RV air conditioners

[abc001dan]

First the disclaimer I am not a HVAC technician. Id however have experience with HVAC from My service days. Recently I pulled my 5th wheel out after being stored for 4 years. The Air conditioner a Carrier AIR V was not cooling. Every RV dealer that I called said they are not worth repairing and they do not repair them.

This is not true they can be repaired if you find the right person. I was quite sure it just needed charging. You will be told they are sealed units and can not be charged, again not true. the part needed to charge then is $3.00 called a bullet valve. Once the valve is installed the unit can be charged. the total cost of fixing my unit was $60.00 which included a 1 pound charge of R22.

Do not pay $800+ for a new unit. Find an independent HVAC guy preferably away from large cities. I know know of one in central IL. but there are may of them out there are are willing to fix these. Stay away from the RV dealers most will not fix them (I called over 20)

Good luck and keep cool.
Dan

[rwess]

I had 2 Carrier V's heat pumps in my 2011 Open Range. They were not very reliable. From what I heard is that Open Range started manufacturing at about the time Carrier was getting out of the RV business and bought out their remaining inventory. Just before my 2 year warranty was up I got the dealer to contact Open Range about replacing them. Open Range agreed to replace them and the dealer called me and said that Open Range had agreed to send 2 new air conditioners. I told the dealer that I had paid for heat pumps when I bought the trailer and I wanted 2 new heat pumps. The dealer got them switched out for the new Coleman Mach VIII heat pumps. They used the Carrier to Coleman conversion kits. The inside unit is still Carrier with the remote thermostats. They cool and heat the trailer great. The only difference is they do not go into standby and automatically turn on the furnace when it gets too cold like the Carrier's did. I have to get up in the middle of the night and manually switch it over. Another future problem is if one of the remote thermostats stops working. They are no longer available.

[wa8yxm]

The bigger problem with the Carrier Air V is that Carrier got out of the business.. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it but I have two

Just aft of the compressor is what looks for all the world like a plumbing trap (like you find under a sink) the pipe comes out, then goes down, and right back up in a giant "U" shape then 90 degrees and continues on back....

This is a vibration trap..Works well but on mine the two lines were in contact and rubbed each other holy... Or is that HOLEY.. Techs did not wish to fix (So I upgraded) A/C #2 I got to em and fixed that problem BEFORE it became a problem.

I scrapped out the original roof unit and upgraded.. Advent air (China made) and I think Coleman both make drop on replacements for the top unit no need to change anything else save in the case of Advent air one electrical connector (The kit includes it).

I can tell you I was NOT a happy camper when it happened.

Worked out well though.. Another RVer with a Carrier Air V needed a new blower (the indoor part) and that was one of the parts I saved when I scavaged my old one. Yup, Late in the evening 30 miles from nearest RV store where you going to find that blower?? My basement.

I still think they could have easily fixed the original.

[darsben]

The problem with the fix is the leak is still there. Something made the freon become low and the bullet valve did not fix that. The leak could be slow thereby giving you a year or two of gradually deteriorating cooling or it may only work for a week or a month.
What was done was not a repair it was just a recharge.

[Chris_Bryant]

Good luck with that "fix". You will be lucky to get a summer out of it.