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Old 06-08-2006, 01:50 PM   #1
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AC drain question HELP!!!!

We have had our trailer at the rv repair shop for the last few day's and they just called and I need to know if this sounds right. When it rains our trailer has been leaking by the a/c it pours in when the air is on and we are camping the drain tube on the outside drains. We thought it must be the gasket but the rv folks are telling me the drain hose needed cleaned out that it was full of junk. He also told me there are no supports up there this is the original unit to the trailer why no supports? Also he told me there is a pan up there so when it rains it was holding this water and not draining out of the tube.
When we have had the air on and it's not raining there is no leak.
Does all this make any sense?
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Old 06-08-2006, 02:01 PM   #2
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It might. Your AC fan could be blowing the condensed water away as it sits in the "pan." But it's difficult to reconcile that with the fact that water leaks in when it's raining--maybe rain coming in through the vents hits the fan in a way that it inducts the rain, yet can still reject the condensed water that's down on the pan.

If you haven't cleaned off the pan in a number of years, the drain line could very well be clogged.

Enough guestimating. For a fact the original AC installation had very poor mechanical support. Support was provided by the pan and the weight of the AC was distributed away from the actual vent hole (these days 14" by 14", in those days a little smaller). You can strengthen the vent hole sufficient to support a heavy AC. See http://www.airforums.com/forum...tos-20568.html

If you install the wood spacers and screw them to the top and bottom skins, you will have a very strong vent opening--you could do a pullup (remember those?).
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Old 06-08-2006, 03:05 PM   #3
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Thanks for the info, I have thought about it and about a month ago when we thought we had found the leak we did the old water hose trick on top after 2 minutes I went inside and was so happy no leak and then it started drip drip.
So in all it does sound right so I guess The Peppy get's to come home.
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Old 06-08-2006, 03:19 PM   #4
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We just thought we had it all figured out, the repair shop called me back and stated they did a water hose check and again it leaked so back to square 1 again. Makes me feel good though because we have tried for months to find that darn leak. They have now pulled the unit so hopefully we can get it fixed.
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Old 06-09-2006, 02:51 PM   #5
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The Peppy will be at the repair shop for the whole weekend still no luck on finding the leak out of all these folks here looks like someone would chime in that has had the same problem. Here I go again we have the old armstrong unit that has the open shroud at the very top when you look down you can see the fan. When it rains it leaks down through the shroud someway and comes out on the inside by the corner of the unit part that is inside if it is a real heavy rain it proceeds to run down the hallway. I really would like to have some advice at $60 bucks an hour at this repair shop it's adding up If anybody has any ideas please let me know.
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Old 06-09-2006, 06:01 PM   #6
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Hi, Becky,

Well, here's the easy question. When you have the A/C running on a humid day, do you see the drip, drip, drip, where the hose exits near the front left wheel? No drip -plugged up. Drip - not plugged up.

In southeast Georgia, I'm IMPRESSED at how much water the old Armstrong can condense.

Lamar
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Old 06-19-2006, 09:02 PM   #7
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Becky,
How did your problem turn out? What was the cause of the leak. I have a similar situation. Since we rarely use the AC we never noticed it leaked but this weekend it was on while it was raining and water poured out. I pulled the inside cover and it was filled with water. How did you you resolve your problem?
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Old 06-20-2006, 02:09 PM   #8
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Well we had a leak through the air conditioner for the first time that showed up at the Moraine View rally. It was dripping ever so slightly out the corner of the street side rear air intake filter. Upon pulling the filter out I noticed a very small drip coming from the right rear corner of the cutout into the roof. Lots of sealant up there and I really can't see any visible imperfections although with the amount of sealant and the way its slopped on, not much you can tell.

I've not been up on the roof ever and we are on season 3 of ownership so I'm unaware of the condition of the drain in the pan. Since the trailer is stored in a treeless area, my gut feel and based on the level of the trailer when camped a Moraine, is that the problem isn't the pan drain. On the other hand, since the trailer was almost perfectly level, I don't see water (especially since it wasn't wind driven) getting around the cutout in the roof. I would think it would drain away from all sides.

I guess I'll start at getting the shroud off and checking there. I can see the drain hose from the inside of the A/C unit and there is no water penetrating around the hose itself.

At $95 an hour I know the dealer's solution (and I'm out of warranty at this point) will be to pull the A/C unit, install a new gasket and reseal. I guess the problem could also be the sealing of the unit within the pan itself. My guess might be 2-3 hours labor plus materials.

Jack
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Old 06-20-2006, 03:47 PM   #9
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Okay folks this ended up being the problem. There was a hole in the bottom part of our shroud we have a 2 piece old shroud and for some unknown reason when it would rain it was going thru the hole in the shroud and leaking thru some rusty bolts that hold the whole thing up there. The rv place we had it at have only worked on a handful of Airstreams and they have been there 15 years. They only charged me for 2 1/2 hours but let me tell ya they worked on it for 6 days and even took the whole unit out and put it back best $175 I've spent on the Peppy. Now I know it is fixed because we camped last weekend thru the worst strom I have been thru and we were high and dry. They sealed it with something called kool seal? Also look at Jim and Susan thread doing the full monty it shows a picture of the bolts I'm talking about.
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Old 06-20-2006, 04:13 PM   #10
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Chaplain, it sounds like your leak only occurs when the A/C is in use? If that's the case, the drain line isn't working properly. It may be something as simple as the drain line is clogged from dirt, or bees or something. There are several ways to clear this line that I'm sure you've seen here on the forums; ranging from blowing in the tube (not me!), to blowing compressed air up the tube, to water jets up the tube. It could aslo be that the pan that collects the condensation is having problems (clogged, etc).

Look at the first pic. My finger is resting on the "tray" that collects the condensation from the the coils above the tray (looking forward). The second pic is of the drain line that carries the water from the ends of the tray to the line that runs down the side of the trailer (looking aft). On my era trailer, this is accessed by removing the inside shroud of the ac unit. You gotta take a few things apart, but then you can access the drain system to have a look-see.

Jim
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