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Jack46 · 04-28-2015, 06:29 AM

We are experiencing a problem that so far has not been resolved.

Our 30" Flying Cloud has the dual heat pump option. We are now experiencing condensation from both units leaking into the trailer. We are on the road and had a mobile repair guy look at the problem with no success. The filters are clean. We've had sustained rain rain with no leaks. It only happens when the unit are operating.

We are near Denver, but the local dealer would not be able to schedule us until the end of May, so it looks like we will head back east and drop the trailer off at our regular dealer.

Have any of you experienced a similar issue? Thanks. Jack

AnnArborBob · 04-28-2015, 06:43 AM

There should be a drain tube from the drip pan under each roof mounted HVAC unit that empties some place in the wheel wells. It's a fairly small tube (under 1/4 inch I believe) and it can get clogged with debris and mold. Locate both of them either at the top of the trailer in the drain pan or in the wheel well and give them a shot of compressed air. That usually clears the drain tube.

dznf0g · 04-28-2015, 06:45 AM

Well, I have had condensation leaks during A/C operation, but never on heat pump. My unit is older and the A/C drain pan system is different than yours (I think), but I thought during heat pump operation the drain system is not utilized and the defrost cycle would just drain over the roof.

Maybe Lewster can help here. Do you have the Penguin model of A/Cs?

Larry C · 04-28-2015, 07:01 AM

We had the problem on our 30'er, it was resolved by installing the new condensation drain system that's available through Dometic. I bought ours from Out of Doors Mart. It gets rid of the pan, under the A/c unit.
It requires removing the A/C, and the pan, and installing the new "cups" and drain system, depending on the difficulty of breaking the seal to remove the A/C, it is about a 3 hour job.
Larry

Jack46 · 04-29-2015, 02:15 PM

An update. Spoke to Dometic customer service and they were not much help in knowing what the issue might be. They never mentioned the fix that Larry identified in his post above. The internal condensation water leak occurs with both heat pump units. And the drip tubes were blown clear recently.

I have an appointment at Jackson Center on June 18 while on our way home to Virginia. I spoke to Airstream customer service this morning and while they are very pro-active, they were not aware of this specific problem. I suggested that they look at this post and what Larry said above. They'll note our conversation of this morning for the record when we check in at JC. Will keep you all apprised. Jack

Landrum · 04-29-2015, 02:27 PM

I made a post about this issue last summer.....at least I think it's the same issue. Our AC works great and drains as it should to the wheel well. Our AS is a 2014 with the drain cups and not a pan. That isn't the issue. It's not dirty filters either. We can't use the heat pump. It drops water on the floor. When this happens and I removed the interior cover on the AC unit everything inside the unit is covered in water. It has to either be missing insulation on the unit or an air leak. I too contacted domestic Who acknowledged there was a problem but had no clue what the problem was. I don't trust anybody locally to work on my airstream so before my warranty runs out I'll be at Jackson Center to have this looked at.
I'm convinced they didn't install the insulation jacket on the dometic. As moist air inside the airstream circulates through the unit and contacts the cold surfaces the water condenses and drips on the floor.

Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

Larry C · 04-30-2015, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack46

An update. Spoke to Dometic customer service and they were not much help in knowing what the issue might be. They never mentioned the fix that Larry identified in his post above. The internal condensation water leak occurs with both heat pump units. And the drip tubes were blown clear recently.

I have an appointment at Jackson Center on June 18 while on our way home to Virginia. I spoke to Airstream customer service this morning and while they are very pro-active, they were not aware of this specific problem. I suggested that they look at this post and what Larry said above. They'll note our conversation of this morning for the record when we check in at JC. Will keep you all apprised. Jack

Good morning y'all,
Just for the record, the leak that we had on our 30'er, was the drain pan at the barbed fitting that the condensate drain tube connects to. The fitting was cracked, and water was dripping from that crack to the floor. I tried to repair it, but the crack was inaccessable...
This new system seems to be working fine.
Larry

Larry C · 04-30-2015, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landrum

I made a post about this issue last summer.....at least I think it's the same issue. Our AC works great and drains as it should to the wheel well. Our AS is a 2014 with the drain cups and not a pan. That isn't the issue. It's not dirty filters either. We can't use the heat pump. It drops water on the floor. When this happens and I removed the interior cover on the AC unit everything inside the unit is covered in water. It has to either be missing insulation on the unit or an air leak. I too contacted domestic Who acknowledged there was a problem but had no clue what the problem was. I don't trust anybody locally to work on my airstream so before my warranty runs out I'll be at Jackson Center to have this looked at.
I'm convinced they didn't install the insulation jacket on the dometic. As moist air inside the airstream circulates through the unit and contacts the cold surfaces the water condenses and drips on the floor.

Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

Please keep us informed as to what JC says about this. I think you may be on the right track with the insulation idea. Good luck.
Larry

Jack46 · 04-30-2015, 07:21 AM

Yes, I appreciate this post very much. Though Airstream told me they check Airforums, I'm holding on to this latest information for our stop at JC. I am out of warranty, but if this was a manufacturing/install issue, I'm confident AS will stand by this problem??

