10 year old ac unit: fix or replace?

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rockwind1

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Mar 1, 2015
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greetings. i have a 2007 attitude FSAKG 34' fifth wheel. man, i am always working on this thing but it has 2 ac's, one in the master which is a 12,500 i am pretty sure and the "main" one which is a 15,000 btu unit. the main one has taken a dump, i think it is toast, although i am not a air cond tech, have the guages though but the rv shops here in vegas are pretty cut throat. I would be better of having ISIS work on it. between driving the trailer down to ISIS headquarters, having them fix it for no doubt in the hundreds of $, i can get a new unit and put it on myself for 5, which seems really easy (except for getting it on the roof)

so my question is from those with experience of a similiar problem

are the newer models a lot better and more efficient than the 10 year old models?
is it worth getting repairs (assume the worst like the pump is bad)?

is it as easy as it seems?

thanks in advance for any helpful responses. fyi, i did post same question on another forum
 
Yes it is as easy as it seems...just the heavy lifting. Really needs to be a 2 person job. Plan on replacing the gasket since they compress with age and can be a source of leaks.
Don't give up on existing unit. 10 years is not "old" for an AC. You say it is toast but how toasty is it? Runs, no cool, don't run at all, smokes/pops circuit breakers...? There are a lot of degrees of smoked. Could just be a starting capacitor at <$15 plus install if it won't start or just hums and trips breaker.
Don't expect a lot of gains in efficiency or performance on a new unit. Some advertise being quieter, some lower profile, etc.

 
thanks bob,  i better get out there and check it out a little.  it doesn't run at all,    the unit ran almost all last summer when it was parked hooked up to a 50 amp service.    i am in vegas so it gets hot and stays hot and i think it just kept running trying to keep up.  i replaced the start capacitor a few years ago and i still the old one so maybe i will switch it out. 
 
And the obvious when you say "it doesn't run at all" check the Circuit Breaker by turning fully off and back on. If you are going on top, take a meter or a test light with you to check for 120VAC at the unit.
Good luck.
 
And don't bother taking your gauges up on the roof. RV units don't have gauge ports.
 
nibroc said:
JMMHO====replace it
Click to expand...

Personally, I would troubleshoot it. The problem may actually be in the t-stat also. Is it getting a signal to run? I would rather spend $150 for a motor and 1 hour repair if that's all it needed vs $575 plus shipping, then 4 hours replacing and having to feed  someone lunch (and possibly beer).
 
kdbgoat said:
Personally, I would troubleshoot it. The problem may actually be in the t-stat also. Is it getting a signal to run? I would rather spend $150 for a motor and 1 hour repair if that's all it needed vs $575 plus shipping, then 4 hours replacing and having to feed  someone lunch (and possibly beer).
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Yea, don't want to waste good beer!
 
I don't drink any more, but when I did, a beer or two with a friend was never wasted. 8)
 
well, now that the consensus is that the new ones are not much better than the older ones then i am more inclined to at least check it out. 
 
so,  the blower fan turns on and runs fine, running amps at 2.5 ish.    however,  i had my setting at 40 amps and the compressor motor went over that when trying to start because it said overload.    then i could hear it sort of humming, like it was still trying to do something.    anyway,  the start capacitor is a NGM88-108 MFD  50-60 HZ  165 VAC      MADE IN MEXICO IN APRIL 2006

ANYTHOUGHTS ON HOW LONG START CAPACITORS LAST,  IT ALSO HAS A Dometic A/C WSX-5 Motor Starter STUCK ON THE TOP OF THE CAPACITOR.   

what is the general consensus of using the start capacitor from my 13,500 btu dometic unit jsut for a quick "see if it works" test?   
the unit is a rvp  rv products    division of airxcel, inc. 
 
Could be starting capacitor...Surprised CB doesn't trip at that current.
Starting capacitor like any electric device has no real stated life but can be impacted life cycle use and environment.
Replacement capacitor must be +/_ 10% size (108 MFD) and voltage (165 VAC or greater). Close in MFD ok for short test but same or higher for VAC. There are also some current issues involved but not discernable from part number directly.
 
Take the start cap and have it tested, before you buy a new one. The compressor may be stuck. You can try and smack it with a hammer while it's trying to start, sometimes that can jar them loose. Even if it does, it might do the same thing again. Take the power off, them measure the ohms from the start term to common term and then from run term to common. Take the wires off when you do this. If either one is open, time to replace. If you can't fix it yourself it's time to replace. Shop labor around here is over $80.00 an hour, plus the service call. It's probably opening the thermal internal over load. If so time to replace.
 
my other start capacitor is a hard start supco spp6.  it's fairly new, like 2 years but it has some weird brown stains on it, like it is leaking.  but there was nothing on the outside reallly.    it must be working because the other unit, a domitic,  is working ok. 

has anyone had any experience with the spp6 or spp6E from supco?
 
well, that worked great!    put on the supco spp6 from the other unit and it started right up.  was pulling about 14 amps as it was running.      the fan pulls about 3 amps so the compressor was pulling 11,  and the compressor RLA is 10.7 so that should be good,  right?  it didn't seem to be as cold of air as i would have liked though. 

any thoughts on what i should do with the Dometic A/C WSX-5 Motor Starter that is on the old start capacitor?  should i keep it on there? 
 
rockwind1 said:
my other start capacitor is a hard start supco spp6.  it's fairly new, like 2 years but it has some weird brown stains on it, like it is leaking.  but there was nothing on the outside reallly.    it must be working because the other unit, a domitic,  is working ok. 

has anyone had any experience with the spp6 or spp6E from supco?
Click to expand...
You don't need both. You might have a bad potential relay on the other motor starter.
 
10 yrs old AC for a camper is not much due to fewer run hrs compared to home AC. So fixing is ok but heres is the problem. more than likely your AC uses R22 freon which is VERY VERY expensive and in 3 yrs will be no longer available. So YES replace it but make sure it's either 134A, 410 or 407A  freon
 
rockwind1 said:
well, that worked great!    put on the supco spp6 from the other unit and it started right up.  was pulling about 14 amps as it was running.      the fan pulls about 3 amps so the compressor was pulling 11,  and the compressor RLA is 10.7 so that should be good,  right?  it didn't seem to be as cold of air as i would have liked though. 

any thoughts on what i should do with the Dometic A/C WSX-5 Motor Starter that is on the old start capacitor?  should i keep it on there?
Click to expand...

NO it's never good to be over the RLA even by a little you can be under but not over  10-10.5 would be good 10.6-10.7 would be pushing it but ok
 
aquadave said:
NO it's never good to be over the RLA even by a little you can be under but not over  10-10.5 would be good 10.6-10.7 would be pushing it but ok
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Totryand get the run amps down replace the run capacitor.

Denny
 
thanks for all the advice,  i actually ordered that soft start kit from that place, looks awesome.    but i started another thread about another issue with this ac.  i noticed some weird drainage stains on my roof. 
 

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