RV a/c no work......help

[Whitmore]

The A/C unit in my 5er doesnt want to work at all, when you flip it to cool it just buzzes kinda like a stalled electric motor??? I know nothing about a/c, does anyone have a clue what is wrong ... ... ... ... Kevin

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

There are 2 motors in your AC - one is the compressor, the other is the air circulating fan. Try running the AC in the circulating-only mode to see if it's just the fan portion not working (you might be able to remove the interior grille, and reach up inside to manually spin the fan to check it for free rotation) - if it is bad, it might only need oiling at the bearings - if the compressor is bad and won't spin up, it might only need a new start capacitor...



Good luck...

 

[dmurdock]

Exact thing happened to my in-laws trailer about a month ago... fan would work, but when you tried to start the compressor you would hear a slight buzz (like it wasn't getting enough voltage to start). Start capacitor was good, compressor was toast.

 

[Whitmore]

I took off the cover on the inside and couldnt see squat but a bunch of wires, so I went on top and saw a motor that drives the condenser fan on one end and a squirlcage fan off the other shaft, I had the lil woman run it on fan alone and it works great on both high and low then I had her flip it to cool and the fan just boged down like it was only getting half the amps it needed acted like the starter wanted to work but didnt have the juice



Question, I have 3 ext cords from my house to reach it, do you think I have too much line loss in them cheap cords ... ... ... ... . Kevin



and what does the starter look like?

 

[rrl989]

Don't use Extention Cords

Whitmore,



Try it without the extension cords. Could be the cause of your problem. Each cord, depending on gauge and length, could be causing enough voltage drop, to give you those symptoms, which can even damage your AC equipment / Appliances.



Ron

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

HOLY COW!



get RID of those extension cords! WAY to much voltage/current drop - will damage yer AC if you try that with anything less than a contractor's type cord designed for mucho amps draw...

 

[Deezul1]

Needs to be at least 12 gauge if over 25 ft and prolly should be at least 14 ga under 25 ft. Notice how fat your RV cord is, there is a reason they make them that heavy and the longer it gets the heavier it has to be to carry the same current. Some one chime in here and give him some accurate #s on cord size as I may be to light for RV AC.

 

[SRehberg]

RV a/c no work....help

How long of cords are you using and what guage conductors are in the cords? If the run is short, <100ft. and you are running typical A/C, I would expect a min. of No. 12, preferrably No. 10. That said, one reason your fan motor may be dragging down, is the compressor is stuck, or in correct terms, a "locked rotor" condition, which can suck 6-9 times the normal amount of amps. With this happening, the circuit will drag way down, especially with small guage extension cords. One way to check, is to use a meter called an "amprobe"; it clamps around the hot wire and reads the amps in that particular wire. Compare it to the mfgs. specs and if it is way off, (higher) then consider the compressor is gone.



Give the motor starter capacitor a shot as suggested earlier. . look to see if obvious swelling or leakage etc. A lot of time they physically look ill, then others they are just no good.



Lose the small extensions as they are killing things that draw any power at all. If you have a volt meter, check the volts at the coach with the loads turned on, you might be shocked.



By the way, the cord lengths and capacity, are for the A/C only, no other loads accounted for.



Just my opinions.

 

['956Wheel]

RULE OF "THUMB"

If you hold the extension cord between your thumb and index finger and its warm..... go bigger!



My A/C wouldn't work on my new gen, I thought it was the gen's fault. Pulled the A/C cover and found a piece of hard foam had gotten between the fan (condenser) and shroud not allowing it to turn... pulled it out and it worked.



Mike

 

[JFitzgerald]

Had a similar problem at the campground we stayed at last week. Had only 104 volts at the camper and the A/C compressor wasn't happy about it. Too many A/C units on the electrical service. Was using a 50 ft. 12 ga. extension on the 10 ga. camper cord. I moved the trailer closer to the outlet so I could plug the camper directly in without the extension. Helped some, but the main problem was too much load on the service.

 

[BaileyFlyer]

If you really want to know how bad extension cords are, go buy one of those voltage meters that plugs into an outlet. Then fire up the old A/C and watch it drop. Low voltage is one of the hardest things on a compressor motor. The lower the voltage, the more current it takes to turn the motor, the hotter the motor runs and the faster it dies. I had my unit hooked via ext cord to the house and turned on the A/C to see what happens. the voltage dropped to 90 volts (the intiial spike was around 65 volts, then it came up to 90 after the compressor was turning). Needless to say I don't run the A/C unless i am using my generator when it is at the house. I also keep the voltmeter plugged in all the time. When i went to lake powell and stayed at the Bullfrog RV park, the park power would drop to 105 volts while the A/C was running. Not a good thing for the long term life of the unit. Most parks have good power - 115 volts or so. But I like to know because it isn't worth burning up the airconditioner. i will either move to another spot and recheck the power or go to another RV park.