Author Topic: Dash Air Conditioning  (Read 12286 times)

George Gaston

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Dash Air Conditioning
« on: September 18, 2009, 09:50:13 PM »
I am fairly new to having a Diesel Pusher. 2007 42' Contessa with the CAT C9 engine. While traveling home from Eastern Washington I turned on the dash air conditioning. It blew slightly cool but not cold air like one gets from a cars dash air. Does the air not blow cold in a pusher because of the distance the air has to travel or could there be something wrong with my air conditioning?
If I need to have it repaired should I go to a CAT dealer or to the Bend Service shop?
Thanks for any input.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2009, 05:33:56 PM by 5 »

LEAH DRAPER

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Re: Dash Air Conditioning
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2009, 11:19:09 PM »
You might call Bend Service first to get their input on it.  If you need to go to Cat they will probably suggest that if they (Bend) can fix they will tell you that also.
At least it is someplace to get started.

Leah

Gerald Farris

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Re: Dash Air Conditioning
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2009, 02:03:15 AM »
The dash air on any motorhome does not cool quite as well as a car because of the large volume of air that it has to cool and the very high heat load that you can get from the sun coming in that huge windshield. Since you have about the same size compressor as a car and it usually is turning slower (depending on pulley sizes) there is not enough capacity to cool the whole cab area like a car can with the smaller area.

This being said, you should feel cold air at the duct outlet (usually a 40 deg. or so drop dependant on engine RPM).

As for a place to have it serviced, the air conditioner was installed by Beaver and Cat has no connection with the unit and most Cat dealers will not work on it. Beaver Coach Sales would be a good choice if they service air conditioners (not all RV service centers do) (call first).

I would give the unit a little time to see how it performs, it may be OK or it may need a partial recharge as all R134A refrigerant systems will have a slight leak over time.

Gerald      

Richard And Babs Ames

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Re: Dash Air Conditioning
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2009, 02:35:13 AM »
The system is a standard auto AC system and any good auto AC shop can  check and fix it for you. Trick is to find one that will work on it. http://www.rvservicereviews.com or telling us your location will help us direct you to a good and reasonable repair point.  Best test is to compare the output temp with a probe type AC thermometer in a vent and compare the temperature drop as mentioned by Gerald.


If close to our area (Arcadia, FL) I have a local mobile repair service that can fix it. They replaced the compressor with a better one after we lost one due to a bad high pressure cut off switch and had no problems in over 3 years.

We also found that a good tint applied to the upper windshield ($40)  cut down on the heat gain from the windshield even here in FL.

George Gaston

  • Guest
Re: Dash Air Conditioning
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2009, 04:26:31 AM »
Thanks for all of the input from everyone. I will give the Bend Service Center a call. Since I live in the Portland area they are close and I can go by on our trip south.