Little dribbles of rain water

[reynolds431]

can any one advise me on how to inspect the armstrong ac unit on my 68 tradewind to see if it is the cause of some rain dribbles i am finding at the joint of the interior pannels? also how is the best way to work on the ac from a ladder or just get on top of the 'stream?
thanks

[Tom Nugler]

Sorry I can't provide any specific advice on Armstrong A/Cs, but maybe this will help you get on top of it. OK, really bad pun.
I have a 2X4, 4ft. long, with carpet attached to the side, that is screwed to the front of an old wooden ladder just high enough to fit under the awning.
The 2X4 spreads the weight across the ribs and body without damage the the skin. It's come in handy to seal vents, repair marker lights and scrub the usual grunge off the roof.
Tom.

[till]

I know that Tom W had a leakage issues with his Armstron A/C on his 1967 Overlander. I have the same problems too.
Tom documented his solution real well on his web sight. http://www.knology.net/~tcwilliams/AirstreamIndex.htm

Do you have "Armstorng sag"? Where the rear of the A/C unit seems to go down hill a little even though you have your coach level?? If so, you may have other issues, that I can tell you about, but you may not want to hear.......

[reynolds431]

thanks guys!!
i didn't like the idea of crawling around on top of the 'stream with out somthing underneath me. i havent looked to see if the ac is slanted or not but i may look today but there is a clear depression in the interior celing at the rear of the ac unit (ie the lav end of the ac) right now i am happy to hear (even though i might not be happy with the out come) of anyone's experience with repairing ac problems

[Buttercup]

Reading this gives me the idea that that small leak over the street side window, center compartment probably is our unit leaking. It is old and has never been looked at. I am glad this topic came up when it did because we are looking into it now....

[SafeHarbor]

Hi, guys,

Does anyone know if this model had a drain hose in between the skin? I found out on my Argosy if that becomes clogged up by climbing critters, water will flow over the side of the skin. I pushed some safety wire up mine to auger out the critters and it solved my spillage problem.

Lamar

[Inland RV Center, In]

reynolds431.

Your Armstrong AC is model TAC110.

Take the schroud off and then the top of the AC itself.

You will find an oval hole through the roof that was originally plugged with putty tape.

Over the years it dries out, shrinks, and then you have a leak.

You do not need anything special to get on the roof. As long as you don't jitter bug on it, you won't hurt the roof at all.

Andy

[reynolds431]

wow thanks-
i was told about the putty but i didn't quite understand what i was susposed to be looking for. i have taken the shroud off and the ac unit is screwed to the roof. should i also look for any rusted out riviets? as for a drain tube in the skin, that i don't know, but i believe that the drain tube is just run exposed in the interior along the divider wall to the floor.
thanks again
matt

[Inland RV Center, In]

reynolds431

The factory installed AC drain line, did not run within the walls, in 1967.

The leaks can come from anything around the AC.

You could also have a blocked or partially blocked drain line.

But for sure, you must reseal all the holes that go through the roof for the AC components. Use vulkem sealer.

If the leak is still there, then you should remove the blower fan, and check that gasket. That will require you to remove the interior fan blade.

Andy

[till]

Matt,
Re-reading your post of 9/26 I see that you say that there is a "Clear depression to the rear" of the AC unit. If the AC unit "pan" is not level or a little nose forward (toward the front of the trailer) the condinsate from the AC will not drain properly also. This will look like a leak.

When I go to my AC unit I found that the "AC sag" was two broken support members inside the cieling. There were three poped rivets that were leaking. They looked good from the outside at that. I hope that you are just having gasket problems though.

Here is the link to the problems that Tom found....
http://www.knology.net/~tcwilliams/ACLeak.htm

[reynolds431]

so i got on top of the 'stream to check out the ac seal

after removing the white cowling over the ac i found that the top of the ac was attached with four screws and the bottom with 24 screws. after figureing out that i needed to wedge the handle of a screw driver under the ac unit. the putty mostly came off with eazy scraping, coming off in large chuncks. inside the ac unit the eletrical couduit and two small tubes (btw what are the names of these brass tubes) were incased in a large clump of putty. the putty filled a 2.5 to 3 inch (mabe less i did not measure) hole and then was piled 2 inches high. this putty was easiely removed by hand and it seamed to be a lot of putty there.

my new questions are: do i need to make a mound of sealent in the same fashion that i found or is there a better wat to fill the gap? a friend gave me the idea to use window screen to give a substructure to the sealent. ( i havent done this yet but it sounded reasonable) also if i am having a hard time finding vulcum sealer is there any other sealers that would be good?

thanks
matt

[TomW]

Originally Posted by reynolds431

... so ... my new questions are: do i need to make a mound of sealent in the same fashion that i found or is there a better wat to fill the gap? a friend gave me the idea to use window screen to give a substructure to the sealent. ( i havent done this yet but it sounded reasonable) also if i am having a hard time finding vulcum sealer is there any other sealers that would be good?

You could try the expanding-foam-insulation-in-a-can available at home stores, but I think that, from a vibration perspective, a mound of RV putty is the best route. Do not use anything that needs to dry (like anything that needs a caulking gun to apply) as the mound is too big for the entire application to cure.

Window screen would give it substructure, but is not necessary.

Vulkem is available mail order from InlandRV.com or AirstreamDreams.com.

Tom