Jack46 · 04-30-2015, 05:44 PM

After reading these post I realized that perhaps my problem occurs only in heat pump mode, so today when it hit 80 here in Longmont, I cranked up the a/c and no water. We at least now we may still be able to visit Death Valley, but a stop at JC will still happen in mid-June.

Baked Potato · 12-24-2015, 07:27 AM

Please update us on anything you learned while at JC. I have this issue in heat pump mode as well. Thanks.

Al and Missy · 12-24-2015, 08:01 AM

This may not be related, but here goes anyway. My AC worked perfectly for over a year until I decided to change the vanes to direct the air flow differently. After that I had condensate leaks in AC mode (I don't have a heat pump). When I changed them back, it stopped dripping. My working theory is some of the air flow was getting directed inside the cabinet and wreaking havoc with the drip pan under the evaporator. If yours is leaking in heat pump mode, it would be the condensor.

Al

Jonsund · 01-02-2016, 11:43 AM

We have a 2014 30 foot Classic that has the condensation leak problem with the rear unit, the front unit works fine. Well many state that the leak occurs only in the heat pump mode we have had days of condinsation leakage in the cooling mode for multiple days when the humidity is above 98%. We are in heat pump mode today and have a major leak. We have taken the trailer back to the dealer, J.D. Sanders RV Center, Alachua, Florida, multiple times for this issue and they can not recreate the problem so they can not fix the problem. Unless someone is willing to travel to a location where there is high humidity causing the problem they will never see it much less fix it. Has anyone heard of a solution for this problem?

xrvr · 01-02-2016, 12:38 PM

Operate on high fan only in high humidity at least medium fan.

shlemon · 09-14-2017, 08:22 PM

Was this ever solved? My heat pump drips really fast and can soak a thick beach towel overnight. Same thing with water all over the inside. Seems to be in high humidity.

Larry C · 09-15-2017, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shlemon

Was this ever solved? My heat pump drips really fast and can soak a thick beach towel overnight. Same thing with water all over the inside. Seems to be in high humidity.

Check your drain tube to be sure a friendly mud dobber make have built a nest.

Larry

Jack46 · 09-15-2017, 07:55 AM

The issue has not been fully resolved. After a repair at Jackson Center, the front unit seems fine, but the one time we've attempted to use the rear unit (we have the dual heat pump option) it continued to leak - in heat mode only.

Since we have moved to the mountain west a year ago from the east coast, we've avoided using the heat function in the rear unit. It's possible that the drier air here may reduce the throw off of condensation, but we have not had a need to check. We have standing offer from Jackson Center to return anytime we chose to have them take a look again. We don't plan to make the 1,200 mile trip anytime soon unless we have a reason to return east.

So, to answer your question, we still have the condensation leak issue in at least one of our two units. Obviously, there is a fix since the front unit unit seems fine, but Jackson Center missed it on one of the two units.

shlemon · 09-18-2017, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonsund

We have a 2014 30 foot Classic that has the condensation leak problem with the rear unit, the front unit works fine. Well many state that the leak occurs only in the heat pump mode we have had days of condinsation leakage in the cooling mode for multiple days when the humidity is above 98%. We are in heat pump mode today and have a major leak. We have taken the trailer back to the dealer, J.D. Sanders RV Center, Alachua, Florida, multiple times for this issue and they can not recreate the problem so they can not fix the problem. Unless someone is willing to travel to a location where there is high humidity causing the problem they will never see it much less fix it. Has anyone heard of a solution for this problem?

Thanks for the update Jack. I'll check out the lines and see what I can find. If I figure anything out, I'll let you know. I'm in super high humidity now, but don't have access to 30 Amp so I'm not sure when I'll have this figured out.

Best of luck to you!

spark01 · 11-27-2018, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonsund

We have a 2014 30 foot Classic that has the condensation leak problem with the rear unit, the front unit works fine. Well many state that the leak occurs only in the heat pump mode we have had days of condinsation leakage in the cooling mode for multiple days when the humidity is above 98%. We are in heat pump mode today and have a major leak. We have taken the trailer back to the dealer, J.D. Sanders RV Center, Alachua, Florida, multiple times for this issue and they can not recreate the problem so they can not fix the problem. Unless someone is willing to travel to a location where there is high humidity causing the problem they will never see it much less fix it. Has anyone heard of a solution for this problem?

Mine is 2018 FC 28RBQ with two AC units and I have noticed water on the floor a couple of times -- once in AC mode and just last week, in heat pump mode. Since the bedding is not wet and there is no drip mark on any duct openings above, I have no idea where the water is coming from. However, I'm pretty certain that the leak has nothing to do with rain. We've had some heavy downpours but this Airstream is rain-proof and no problem there. My guess is it's the condensation leak from the AC unit, but I can't figure out how it get down to the floor without dripping on the bedding. All vents are over the queen bed. Any idea?

AL’ UM- MONEY · 11-27-2018, 07:20 PM

Recently installed a new Dometic with heat pump mode. This summer massive water drained out the new drain line in the wheel well on AC as advertised. Recently we ran on the heat pump cycle and water runs down the side of the AS and not from the drain. Any suggestions. I assume the heat pump cycle doesn’t generate much or any condensation