Working on Carrier AC

[adonh]

I have the Airstream home this week end and I am going to work on the stopped up condensate drane that caused water to leak back in the trailer. I think what is happening is that there is some trash blocking the drain line hose opening in the small Carrier pan as well as trash stopping up the overflow that would drain the water on the roof and down the side. So I now have the cover off and the blower and coils are covered by a plastic shell. Its to hot for me to get on the roof now but I will remove the shell tomorrow morning. It looks like this shell is attached with screws and brackets that lock in place. If anyone has worked on theses let me know if there is anything special that I need to do in order to get inside of this plastic shell.

Thanks

[adonh]

OK got up early before the Sun starts beating down on the roof and removed the plastic shell that covers the blower and coils. The problem seemed to be just a build up up dirt and slime that would cover the small drain opening and as the condensate built up it would leak inside the trailer. Also found that the cupped blower blades were full of dirt and grime. So I cleaned everything including both coils with simple green aircraft formula cleaner which is safe for aluminum.Then a low pressure water rinse and it looks a lot better. I cleaned the blower blades as well so that should help. The back coils really look bad and deteriorated in places in on the back side in the fan cowling . I am not sure how much longer this AC will last. I installed it about 7 or eight years ago and from what I have heard that is about the life span. A new Coleman Mach 8 might be just around the corner. Good thin this Carrier will be easy to take off with just 4 long bolts and the Mach 8 just pop right in.

But that's another project on another day.

[adonh]

The cleaning seems to have really helped. I am now getting a temp reading of about 57 degrees coming out of the air vent and maintaining a 74-75 degree temp in the Airstream. this is in 95 degree outside temp high humidity here in Houston TX. I also think cleaning the dirt that had built up in the cupped blower blades has increased the air flow as well. As an added measure I also insulated the top of the plastic inner cover where the chilled air enters the blower and is discharged in to the trailer. I noticed while the outside cover was still off that condensation was forming on the the outside top and sides of the inner plastic cover so my thought was to try and keep the cold air as cold as possible. I used reflect-it silver bubble insulation cut to fit and silver tape. I then insulated what I would call the air box area on the inside of the trailer where the cold air is discharged out of the front and back vents of the ceiling cover with reflect-it as well. I am not sure that either of these will provide any additional cooling effect but I felt it could not hurt. So for now the Airstream is cool and the old Carrier 15,000 BTU AC is pumping out cold air.

I am now a firm believer that maintenance on the critical systems such as your AC must be done on a regular basis. Otherwise they slowly start to degrade and will wear out sooner. I plan on making this an annual event from this point forward.