AC rattling - serious or not?

Yesterday, I turned the airconditioners on to cool off the coach and get it ready for a short trip. Got side-tracked and didn't get back for several hours. When I did, it sounded like the fan was hitting something. (Sounded like our wall AC in the stick house when it ices up.)

It was putting out cold air, but I shut it off. An hour later, I turned it back on. Cooled, but made a less violent, not so noisey, rattleing sound - as if the fan was buzzing on a piece of paper. Still cools. (Our wall unit is noisey, with a similar sound, all the time. Drives us nuts. Serviced twice and they can't seem to quiet it down.)

I looked, from inside, to see if I could see anything in the way of the fan. Couldn't see the fan, at all. It's not visible from inside. No moving parts visible from there. I am not able to go up onto the roof. Wouldn't be inclined to, if I were able. (Vertical Jerry, are you around here close?)

Am I OK, to take a short trip, anyway? Don't want to worsen the fault and increase repair costs. Or, do I take it in, for service and lose this week? (Going without AC is out of the question. Both of us have medical issues with heat and have to be overly cautious.)

The maddening part is that we haven't been able to get out, yet, this year. The coach has been sitting there straining at the bit! She sez, "Come on, folks, lets go!"  ;D

It's been one doctors appointment after another!  :-\ Been pretty steady. So, I scooted all appointments, for both of us, out of this week, to make room for fun. Got them all in the next week, the 14 to 18th.  : With the VA, that was pretty hard to do. Will be easier, next time. Learned how it's done.)

Are we jinxed, this year?  :

Ray D  ???

By the way, it is Original Equipment, Air V - CARRIER RECREATIONAL VEHICLE AC. It's in a 2005 Damon Challenger. It is the main AC, in front. The bedroom AC is running fine. I do have an extended warranty - $50 deductible. (It will cost more than that, to get a service man to climb the back ladder!)  : : All maintenance requirements have been followed, since new. Don't want to mess it up, worse, if using it for a week is a hazard. Thanks.  ;D

To answer your question "Is it serious" there are 3 answers.. Yes, No, and Maybe

If the fan is hitting on something and it's the right something, that is indeed serious, however it might be very easy to fix (Just bend the fan)

If the fan is broken and thus hitting things other than it should.. Same thing, but now you need a new fan (or blower)

if there is a twig or some such that's gotten stuck in there and the fan is tapping it, not serious, but annoying and very easily fixed

Suggestion,  "Pop the top" (Carefully remove the cover) and inspect to see what you can see.  Fix if you can , replace what you have to.  Also while you are at it check mounting bolts (inside) to insure they have not vibrated loose and do a general cleaning and whatever needs to be done.

John, you suggested,

Suggestion,  "Pop the top" (Carefully remove the cover) and inspect to see what you can see.

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I'd do that in a second, but it can only be done, from the roof. I don't do roofs nor high places. I have continuous Vertigo that goes from bad to worse - wish it would go away, but "away" is one direction it doesn't go.  In other words, I'm slightly drunk, unless I'm falling down drunk, all of the time. And, it's a cheap drunk - alcohol not required.  :

Up on the roof, with 12' 6" to fall. Not me! 

Oh, my Vertigo goes away, if I sit down or lie down. Anybody know a way to climb a ladder, on your butt?  :

Ray D  ;D

Ray,

It's probably nothing.  It could be some dried leaves or as John suggested a twig.  Is there a neightbor that can climb up on the roof?  It's a simple thing to take the shroud off and be able to see the entire unit.

If there is no neighbor, how about a mobile RV guy?

My gut feeling is that it's nothing except some bit of debris that has blown in; and probably will blow out when you drive the coach.  But like you, I wouldn't want to make it worse or have to do without if it breaks.  We don't do well without A/C either.

Don't climb up on the roof.  I wished we lived closer, we'd pop up there and see what's going on.  I hate to see you give up your week's trip.

Marsha~

Marsha, move closer!  ;D

Regretably, no neighbors that I would want up there. Thought about a mobile RV service. May try that.  :-\

Got a fantasy that I call the service dept, they get me right in, and we leave Tuesday. That would be just fine. Most lilkely, it will be longer than that. May just have to call and find out. Maybe they are not busy this week.  ???

So, worst case, we try again in two weeks. Got clear for a while on the 19th.  ;D

Thanks for your help.

Ray D  ;D

First thing in the AM call the service dept. Explain your situation and ask if they could at least look at it to see if it is something serious. They would probably let you swing by and squeeze you in. It is certainly worth a try. The worst they can say is no.

Well.. I do know several more or less safe ways to get ON a roof.. The hard part, and trust me this is the hardest part is getting OFF safely.. I can''t tell you how to do that.

