I did it! I rerouted the air conditioner drain from the roof air conditioner on my 2020 Tiffin Wayfarer. A super easy project that makes life in the Wayfarer much nicer AND eliminates a serious corrosion concern for your air conditioner hardware.
As delivered, the air conditioner dumps all the condensate into the base pan of the unit. The water sits in the pan, and wets the hardware and devices in the pan. When enough builds up, the water runs out of the pan via whatever exit holes in the bottom of the pan that gravity dictates and then follows the same rules across the roof to drop to the ground. Often, the drip location was the forward passenger side drip rail exit, right next to the entry door.
A little research revealed that the air conditioner already had a condensate pump. That's a very good thing because without one, this modification wouldn't be possible. Some units simply let the condensate fall directly into the pan. So, thanks to the existence of the pump, all that was necessary was to reroute the condensate pump output to a different location.
Ideally, the condensate would be routed through the roof and down the sidewall to exit the coach directly to the ground. Unfortunately, Tiffin did not take this approach on the Wayfarer. I will recommend that they consider this in the future.
My goal was primarily to ensure that the condensate NEVER dripped off the roof near the entry step. We do NOT like that! So, to keep things simple, and the drain line run short, I decided to just drop the condensate into the drivers side drip rail. That way, it will always exit on that side, front or back, as gravity dictates, keeping it away from our living areas on the passenger side.
The project is very simple and straightforward.
Parts needed:
- Eight feet of 1/4 inside diameter vinyl tubing. Clear is fine, black would be better. I got my clear tubing at Ace Hardware - 29c a foot. The outside diameter is not important but, if it is smaller than the existing tubing, you may need a different clamp or a bushing.
- 1 cartridge of Dicor self-leveling lap sealant or equivalent
- 6-10 adhesive zip tie anchors
- 6-10 zip ties
Tools needed:
- Screwdrivers - flat and Phillips
- Diagonal cutters
- razor knive
- caulk gun
Procedure
- Turn off the air conditioner. Not entirely necessary but a good safety step for a number of reasons.
- Remove the four screws on the top of the cover.
- Set the cover aside.
- Loosen the hose clamp and remove the existing, very short drain tube from the condensate pump. Mine was connected with a hose clamp. Retain the clamp.
- Elongate the hole in the center, forward, bottom of the pan slightly along the side-to-side axis of the coach. The the new tube gets routed from the pump, on the passenger side of the air conditioner, to the drip rail on the drivers side. A razor knife cuts the pan material just fine if you take your time.
- Connect the new vinyl tubing to the condensate pump output. Secure with the hose clamp or a zip tie.
- Route the tubing from the pump through the top of the elongated drain hole, out the bottom of the pan, and off the drivers side of the roof. Be sure there are no kinks.
- Clean the appropriate roof area with alcohol. Jack Daniels is acceptable. Toast your progress so far!
- Install the adhesive zip tie anchors in a row immediately behind the cap seam.
- Attach the tubing to the anchors with zip ties. Be careful not to over tighten the zip ties such that they compress the tubing. The anchors may not make a good connection to the roof. Simply hold them in place while installing the ties. They will be held permanently in place with the sealant applied later.
- Route the tubing over the edge of the roof and allow it to lay in the drip rail for an inch or so. Cut the end of the tubing with the diagonal cutters or the razor knife.
- Be sure to use one anchor on the side of the coach to hold the tubing in the drip rail. As this anchor will sit on a painted surface, it should hold better than the ones on the roof.
- Apply lap sealant liberally to all of the anchors and tubing to hold it in place. More is better. Avoid applying sealant to the painted surfaces on the roof edge for appearance reasons.
- Reinstall the air conditioner cover. The manufacturer uses blue Locktite to secure the screws. You may want to reapply same. I did not.
- Perform a test run to ensure you have good condensate flow. A blockage in this line will cause your air conditioner to quit working properly.
- Enjoy your newly dry passenger side!
Notes:
- There is a condenser coil held in place by the forward passenger side cover attachment screw. When you remove the cover, this assembly may come loose as it is held to the evaporator housing by some cheap adhesive. Hold this part in place, aligned with the screw hole, using tape, when reinstalling the cover, in order to get the screw reinstalled. A very poor design!
- You might choose to use black tubing if you can find it. Doing so would improve the appearance of the installation where the tubing exits the roof to the drip rail. Alternatively, you could paint the tubing or wrap it in electrical tape.
- A black zip tie anchor could be used on the painted surface to improve the appearance of the installation.
- If the vinyl tubing outer diameter is smaller than the existing tubing, you might want to purchase a smaller hose clamp.
- In the photos, the lap sealant had just been applied and had not yet settled. It looks nicer once it self-levels.
This is a great, easy, 30 minute project that will really improve the livability of your Wayfarer! Enjoy!
Here is a link to the all the photos -
https://randyking.smugmug.com/Wayfar...ndensate-Drain
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