Issues w/ hot wire at Air Conditioner - 1985 Excella

[zack.hodgin]

have a 31' 1985 Excella and there is a break in the hot wire somewhere between the breaker and the air conditioner.

The wiring is 14/2 romex, I have checked continuity to the neutral wire, which is fine, but there is no continuity between black at the air conditioner and black at the breaker panel. I have a fluke tone generator, it works fine on the fiberglass end cap where the breaker has been mounted, but as soon as the toner hits the aluminum shell I lose the signal completely (which has been very frustrating).

I thought at first that there must be a switch somewhere (maybe even the thermostat triggering a relay external to the AC unit) which I am 100% fine with completely bypassing, I just can't find anything.

I have also contemplated just capping off the hot wire at both ends and running a new wire to the breaker, but from reading other threads, fishing doesn't seem like a great option for any of these bodies, much less going from the AC install point to the breaker.

A sidenote which may help to explain some of the issues here and my ignorance as to some of these power runs. I bought my Airstream from an insurance auction outside of Waco, TX. It was vandalized (hence the insurance auction) and every visible wire was cut prior to me taking ownership of it. This includes every wire in the fridge access panel (on the side of the trailer), every wire in the hot water heater, every wire in the breaker, etc.
I have successfully traced the wires by checking continuity to everything except the hot wire on the air conditioner, this is the only one where I have found a break and I am just not sure where else to check.

In addition to this, someone had started refurbishing this camper before it was vandalized. There are obvious changes that have been made to the plumbing, furniture, subfloor, tanks, etc. Trying to give as much of a history as I can in case this gives anyone a hint as to what's going on here.

As another note that may be helpful, there are two thermostats, one in the front above the furnace, and another in the back mounted to the closet, both are two wire units and I have connected the two wires on each together for now to make sure neither is acting like a switch.

I feel like I am overlooking something simple here but I've been wracking my brain and have tried just about everything I can think of.

Any help is very much appreciated. I have been banging my head against a wall on this problem for most of the week and just don't know what else to check.

Also, should I order an official manual from Airstream for my year? I've found manuals for the 1982 models and the diagrams inside seem to be pretty close to mine, but they haven't helped much.

[zack.hodgin]

Any ideas?

Or any ideas on how to run a separate hot back to my panel through the walls? I was thinking about just running a hot wire down the side to another line that I have continuity on at the outlet on the wall above the kitchen sink, but don't want to accidentally overload that circuit at some point in the future.

[Bill M.]

You do know that there is a switch in a wall cabinet over the stove that switches the hot lead between tha AC and the microwave? That switch breaks the hot wire to the AC.

[zack.hodgin]

Thank you so much!! This is exactly what I needed, not sure how I didn't track this down online or in any of the system schematics but this makes total sense. I am going to check this as soon as I get home tonight, may drive back over lunch just to make sure.

Seriously, cannot thank you enough, this makes my life so much easier.