Dolphin Basement Air

[2445]

I have a 2004 Dolphin with basement air. When I go to electric heat the unit does not kick on. There is a lot of "clicking" from the thermostat (especially when I touch in the area of the on/off switch) but 9 times out of 10 it won't start. When it does start it works great.

Has anyone had this issue?
Thermostat?

Mike

[TOM356C]

Coleman-Mach unit manual states If you set temp 2-3 degrees higher than temp shown, it should start.That is in the owners manual somewhere.

Tom 07 Pacifica

[Wizard]

I would thing loose or dirty connections on the thermostat itself. Most are easily removed from the base, clean the connections and plug back in. May help to plug and unplug several times.

[JJH3rd]

The basic heat pump / gas heat operation is:
If the mode at the thermostat is elect heat, and the difference between the ambient temp and the desired temp is 5 deg or less the heat pump is activated & warmish air comes out of the ceiling vents.
If the difference is > 5 deg OR the mode is GAS, the gas furnace under the refrigerator comes on and warms the coach using the floor level vents.


I've had the Heat pump work down to 40deg F setting on the thermostat, provided I didn't set the room temp >5 deg.

[Al Bundy]

I had the same problem.
Does the thermostat display go blank?
Check for 12 volts at the 3 pin connector when it powers up.
Mine went down to 3 volts
I had a bad wire connection somewhere and it was too difficult to find the starting point.
If it is coming from the furnace, it will be hooked to the positive of the two
blue "thermostat" wires on the furnace.
I was told by Airxcel that it didn't matter where the stat got it's power from and just find a good 12 volt power source.
It worked.

If that's not the problem then this was their diagnostics to test some of the wiring.

To test the lifeline:
1. Disconnect the lifeline (9-pin harness) from the thermostat, and the PC
board at the AC
2. At the PC board end of the lifeline, test for continuity from any wire to
the blue wire with the inline spade connector. If any wire in that lifeline is
shorted to that blue with the spade connector, the Lifeline would need
to be replaced.
If no shorts found, test the relays

To test the Relays:
1. Remove the wires from the coil side of each relay (compressor one will be a
yellow wire and a blue wire, compressor two relay will be an orange wire and a
blue wire)
2. Perform an Ohms test between the two terminals on the relay. If you show
resistance, the coil is likely good. If you show infinite Ohms, the coil is
shorted, and the relay would need to be replaced. If you show zero
resistance, the relay does need to be replaced, but it is not the source of your
short.

If you don't find a problem with the lifeline or the relays, the only other
possibility would be the PC board itself.

Part numbers you may need:

PC board replacement kit = 6535C3209
Compressor Relay = 1460-1131
Lifeline = If this is not a Winnebago the part number would be 6795C4351. If
this is a Winnebago, you would need to contact them for a part number, as they
made their own lifeline for this.

[GREGORYJ]

JJH3rd is correct. The thermostat is designed to only "maintain" the warmth in the RV if in electric heat(heat pump) mode. If the RV's temperature needs to be raised a lot, that is 5 degrees or more, the thermostat is designed to do it the fastest way by turning on the gas furnace. To save on LP gas, I often "fool" the thermostat's routine by turning up the temperature 4 degrees at a time, then the heat pump(electric heat) with kick in instead of gas heat. As the room approaches the increased 4 degree temperature, I raise the setting again another 4 degrees and so on.

[2445]

Originally Posted by TOM356C

Coleman-Mach unit manual states If you set temp 2-3 degrees higher than temp shown, it should start.That is in the owners manual somewhere.

Tom 07 Pacifica

Thanks it works great when I do this. I looked for trouble shooting...probably should have looked at operating instructions.

[Al Bundy]

I guess mine was a different issue.
The stat would just start clicking randomly with nothing on.
And i have a spare stat if anyone wants to try it, lol.
Glad you got it figured out