Air Conditioner Ice

[Plapper2000]

2013 Aerolite 282DBHS Advent 13.5K A/C ducted. Purchased unit new in April
First camping trip. A/C quit working. reduced air flow to almost no air flow. Water dripping out of unit and from nearby speaker. Removed A/C cover and speaker. Water dripping from both. This is when I noticed the ice completely blocking the heat exchanger.
When I got home and all the ice had melted off the heat exchanger, I could see that the little thermocouple (gold tip at the end of the black wire) had come out of the little hole in the heat exchanger and was just hanging there. I retaped everything inside the A/C and replaced the thermocouple, taping the wire in place. Turned on the A/C and replaced the cover. I can feel air coming out of the hole left by the removed speaker. Obviously leaking ducting within the ceiling. A/C has been on for an hour and the inside temp has only dropped from 84 to 82.
I'll keep you posted. Just thought it was important to let folks know that the thermocouple can come loose, and it will cause an ice dam on the heat exchanger.

[Sinecure]

Hope you get it sorted out. There is a whole thread of information on sealing up the vent ducts.

[Plapper2000]

Thanks. I sealed the inside of the unit but will have some difficulty getting to the buried connections in the ceiling. It is working now. Hard to gauge the loss of efficiency. I wrote this thread so we would have a topic on the huge ice dam on the air conditioner heat exchanger.

[eightydo]

Ice on the heat exchanger tells me the coils are dirty.

[Canuckistani]

I recently took my 282DBHS back to the dealer to have them warranty the horrible air flow from the a/c unit. Ours dumps out 90% of the air flow into the bathroom vent, and about 2% in the bedroom/living area. I pick it back up tomorrow, but I'm not overly hopeful that it's actually fixed.

[Tanman]

Originally Posted by eightydo

Ice on the heat exchanger tells me the coils are dirty.

Along with the coils the filter could be filthy blocking airflow.

[Plapper2000]

Ice on the coils (should have said coil instead of heat exchanger) was caused by the thermocouple coming loose. Once I put the thermocouple back in place, it worked. I also have the high airflow in the bathroom, plus the air in the ceiling that I noticed when I took off the speaker near the AC unit. This is a new unit. No dirt on coils. Filter clean.

[sreuss]

I have a 2014 Aerolite 315 BHSS, we have the same a/c units. I had mine in for the low airflow issue also. Under warranty my dealer did the following, reduced the amount of air flow to the bathroom by taping off 2/3 of the opening to that side. This resulted in improved airflow to the rest of the unit. They also installed foam stop blocks just past the last vent opening in the front and back rooms. This closed off the dead air space, the ductwork runs the entire length of the trailer so there is 3-4 feet of dead end air space. Both of these fixes have greatly improved the airflow.
Almost forgot when I first got the unit home the rear vent had no flow, I pulled the vent grill off and the circle cutout into the ductwork was still in the hole so no air flow. Check for obstructions in yours.

[sreuss]

I need to give a big thumbs up to my dealer/service dept. Sunny Island RV Rockford Il. Great service from the sale to the warranty work. This is our second trailer in 3 years.

[deemcgowan]

Canuckistanim, please let us know how your warranty work goes. I have the same problem with most of the a/c air going to the bathroom.

[prm99v6]

I have the 13.5 K Advent in my 282 as well. Never really used the AC last year since we bought our trailer towards the end of summer but last week I was in the outer banks. Before leaving I had noticed no real air flow from the rear vent. After removing the inside fascia I found a very small opening feeding the one duct that runs front to back (as described above) and for air to get to the rear duct it has to make a u turn. Not a very good design at all. The opening feeding the bathroom was four times the size of the other so I covered the majority of it. I also taped each vent opening sealing any leaks between the duct and the vent.

With 95 degree temps outside and the thermostat set to 74 the AC worked for 1.5 days then shut off. I ran the ran only for a few minutes and then the AC turned back on. I removed the tape blocking off the bathroom duct opening and it worked for four more days then shut off again. This time we had closed the bathroom vent.

It appears, with my unit at least, that if the air doesn't flow out into the bathroom vent it causes the unit to freeze up? There was never any ice on anything when I removed the inside fascia.

So the entire design of the ducted system is horrible, and I worry that those trying to prevent air into the bathroom are doing more harm than good.

At this point, I don't know what I am going to do...

[Canuckistani]

It didn't go well, that's for sure.

They basically didn't touch the a/c system. We had a short list of things we wanted fixed, and they really only did about two of them.

In addition to that, our TV was stolen while the camper was in their possession. They have given us a replacement, but all they did was take a TV out of a new RV. No doubt that whoever buys that RV will be shorted a TV that they're paying for.

Worst after-sale experience I've ever had. Total "don't care" attitude.

[prm99v6]

I called Advent (ASA Electronics) to discuss the issue. Tech Support said that if the air isn't flowing out of the unit that it can cause it to shut down. I described the horrible duct work courtesy of Dutchmen. Since there was no ice on the evaporator that I could see they are sending me a new freeze sensor to try. He suggested possibly switching out the internal assembly to one that has vents but that would eliminate having ducted AC.

[Plapper2000]

I have already removed the external assembly and use an external fan to get the blast of air off the thermostat. If there is a retrofit so I can filter the air going to the coil that may be the solution. Not real impressed with the ducted system.