BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: Jerry Emert on March 18, 2019, 04:47:25 PM
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AC not cooling so before I replace it I had a couple of questions.
1. What could be causing this. I know that you cannot generally recharge an RV AC unit. What do I check first. It runs and comes on normally just blows warm air.
2. If I have to replace it. I know it's pretty easy. 4 bolts and a couple of wires. How do the ducts come into the picture? Do you have to cut tape or take out screws or something? Do they just line up and jump into place? No idea!
As usual, thank you, in advance.
Jerry
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Jerry, Lots to consider when replacing A/Cs. (1) If yours are original to your coach, congrats, you got a lot of life out of them. We replaced our 2 Dometic Penguin A/Cs two years ago. Maneuvering a 100+# box up onto the roof takes it out of the do-it yourself category for me. As far as ducting, the ducts are just voids in the roof insulation, so the A/C just sits in place over the duct area, no issue. Use new gasket and tighten screws to proper torque value (not very tight, you don't want to compress the gasket too much. You will have to replace your wall controls (A/C thermostats) with Dometic CCCII units if you want to retain zone control of A/Cs, heat pump and Aqua Hot operation. New Penguin II A/C Heat pumps will require a new control board at each A/C. A very good tech will know this, and will order the correct board from Dometic. If your tech's eyes glaze over when you mention new control board, find another tech! Good luck!
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I am one of the lucky owners of a Marquis with basement air. While the primary, basement A/C was replaced by the prior owner, even with a new unit it would only cool at an acceptable level when the outside temperatures were below 85 degrees. In the desert when the temperatures would climb over 100, the inside would hit 90 degrees. Hardly sleeping temperatures.
I say all this to say to resolve this I took the advice of others with basement air and decided to supplement the basement air by removing one of my three fantastic fans and installed a rooftop A/C. The actual installation wasn't too bad except as Bill refers to it, the maneuvering the unit onto the roof. Even with two of us on the ladder the unit was a battle and awkward at best. When I did mine, I did a combination of direct vent registers and piping it into the existing duct work. With the newer 15,000 BTU higher efficiency Dometic Penquin A/C unit, I could get away with running my basement air less and when they are both running, hold 75 degrees regardless of outside temps and sun loads.
If you feel you are up to tackling getting it on the roof the removal and installation is just time consuming. You will want one that will integrated with your existing thermostat but the rest is just a process of unbolting/re-bolting, rewiring, cleaning and sealing. I also would consider doing both, or all three if you are so equipped, at the same time. As these motorhomes age it is only a matter of time till they all need to be replaced.
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Thanks to you both. The front was replaced about 4 years ago and is going strong. Trying to decide if I am going to do it myself. Starting to sound like I am going to take advantage of Camping World's "install anything" for 59 dollar deal! The heat pumps don't make this thing any easier to buy!
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If you decide to do it by yourself - call me. I'm available to help on weekends.
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Jerry, No way would I let CW touch my A/C system. Find a reputable shop that knows Dometic multi-zone A/C; with the new units you need a special control board and the new CCCII tstats; won't work any other way and it can confuse even the most experienced techs. When I had mine done, the guys used a forklift and lifted the A/C on its pallet all the way to the roof where two guys then placed it over the vent hole. Check with Dometic to see if they still have the right board for use with your existing 5 button tstat, assuming you are only replacing one A/C at this time. Don't even try to use a control board or tstat unless Dometic says OK. A local shop here burned up our new unit by trying to 'monkey around' using an improper control board. Our two new Penguins work great, but I still need to fix the programming on one of the control board so all the 'zones' work right.
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Jerry, I would not take it to Camping Weird, does you compressor come on when the fan is blowing? Might just be a capacitor needs replaced.
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Just had mine repaired for a $20 part and 45 min labor. My clue was there was a burn smell when turned on either AC or heat pump.
Mike
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If you decide to do it by yourself - call me. I'm available to help on weekends.
Thanks Mike. We're in TN. Remember if you want me to stop and check on that table in KY I'll be happy to.
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Jerry, I would not take it to Camping Weird, does you compressor come on when the fan is blowing? Might just be a capacitor needs replaced.
Thanks Lee, I'll try to tell if the compressor is coming on. Not sure how. As usual when traveling I have no clue who is reputable and who isn't to make any kind of repairs. May let it wait for the Ramblin Pushers Maint. Rally. We are headed there at the end of April from our boondocking land in TN.
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Thanks Mike. We're in TN. Remember if you want me to stop and check on that table in KY I'll be happy to.
Thanks for offer - but DW says she needs to look at any purchases like that herself to make sure it meets her scuitiny. ;)
On my next trip in that direction, I can stop in and have a look.
