air conditioning 1983 southwind class A

[phil moulton]

 sheryls RV (1983 southwind 33ft  class a)

has a blown engine and until i can find funds to replace it it is not moving..

Temps this week are 100 degrees plus

has 2 colman RV Air conditioners..series 6740

one ac is only blowing cold air

the  rear ac has NO 110v power to it

both run off a 20a breaker in the panel under the rear bed.

unknown why there is no power to the rear ac

both have blower fans that had to be manually kick started and oiled. 

am guessing both ac units need a recharge.

do you have any of these ac units around ?

looks like they are in two parts a lower part that bolts "up" and perhaps a ac unit that is accessed from top down.. 

am i correct ?

the current frigerator does not cool on AC would it be cheaper to replace it ?? and are they fairly universal ??

or should i call a refer person to recharge both frig and the two AC units ?

[Lakota Wolf]

Roof top a/c are are expensive to service and 99% of the time a repairman will recommend changing them out,, The older a/c units use FREON, which is no longer available,, You can spend $600 service fee to have them checked or get 2 new ones at $400 each WITH a warrantee..  RV fridges use Amonia,, and if it seems to not want to cool, you can have it checked to see if its Heater correctly,, and if not, replacement fridges are available,, RV gas/electric are on the pricey side,, but full electric are reasonable..

[phil moulton]

in your opinion.. are most roof ac units "hot swappable" without a lot of structural changes ? I should clean and recoat the roof and probably best to deal with this AC issue first.

[Lakota Wolf]

Roof a/c's are easily swapped,, Take down the inside control cover, You will have either 2 or 4 bolts securing the top and bottom, The wiring is just 3 wires (your a/c supply line) Flip that breaker off if your plugged into shore power. Pull down the inside control unit, basically square box with the controls in it, and unplug the square service lug, Go up on the roof,, lift all around the unit a little at a time to break the seal loose and then just lift it off, TIP. It helps if you have 2 people,, But I have done it by myself, They are about 80lbs,give or take, , Scrape off the old sealant, usually butyl tape and clean the surface before applying new sealant butyl tape, Set the new a/c unit down over the 14 inch by 14 inch opening,, its easy to do,, not much sloppy area to align it, Go inside, install the 2 or 4 bolts to secure the top and bottom and draw it snug, Replug your wiring and apply your 110/120 Volt supply wire and click it on and test it all out, Dont forget to install the cover on the rooftop portion,

My last a/c swap took about an hour tops and that included coffee breaks,

Its one of those plug and play replacements,, It may look complicated,, But its not rocket science and everything is pretty much self explanatory once you take down the inside cover..

[Jimco_W001]

Back in the day Winnebago motorhomes had a switch to turn on either the front or rear roof ac unit. But not both at the same time.

[phil moulton]

that makes a lot of sense as its on a 20a breaker. just need to find that switch  :-) 

[postman]

Sounds like a three position center off switch. Some actually come with lock out key.

[Gary Rowe]

My switch is by the microwave can't run it and both air conditioners.

[Bill Russell]

Phil my 89 Chieftain has front and rear AC but has a large toggle type switch above the refrigerator it allows you to choose front or rear unit. The older units because they run off 30 amp shore power can only run one unit at a time. Bill

[Bill Russell]

Phil about the refrigerator, I have a 3 way in my Chieftain, it wouldn't run AC either, I metered it to the back of the unit, there is circuit board behind a cover on the back of the refrig unit. On that board is a 5 amp automotive type fuse on the inlet to the AC heater (for the Ammonia) mine was blown for 1.39 I was back in business. Worth checking best of luck. Bill

[phil moulton]

on;y thing in back other than an ac plug, misc wiring is a black box about 2x3 inches looks sealed

has two wires on left 3 on right

[phil moulton]

oddly enough the front AC is actually running.. putting out not ice but definately cold..no switches for front-rear ac units. definately rear AC has no ac at the romex wiring.. the y both go to one 20a circuit breaker.. 

Frig is a Norcold 8010 EG2   the ammonia ? tank is hot  the cooling coils visable from outside are warm. frig is NOT cold..

[Gary Rowe]

When I first got mine I had no power to the rear air come to find out it was wired to only run off of the generator. My guess is back in the day power at campgrounds could not handle both.