2000 Beaver Dash Air Recharge

[Phil And Carol Upham]

I am attempting to recharge the dash air.  I have climbed under the MH and cannot find the connection.  The Beaver is a 2000, 40', with the 330 CAT motor.  It requires 3lbs of R134A.  Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks, Phil

[Tom and Pam Brown]

my 1999 beaver marquis has a panel on the front which houses the drier and the coupling

[Gerald Farris]

On almost all of the 2000 model coaches, the AC charge valve fittings are located between the front cap and the dash. It is a tight squeeze to get to the fittings on some coaches, especially if you have a "California 40", or if you weigh too much over 200 pounds. Take a flashlight under the coach and look up between the front cap and the dash and you should see the fittings.

There are some coaches that have fittings at the compressor. They are usually coaches that have been worked on at a shop that needed to change the hose connectors at the compressor and added them for ease in service. I think that the 2001 and 2002 "California 40" coaches also have fittings at the compressor.

Gerald

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Yours is a 2000 and if it has been not cooling for a while you probably need to chang the dryer and a few other items.

[Edward Buker]

Phil,

Gerald is right, on my 2002 California 40 coach the fittings are at the compressor and are very visible. I would assume that if you do not see them there then they are in the front as described. If the system is holding some static pressure and the components like the compressor are functional then you can use this rule of thumb to add R134 refrigerant charge in gas form to the low side fitting. It will usually take 20lbs of pressure to allow the compressor to run. A good set of guages is required as well as bleedng the air out of the guage hoses before feeding R134A into the system.
 
A good High Side Pressure Reading for 134a = twice the ambient temperature + 50.
For Example at 85° F, you would expect a high side pressure of 85x2=170+50 = 220 psig.

The R134 high side value is obtained for the outside ambient temperature that you are charging at. These values to be correct requires that the engine is running at high idle, say 1000RPM,  the dash air conditioner fan is running on high, and that there is good air flow over the condenser with the condenser electric fan running. Low side will probably run 30 to 35 lbs.

I converted and recharged my 89 Beaver Contessa yearly using this method given that there was always a slow loss of R134a in what was originally an R12 system.

You can remove any current R134A charge, change the dryer, evacuate the system, and use a weghted charge to replenish the system but I would not go through that unless I had defective components that required me to break into the system. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Ed is right about not opening the system unless you are going to replace a part. However the low side pressure that you get will probably be below the readings that he gave. When you recharge the system, charge it for the proper high side pressure instead of low side pressure because the long lines to the compressor will usually give low readings on the low side.

When you put gauges on the coach to add refrigerant, the compressor will not engage if the coach is too low on refrigerant, because of the low pressure cut out switch. So you can start adding refrigerant into the low side fitting, and the compressor should engage as the pressure rises, or you will need to jump across the low pressure cut out switch to get the compressor to engage.    

Gerald

[Phil And Carol Upham]

Thank you!  I have located everything, up front.  Start the project tomorrow.  As always the best advice is here.
Phil