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Jerry, No way would I let CW touch my A/C system. Find a reputable shop that knows Dometic multi-zone A/C; with the new units you need a special control board and the new CCCII tstats; won't work any other way and it can confuse even the most experienced techs. When I had mine done, the guys used a forklift and lifted the A/C on its pallet all the way to the roof where two guys then placed it over the vent hole. Check with Dometic to see if they still have the right board for use with your existing 5 button tstat, assuming you are only replacing one A/C at this time. Don't even try to use a control board or tstat unless Dometic says OK. A local shop here burned up our new unit by trying to 'monkey around' using an improper control board. Our two new Penguins work great, but I still need to fix the programming on one of the control board so all the 'zones' work right.
Bill, does this look like the right board? I'm very limited in good RV repair places here in Central TN. Trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B3I9576/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01B3I9576
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Jerry, I would call Dometic to verify which board will work with your replacement A/C and tstat. I thought I had heard that the newer Penguin II A/C heat pumps will not work with the older 5 button tstat, as they discontinued the board that made the 5 button compatible. When I called Dometic the gal there was very helpful and really knew her stuff. The newer CCCII tstats work great. In my posts, I am assuming that your setup is like mine, 2 ea. A/C heat pumps, Aqua Hot (furnace) and 3 'zones'; living room, bath/dressing, and bedroom.
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As Lee brought up, if the unit fan runs, but no cooling, it could be just a start capacitor; probably the $20 part Mike had replaced. There are likely YouTube videos available for guidance about how to determine that and fixes, but cautious discretion should be used in which videos you follow.
Joel
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Jerry, I would call Dometic to verify which board will work with your replacement A/C and tstat. I thought I had heard that the newer Penguin II A/C heat pumps will not work with the older 5 button tstat, as they discontinued the board that made the 5 button compatible. When I called Dometic the gal there was very helpful and really knew her stuff. The newer CCCII tstats work great. In my posts, I am assuming that your setup is like mine, 2 ea. A/C heat pumps, Aqua Hot (furnace) and 3 'zones'; living room, bath/dressing, and bedroom.
Yes same setup. I'll call. Thank you.
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I have 2006 beaver patriot thunder. It has three AC heat pump units with three zones the front AC is on one zone with one thermostat. The middle AC unit and the rear AC unit are on one thermostat with two zones. I changed out my front AC unit. First thing I did was get the model number off the unit.I called Dometic to find out what model I needed to swap it out with. They gave me the model number and told me that my five button thermostat would not work unless I changed out the board so I went with the new thermostat. I also went with an AC only because we never use the heat pump option on the old one. I also got the model number for the drain pan and purchased that also. Then I started to research everything online and received conflicting information. I called the gentleman in Oregon that sold the original Equipment to beaver and he made it sound very difficult to swap the unit out. He told me I needed to be an AC technician. That was false information it wasn’t that difficult. It was basically an easy swap out. So I order the unit on Amazon with the drain kit and the new thermostat. When I receive the unit the first thing I looked for was instructions there were none. I called the seller and they told me that’s how it came from Dometic no instructions no hardware. The drain kit did come with instructions so I started with the that. I installed it then I put the unit on the roof and hooked up all the wires the exact same way they were hooked up on the old unit there are two yellow,two blue, one red one black.the two yellow are not used. I hooked up the other four wires. there are two
Telephone cable connections. I only needed one because my Front units is a one zone system for the front of the coach and then hooked up the new thermostat temporarily. Then I hooked up the main power basically the same way the old power on the old unit was hooked up.Everything seem to function properly. I have an aqua hot system and it was not showing up on the thermostat. So at this point I figured I needed some instructions and called Dometic and asked how tight do you tighten the unit down to the roof they told me 40 to 50 foot pounds that did not seem correct. They also told me that that AC unit was equipped with a board that would only work with a five button thermostat. This is the opposite of what they told me the first time when I ordered my equipment. I also asked them for instructions. They emailed them to me. I hooked up the 5 button thermostat it turned on and then after a couple minutes it went blank I’m not sure if I burned it up or not but it clearly did not work. When I receive the instructions finally. I read through them and he was wrong the new unit required the new thermostat and he was wrong about tightening the unit down. it’s 40 to 50 inch pounds. All I had to do to get the furnace to show up was open and the board and flip the switch on the furnace. Everything works fine . The middle ac an the back bedroom AC are on one zone haven’t swapped them out yet but I’m assuming if I do them both it won’t be that big a deal. I hope this helps somebody
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Kevin, Glad you had good luck, and you found those DIP switches! I took our '05 Patriot to a local shop to replace a non-working A/C. Like you found out, it should be simple, right? Anyway, they couldn't get the new unit to work after two months, so we started travelling and found another shop north of Eugene Or. They found our local shop had run 120v on the aqua hot wires, burned up the aqua hot board and fried the rear AC too! So they replaced both ACs new boards, new tstats. Should be simple, right? I did learn that with two roof ACs, they are not connected by the phone cable; that connection is only needed for three ACs so they can talk to each other. I still have to get to the rear AC and correct a DIP switch setting, but all works!