Basement a/c issue

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Ruth and Larry

Ruth and Larry

Active member
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Posts
35
Location
Camanche, IA
Help!  Our basement isn't working right.  It quit working this morning.  Couldn't get it to kick in.  We found the 20 amp breaker had been tripped.  I reset it and still nothing.  So I flipped off both 20 amp and the double 50 that was labeled main.  Turned it back on at the thermostat and it turned on, but now the air isn't cold.  Any suggestions?  We are heading into the upper 90's tomorrow.  :-[


Update!  Our compressor is not running.  Now what?
 
Sorry to hear about your problems.......it's always darn hot when these buggers act up.

Did you have good voltage coming in from the pedestal?  was/is it a 30 or 50 amp source?  When it's hot and everybody has A/C running the 30 amp campgrounds can have a nasty voltage drop....say 105v ac instead of 120v.  That is a killer on the motors and starting capacitors.  If you're lucky, you may have just lost a starting cap. These are easy to get to and since it's a common problem, most shops will have them available. 

You don't say say what coach you have (add that info to your signature), but if it's like mine, there's a 8' x 12" approx black panel on the left side of the unit.  One screw to take it off and look at the caps to see if you can tell which one may have been fried.  Note how the wires are connected before you remove it to replace it. 

Depending how far you want to get into fixing this yourself (and able), there are detailed schematics and troubleshooting guides that can be downloaded from the RVP website.

Good luck and come back and let us know what fixed it,

Bill
 
We are plugged in to 50amp electric.  The campground only has a handful of people right now so I don't think that would be an issue.  We did have the power go out yesterday.  But everything was up and running in less than five minutes.  Not sure if that had anything to do with it or not.  Everything was working well up until this morning. 

I talked to the service department at Winnebago and they also mention the run capacitor.  So here is my next question, and John maybe you can help me with this one, we are three hours from Forest City.  Would it be worth while or even possible to maybe get in for service there?  I tried a Winnebago dealer that is 35 miles away, but his tech left on vacation this morning.  Just my luck.  My husband isn't too mechanically inclined.  But thanks John for the service manual.

I'm sorry, I was thinking I had put our information on the mh on my profile, guess that was on the other forum site.  Oops!  Any how, we have a 2004 Winnebago Vectra 40AD.  We absolutely love the coach, but could do without all the troubles we have had since we bought it.  :-\
 
If you are only three hours from Forest City, then by all means drop in.  You don't need an appointment, they will work you in but it might take two or three days to get service.

Once we worked through our various issues with our Horizon (minor for the most part), it has been extremely reliable and we have over 60,000 miles on her.
 
Thanks John!  I think that is what we're going to do.  The guy I talked to at Winnebago said we could go to Ketelsen in Hiawatha, but we're just afraid that they won't have what we need on hand. 

I would so love to get to the point you're at with your coach.  I don't think the previous owners took very good care of this one.  It only had 39,000 miles on it when we got it and first we had the fuel issue, that one was a biggy, our ceiling fan came loose from the ceiling, the carpet has been replaced throughout, there were grease spots on the white leather seats and overall ground in grunge that the dealer prep didn't take off, the awning over the door is quirky, only goes in half way then you have to wait a few minutes to take it in the rest of the way.  And now the a/c.  I dare not ask "what next". 

We are parked at the rally grounds and have WiFi!
 
Just an update!  We are at Winnebago in Forest City.  So far I am very pleased with the way things are going.  We found out last night our refrigerator was not cooling properly either.  It wouldn't run on AC but we did get it to run somewhat on LP.  My milk was a little warm this morning.  Ick!

Anyhow, we packed up and headed out.  Not knowing what the day would bring.  I called the service department at 7am and told them we were coming and explained our dilemma.  Since we have a frig and freezer full of food they were going to see about getting us emergency care.  We now have an appointment for 11:40.  If all goes well, we should be back in vacation mode this evening.  :D
 
Excellent!  They will take good care of you.

