage will cause. He got out lucky, there may have been a damaged compressor as well. That's why a Surge suppressor with a low voltage cut out is worth it's weight in gold.

Thanks Sarge, I do have a Surge suppressor and after hearing that there will be no more basement air units made to fit my rig I would like to learn all I can to preserve the one I have.

Sammie

 

[autofish]

Yes low voltage will cause this kind of damage I do not think this was the cause this time. This is not the fist time I have had wires in the mh get hot I feel it is time caused oxidation of the push on connectors. Also the wire is of a minimal gage size. I would check the control box in the ac unit for signs of over heating befor this happens. Check the wires on the two comp. relays. I would also change the two jumper wires, one on each relay, to a larger gage wire as I feel this is the wires that over heated the most. Hope this helps.

 

[Sammie-WO]

Yes low voltage will cause this kind of damage I do not think this was the cause this time. This is not the fist time I have had wires in the mh get hot I feel it is time caused oxidation of the push on connectors. Also the wire is of a minimal gage size. I would check the control box in the ac unit for signs of over heating befor this happens. Check the wires on the two comp. relays. I would also change the two jumper wires, one on each relay, to a larger gage wire as I feel this is the wires that over heated the most. Hope this helps.

Good idea! I like preventative maintenance.

Sammie

 

[KIX-WO]

I feel it is time caused oxidation of the push on connectors.

I totally agree with Autofish.
If you feel competent disconnect the shore power.........genset off and disco each push on connector and push it back on. If it feels loose squeeze it tighter with some pliers. If you only do one at a time then a caveman could do it.

 

[ROMAD]

Thanks Sarge, I do have a Surge suppressor and after hearing that there will be no more basement air units made to fit my rig I would like to learn all I can to preserve the one I have.

Sammie

Replacement basement heatpumps are available at Winnebago and Lichtsinn motors. They use the new freon but can only be used on 50A coaches.

 

[David K-WO]

Another thing that will cause the jumper wires on the relays to burn is if the push on connectors are not fully pushed on --- If a little space is left at the bottom, this will allow an arc to occur when the compressor is starting. Over time that will cause the push on connectors to start to melt and eventually will melt / burn the wire into. I just had to replace the jumper wire on my number 1 compressor relay (the insulation had been completely burned off before the wire burned into). I replaced the existing wire with #12 stranded wire which is heavier than the existing wire was -- it looked like a 14 gauge wire. Just make sure the female connectors are well insulated and pushed down all the way -- no room for an arc to happen.

 

[dirko]

Hi Ho: The connectors in question were made originally by Amp and a commonly called quick connects. I had a similar problem on the electric heater element on the water heater. This is also a high current connection. These connectors are made in at least two sizes and WI had used one size on the male end and the other on the female end.

This might not seem like a big deal, but actually resulted in a high resistance connection that came close to starting a fire. Luckily the wire burned through and limited the burned area.

So, the lesson is to be sure that the connectors are the correct ones, are clean, and fully seated. (Or better yet solder and heat shrink the connection) One can always cut the wire to break the connection for future service. It doesn't take much resistance to cause problems when the current is over 10 amps.

Dirk