Help with air conditioner - Montana Owners Club

AirForce75 · 07-20-2009, 02:10 PM

HELP! I am a new member with a new-to-me Montana, which I would love, except that the air conditioner refuses to work the way it should. We have had it into the dealership shop for repair, and talked to them on the phone with no luck. It worked a few days ago fine for our "see if everything works OK" two-days away within two miles of home, and everything worked fine. Now that we are 450 miles away from home, and can't go back until Friday because this is a business trip, the air conditioner is leaking inside again! We've done everything we can that the dealer suggested - even getting the mud dauber nest out of it. There is no water running off the roof like it should, but it is leaking everywhere inside. It doesn't matter what we've tried as far as leveling the trailer, or leaving windows closed, or leaving the thermostat set at 72 or above. Any ideas?

noneck · 07-20-2009, 02:45 PM

Leaking everywhere inside??

1) Set the fan to HI
2) Confirm all vents are not obstructed

**Typically this is condensate that has frozen on coil due to poor air flow as a last resort open the vent at the A/C unit this will dump most of the cold air right there and not reach the extremes but should prevent the moisture issue.

HughM · 07-20-2009, 03:39 PM

Take the inside cover off. Get a 9/16 socket and tighten four (4) bolts that pull down the outside part of the a/c. There is NO torque specs. on the bolts. Just tighten them until they are snug. They are on the four corners of the square hole....you won't miss them.
I had the same problem this last week and solved it by tightening the 4 bolts. You won't hurt anything by tightening them unless you try to be Hercules.
If you have water draining from the roof you have no reason to go up on the roof!!!
Hugh

Clemson1881 · 07-20-2009, 03:47 PM

Hugh is correct. Had the same problem on my first trip with a 2010 3665RE. Torque bolts needed snugging down. Problem solved.

noneck · 07-20-2009, 05:01 PM

Aha!...so this would suggest water coming from different location than I was diagnosing. My water was drip from A/C vent that I keep closed and solved by operation on HI Fan. Yours is likely water migrating through attic space due to seal not being compressed sufficiently. Makes sense to me. Another member post similar issue...did this advice get to him? (swanny I think...)

Art-n-Marge · 07-20-2009, 09:20 PM

FYI, DW is wanting me to look into a second air conditioner. In doing so, I read a Duo Therm installation instruction for several mounting kits that stated to torque the 4 bolts at 40-50 inch lbs. If divided by 12 inches, does that convert to 3.3 to 4.16 ft lbs? That matches Hugh M's recommendation to NOT overtorque these bolts.

This assumes you have a Duo Therm A/C and other vendors are the same.

Here's the link I was viewing at the Duo-Therm site:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/files/Du...-C_Multi-2.pdf

sreigle · 07-21-2009, 05:32 AM

Mike and Clare, torquing the bolts will likely solve the problem. But, if it doesn't, then Noneck's suggestion is the likely culprit. Duotherm air conditioners are notorious for icing up on hot and really humid days when the fan is run on low speed. Running the fan on high usually avoids the problem. If yours stays cold even when dripping then it may not be the icing problem. Usually the air is warm when the coils are iced up although I suppose it may continue to cool for awhile until the icing is prevalent enough. If that happens, shut the thing off until the ice melts. Then run it on high fan in humid weather.

I hope one of the two solutions solves the problem for you. Please let us know, either way.

CountryGuy · 07-21-2009, 06:42 AM

Mike

you have: 2003 Montana

Is that a Penguin model A/C?? placed near the rear of the unit on the steep slope??

Could be the problem a lot of us had, which was fixed with a deeper drain pan or replacement of the unit with a full sized A/C.

It was an engineering oops.

sreigle · 07-23-2009, 10:08 AM

Here's another possibility. I just got an email from a good friend with a motorhome. A new one. He had this same problem with the front AC leaking into the rig. Nothing tried worked. His dealer finally found that the installation bolts had too long a shoulder. When snugged from inside it would seem to tighten. But it actually just ran out of thread and was not compressing the seal sufficiently. When they replaced the bolts with the correct ones, the problem was solved.

This may not be the cause of your AC problem but maybe it would be worth checking if nothing else helps.

Art-n-Marge · 07-23-2009, 10:56 AM

Oh my! I have been reading several parallel topics on second air conditioners, height concerns of the Monty and this one.

One of the models I was favoring as my second unit was the Penguin because of its low profile. Other brands' low profile models are taller. This is because it will be adding about 7 inches to my almost 13' tall rig (when measured on the TV). But I am hoping that the unit will be flat when the rig is set up and not have the problem described above by Al. If not, where does one get a deep drain pan? Will DuoTherm be familiar enough with the problem? I'd like to avoid a taller unit because that would add too much height. I do think the roof mount for this 2nd A/C is mostly level, so I hope it's okay, as is.

Then if it starts to leak it will leak on our bed! Ugh!

Clemson1881 · 07-23-2009, 01:17 PM

Carrier's low profile is shorter than the Penguin by 2 inches.

padredw · 07-23-2009, 04:16 PM

Clemson is right. For that very reason, I bought a Carrier low profile as my second AC (bedroom area). I have only an inch clearance in my storage shed with the new AC. No other model would have worked for us. It also gives us just a bit more clearance on the road.

Art-n-Marge · 07-23-2009, 09:22 PM

Yes, thanks. I just rechecked, duo therm penguin is 9", carrier is 7.5". I got that backwards, won't be the last time. Thanks for the correction.

sreigle · 07-24-2009, 07:52 AM

It didn't make any difference for us. It didn't change our overall height. That may be because we have one of those big, high volume, covers over the fantastic vent. The second AC comes to the same height although part of the reason for that is the AC is pretty far forward on the downward slope.

Art-n-Marge · 07-24-2009, 08:05 AM

Yup Steve. The tallest part of my RV is the vent cover over the bathroom area. The highpoint of the bedroom ceiling is lower but I don't know by how much. Any A/C will add height but not as much.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 07-24-2009, 12:15 PM

It is Al (CountryGuy's) understanding that when the Penquin is on a "flat" roof the leaking is not a problem.

Texas Firefighter · 07-24-2009, 01:42 PM

I hope this is not getting off the topic, but I have had more problems with our Penguin front AC freezing up. I have it at the Dealer right now (again) to get repaired. Called today and they said they cannot figure out the problem and it is freezing up on them also. This has happen many times since we bought the trailer. I am thinking it is time to buy a Carrier Low Profile AC. My brother-in-law just bought a new Everest with a Carrier front AC and it works great...almost ready to snow in his bedroom. Anyone have a clue what the problem with this Penguin could be? Be safe! John Daniels

Clemson1881 · 07-24-2009, 03:44 PM

Surely they have checked the refrigerant level. When an A/C of any type is freezing up it is most often low on refrigerant. Of course this presents the problem of a leak also. The Carrier low profile is great. I have one up front, and it has really impressed. Good luck.

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