They have a fridge and freezer in the shop to offload food when they work on your Norcold  if necessary.
 
did the service techs at winne indicate any inability to get parts for the basement A/C units?  I have been told that parts for the basement airs are becoming unavilable and that is one of the reasons winne have switch to roof airs.  This may be some justification for trading up for the roof airs although we have truly enjoyed the basement air and felt it was one of the most even heating and cooling units we every experienced  tom
 
I believe the primary impetus for the move to roof air (at least in the pushers) is due to the necessity for the urea tank for the latest diesel emission requirements.  As of model year 2010, Winnebago was still using basement air in a couple of models.

An ancillary reason for three roof airs I believe is the response to dark exterior paint and ever increasing interior volume.

As far as I know the only unique parts in the basement air are the control board and thermostat.
 
When I went to the "learn everything" seminar last year at GNR they touched on the move to roof air. It was caused by two events. The first was the loss of space for the basement unit caused by increased space requirements of the 2010 diesels. The second was that one of the basement air unit suppliers had gone out of business leaving only one. They were unwilling to continue to rely one a single supplier. As an ancillary reason the largest basement air unit (27,000) was not big enough for the 42-ft units. The three roof units on the 42-ft are 13,500 each and I think that any two will run on 30 amps.
As a side issue since basement air is essentially a house style unit many, if not all, of the replacement parts will probably continue to be available although some may be hard to find and therefore costly.
John, one question. When you installed your roof air unit is it plumbed into the ducting or does it just exhaust directly into the coach.
 
navy flier said:
...John, one question. When you installed your roof air unit is it plumbed into the ducting or does it just exhaust directly into the coach.
Click to expand...

Chuck - no ducting.  It blows from the vents on the ceiling part of the AC unit.  The rear vent is blocked quite a bit by the door track trim (the door from the salon to the bath/head/aft cabin) but the air from the front one will reach all the way forward to the dash.  I continue to be amazed at how quickly the roof air helps to cool down a hot coach.  Too bad I didn't do this 60,000 miles ago.
 
I was wondering John, if your new roof unit is a heat pump or just A/C?  I just checked the temps there in Silverton, CO where you're at now, and I suspect you need more heat than cooling.  At 9000+ ft those 36 deg nights and 54 deg days, you might need 36K btu heat pump!

Enjoy those cool temps, it's cooking almost everywhere else.

Bill
 
I was talking with the folks at Winnebago about my transfer switch and we got off on a discussion of the basement and roof acs. It seems the RVT is making basement ac again, using a new refrigerant. Winnie most likely isn't going to use them because of the space problem with the urea tank. When I mentioned that they also didn't have enough capacity, he didn't argue.
 
Bill - it is about 45 degrees this morning but very pleasant since the sun is out and there is no wind (just got back from walking the doggie.)  The roof air model I bought could have have been ordered with heat strips, but AFAIK, there was no reverse cycle option.

Michael - the company name is RVP (I assume stands for RV Products which is owned by Airxcel)
 
dogvetia said:
did the service techs at winne indicate any inability to get parts for the basement A/C units?  I have been told that parts for the basement airs are becoming unavilable
Click to expand...

Winnebago had the parts we needed to get the a/c running that day.  We arrived at about 8:30am and they gave us an 11:40 appointment, they pushed us in mainly because of our failing refrigerator.  By 3:00 we went back to pick up the coach and the a/c was fixed.  It was an outdoor fan and a bearing that went out. 

We went back the next morning to get the refrigerator fixed.  That was a seal of some sort that "opened up".  They had to take it out and lay it on the floor to fix it. 

We were totally amazed at how smoothly the service end of the business runs.  Even though we spent the rest of our vacation in Forest City, it was not a bad experience.  Except for the bill.  :eek:  But it was less than we had anticipated so that's a good thing.  :D  The worst part of the whole ordeal was what to do with our dog.  We were limited on things to do. 
 
Glad to hear about a happy ending to the story!

Since we acquired our Corgi, doing without the coach all day has complicated things a bit.  Last year we took the chairs and the doggie to Pammel Park and hung out there for a good part of the day.  One of us would make a lunch run to Bill's and bring it back to the park.
 
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