2000 Marquis Basement Air Conditioner

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Richard and Babs,
Yes I agree.  It is a pity I had to sling mud to make this happen !!   I know many of our members are watching this episode, including Alliance Coach.  Now I am sure Good Sam's will be happy to pick up this bill.
I used to go to Lazy Days.  Moving to Alliance Coach seemed like a good decision; time will tell.

[Gerald Farris]

 Jeremy,
Four hours is not to bad for removal, if it is the first time that you have pulled one.  However after you have done it a time or two, a good mechanic can cut that in half, but that time reduction is where the top mechanics make more money than the average ones.

You will probably end up with about an eight hour charge for the R&R (remove and replace) of the unit, and that is reasonable. It is also a lot better than the 40 plus hour estimate.  That would have been a 500% overcharge.

Gerald

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Gerald,
   I agree with you; next time Alliance pulls one of these units they may  save the customer some money. I don't think it will  take 4 hours to re install it......maybe 3 !!
   As a matter of interest, this unit has never worked well enough to cool the coach when the temps rose above 85 deg F.  We are hoping it will now freeze us !!  
Does yours provide sufficient cooling when the temps rise over 90 degF
We have been using a portable unit to augment the SCS unit.  If it is still under par, we will install one 15,000btu roof unit in place of the kitchen Fantastic fan.

[Jeremy Parrett]

 
I was told this morning that my basement a/c unit is only the second one they have pulled in 2 years.
Hopefully we will be up and running by Friday so Jane and I can get over to the east coast for the Shuttle Launch.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Alliance Coach rang me this morning. The HVAC tech says that because the evaporator coils were so dirty,the compressors over heated the freon  and blew the copper tubing off both compressors.  I am not sure what they mean as the evaporator coils are the outside ones and  they were reasonably clean !!
Either way ,a claim is being submitted to Good Sam's for a replacement unit of equivalent btu's.  The saga continues.....

[Forrest King]

As the saga continues. The evaporator is on the low side pressure of the unit an the condenser coils are on the high side of the unit. I would think that there was a high pressure switch build into the unit that would shut it off if pressure got to high also some units have a low pressure switch on the evaporator side also. I would be surprised that it did not burn up the compressors if it gets that hot. I would not be putting to much faith in that a/c mechanic as I don't think he knows  what he is talking about.

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Forrest,
  The SCS unit does have pressure switches on both low and high pressure sides. I also know I cleaned the evaporator and condenser coils as well as I could from the outside and thru the basement storage access door.  
I suspect Good Sam's will question this diagnosis and might want to inspect the unit for themselves.I cannot believe that the SCS unit cannot be repaired.  Coils,compressors,copper tubing,capacitors etc do not cost much compared to a new unit.  Maybe I am wrong.
I will call Alliance Coach tomorrow .  I know they are monitoring this website now which is a good thing.
They told me this morning they want to replace the SCS unit with a new RVP unit of similar btu's. (Coleman>)  They have found one somewhere.
It would be common sense to upgrade to a unit that runs on R410 as I believe the older units that use R22 will become unserviceable very soon.  

[Gerald Farris]

 Jeremy,
Your information on A/C refrigerant is not correct. New R-22 systems can not be manufactured after 1/1/2010, but it will be available to service existing systems until 2020, and after that it will have to be recycled to service existing systems. So there is no worry about the availability of R-22 for years.

There is also a concern with R-410A because it has been shown to cause global warming just like R-22 if you subscribe to that theory, but it does not cause ozone depletion, so it has been approved as a R-22 substitute.

R-410A also has higher operating system pressures than R-22, so it is more difficult to design a motorhome system that will not leak because of the vibration in a motorhome with the higher pressures. The early R-410A systems also had higher compressor failures because of the higher operating pressures, but I think that the problem has been corrected.

Also the diagnosis that you got on your SCS unit is hard to understand how a qualified A/C technician could come to that reasoning and harder to believe since you said that your compressors were running and they could not run without refrigerant.

Gerald

[Jeremy Parrett]

    Alliance Coach are sending photos of the SCS unit damage.   The service advisor is telling me that   the cause of the failure has been relayed through several parties and so the exact reasons may have become blurred !!  I   remember their original diagnosis stated the compressors were running ,but the freon level was low.
     Thanks for the info on R22 Gerald. If Alliance Coach install a new RVP unit that uses R22 I need not be worried about it becoming redundant in the near future.
 When I receive the photos I will try to post links on this website.
 
  

[Jeremy Parrett]

I have sent 4 photos to Gerald.I would post them on here . I am not sure how to shrink them to fit.
The coils look bruised but clean enough. The copper tubing that exits the top of both compressors is fractured; damage caused by vibration and old age??

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

It is my understanding, the factory, prior to ending business, started using flexible connectors to eliminate the vibration problem.  The repair facility may be able to make that change when they install the new charging valves.  That may be less expensive than a new unit.

Larry

[Gerald Farris]

Jeremy,
The photos that you sent me do not indicate a dirty coil as the root cause of your problem like you were told. However they do look like your failure was caused by vibration in the rigid copper lines to the compressor that SCS used on the early model units.

SCS discovered the flaw in this design 5 or 6 years ago and started using a flexible connector at the compressor to greatly reduce this type of failure. I would not have the unit repaired unless there is a more flexible connector installed at the compressor, assuming that the compressors are not damaged.

I will get your pictures resized and posted latter today if possible

Gerald

[Jeremy Parrett]

Hi Gerald and Larry,
  I have passed your comments on to Alliance Coach. They will advise Good Sam's  who are coming to see the unit .
 Looking at the damage I do not think an "expert" could come to any other conclusion.  I am guessing this unit had been leaking at the left compressor for years.That would explain why even the previous owner said it never cooled the coach sufficiently.
Adding flexible tubing ,installing Schraeder valves and recharging the unit might work;it would be a chunk of money wasted if the compressors are damaged. I understand that if a sealed unit leaks air mixes with freon to cause a corrosive mixture which might ruin the compressors etc.

[Gerald Farris]

I have resized and attached the pictures of Jeremy's SCS air conditioner.

Gerald

[Jeremy Parrett]

Thank you Gerald.  Now we will wait and see what Good Sam's have to say .