Central AC is NOTCOOLING - San Antonio, TX

Beancounter · 06-02-2010, 02:30 PM

Oue central AC quit cooling. In Arkansas, we had an AC tech check it and he added 2 or 3 cans of R22 freon and it cooled real well for one day and quit again. The system was made by ARA in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. I was told that they are no longer in business.

Do any of you know someone to refer me to? Someone who will work on it. Are parts, etc. available?

Thanks,

TXiceman · 06-02-2010, 07:27 PM

Are you talking about the coach air of the dash A/C? I believe A-R-A put in the dash A/C unit and they are out of business as far as I know.

If it was the dash A/C, he should not be adding R-22. At that time they were still using R-12 I believe and it can be converted and charged with R-134a or with a blend like Hot Shot.

Most any automotive A/C shop should be able to work on the dash air. Hopefully they did a through leak check before they added a bunch of refrigerant.

Ken

Beancounter · 06-03-2010, 11:12 AM

TXiceman:

No, it is not the dash AC and no it was not checked for leaks before they "threw" the new cans of R22 freon at it!

It is the house AC. It is ducted through the ceiling front to rear of the entire coach. It has two compressors, and runs off of shore power (110vac) or the aux gen. It is basically a minature version of a regular residential AC.

On newer models it is referred to as "basement air".

Still looking for someone to test it out and hopefully repair it.

Thanks for your response,

TXiceman · 06-03-2010, 08:34 PM

Any "competent" residential mechanic should be able to work on this unit. They don;t like the compact size and having to pull the unit down to get to it.

I believe it is a sealed unit and did not have any Schrader charging valves. Some places will install a clamp or saddle valve in order to access the unit. These are not a matter of if it will leak, but when it will leak. They all leak. The proper way to make the repair is to remove the refrigerant , nitrogen purge the unit while silver soldering in Schrader valves on the suction and discharge. Then evacuate the system with a vacuum pump and recharge with R-22. Before they evacuate the unit ti should be pressurized and leak checked thoroughly.

Ken

Beancounter · 06-04-2010, 12:19 AM

TXiceman

This one has the schrader valves on it.

After further inspection, it appears that some prior owner (PO) modified it by disabling one of the two low pressure lines. I don't know why.

Thanks,

RCtime · 06-04-2010, 09:30 AM

Airxcel | RV Products Service

Try this, link to service centers

jdsr · 06-04-2010, 11:00 AM

Make sure the duct going up the rear cap is not splitting open and the tape is coming off. It has happened to alot of us

rml1998 · 06-05-2010, 06:58 AM

The central duct in the back at the "Y" connection split for us also and luckily we live about 150 miles from Winnebago factory so we went there and the knew right away that it had split.

They reconnected it somehow and taped it back together. Now it works great.

By the way what year and model is the coach?

Hope this helps.

---------------------------------------------
2005 Adventurer 35A

Beancounter · 06-06-2010, 08:19 AM

RCtime

Thanks for the link. We will check it out.

Beancounter · 06-06-2010, 08:20 AM

jdsr

Thanks for this information about the duct.

Beancounter · 06-06-2010, 08:22 AM

rml1998

Also thnk you for this information about the duct.

It is a 1989 Winnebago Spectrum 2000.

Thanks again,

indycak · 06-24-2010, 09:06 PM

My house air is blowing "cool." It has been a few years since I filled it. My son-in-law is coming over to fill the r-22 Saturday, and I'll let you know how it works out. Right now both compressors are cycling on and off; they just don't stay on long enough to make cold air.

I'm having trouble with my dash air right now because Im not getting any vacuum to the controls. I wired one of the air valves open an It's working now, but this is a "rigged" fix. It's real easy to get to all the dash stuff by taking the whole dash cover off with a few screws removed. It's pretty neat how everything is accessible then!

Are you still dealing with the Kohler generator? I hate that noisy thing. I'm going tomorow to have it worked on...I'd just as soon replace it with an Onan; just don't want to spend the $$$$.