Air conditioners, the vent ducts are not working!!!

[72mach]

true and its a rare case when an RV company does something RIGHT. The landing gear is a known issue and I posted a link up on here from Lippert which specifies the Infinity being wired wrong and burning up the control unit, I showed it to CW but they insisted that they troubleshoot it and did so with the factory I'm sure to charge hours to get pay.

[Fitzgerald]

The bedroom cools good. The center of the voltage is poorly cooled. The garage is not cooled. My voltage 3950 has 2 units. I bought a 10,000 btu portable air conditioner and placed it in the garage. Now it cools good. There is only 1 circuit for most of the electrical outlets and that makes it tough to run multiple things at once.

[eightydo]

Today I made a Baffle for the center AC unit for better air flow. This seems to work, better air flow. I can feel the air when standing near the registers. I forgot to take pic after I finished tapeing the baffle.Duct Work

[lakebuster]

The wood slots in steps are return air for propane furnace, A/C in bed room has return air directly on unit (black foam filter) A/C in main living area has return air (with filter) in what looks like two regular home air supply registers, garage A/C is the same as bedroom without the option of going into duct work, so pucks are only discharge in my unit with the bedroom having the option of going into duct work or opening slide discharging directly from unit, had to tear everything apart just to figure this thing out, no help from salesman.....

[72mach]

Originally Posted by eightydo

Today I made a Baffle for the center AC unit for better air flow. This seems to work, better air flow. I can feel the air when standing near the registers. I forgot to take pic after I finished tapeing the baffle.Duct Work

I have a question, when you remove the ceiling AC unit from the roof how did you do it? I guess what I am asking is that when I installed the 2nd non ducted AC unit the bolts were tightened from inside the trailer so with the ducted unit I would like to understand how one is able to remove the unit from the roof and retighten the bolts.

This is of course needed if CW does not repair it and I need to go in and do it myself.

thanks

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by 72mach

I have a question, when you remove the ceiling AC unit from the roof how did you do it? I guess what I am asking is that when I installed the 2nd non ducted AC unit the bolts were tightened from inside the trailer so with the ducted unit I would like to understand how one is able to remove the unit from the roof and retighten the bolts.

This is of course needed if CW does not repair it and I need to go in and do it myself.

thanks

You just need to remove the exterior shrould to access the four lag bolts that hold the A/C to the roof. You might want to pencil or Sharpie the outline of the unit before removing it so you won't have to work so hard to realign the bolt holes.

[eightydo]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

You just need to remove the exterior shrould to access the four lag bolts that hold the A/C to the roof. You might want to pencil or Sharpie the outline of the unit before removing it so you won't have to work so hard to realign the bolt holes.

I concur

[slb5146]

I found this thread while I was searching for where the filter is located on my furnace. I never did find the answer but I was so intrigued that I ended up putting toilet paper on my vents in the living area and watching the small amount of air flow and no air flow on one vent.

I ended up crawling up on the roof and removing my middle AC unit and re-taping the distribution box to stop the air flow from going in the ceiling.

Here is my unit with the shroud removed from the middle AC.


Here are the tools I used for the entire job:
9/16 Socket
6 inch extension
3/8 Ratchet
Sharpie to outline the AC unit on roof
Screw driver


AC Unit with shroud removed


The front lag bolts


One of the rear lag bolts

This is the way I found one of the air ducts out of the distribution box


Here is the same air duct after I re-taped it


Another view after I finished taping


Here is the backing off the tape used by the factory to tape the distribution box. I found it stuffed back in the ceiling.


I made a trip to Home Depot after I removed the AC unit to buy the best tape they had.


I included a video with the toilet blowing in the breeze after I completed the job.

I brought the Voltage on July 22, 2014. So far I have had CW replace the converter, microwave, stereo, and dirt devil.

I replaced the bushings in the suspension myself.

