A/C filled bedroom with mist?

[Don_A_L]

Hi

I have a 2014 DRV with two Dometic Penguin ac/hp a/c units. I had both running at the time and happened to go up to the bedroom to find what I thought was smoke, coming out of the ceiling vents. I shut down both units and went to check roof. No fire! I took off the cover and could find no evidence of any sort of damage.
I am assuming that it was freon that was vented into the bedroom. There was no real odor except maybe a slight chemical smell. The AC will run but no cool air. Are these things repairable or throw away, when it comes to freon loss.
It's two months over two years old:.(

Don

[wa8yxm]

I would give it another try.. Might be nothing wrong with it.

Opps. re-read the original post.. you did and it's not working.

NOW.. You may not need to junk ALL of it.. The A/C consists of an upper unit and a lower unit.. The lower unit is the part that is in the roof and inside the RV. the upper unit is "The Works". IF you do NOT have a Carrier Air V you can likely just get a new upper unit.. Carrier stopped doing RV A/Cs so if you have a Carrier you need to get an alternative Upper unit.. I think Coleman is the alternative (or Advent Air but I do not recommend the one I choose).

However for future reference:

IF the humidity is high enough and the evaporator cold enough when the cold air comes out of the vents it is so cold that water vapor from the warm air beside it condenses out in a cloud of "Steam" or "White Smoke" NOTE this normally happens only on NON DUCTED A/Cs. not on Ducted ones but it can happen on ducted.

This is exactly the same as stepping out on a cold day and your breath fogs.. Exactly the same thing. Does not mean you've sprung a coolant leak (Actually it does but that's another matter,, said leak is normal)

I used to have a car with "Dealer A/C" instead of factory.. it did this very thing on a humid day, more than once. Kind of scared me the first time but I quickly figured it out. I liked that car A/C worked REAL GOOD.

[Chris_Bryant]

Dometic is actually pretty good in a case like this- the warranty people I deal with are on the customers side (until the bean counters get involved).

[j-d]

Good for them, good for you! They'll probably replace and not report what failed, but if they do, please let us know what they found.

[Don_A_L]

Good news, Dometic extended the warranty to cover any repairs or replacement of my A/C.
Great customer service:)

Don

[MEXICOWANDERER]

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[solismaris]

Don A L wrote:
Hi

I have a 2014 DRV with two Dometic Penguin ac/hp a/c units. I had both running at the time and happened to go up to the bedroom to find what I thought was smoke, coming out of the ceiling vents. I shut down both units and went to check roof. No fire! I took off the cover and could find no evidence of any sort of damage.
I am assuming that it was freon that was vented into the bedroom. There was no real odor except maybe a slight chemical smell. The AC will run but no cool air. Are these things repairable or throw away, when it comes to freon loss.
It's two months over two years old:.(

Don

There may be nothing wrong at all. Is it still cooling? When the air is extremely humid the ac may emit ordinary fog from the vents. I know mine does in my car during the most humid summer months. Nothing to worry about if that's the case.

[j-d]

Threads like this are distressing. For years, there's been evidence that RTAC's (Roof Top Air Conditioners) were pretty long-lived.

I base this mostly on Coleman Mach units. They seem to go years and years before needing capacitors, blower motors, etc. But there weren't all that many reports of leaks or compressors.

Starting to think the manufacturers are cheapening them to get through warranty and not much more. There's been a rash of replacements lately.

My thought on these is when they need a compressor or have sprung a leak, they aren't economical to pay for repair and aren't satisfactorily repairable by a DIY. Being a tinkerer, I guess I'd look at one like described here and at least see if I could spot the source of a leak.

But, I'd have to be able to find it, be able to fix it, be able to install a charging port, be able to evacuate it, HAVE THE THE REFRIGERANT, and be able to charge it ACCURATELY. They have a very small sealed system so the charge is correspondingly small and difficult for DIY to get exactly right. Slightest bit off on a small system and it just won't work well if at all.

[old_guy]

they are throw away.

[Golden_HVAC]

Sorry to hear that it is a few weeks out of warranty.

No they normally do not want to spend over 6 hours replacing a freon coil with a new one. A small leak might be fixed in a short time, but it does not sound like it is a small leak on the freon tubing, as that will normally leak outside. Still that can be a 5 hour repair, and at $100 a hour, - well you guess why someone will replace it with a new unit that has a 5 year compressor failure warranty.

You might call Dometic and see what the warranty length is on your unit.

Good luck,

Fred.