Actually I can.. But it requires special hardware

I'm acrophobic,  Yet somewhere I have a snapshot of me, 100' up an antenna tower, working on the antenna

Suffice to say I had great faith in the safety gear I was wearing.  I had enough trust in my climbing harness to offset the acrophobia

And that's how you do it. Use a proper harness and safety line.. Worst case you get lowered from the roof.

I seriously do not recommend it

Ray,
There are probably two 'fans'. One is a fan mounted inside the shroud on the roof that blows air over the condensor; the other is actually a squirrel cage blower that moves the cool air through the coach. A small piece of paper, insulation, or something else rubbing against the blower (inside) will make that noise, but it won't be heard outside. Similarly, something rubbing against the fan blades (outside) will make a noise that you won't hear inside. Bottom line: if you're getting a decent supply of cool air inside, don't worry about it. Enjoy your trip and have someone not vertically challenged take a look at it when you return. 

Thanks again, everyone. Good ideas.  ;D

Karl, I looked at the manual, and saw the two fans. I have a hunch you are right, and it is the squirrel cage fan. The inside air is cool, but with less force than before. Compared to the rear AC, it is putting out quite a bit less air. whatever it is hitting, is slowing it down.

To late to do more, today. Will decide on a course of action, tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Ray D  ;D

My advice..... DO NOT use the AC until it is checked.

Another hot of the press item...

    On my weekly trip to the storage to exercise my RV, I was amazed that my A/C rattled for the first time in 4 years. The symptoms were similar to the ones described above.

  The first thing I did was to remove the ceiling filter grille. (4 screws) and found that the filter pad fell into my hands. It was a black sponge-like material about ?" thick. Problem was it was only half as large as it was the last time I checked it.
  Upon touching it, it literally fell apart in pieces. Only half of the original filter was left; guess where the other half went: up into the fan mechanism. Age deterioration, I suppose. (I live in Florida, and it gets hot in the RV when stored).

  I the checked the other filter in the bedroom. That filter was nonstandard, like horsehair about ?" thick. It had obviously been replaced in the past and was complete in size.

  That made me think, why filter anything at all, what are you trying to catch in the filter? Both were very clean and the horsehair one was so course that it wouldn't stop anything worthwhile.

  So now I will dispense with filtering out anything, because there is no evidence of anything being filtered out.

  I just hope that the rattle will stop when the fan will disperse any chunks of foam that were sucked into it.

Coincidence or not? It might be worth a check.

carson FL

That woudl cause clicking

My filters give clear evidence that they are working... Very clear evidence

They go in black,, Come out light gray

Come on John, clicking, rattling, noise, who cares...

After 4 years my black filter was still black. Don't you agree with the deterioration aspect of the filter material?

carson

Carson,

My filters are spongy black also and I have to clean them OFTEN.  When I take them out, they are like John's, grey and very very dirty.  The soapy warm water I was them in, turns black.  We live in a hot dry dusty area, so I think the filters do some good in keeping out the crud that could get up into the motor.

Marsha~

carson said:

After 4 years my black filter was still black. Don't you agree with the deterioration aspect of the filter material?

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I replaced my filters with a better grade Hunter charcoal filter.  They go in black and get replaced every few months with new ones.  The are full of dust when they come out.

Phil

Since the rattling has turned into filter talk, I recently bought a couple washable filter sheets from this eBay auction.  It has 3 layers in there including the standard charcoal, to allegedly remove extra stuff.  As long as the 2 extra layers of filtering don't slow the return A/C air too much, it should be a good thing.  Anyone know for sure if that should be a concern?  I guess if my A/C vent output is noticeably diminished, that would be a clue of too many air obstructions.[edit]Fixed link.[/edit]

Thanks for the link Scott. I need to replace ours, and I might try those. The flimsy foam ones in our coach aren't really filtering much until they get dirty and blocked up.

For the price, it seemed silly NOT to try these filters.  I needed to replace mine anyway, having recently discovered one of my roof A/C's had NO filter whatsoever.    I had never thought to look "up" and check it before.  What possessed the previous owner to remove the filter and never replace it is beyond me.  :  I figured the best solution was to put brand new ones in both A/C's and keep track of my own replacement/cleaning as needed.

I'm in full agreement Scott.

carson said:

Come on John, clicking, rattling, noise, who cares...

After 4 years my black filter was still black. Don't you agree with the deterioration aspect of the filter material?

carson

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I never spoke of the deterioration of the filter material.. Only that there is evidence of it filtering SOMETHING in my rig.

As to do I believe filters get old and fall apart.. Sure,  Though my RV's filters are not old enough to have done that yet. I've seen it in other filters of the same material.