CW could not or would not fix the rear San-T-Flush. I fixed it myself. The check value was reversed at the factory. Thanks to another thread I found.

Now I have two more AC units to pull. I know CW would never fix it right.

I want to thank everyone who had a part in making this a successful thread.

I still don't know where the filter is for my furnace.

_______________
Steve Brown
2014 Voltage manufactured in May 2013
2012 Chevy Duramax DRW 4x4

[Sinecure]

Great write up and pictures slb! I did the same thing to my Voltage and had every intention of taking pics along the way, but got distracted by what I was seeing!!? Mine looked almost identical to yours, plus lots of sawdust.

When I re-taped the ductwork for my front bedroom AC, I found it easier to remove the shroud inside the coach. I had full access to the airbox and was able to tape everything up without having to move the unit on the roof. Your front AC, and perhaps the rear AC should be the same.

[Nana & Poppy]

Steve, thank you so much for taking the time to document your "fix".....if we all try to do the same, this will become a very "strong" forum!

Unfortunately, my DH is not a modder or fixer, so I look here to find fixes for our problems......and do as suggested, thanks one and all!

[sundancer 87]

Your photos would make a fine presentation to the manufacturer if they had someone that cared.

Perhaps the manufacturer's person that frequents this forum might pass the photos along.

I would find the top dog in the company and send them to him, registered mail and signature required.

I think you win the prize for the best jacked up air box I've seen so far.

[slb5146]

Originally Posted by Sinecure

When I re-taped the ductwork for my front bedroom AC, I found it easier to remove the shroud inside the coach. I had full access to the airbox and was able to tape everything up without having to move the unit on the roof. Your front AC, and perhaps the rear AC should be the same.

Thank you Sinecure. That will save me climbing back on the roof. I wish I could edit my post and correct some things. There is no edit button. I want to delete one of the videos and re-size the photos, etc.

[Infinityrver]

slb5146

Niiiice photos! I have done the same on my Infinity. Cool air, even though I may not need it right now........I will next year, though.

I just retaped and insulated my furnace ducts in behind my basement walls. I gained more heat to my bathroom and Bedroom areas. I've helped gain heat to the living area. I'm unable to get in beneath the floor of the kitchen and living rooms. Gained a few belt sizes over the years.........I guess?

[72mach]

I am still awaiting for the CW repair on mine. They had my unit for 4 days with the parts in hand and only fixed the landing gear. I picked up my trailer Friday afternoon after it should have been fixed, the rep took a day of vacation and the tech called in sick so the AC unit was not fixed and neither was the slide completely, they managed to rip up the carpet though so they basically did 1/2 of the jobs that needed to be done.

Thanks for the photos, I'm sure it will be myself who has to repair the AC ducting.

[ATCguy]

Right off the bat, I wanna thank Steve Brown for his EXCELLENT write-up & photos. Although I'd read the other posts & how-to's in this thread... as one who's never worked on heating & cooling issues before, I had resisted doing anything to my rig, because I had no idea what I'd be looking for. Your photos really helped!!

Armed with Steve's photos & the knowledge from everyone's write-ups... I finally got around to tackling this project on my rig this week.

Oh, and as a side note... for any of you big guys wondering about the load-weight rating of your RV's roof... well, I can report that this is one area where Dutchmen did ok. The roof of my Voltage 3200 easily held my 350+ lbs. with no trouble at all. Didn't even feel the roof flex any as I walked on it.

So with that out of the way... I went about the task of removing the A/C unit and taping up the air box. Since Steve did such a great job of taking pictures with his, I didn't bother to stop and take any of mine. Suffice it to say that things looked pretty much as his did, except maybe not as bad. In any event, I removed all of the OEM foil-tape... blew out as much sawdust & crap as I could with my air hose... and re-taped everything up nice & neat. So long as the tape holds, it should be fine.

Next up was my interior vents. I didn't remember seeing a lot of pictures of this, so I took a few of my own as I did my project.

