air conditioner stopped working

[jpkelpe]

we have been out at a campground for the last 9 days. Air conditioning has been working great. today is supposed to be 101 and guess what, last night the air was working great when we went to bed and about 1 am--no air. This morning we did some trouble shooting and there is no current at the air conditioner. the circuit breakers are all fine and have power to them. seems to be a short between the circuit breaker and the air conditioner. any suggestions?? Seems like we will need to take this to the dealer. Who at Keystone would be the one to contact?

[mazeeff]

I don't think you are dealing with a short, as it would have caused the breaker to pop. Check all of your 12 volt fuses. The A/C unit requires 12 volts for the control board. Where did you measure the A/C voltage at?

[jpkelpe]

our friend who is a HVAC man was camping with us. it appears that the wire between the circuit breaker and the a/c has broken (or something). they hide the wires in the ceiling so you can't see anything. the guys ran a new wire from the curcuit breaker and a/c and everything is fine except I now have a beautiful wire running along the cabints. we called the dealer and they were puzzled and we told them maybe we should call the factory to see how they suggested it be fixed. Paul talked to "Nick" and he was getting ready to leave for the weekend but he seemed to think that a factory visit would be in order. He said he would get back to us on thurs or friday after he did some checking to let us know what to do--since we got it in Oct 2004 warrenty is out but guess we will see what they do for us.

[Montana_1240]

It could just be a loose wire nut under the panel at your air conditioner.

Remove the panel with the foam filter above it, and you'll be able to see the wiring.

If the trouble is not there, then maybe the terminal wiring is loose at the breaker panel. Takes four screws to pull that out of your wall.

You shouldn't have to cope with that wire hanging over your head, or under your feet.

Steve

[jpkelpe]

all wiring nuts at the a/c have been checked and are tight. also the wiring at the breaker panel was checked and was tight.

[Montana_1240]

Jpkelpe,

Sounds like there is some sort of problem with the wiring run through to the AC. Just as you feared.

Doo-doo happens. I'm guessing that, (just as happened with one of our surround speaker wires,) someone may have run a screw or staple through your AC power wire. Or bent it until it broke.

When you say your friend “ran a wire from the breaker,” did that mean the same exact breaker?

Reason I ask is because here where we’re camping, one leg of the 50-Amp went out. In our case, all the power in the living room area was down, but kitchen and bedroom were fine. Is anything else in your living room areas down? All outlets working?

I’m guessing that if that were what’s wrong, you’d have plenty of other symptoms. But who knows? These rigs aren’t presented with wiring diagrams!

I'd be sure you get the dealer to look into it. The re-running of a wire shouldn't be all that impossible. It all goes through the ceiling space.

Steve

[jpkelpe]

we are setting up a date for the factory service center to fix it. We have only 30 amps, (you know we have the montana stepsister) Yes we used the exact same circuit for the "new" wire

[Montana_1240]

Good luck, Paul.

I found out that my wiring was fine after using my 30-50 Amp adapter. For a little bit, there, I was scared there was some weird wiring problem I couldn't figure out.

I hope you get it fixed ASAP. It's a hassle to have to deal with that wire, I'm sure. One reason I don't want to have some Bozo shoddily install a roof mounted satellite dish.

Steve

[jpkelpe]

we have an appt at the Service Center for 9/19. closest to rally time we could get. they were very nice about arranging for a fix when we called Keystone.