Air conditioner problem and FIX!
Hello, all. I just fixed a problem with my air conditioner that I thought would be a good thing to post about.
My air conditioner worked when we first got the coach, but on our second outing, it started tripping the breaker. I reset it a couple of times and then I left it alone till we got back home. When I reset the breaker at home, the A/C would no longer turn on when connected to shore power.
When I tried running it off the generator, the genny would be running fine, then I would turn on the A/C and the genny would bog down (like it had a load). About 10 seconds later, it would come back to smooth idle. Give it about 30 seconds and it would bog again, then come back to smooth idle. That indicated the A/C starter was kicking on/off correctly, but the compressor was not firing up. I talked to a buddy who does A/C for a living and he said that in his experience, the pumps on RV A/C's almost never go bad. He said it is almost always a problem with the capacitors. Based on his advice, I disconnected the power to the coach and opened up the A/C. Inside I saw these three capacitors.
Notice how dirty and oily the bottom of the carrier plate is. That is because all three of the capacitors looked very old and two were leaking. I discharged the capacitors and removed them from the housing. All three cost me a total of $40 off ebay. Today I installed the capacitors and the A/C fired right up! WOOHOO!!!!:C
I had posted about this in another thread and there were concerns I'd have to buy a new A/C. That would have been about $500. :E I am never positive of a fix until it has lasted a couple months, but with the old caps. clearly damaged and the A/C starting right up, I am quite confident, I just saved myself a bunch of cash and work replacing my original A/C.
So if anyone out there has A/C issues, replacing your capacitors is an easy and low cost solution you might want to try before you replace.
Jose
My air conditioner worked when we first got the coach, but on our second outing, it started tripping the breaker. I reset it a couple of times and then I left it alone till we got back home. When I reset the breaker at home, the A/C would no longer turn on when connected to shore power.
When I tried running it off the generator, the genny would be running fine, then I would turn on the A/C and the genny would bog down (like it had a load). About 10 seconds later, it would come back to smooth idle. Give it about 30 seconds and it would bog again, then come back to smooth idle. That indicated the A/C starter was kicking on/off correctly, but the compressor was not firing up. I talked to a buddy who does A/C for a living and he said that in his experience, the pumps on RV A/C's almost never go bad. He said it is almost always a problem with the capacitors. Based on his advice, I disconnected the power to the coach and opened up the A/C. Inside I saw these three capacitors.
Notice how dirty and oily the bottom of the carrier plate is. That is because all three of the capacitors looked very old and two were leaking. I discharged the capacitors and removed them from the housing. All three cost me a total of $40 off ebay. Today I installed the capacitors and the A/C fired right up! WOOHOO!!!!:C
I had posted about this in another thread and there were concerns I'd have to buy a new A/C. That would have been about $500. :E I am never positive of a fix until it has lasted a couple months, but with the old caps. clearly damaged and the A/C starting right up, I am quite confident, I just saved myself a bunch of cash and work replacing my original A/C.
So if anyone out there has A/C issues, replacing your capacitors is an easy and low cost solution you might want to try before you replace.
Jose