I removed all 4 vents the main cabin... 2 in the bedroom... 1 in the bathroom... and finally the 2 in the garage.






With the vents removed, I found the original work here wasn't really all that bad. It wasn't 'nice & neat', per se... but at least the foil-tape was where it was supposed to be in most cases. But in some, there were a few small gaps here & there between the vent ducting & the ceiling.

Here's one that's "ok":




And here's one that has a little bit of a gap:




As such, I removed the OEM tape from all of the vents, and decided to re-do them myself. Here's a picture with the OEM tape removed, showing the the gap between the vent duct and the ceiling that needs to be closed up & taped off:




Using some high-grade 3M foil tape that I got at Lowes... I re-taped all of the vents like so:




Next, I used my knife to 'score' the tape about every inch or so... and then folded the resulting 'sections' back over the top & bottom. In the picture below, you can see what I mean by seeing the cuts (scores) in the foil... and at this point, I've only folded one section over the top of the vent. I folded the remaining sections the same way.




I then re-installed the vents... and in the main cabin, I simply left the screw-in covers off:




After I was done... I taped a small piece of toilet paper to each vent, and turned on the A/C. The result can be seen by clicking on the image below: (will open a new window or tab)



And that's it.

While I really have no way of knowing whether this will improve the cooling issue I had with my rig last winter... I do know the airflow is much improved over what I had. I guess I'll find out when I take it to FL in February.

[slb5146]

Thank you Tom.

I really appreciate your comments. Those pictures are wonderful. Thank you for sharing your project.

[Tanman]

Slb... what a great write up. I too wish to pull my units but one thing plagued me. Sealing the unit or unsealing it. From what I can see from your pictures there is NO sealant utilized when the unit is installed. Did I miss something or is there a seal on the underside of the unit that makes a compression fit?? Does anyone know?? Do I need to reseal the unit if there is no sealant or appears not to be.. Can someone clarify this for me.. thanks

[GOLDENYEARS]

did all of my work from inside the rig. did not get up on the roof at all for my repair. perhaps I may still. I do believe there is some sort of a compressable gasket or seal undre the air unit on the roof. there would almost have to be to cut down on the rattle and such. If there is a sealant it is most likely "peanut butter" it is an extremly thick, sticky stuff and it does not dry out. (not supposed to anyway.)

My bedroom air unit stopped putting put cold air and warm air. Tech said it had leaked down somehow and got the okay to replace the unit.

Also, my dump lvalvel for the black water froze up and evently broke. some one put a round shaft inside a hexagon cable sheath. With the turning and tuging on the cable handle the cable evently broke.

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by Tanman

Slb... what a great write up. I too wish to pull my units but one thing plagued me. Sealing the unit or unsealing it. From what I can see from your pictures there is NO sealant utilized when the unit is installed. Did I miss something or is there a seal on the underside of the unit that makes a compression fit?? Does anyone know?? Do I need to reseal the unit if there is no sealant or appears not to be.. Can someone clarify this for me.. thanks

Nothing under the A/C unit itself but heavy weatherstripping. Maybe 1/4x1 inch stuff. Mine stayed stuck to the roof so I didn't bother with it.

If you pull the units mark the bolt holes or outline the A/C so you can easily replace it without damaging the weatherstripping and/or have some new on hand just in case. We all have a different experience so be prepared for anything up there, including stripped out bolt holes.

[ATCguy]

Tanman...

I was surprised that there was no real gasket under my unit when I pulled it. I think there had maybe been a thin bead of something sticky, because I kinda had to pull real hard on the unit to get it to release from the roof after removing the bolts... but that was it.

When I put it back on, I debated laying down a bead of something... as I felt there should've been a gasket or something. But in the end, I just sit the unit back in place & bolted it down like it was.

I was a tad worried it might leak... but we've had 2 big rain storms since I did it, and I can't detect any leaks anywhere on the rig so far.