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Old 10-27-2021, 04:43 PM   #1
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Angry My A/C Unit Blower grenaded

We're in the process of moving our 2017 5.0TA out of storage in TX and up to Washington State where we now live. Because we moved across the US, we have had the trailer in covered storage for a year. Being TX, it got to the high 80s and so I turned on the A/C. As soon as I did, the blower started making a hellacious racket and started spitting black plastic particles out of the vents. I removed the inside cover on the ceiling and the plate above that and it appears that the blower is now cockeyed and has worn a groove in the black plastic duct. My guess is that either the blower motor came off its mounts, or the motor bearings catastrophically failed, or the blower squirrel cage came off its shaft. Looks like the blower cannot be accessed from the inside and the unit will have to come off the roof. It was working fine when put in storage a year ago so I'm perplexed as to how being in storage caused this. Anyone have any experience with fixing this issue? Thanks.
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Old 10-27-2021, 04:58 PM   #2
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First thing I'd look for is evidence of insect / dirt-dauber / rodent nesting in the squirrel-cage blower which would have thrown it off-balance and led to the self-destruction when turned-on. Critters can (often inexplicably) find their way into the most inconvenient places!

Sorry to hear of the problem, methinks you can access the assemblies in question with the AC in-situ on the roof, I hope you can repair it without too much hassle.
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Old 10-27-2021, 05:10 PM   #3
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We had that happen this fall. Pulled our 21 out of the barn/ workshop, pulled the cover off and started checking all the systems. When we turned on the ac , it started with loud thumping. I killed the power ASAP n got up on the roof pulled the cover off the ac and found a huge dirt dauber nest. Cleaned it out, made sure the squirrel cage was on the shaft straight . We had ac back. Most likely it is a pesky dauber nest causing the issue.

David
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Old 10-27-2021, 10:00 PM   #4
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There were some other reports of mounting bolts that vibrated loose.
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Old 10-28-2021, 06:45 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jkordzi View Post
We're in the process of moving our 2017 5.0TA out of storage in TX and up to Washington State where we now live. Because we moved across the US, we have had the trailer in covered storage for a year. Being TX, it got to the high 80s and so I turned on the A/C. As soon as I did, the blower started making a hellacious racket and started spitting black plastic particles out of the vents. I removed the inside cover on the ceiling and the plate above that and it appears that the blower is now cockeyed and has worn a groove in the black plastic duct. My guess is that either the blower motor came off its mounts, or the motor bearings catastrophically failed, or the blower squirrel cage came off its shaft. Looks like the blower cannot be accessed from the inside and the unit will have to come off the roof. It was working fine when put in storage a year ago so I'm perplexed as to how being in storage caused this. Anyone have any experience with fixing this issue? Thanks.
There were two bolts with ours that came out. When we started it up it made a hellacious racket. We shut it down right away, and didn't have any damage. We opened up both the top and bottom covers and figured out the bolts had come out from the rear of the air conditioner above the squirrel cage. The bolts were laying at the bottom of the air conditioner housing. While I held the squirrel cage from inside the trailer my wife put the bolts back in. After we got home we went out and purchased new bolt washers and nyloc nuts. We replaced the stock bolts that just threaded into rubber. It was a chore getting the nuts on in the tight space behind the bracket, but, now the rubber bushing is compressed and the air conditioner is much quieter than it ever was.
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Old 10-28-2021, 07:48 AM   #6
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Thanks everyone. I'll report on what I find when I get back to Sequim.
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Old 10-28-2021, 10:14 AM   #7
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Ours did the same thing the first time I tested out the AC unit on our new trailer. When I pulled the top cover off of the unit I found the fan shaft mounting bolts completely out and the fan resting loosely in the housing. Bolts were easily reinstalled from the top of the unit.
Cleaning up the shredded plastic actually took longer.
I've added this item to my Spring checklist and will likely replace with longer bolts and nylox nuts.
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Old 10-31-2021, 07:44 PM   #8
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I fixed my A/C. The problem was indeed that the blower motor mounting bolts had come loose. Hard to believe the unit was not put together better. All it would have taken would have been some lock nuts. The pics show the two mounting bolts and one mounting nut - the two bolts go into rubber mounts in the back and the one nut goes thru a tab under the shaft. I used locktite on the threads and added lock nuts.
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Old 11-01-2021, 08:09 AM   #9
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Just when you think Dometic couldn't be any worse, people post photos of improperly assembled units that prove you wrong.

If I were having a new Escape built today, there is no question I'd opt for an AC ready unit, buy a Houghton and have it installed later. The fewer items in the trailer with the word Dometic on them, the better.
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Old 11-01-2021, 08:21 AM   #10
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How do you get 'on the roof' to fix your AC? This is something I've wondered about for a while. In the past our trailer was in my business warehouse so always figured I could just use a forklift to get up there when needed but now we store it in a garage building we had built mostly for it.

Enjoy the road and stay safe.

Steve
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Old 11-01-2021, 09:23 AM   #11
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How do you get 'on the roof' to fix your AC? This is something I've wondered about for a while.
I've been able to get access to the unit by just crawling. But I don't try to stand. Roof can't take the weight in one concentrated area.
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Old 11-01-2021, 11:15 AM   #12
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I spread out a moving blanket and knelt on the right side.
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Old 11-01-2021, 11:33 AM   #13
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When I added a soft start to the Dometic AC, I used a large piece of 2" foam to spread my weight.
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Old 11-02-2021, 02:11 PM   #14
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Why the soft start and is that a capacitor?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
When I added a soft start to the Dometic AC, I used a large piece of 2" foam to spread my weight.
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Old 11-02-2021, 05:04 PM   #15
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To get on top of our 21 I laid cardboard then carpet then a 3’x6’ sheet of 5/8 plywood to spread the load out

David
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Old 11-02-2021, 06:12 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by jkordzi View Post
Why the soft start and is that a capacitor?
The device I installed is a Micro Air Easy Start.

Why? I have a Sportsman 2200/1800 generator that I run on propane. I only carry it for summer travel, and while it started the Dometic AC OK at home (at 260') I was concerned how it would do at altitude. The Easy Start also eliminates the compressor start up "thump" which makes it more pleasant to use.
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