Dometic roof are motor shot. How easy to replace?

[lacofdfireman]

We have a 13.5 Dometic Roof top air that the motor has gone bad. Getting some quotes now to have the motor replaced. I was wondering if this is a DIY job or if it's time to just replace the entire unit. Rear bedroom unit is same size and still running good. This one that is bad is our main living area unit. Also considering since it's 7 years old just replacing the entire unit. If I did this how hard of a job is it to DIY? Or is it better just to pay someone and have it done right? If it's plug and play then there are no worries for me to just do it myself but if it involves wiring and other stuff I will just pay to have it done.

Also where is the best place to buy a new unit? And should I upgrade to a 15K roof air? Also what should I expect to pay for a new one? Any help would be appreciated..

[jhilley]

Glad to hear you got it resolved at a reasonable price. That repair quote was crazy.

[dougrainer]

The BLACK capacitor is the comp start, the silver is the fan cap. Doug

[lacofdfireman]

Well being that I don't have confidence in trying to diagnose my problem with this A/C unit I decided because of the fact that we need to have it ready for a trip next week that I just bought a new unit... Figured if I ended up having it diagnosed then waited for parts etc that I would be pushing it so I just decided to get a new one. Upgraded to a 15k unit and will pick it up in the morning. Contacted Dometic and they stated that this will be a direct drop in unit to replace my existing and that it would be plug and play. They also said that I didn't need to change any of the lower parts just upper only. Since my unit is ducted they said everything will work. And also that this unit will push a lot more air with less energy and is quieter than the unit I had previously. So I guess all and all this was the better way to go. Final price out the door with tax and everything was $525. My service tech wanted over $800 just to fix my old unit and $1200 to replace it. To bad I wasted an Hours worth of labor for him to diagnose the problem.. Also they said that my old analog thermostat will work with this unit. Or I could buy an upgraded digital one for $90 that would also be plug and play..

[jhilley]

You can just short it out with a screw drive without pulling the connections.

[bsinmich]

The reason for shorting out the capacitor is so you aren't the individual to pick it up and short it in your hands.

[jhilley]

On your fan motor the capacitor might be mounted to the motor. Follow the brown and white leads from motor to capacitor.

[lacofdfireman]

Thanks everyone for your help. Hopefully I will have a friend go over tonight and try a few things to see if my unit is really frozen up, ruined or what not.

I do have a few questions though. When shorting out the Capacitor to de energize it does it matter which lead you remove before you touch the 2 posts together? Also by shorting the Capacitor will it ruin the capacitor if it is still good? Reason I ask is because I want to take the capacitor off my good A/C Unit and put it onto my bad A/C unit to see if it will make the bad unit run.

Also on my A/C Unit is the Run or Fan capacitor the one next to the Hard Start capacitor? See Photo





So this is my A/C unit Serial Number and Model I guess.

[jhilley]

This vendor on eBay has motors and shrouds at decent prices. He also has take off shrouds with blemishes for $35 that may or may not fir your AC, you have to contact him with your information.

gregory.281 on eBay

[jhilley]

It looks like the fan motor may have a single capacitor

Connection Diagram

[CG_Dawson]

To drain the cap. disconnect one of the leads and short it to the other, if the cap. is bad nothing will happen, if it's still got some life you will get a spark. It could be either the run or the start, or both, but since it doesn't start the start cap would be the logical choice.

[lacofdfireman]

After reading this thread again I see people telling me to try to swap out my "Run Capacitor" and some telling me to swap out the "Start Capacitor". Which one is it? And it seems like I read somewhere that you need to drain the energy out of the capacitor before you swap it out. How do you do this. Thanks everyone for your help on this. But happy to be learning.

[lacofdfireman]

This is what my thermostat on the wall looks like for my Rooftop A/C

[nancyebm]

That should be 13.5 in the bedroom---sorry about that.

[nancyebm]

Lacofdfireman: You had mentioned some concern about your genset taking care of them..Here is our situationa: 15K in the living, and 13.3 in the bedroom. We use a 6000 Kipor to do this with. It works perfect. We always have the gen revved up when kicking on the ac's. We turn the first unit to fan only, and then kick in the compressor. Same set up with the other one. For what it it is worth, it cools ours fine.