Community Forums

Mason Dixon · 05-27-2019, 07:03 AM

A couple years ago my rear A/C stopped working. I went up top to check out why and found two problems. First the hard start capacitor failed, the second was a bird nest inside the unit. No little ones at the time but mommy bird had been working hard. I cleaned everything out and came back one week later to install the new capacitor and found another nest. In order to stop the birds from getting in I had to install some grates over the vent openings in the lower shroud. I used rain gutter grates which I found at big box store and cut to fit. I pop riveted them inside the lower shroud and problem solved.

Jake21 · 05-27-2019, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sask934

Do you use water or air?

I use air usually. Only one time did I need to use water to clean. That time I used some dawn dish soap in warm water and a brush, being careful to not bend the fins.

YC1 · 05-27-2019, 02:18 PM

You have to take things apart to get to that inside coil. But you get to it from the roof. You will be able to see inside the coach with that cover part off. I use the flexible cutting board to keep water from getting inside. I often duct tape the opening closed to help.

Even with a filter that coil can get dirty. Those filters are kind of wimpy. We full time so the AC runs far more than a weekender.

JPeterson · 05-27-2019, 03:06 PM

Maybe I get a little carried away, but I clean both coils every spring. After removing the main cover, moving the condenser fan shroud and removing the evaporator duct, I tape a piece a plastic over the hole to the inside of the coach. I rinse the coils with a garden hose and then spray them with some diluted Simple Green in a pump sprayer. Then I take an old paint brush and brush them. A final rinsing with the hose and then put them back together. Both coils get quite dirty every year. From start to finish it takes about an hour for each of the 2 air conditioners. I like to think I am able to keep the coach a few degrees cooler on those hot days.

I agree the ac filters are not very good - they don't catch anything but the largest particles but it is my understanding that putting a better filter on them will restrict air flow too much thereby reducing the amount of air cooled and can have a negative effect on the inside temperature and could strain the ac unit. If anyone has hard data on this one way or the other I would like to see it.

Jake21 · 05-27-2019, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPeterson

Maybe I get a little carried away, but I clean both coils every spring. After removing the main cover, moving the condenser fan shroud and removing the evaporator duct, I tape a piece a plastic over the hole to the inside of the coach. I rinse the coils with a garden hose and then spray them with some diluted Simple Green in a pump sprayer. Then I take an old paint brush and brush them. A final rinsing with the hose and then put them back together. Both coils get quite dirty every year. From start to finish it takes about an hour for each of the 2 air conditioners. I like to think I am able to keep the coach a few degrees cooler on those hot days.

I agree the ac filters are not very good - they don't catch anything but the largest particles but it is my understanding that putting a better filter on them will restrict air flow too much thereby reducing the amount of air cooled and can have a negative effect on the inside temperature and could strain the ac unit. If anyone has hard data on this one way or the other I would like to see it.

No hard data, but full timing for 7 years and we use the green cut to fit filters from Wally World. I think Wally may have dropped the filter, but you can get here

https://www.amazon.com/Precisionaire...%2C329&sr=8-37

Cut in half and it is a perfect fit for two a/cs. They seem to do a great job of catching the dust. Definite reduction of cleaning after the installation.

Al Brooker · 05-28-2019, 07:56 AM

Not to deviate too much from the thread but along the lines of rooftop AC maintenance, how do you guys clean out the condensate lines? The Dometics on my 2000 Monaco have the coil directly over the condensate holes and I can't seem to get anything in there to effectively clean them out. On the underside of the units there are plastic covers that prevent me from going in from that direction. Pipe cleaners are too flimsy. 14 gage wire almost works but I can't get it to go all the way through the drain holes.

Dom · 05-28-2019, 08:37 AM

I used to run a piece of silfos ( thin welding rod) from condenser base, into evaporator. you should be able to get at evaporator pan from your filter cover access or you may have to remove cover. Then I would pour hot water into pan. If had to access you can use a spay bottle, but make sure water is hot as it softens dirt better. using silfos it should clean it a little at a time until it flows

Al Brooker · 05-28-2019, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dom

I used to run a piece of silfos ( thin welding rod) from condenser base, into evaporator. you should be able to get at evaporator pan from your filter cover access or you may have to remove cover. Then I would pour hot water into pan. If had to access you can use a spay bottle, but make sure water is hot as it softens dirt better. using silfos it should clean it a little at a time until it flows

Thanks Dom. The hot water and welding rod sounds like it might work. I'll give it a try. If the people that built these things actually had to maintain them, maybe they would've put a little more thought into the drain hole locations.

Boondockin · 05-28-2019, 10:31 AM

X2 on the simple green... works great, smells nice and won't hurt anything. I put towels down on the inside, remove the cover over the evaporator (inside coil) and clean it as well... re-seal with aluminum tape if necessary around the edges of the cover. Our MH is 19 years old and both rooftop units work great after we cleaned them...

BigLar368 · 05-28-2019, 02:57 PM

Well we are making a trip first of August so I already parked on the driveway and coil cleaning was on the to do list. Found a diesel leak but that's another thread. Anyways I turn on the A/C's and come back inside to find the bedroom unit spewing water out the duct over the comforter. I figure the drain is plugged up. So instead of repairing the diesel leak I am now cleaning the A/C coils. I run down to the A/C supply store and buy some indoor coil cleaner. I mix it weaker than the bottle says. I pull the covers off then the evaporator covers off and the insulation just falls apart but it's all there. I ended up using some left over spray adhesive to glue it back together. The evap coil is fairly dirty. The cond coils are just about as bad. The indoor coil cleaner worked very well. I stuffed bunch of rags down on the intake side of the evap coil and rinse with water hose and do the same with the cond coils.. All in all it was not a bad job. After thirty mins of running both I got the air down to 50 degrees taken at the vent and it was about 85 degrees outside. Not bad for A/C's made in 2003.