Working on my A/C

[azdryheat]

I previously re-taped the a/c vents so today I worked on the bedroom and garage a/c. There are two ducts coming off the bedroom a/c and the taping job was pathetic. To help with the re-taping, I removed two of the long bolts holding the unit to the roof, which were in the way. I found them (all four, actually) to be only hand tight! It was a fairly easy job to re-tape the duct area and the central piece that separates the intake air from the out-going air. I didn't put extreme torque on the four attaching bolts but snugged them down much better than Voltage did. Bedroom air seemed to blow better after the re-taping.

I didn't find any issues with the garage a/c. It's a standard down-draft and not hooked up to the duct system.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get up on the roof and tackle the middle a/c.

[Camper2b]

Way to go, should be a simple task. Been there done that. Others as well. I experienced a noticeable difference for the good.

[azdryheat]

I'll post back here what I find when I take the middle a/c off.

[72mach]

I have to do the same with my Infinity 3750 before it gets hot. I re taped the vents which were done properly from the factory. The unit was taken in to CW for repair of the AC and they claimed they fixed it but it still blew a lot of cold air out side of the ducts as I could take the ceiling lights out in the bedroom and have cold air pour out.

[azdryheat]

Well, this morning I got up on the roof and pulled the middle a/c unit and found the tape job, again, to be pathetic. The duct area was vacuumed and new tape applied several layers deep as I don't want to mess with it again. The a/c was reattached and the system checked. Having the duct work sealed up caused the remaining saw dust in the ducts to blow out through the vents. I am now getting real good air flow. C'mon summer, I'm ready.

[Infinityrver]

For everyone that has the ability to retape the air ducts in the ceiling and also, pull the air conditioning unit and tape the interior duct, just do it. What a difference.

For those that cannot, I'm concerned that your dealers are going to come up with all kinds of ideas other than the obvious.

The people at Dutchmen slapped the duct work together and didn't do their job correctly. I might add, they did poor duct work on the heating ducts, also. I fixed that with aluminum tape, too.

It'll be worth the effort, Mach72. It'll make a difference.

[azdryheat]

Might I add, pulling the a/c is a real easy and quick. 6 screws removes the cover and 4 lag bolts removes the entire unit. The time consuming part is the taping; I took my time but was done with everything before lunch.

[arlan in arizona]

Originally Posted by azdryheat

Might I add, pulling the a/c is a real easy and quick. 6 screws removes the cover and 4 lag bolts removes the entire unit. The time consuming part is the taping; I took my time but was done with everything before lunch.

I'm sure it's been covered before. But what tape is required. I might look at mine tomorrow before the heat sets in. Although, I'm not sure how much air flow one can get from 1 AC feeding 9 ducts. I'm pretty sure it won't be enough to cool a 42' long trailer with 3 slides. I'm glad I have 3 AC's.

[Infinityrver]

I used the aluminum tape specifically made for metal duct work. You can find it any of the big box lumber stores.

Just make sure you clean the duct of debris (saw dust) that was left during installation that the Dutchmen @$#%s left.

I made sure that I sealed all seams within the air flow area beneath the air conditioning unit. I had previously done all the duct vents previous to getting on the roof and doing beneath the air conditioner. My other air conditioner is direct vent so I didn't have to do that one.

[arlan in arizona]

Well, I was just up there and removed the cover and the 4 lag bolts. I lifted on the AC unit and it did not want to come up easily. I put it all back to together.

[Sinecure]

I had the same experience. The foam that compresses and makes a seal tends to stick to the roof material a bit. Just start at a corner and pull up slowly and you'll get it separated.

[azdryheat]

Eat your Wheaties. lol

[72mach]

Originally Posted by Infinityrver

For everyone that has the ability to retape the air ducts in the ceiling and also, pull the air conditioning unit and tape the interior duct, just do it. What a difference.

