Community Forums

simbil · 03-14-2011, 12:31 AM

We have an 05 - 35' Winni Adventurer, gas w/basement air Arxcel 6535, 2 ton heat pump.
We are in the midst of a 90F hot spell in Yuma and the A.C. is inoperative. Turning unit on, the outside blower comes on, followed by the first compressor, a few seconds later the second compressor, then it all shuts down. Suspect the problem may be that the inside blower does not come on. In heat mode the inside fan starts before the heating process starts.
Once in the last couple of days following frustrating attempts to get the system going, out of the blue the inside blower came on, then everything followed and we had a cool respite. The next day tried again and we get the short cycle w/o the initial inside blower and it all shuts down for a time before trying again. We're on 50A and voltage is consistent.
The thermostat/controller is a TrueAir Coleman-Mach.
Any input appreciated.

iluvmyelemen · 04-05-2011, 04:25 PM

I found this post because we were having the same problem with our basement air this week (Winnie Vectra). Without sounding stupid - have you tried removing your air filter and running it without it to see if that helps? The reason I ask is that we had no idea that they hid a filter in a compartment next to the nightstand in our bedroom - and as soon as we removed it (to clean it) - voila! Amazing rush of ice cold air and the compressors stay on. Because the filter was really dirty - the unit was trying way too hard to suck air in and it was causing power problems which would shut down the compressors within a minute each time we tried to run it. Maybe you've cleaned your filter and this isn't it - but I thought I would mention it since it's a quick easy thing to check. (And just a note - not a single repair tech even considered it could be the filter when I called them - they all insisted it was a relay, something electrical or something major)

AFChap · 04-05-2011, 08:06 PM

The filter does sound like a possibility since it did work once after it didn't. If you take it somewhere for service, I strongly recommend you do NOT just take it somewhere that says they can fix it. I have learned the hard way to FIRST go to the RVP website at RVP > Products > Off-Roof Units > Heat Pumps and find a certified service location in the area where I am. My repairs have gone SO MUCH BETTER when I had trained people working on it rather than someone who just thought they could figure it out...

If you will do a search on the forum, you will find several discussions on basement ac unit repair, and even pics that show you how to remove it yourself if you want to!!

simbil · 04-06-2011, 11:12 AM

We checked the filter first off and it was quite clean. In fact we always have a spare on hand. Access to our filter is in the storage area under the bed (easy access) with a vent opening on the side which is always unobstructed.
We had an RV Tech check the ac before we left the Yuma area. Unfortunately, the 90's weather didn't hit until the last 7-10 days of our stay. It took 3 days to get a Tech out (most won't touch basement ac). He was in phone contact with Coleman while he chk'd various circuits & it was determined the "Inner Blower" had shorted out (that was the only thing that wouldn't come on each time we tried top start the ac). A replacement motor was unavailable in the short term and we had to head home in a few days.
So here we are in the WET Pacific NW and once settled will pursue local
RV Tech input and hopefully a resolution.
Many thanks to all for your input
Happy Trails!!

golden · 04-06-2011, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AFChap

The filter does sound like a possibility since it did work once after it didn't. If you take it somewhere for service, I strongly recommend you do NOT just take it somewhere that says they can fix it. I have learned the hard way to FIRST go to the RVP website at RVP > Products > Off-Roof Units > Heat Pumps and find a certified service location in the area where I am. My repairs have gone SO MUCH BETTER when I had trained people working on it rather than someone who just thought they could figure it out...

If you will do a search on the forum, you will find several discussions on basement ac unit repair, and even pics that show you how to remove it yourself if you want to!!

I don't mean to be argumentative, but I've had better luck when dealing with specialists who aren't RV folks. Case in point for me was my basement A/C (which was repaired by a HVAC guy) and my M/W/convection oven (which was repaired by a person who dealt with those problems for a living). It's not that I have a doubts of the abilities of folks who repair products that come with our RVs, it's just that I've found you save a TON on money by dealing with specialists in their field who DON'T work on RVs (does that make any sense?). In many cases, your problem will occur hundreds of miles from a qualified RV repair place yet there may be a specialist who works on your problem in the small town near where you're camping.