Coleman Air Conditioners timed out?

[gizmo123316]

We reached the heat of Arizona last Wednesday and needed some cooling in the coach because the dash air was not working (no cooling), so I started the generator while driving down the road. I had anticipated that we would need cooling, so had set the controls for zone 1 & 2 in the 1/2 bath to the appropriate settings. It did not cool off at all, so kept driving to our overnight destination thinking that they might work with shore power. No such luck. The only a/c that worked was zone 3 (bedroom).

We arrived at our wintering grounds the next day and I called an air conditioner repair shop and had the units checked. The front two units run, but do not cool, one draws the right amperage but no cooling. The other has oil on the pipes, which the tech says means that it is finished. In the last three years, these units haven't been used very much. Maybe they quit from the lack of use.

Perhaps the problem lies in the way that I use the system, that is, starting the generator while travelling down the road. I thought that was the way to cool the coach off when the dash air can't handle the job. I will continue to use the a/c's in this way, or can anyone tell me that I am treating them badly. Isn't this the proper way to cool off the coach while travelling?

[Statgeek]

No problems using generator while traveling, and running the AC that way. This is necessary in the south, and we did it for 100% of our trips when we lived there.

[brobox]

Bob, the A/C with oil on it is shot, however they can be rebuilt. The A/C shop that replaced mine under warranty does rebuild them and has a waiting list of buyers. He locates the leak, in my case a bad solder joint, then adds a charging valve to the line.

As for running the A/Cs' on generator, the generator should run for at least two minutes before turning the A/C's on at the thermostat in the bathroom. If you had the thermostat set before starting the generator, two things to check. The circuit breaker for the one that is not showing a leak. Push it in and turn it completely off, then back on again If that is not it, check the start and run capacitor on the unit itself. Might also try shutting off 12v power to reset the thermostat. Hopefully it is one of the easy fixes.

Also the reverse when shutting the generator down. Turn the A/C's off, let the generator run for 2 minutes with no load before shutting the generator off.

[Matt D]

Bob, if I'm understanding you correctly, the A/Cs are set to run whenever you choose to start the generator?

If so, I prefer not to do things in that manner. I start the generator, let it stabilize for a few seconds, then set the A/Cs to run one at a time. Once they are all running, I stagger the set temp as needed to manage the cooling, and minimize simultaneous A/C startups.

I'm not sure if this helps anything, but I think it might prevent unexpected A/C performance. I baby those things because we live down south.

Oil on the condenser is bad, yeah that one is probably done. The other 2 are what I'd focus on.

One thing you might try as a Hail Mary, might be to reset the thermostat. Do this by turning off the 12V power near the front of the coach, let it sit, then turn back on.

After that, it sounds like the reversing valve may be stuck. To correct this, typically use is a good thing, but once it's stuck, you might run the heat pump for a few, then try A/C, then heat, then A/C. This might prove enough to free the valve.

I hope this helps.

-Matt