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WO 2 · 07-27-2011, 04:48 AM

Hi,

I recently bought a one-owner '09 Forest River Salem SE 28 FFSB after owning a 25-foot Dutchmen class C MH for 7 years. The Salem is equipped with Dometic appliances I'm not familiar with.

The A/C unit gave a neighbor's friend a bath last week. During its cooling cycle, the unit drips water normally that runs into the roof gutters and out to the corner of the trailer. But when the A/C cycles to "off", it releases a much larger quantity of water from an apparent hole in the bottom of the shroud. This flood runs down the roof, over the roof gutter, across the slide topper and over the edge in a stream of sufficient size and duration to douse a visitor sitting by my slideout.

This stream of water varies in quantity and duration in direct proportion to the heat and humidity of the day and length of the "on" cycle: the hotter and more humid the day and the longer the A/C has been running, the more water it appears to release when it shuts off.

I never experienced this with the Coleman unit my class C had. Is this a normal behavior for Dometic A/Cs? I don't know the model number of the unit.

Dr4Film · 07-27-2011, 05:21 AM

I look at this problem more as a coach issue versus an A/C device issue. All rooftop A/C's will expel water which is removed from the air, more so in very humid areas. Some coach builders will simply let the water run onto the roof and depending on how level the coach is determines where the water will run to and finally fall off of the roof. Other coach builders will place water collection cups under each drip hole and then run tubing from them in conjunction with a T to a single drip hose down to the bottom of the coach. Mine has the drip tubes but sometimes when I see water dripping off of the roof, that means I need to clean out the collection cups and/or the drain tubes.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

WO 2 · 07-27-2011, 05:38 AM

Let me clarify...

During operation the A/C releases a trickle of water onto the roof and into the gutter that drips off the rear corner at the rate of a drop or 2 per second. I consider this normal and have observed it many times before.

But immediately after the A/C cycles "off" and only after it cycles off, a much larger quantity of water is released from what appears to be a hole in the bottom of the shroud (near what would be the left front corner of the roof opening). It comes in sufficient quantity and at sufficient rate that it easily overflows the gutter and flows across the slide topper and onto the ground. This flows lasts anywhere from 5 to 20+ seconds and stops as abruptly as it starts. It looks like a spigot has been opened releasing the flow.

The amount of water in that release is greatest during the hottest, most humid part of the day after the A/C has run for hours without stopping. It can flow off the slide in a stream that clears the side of the trailer by a foot or more. In the evening when the heat/humidity has dropped there may be only enough water to trickle off the topper and down the slide window.

wa8yxm · 07-27-2011, 10:29 AM

Not unusual.. Two solutions one I do not recommend is to lay a bead of Dicor (non-self leveling) to "encourage" the water to drip off lesewhere.

One I do recommend is to re-level, you might wish to raise the front of the RV just a but, say 1/2 to 1 inch, thus directing the water more to the back side.

NOTE: If I'm nose down sometimes the water runs into my motor home instead of out the back of the A/C... Same solution. Raise front just a bit.