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A/C excessive noise/buffeting

STANG23L
Explorer
Explorer
Fired up the A/C in my 274VFK for the first time this week. And boy does it make a racket. Previous camper did not have A/C but I'd think that it would be on par with a house window unit as far as noise is concerned.

This thing is loud & vibrates the entire camper. Then add the fact that a couple of the roof ducts. Produce a buffeting noise that is just as bad as cracking a window in your car.

I'm guessing this is not normal. Any ideas what is going on or items I should check?
2014 Ram 1500 Eco Diesel
11 REPLIES 11

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
Things I have seen (NOTE that I am not an RV service tech so I've not seen that many A/Cs)

Insect nest on fan blade causing unbalance and vibration (The "Vibrates the entire rig is a clue here) solution Clean fan blades.

Broken fan (The fan by the way is the Condenser fan.. The other one I call a blower)

Cracked Blower Causing rattle (And it was late Friday. hotter than. Well it was hot. and that thing was noisy. NO chance of a new blower till Monday.. I had a spare in my basement. OEM no less Worked out well. I still have a spare left. Won't ever use it less it happens again) this was a neighbor's RV. the other two were my Bedroom unit.

The nest and the broken fan very vibrating. Shook entire RV when the fan blew

The insect next was found in "Spring cleaning" so no problem.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
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AllegroD
Nomad
Nomad
Also check the bolts holding it to the roof.

p220sigman
Explorer
Explorer
Before I went too far in trying to figure out the problem, I'd pull the shroud and check for wasp/dirt dauber nests on the fan blades. If there is a serious vibration, this is the most likely cause. When I fired ours up for the first time this year, I thought it was going to shake off of the roof. Ten minutes later after removing a good sized dirt dauber nest, smooth as ever. Would have been five minutes, but I took the opportunity to spray the coils out good since I was there anyway.

The air buffeting could be caused by the vibration since it transfers to the squirrel cage also since it is all one shaft, but it is probably just a design flaw in the duct system.

BobSchaar
Explorer
Explorer
2015 Solaire 220X - a/c has been noisy from day 1. I'm guessing that's just the way it is.

prichardson
Explorer
Explorer
RV A/C are noisy especially when compared to a home unit; but they should not have excessive vibration. As others have said something making the fan or blower wheel out of balance.

DFord
Explorer
Explorer
The inside uses a squirrel cage fan. It could have sucked up a piece of paper or something inside the wheel. That would throw it out of balance and make it shake.

The outside fan uses a regular fan blade that mud daubers love to build their nests on. They're really make it shake.

You'll have to take a look at both of them. The noise, I can't help with - sorry.
Don Ford
2004 Safari Trek 31SBD (F53/V10 20,500GVW)
'09 HHR 2LT or '97 Aerostar MiniVan (Remco driveshaft disconnect) for Towed vehicles
BlueOx Aventa II Towbar - ReadyBrake Inertia Brake System

garym114
Explorer II
Explorer II
Shouldn't be that way. Do you have wasps that make dirt nests in your area? Probably the reason, they made a nest on one of your fan blades.
2000 Sea Breeze F53 V10 - CR-V Toad
Some RV batteries live a long and useful life, some are murdered.
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newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Explorer II
Loose bolts,unbalanced fan due to dirt dobber, several reasons for this extra noise

jkwilson
Explorer II
Explorer II
Atwood used to make relatively quiet A/Cs, but Dometic bought them and put an end to that nonsense. They are all pretty noisy.
John & Kathy
2014 Grand Design Reflection 303RLS
2014 F250 SBCC 6.2L 3.73

midnightsadie
Explorer II
Explorer II
yep the make alot of noise .

dockmasterdave
Explorer
Explorer
Sorry to say it sounds normal to me. Ours isn't ducted and is right in the center of the living area. Makes it hard to even hear tv. We just replaced the a/c as ours died and the new one is a little bit louder than the old one. They claim it's quieter Bxxxxhit.
2014 F 150 ecoboost
2008 Chrysler Aspen
09 Amerilite 21 (modified)
2013 Bendron 14' enclosed cargo
2011 4x8 open cargo