For those that cannot, I'm concerned that your dealers are going to come up with all kinds of ideas other than the obvious.

The people at Dutchmen slapped the duct work together and didn't do their job correctly. I might add, they did poor duct work on the heating ducts, also. I fixed that with aluminum tape, too.

It'll be worth the effort, Mach72. It'll make a difference.

I plan on doing it but it just irritates the hell out of me to know that I put it in the shop for work under warranty with CW and they didn't take the time to fix it properly. Heck, I've had a jacked up slide and missing carpet since July and they finally called on Monday with the news they have the parts (after three trips).

[Grimtas]

I really need to quite reading threads like this, I pulled down my ceiling vents yesterday, and the taping was terrible, my 2YO grand-baby could have done a better job. I hadn't noticed any issues and most likely wouldn't have noticed until later this summer when it would have been much too warm. A quick trip to my local big box store for a roll of 3M foil duct tape and I've now re-taped all the ceiling vents. Now I need to reseal the AC's and furnace ducting this weekend. I still need to let it warm up a bit more so I can actually run the AC's and blow out all the sawdust from the vents, what a mess that's going to be. (I should buy a truck load of shop vac's and send them to Dutchmen)...

I guess that's what we get for piece worked instead of paid labor, thanks Dutchmen.

[arlan in arizona]

What tape are you all using . The stuff that is on there is very flexible and wider than anything I have been able to find. I just had mine apart and although the taping job was not perfect I think it was sufficient to do the job. I re-taped one of the ducts and am hoping the tape I used will stay in place. I used a made in USA foil tape. The stuff with the maroon printing on it.

[Infinityrver]

I used foil tape from a big box store that I found in the duct work furnace area of the store. Very sticky stuff. I've even used it to seal up issues with my heating air ducts in the basement of my 5er.

[Grimtas]

I used a 3M product from a big box store 2" wide very sticky (3M Cold Weather IV/13, is marked on the tape). I've just finished up the AC's removed the center unit on the roof and found the same as all the photos in the AC thread. Pulled the covers on the front and rear ac units from the inside and resealed them as well. All vent's were pulled and resealed earlier this week as were all the furnace vents.

I removed one of the furnace return grates, as it needed to be replaced anyway, the dealer has the parts and will replace that on Friday. Looking at the back of the furnace I now need to pull the wall in the pass through as half the furnace ducting is falling off the connections and as poorly taped as the AC ducts.

By the time I'm done with the furnace ducts I'll have used nearly an entire roll of tape, most likely overkill but it's now snowing (Sawdust) in my coach. Glad I did this now instead of when it was actually hot outside and the AC is needed.

I'm testing the system by having the furnace on all morning at 80 to warm up the coach so I can actually put on the ac units, with front and mid running right now it's dropped 15 degrees in about 30 mins, so hopefully everything is working properly.

Now to lookup the E7 error code on the rear AC, I have the load balance system, and currently connected to a 20 AMP circuit so I shouldn't be getting any errors it should just be cycling between the three units.

[eightydo]

With that code sounds like an over draw on that circuit. On my unit the Rear and Galley A/Cs are in the same phase or the panel. IE: mere then 25 amp draw.

***E7 Loss of 120 VAC power to all power module boards on the system. The system will shut down.

[arlan in arizona]

Originally Posted by azdryheat

Eat your Wheaties. lol

Well, I ate my Wheaties and when I lifted the AC unit a portion of the press board roof material remained stuck to the unit. No big deal I guess. I tried to remove it but if seems to be part of the gasket now.

So I re-taped all the duct work and put her back together. Everything seems about the same. Mine was not really bad when I inspected it.



I wonder how much that mass of wiring disrupts the return air flow.



The piece of missing wood is on the AC gasket and sitting where is should be with the unit installed.

[soonernation]

My wiring looks like that as well. Last time I was in there I intended on cleaning it up a bit by zip tying some of them together. Ran out of time so I tucked them back in there.