SOLVED: A/C not cooling (loose wire behind t-stat)

[Heart-less]

Last season on the hottest weekend of summer my main A/C unit would run but not cool. The bedroom unit worked fine. On discussion with the Heartland dealer he thought it might be ‘fried’ due to voltage swings in the park. To be fair we did have black and brown-outs that weekend.
Tried swapping thermostats but didn’t help. After several trips to the dealer it turned out to be a bad connection / broken wire behind the one thermostat. Just something to check if it happens to you.

 

[wdk450]

Re: Second A/C not cooling...

Last season on the hottest weekend of summer my main A/C unit would run but not cool. The bedroom unit worked fine. On discussion with the Heartland dealer he thought it might be ‘fried’ due to voltage swings in the park. To be fair we did have black and brown-outs that weekend.
Tried swapping thermostats but didn’t help. After several trips to the dealer it turned out to be a bad connection / broken wire behind the one thermostat. Just something to check if it happens to you.

It sounds like you "found" 1 reason for the RV rooftop AC not cooling. I wonder, did it cool down any outside when you finally got the AC to cool? I learned the hard way last summer in the hot California Central Valley in 115 degree heat, that the compressor on these AC units has an overtemperature cutoff switch mounted to the top of the compressor. In the middle of a hot day of cooling I could hear my compressor cut off, but the noisy fan kept blowing. My AC is getting old, so system inefficiency might be contributing to the compressor thermal cutout tripping in high ambient heat.

My assessment of the rooftop air conditioner was that cooling airflow to the compressor is OK for normal hot days, but not enough for extreme hot days. I got a tabletop fan from WalMart, and used mechanics wire to tie it to the air conditioner cover directly blowing in on the compressor top. I used an extension cord to power the fan from the outlet in the external refrigerator compartment. The compressor overtemperature cutoff did not trip any more that hot summer of 2018.

 

[mlpeloquin]

Re: Second A/C not cooling...

If you were having brown outs, a lot of electrical items were stressed. In six months to a year you will find out. You need to install a surge/voltage protector for your rig. It will monitor the AC voltage and it it drops too low or raze too high it will disconnect the power. When the AC voltage returns to normal, after a delay, it will turn the power back on. The Progressive Industries built in is the best, but the external by Progressive or Sure Guard external surge protector will do. I would advise not to get a Hughes Autoformer with surge protection. A lot of parks will not let you use them. I was surprised just how many stated no autoformers when going across the country. It was in their long rules list!

 

[NP_Chief]

Re: Second A/C not cooling...

If you were having brown outs, a lot of electrical items were stressed. In six months to a year you will find out. You need to install a surge/voltage protector for your rig. It will monitor the AC voltage and it it drops too low or raze too high it will disconnect the power. When the AC voltage returns to normal, after a delay, it will turn the power back on. The Progressive Industries built in is the best, but the external by Progressive or Sure Guard external surge protector will do. I would advise not to get a Hughes Autoformer with surge protection. A lot of parks will not let you use them. I was surprised just how many stated no autoformers when going across the country. It was in their long rules list!

What exactly does an autoformer do? I searched it and this came up...

https://hughesautoformers.com/product/pwd30/

I kind of like that surge protector. Sorry for getting off thread topic.

 

[cookie]

Re: Second A/C not cooling...

What exactly does an autoformer do?

The short answer is that if you are in low voltage brownout situation it will boost the voltage.
This is the Autoformer.

Peace
Dave

 

[NP_Chief]

Thanks cookie. I think I may have to get one of those surge protectors... I'm digging the bluetooth function.