Basement air squeals on start up

[skigramp]

My basement air has started to squeal on start up.

After it starts it runs like it always has. The voltage in this park is right and I am on 50 amp hookup.

I searched the forum but couldn't find any threads.

Hints ... suggestions ...

Thanks

[TonyMac]

Loose fanbelt?? Something rubbing against the squirlcage fan?? Open it up and look, should be easy, takes some common tools and a 6-pack. Heck, make it a 12-pack and I'll come help.

[grtharris]

skigramp there are not any belts. The fan shaft bearing have brass bushings, they could be worn enough to allow the fan to touch on start up. We had an 03 Journey and had to replace the indoor fan motor. It was making a noise on start up but it was not a squeal. If you pull the unit plan on replacing all of the fan bearing with ball bearing units.

[jondrew55]

If your unit is a 2004 it's probably old enough that it could me a motor bearing going bad. I assume there are 2 fans: one for the evaporator and one for the condenser.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by skigramp

My basement air has started to squeal on start up.

After it starts it runs like it always has. The voltage in this park is right and I am on 50 amp hookup.

I searched the forum but couldn't find any threads.

Hints ... suggestions ...

Thanks

Skigramp,
Well Sir, I don't know what you know about those but, the "squeal" could be a few different things here. The fans in those are direct drive units, there are no belts. At least not that I know of. There are or, were, at least two manufacturers of them. Coleman and, one other, if I recall. But, in their infinite wisdom, those bone-heads that designed them, installed "lubable" bronze bushings for the motor shafts to rotate in. And, just like the 1940s and '50s era shafts and bearings, those have a little spring loaded cap, that you raise and, put a few drops of oil in, to keep the bronze impregnated with oil, during the periods between maintenance.

What a joke. I mean, that was the year 2004 and their still using '40s and '50s technology simply because it was a few cents cheaper to use those bushings that it was to install a permanently lubed bearing.

There is a very nice gent here that goes by the user name "Duner" and, he wrote a very, very nice write up with many pictures of his basement air unit removal, service and, replacement. I found it and, used it to do the same to ours.

I, like him, removed one of those cheap bronze bushings and replaced it with a nice, permanently lubed bearing from Grainger. It was a whopping cost of about, $19.00 or so. But, it sure brought the operational sound level WAAAAAAY DOWN! I had friends and relatives that were camping with us in a remote area and, they could hear it running, OVER THE SOUND OF MY GENERATOR from quite a distance away, prior to my pulling that A/C unit and replacing the bearing.

Now, there are other things that can cause your issues. As I understand it, those fans can get a bit loose on the shaft and, can rub against the housings. And, there's two of those bushings but, I only replaced the one. The other, at that time, seemed to be in great shape but, was harder to replace. I know now how to remove that basement A/C and, if I was in a hurry, I could have that unit out and sitting on some saw horses, next to the coach, in right at 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

The really good part of those units is, you can remove them, and put them on a platform of some type, next to the coach, and, test run them to more accurately hear where your noises are coming from. And, you can see and hear, if your corrections, i.e. bearing replacement(s) have done any good or not, prior to re-installing the unit back into the coach.

In all reality, it's not very hard at all, to remove those. you simply find the screws that hold that outer leuvered panel in place and remove them. The panel will now tilt, just like a compartment door, all the way up, almost 180 degrees from the closed position. All you have to do is, find a way to make it stay up, while you're working on the unit.

Then, the hard part. You have to use a small, right-angled Phillips screw driver to get at the screws, on the left side, that are used to secure the ducting to the housing. It's bit of a pain but, doable.

Once that's done, then, you lay on your back, under the unit and, find the four 3/4" bolt heads, one in each corner, that you turn, to lower the unit. The entire A/C unit, sits in a tray that, is lowered when you turn those bolts. The nuts are welded in place so, no need to worry about holding them. Now, once your unit acquires clearance at the very top enough to slide the unit out of the tray and, onto your platform, you very carefully slide it out. There's no worry about the electrical lines.

The company, Winne and Itasca, have provided enough length in those lines to completely remove the unit and, place it on your platform, for service. Done!

Anyway, enough blabbing for now. Oh, by the way, according to the maintenance schedule for the Coleman unit, you're supposed to lube those bronze bushings every year or so. Yeah sure, I'm going R&R that unit, remove sheet metal and, lube that bushing every year, yeah, I'm really going to do that. Hence, the installment of the permanently lubed bearing.
Scott

[Duner]

Skigramp,

My original problem was a squeal too. First at startup, then a startup and shut down. Then while at a FMCA rally during a ridiculous humidity & heat wave, parked on blacktop in the generator section, the squeal became continuous and then turned into a horrendous continuous screech. It was quite embarrasing to run but our dog couldn't go with us in the cool a/c buildings. Folks were stopping to tell us our generator was about to throw a piston!!!

Anyway, our squeal was due to the metal squirrel cage of the outdoor blower slipping on the hub. The hub was tight on the motor shaft with one or two set screws. The cage is crimped on the hub. When the crimping starts slipping it's just a momentary nuisance, but after many cycles, it starts spinning and wobbling. And in my case developed a 2 in crack in the main piece of metal that radiates out to hold the fins.

The new composite plastic squirrel cage is so much quiter that the metal ever was and it draws 1-2 amps less power.

A couple years ago I updated the A/C removal procedure I wrote in 2008 to include suggestions from forum members including the variation for diesel pushers.

A link to download the pdf can be found my iRV2 profile under the contact tab where there is a link to my website. The bottom of the web page is a list of many documents that can be downloaded. Here is a direct link

Also, once you disturb the duct work you will probably have to reseal the joints. Any leaks back there really reduce the effective cooling and on hot days you're not going to be a happy camper. I just resealed a massive leak 3 months ago. My problem was at the top of the rectangular duct where it connects to the big "Y" splitter. I had to cut a 14" x 16" hole in the back of the rear closet to gain access. With it sealed and insulated, my unit freezes us out now in full 90 deg sun.

Good luck Skigramp with your repair job.