Air Conditioner help needed 99 Safari

[Share All]

We can't get our Air Conditioner unit to power up in our 1999 Safari. It is a Dometic duo/therm. Is there some sort of trick? Since we bought it at an auction, we have no manuals. Everything is trial and a lot of errors.
We are trying to run it on 110 right now if that matters.

Thanks for any help.

[overlander63]

Hi. Did you buy just the A/C unit at auction, or the whole trailer?
If you are installing the unit, our advice would be much different than if you are trying to get an existing unit running.

[AYRSTRM2]

Read your intro. First thing you should know is that the AC will ONLY work if you are plugged into 110V AC. And then you should be on a 30 Amp circuit, like your Dryer. Which you probably don't have available to use. So use it rarely, if at all on your household circuit. You can damage a normally operating unit.

Next. There are 110 circuit breakers, like in your house. One of those is for the AC. Check it and reset it. If this does not work, then something is wrong with either your electrical system or your AC. Again, let me stress that your AC needs a 30 amp circuit, but you can get it running if you make sure nothing else is using that circuit, either in your house or in your camper.

Since I read that the unit was salvage, it could be that the AC is bunk, but it's pretty new, so I don't know what could be wrong. Maybe somebody like Lew will chime in.

[Safari Tim]

Originally Posted by AYRSTRM2

Read your intro. First thing you should know is that the AC will ONLY work if you are plugged into 110V AC. And then you should be on a 30 Amp circuit, like your Dryer. Which you probably don't have available to use. So use it rarely, if at all on your household circuit. You can damage a normally operating unit.

WAIT!! A household dryer plug is 220VAC. It's true that it is 30 amps but your trailer is only wired to plug into a special RV rated 110vAC - 30amp plug.

DO NOT PLUG IT INTO YOUR DRYER OUTLET! You will let the smoke out of every electrical device in your trailer. That would be a bad thing!

AYSTRM2 is correct that you should only run your A/C when you are plugged into a proper outlet. Typically that would be a 110vAC - 30 amp outlet. It maybe possible to use an external outlet of your house if it is rated for 20 amps (still 110vAC) if you use a dogbone adapter. It's likely that your A/C is 11,000 btu so a 20amp outlet should handle it. Don't use anything less then a short as possible 10 gauge extension cord.

If the A/C is not powering up at all ie. no fan, check the breaker box. There is a main breaker for the entire trailer and a seperate one just for the A/C.

[overlander63]

What Tim said. Also, the breaker box is mounted along the floor, so if you trailer was in a flood (the particle board looks good, so it wasn't badly flooded or for long) water could have gotten in it, and corroded the contacts in the breakers. Try clicking the breakers on and off a few times, and see if the air fires up. If it does, get the breakers replaced, as the problem will only get worse, and breakers are cheap.

[lewster]

Hey!!

Any of you guys need a job as an RV Tech ? Good advice on where to check first. Always start at the power source and verify your 120VAC into the trailer and thru the breaker box. After that, it gets a little stickey, but I can tell you where to look after that.

Share All,

When you get a chance, remove the ADB (air distribution box) from the A/C unit. That is the plastic housing located right below the unit inside the T/T. You will find a bunch of numbers on the under side unit. If you can find the model and serial number I can probably get you a manual from Dometic.

Let me know if you need one.

[AYRSTRM2]

Oops. Well, thank god that plug wouldn't work anyway!

I switched my table saw over to 220 and put a 220 circuit in my shop. But didn't have the 220v outlet and plug so went ahead and used the 110 stuff, meaning to switch it over. Which I didn't do for 3 years. In the mean time my wife didn't know this and plugged a vacuum cleaner into it and SHE let the smoke out of it, which we all know makes it stop working.

[Share All]

The problem has been solved.

I guess there is a switch in the Fuse Box that needed to be flipped on. That was a total Rookie move. Thanks for all your suggestions.

I'll conquer this Safari yet!!