Quote:
Originally Posted by rider1520
I have a 2022 Winnebago Adventurer 29B. Shortly after I received the unit the rear A.C. Developed a wobble that presented itself as a deep rumble inside the coach. I found that one of the fan blades on the top part of the unit had broken clean off at the base. There were no signs of any damage or of the broken blade. I received a new blade and all was well for about 500 miles. It happened again. One blade broken off clean at the base with no visible damage and no sign of the broken blade. Anyone have ideas on what might be happening?
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Raising hand. Me too! We've a 2021 WBGO Adventurer 29B. Running the AC on the road, the front Coleman Mach 10 AC broke a compressor fan blade on our first big trip in 2021 out west with less than 2,000 miles on it. No AC for the remainder of the trip in the western heat. Gah! The fan blade was replaced under warranty.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Four days into a three-plus week trip from ATL to Voyageurs NP with two grand kids. Running the genny and both AC's. First the forward AC compressor fan blade broke. Turned off the front AC. Shortly thereafter, a back AC compressor fan blade broke. WTF!
Opened up the covers and found that the front AC had a 4 blade fan with one blade snapped off at the base. A no-effort twist snapped off a second blade opposite the first broken blade, so that it became a "balanced" 2 blade fan. Hoped it would last for a while. The back AC was the original 7 blade fan. The fan blade had broken off about a third of one blade. I wrapped foil tape on the broken blade until it was relatively balanced and hoped it would last for a while.
Then I spent every spare moment for the next four days trying to find replacement fan blades that I could have quick-shipped to us somewhere on the road. Hah! Nothing available anywhere from any source for weeks (if then). Calls and emails to Coleman support were not returned. Call to WBGO for assistance was replied with (essentially) "Tough. Call Coleman."
FWIW, we met up with family in Madison, WI. My brother-in-law is a bona-fide mechanical engineer. He looked at both of the AC units. His opinion/diagnosis is that the there are two reasons for the fan blade failures. One, poor quality fan blade design/material/manufacture. Second, and probably the reason the blades failed at about the same time: The blades are mounted about mid-way on a 1/2" motor shaft that's about 6" or 7" longer than it needs to be. He thinks that the excess weight of the shaft allows more up-and-down oscillation of the shaft/fan assembly when the RV goes over bumpy roads -- the blade then hits the fan shroud at speed and breaks (yeah, we hit a bunch of road construction). This makes perfect sense to me.
Anyway, my temporary jury-rig on the front AC lasted until day 10, now near Duluth, MN, when one of the last two blades broke. So that's the end of front AC unit. Found a top WBGO dealer, Bullyan RV in Duluth who did their own comprehensive search for replacement fan blades. No success. What are my options at this point to get us through the remaining two weeks on the road?
Replace the whole freakin' AC unit!
Believe me, at this point I'm beyond livid. Can't find a $30 replacement part! We bit the bullet and had Bullyan RV order an upgraded Coleman Mach 15 as a replacement. Why the Mach 15? It's a full-size unit that's a bit taller, puts out 15k BTU vs. 13.5k BTU of the Mach 10, more CFM airflow as well, and quieter than the Mach 10. And it was a bit cheaper and most importantly -- more readily AVAILABLE.
We made plans with Bullyan RV to put in the new AC on our return to the area from the most northern leg of our trip, four days later. I really have to add big kudos to the team we dealt with at Bullyan RV! On our arrival mid-morning, they jumped on the replacement install and had it done in several hours. This represented terrific service on their part to get the work done without delay while we were on the road!
The rest of the trip was relatively incident free. The new Mach 15 AC worked as it should, putting out more blessed cold air, and I measured it at about 4 Db quieter than the old Mach 10.
So, $1,800 to fix the $30 broken fan blade.
I plan on sending the bill to Coleman and copy WBGO and post this story elsewhere to perhaps drum up some action, but I don't have high expectations.
The back Mach 10 AC still needs a fan blade. I think I've found a source, but it will take a week or two to get it. Of course, now my DW is suggesting we replace it with another Mach 15 -- it is quieter, and it appears that fan blades are more readily available.
I'm tempted to rename our motorhome
Hermes to
SAB.
"Something's Always Broken."
Linear Mode
