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Old 08-19-2017, 10:22 AM   #1
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2019 27' Globetrotter
Houston , Texas
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Dometic Air Conditioner Vibration

We've had our 2016 23D Flying Cloud for 2 weeks shy of a year, and have managed to exceed our goal of using it at least one long weekend per month, which is the Good News.

The Bad News is that last weekend we developed a MASSIVE vibration in the Dometic A/C unit. Couldn't carry-on a normal conversation inside. Outside, the unit was visibly vibrating and making 5-10 decibels more noise than usual. YIKES. We made an appointment with a Dometic dealer, and suffered through a four day weekend with the A/C sounding like a freight train.

Consulted various fora, including (GASP!) SOBs, where the opinion centered-on mud dauber wasp nests on the condenser squirrel-cage fan blades, which sounded WACKY.

Sent a note to our dealer up in Stephenville, TX, who also suggested the wacky Mud Dauber nest diagnosis.

Back at home, I dragged out the ladder, propped it on the zipdee, and removed the white A/C cover (4 Phillips-head fender-type screws). It took a minute to find it, but lo-and-behold there it was: a two-cell mud dauber nest near the outer end of the condenser squirrel cage, the single worst place to add an eccentric weight in the entire apparatus (as it adds a bending moment component to the mix)

Whole operation took about 15 minutes, a tiny fraction of the time I spent fretting about it up-front.

From what I can gather, and as weird as it sounds, this is indeed a relatively common problem along the Gulf Coast.

Hopefully I can save somebody from a bunch of panic, or worse, having to drag their Airstream into a dealer for such a simple fix.

One odd thing is that the fan motor shaft (a double extended shaft with squirrel cages each end, one for air handling and one for condenser) has a LOT of end-play in it, say 1/8" (about 3mm). I'm sending a note to Dometic to see if that's normal.
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Old 08-19-2017, 11:15 AM   #2
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2019 27' Globetrotter
Houston , Texas
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The Offending Mud Duaber Nest

Thar she blows! Or sits, anyway.
About 30 mm long, 20 mm wide, unhatched. Maybe we shook the larvae to death, dunno..

You can see the thin slot where the squirrel-cage blade was.
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Old 09-03-2021, 12:10 PM   #3
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Thank you for sharing this … had the same problem as we were getting ready for a trip. Got on the roof and found the dauber on the fan blades. Got it cleared and blown out so all is good now. Thank you so much for saving me a trip to the dealership for repairs.
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Old 09-03-2021, 12:24 PM   #4
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Here is a simple preventative maintenance tip, free of charge, that will help immensely; use your trailer more frequently!

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Old 09-03-2021, 12:37 PM   #5
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If you weigh the dauber domicile in grams and measure from the fan shaft axis to the center point of attachment in CM of said domicile you multiply these values and it gives you the GCM imbalance value of the daubers efforts.

Possibly adjusting the sway bars or adding airbags and this issue goes away.

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Good catch

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Old 08-20-2023, 06:44 PM   #6
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2023 27' Globetrotter
Livingston , Texas
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what's the model number for on a 2022 dual AC 15and 13K BTU

Can anybody help out identifying what the actual 15,000 BTU and the 13,000 BTU with heat pumps dometic AC models are? I have looked at my manuals and ai can't find out the specs. Thanks in advance.
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Old 08-20-2023, 07:06 PM   #7
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Those boys at Bayer RV know their stuff.
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