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Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: Keith and Joyce on September 04, 2013, 12:13:43 pm

Title: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Keith and Joyce on September 04, 2013, 12:13:43 pm
Tiny 1/8" "snow flakes" everywhere in the front half of my coach.  About 5 flakes per sq. inch.  Evenly distributed over everything.  Mystery.  Adjusted the louvers on the front air conditioner and got some blown in my face.  Ah! Ha! So that's where they are coming from.

Now a little history.  Brand new Dometic Penguin from the factory installed by dealer last year after long battle with Dometic.  Problem started a few weeks ago after unit left on at campground.  Stuff is not coming from outside.  Filters clean.

Question:  Any Dometic A/C experts have ideas for a fix before I have to deal with Dometic again?

Keith
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: kb0zke on September 04, 2013, 08:44:04 pm
Are you really getting snow? After all, snow is just frozen water vapor, so maybe your new a/c is really working well. If it isn't real snow, can you describe it a bit better? Is it more like dust? Finely shredded cardboard? Interesting problem.
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Gary Bouland (RIP) on September 05, 2013, 08:26:55 am
Keith, If it is real snow you probably are on the verge of a AC failure.  If it is cold enough to freeze  water or water vapor at the evaporator coil it indicates that the compressor is not shutting down on low temp and/or refrigerant charge is low and freezing temps are occurring on the coil. Pull the shroud and cover off and watch as it cycles to see what is going on.
Does the snow immediately melt in your hand from body heat ?  If not it may be something else.
Gary B
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Keith and Joyce on September 05, 2013, 11:36:21 am
It's not real "snow" just flakes of some white stuff.  Turned the unit on last night and it blew some more out in a little puff.

Keith
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Michelle on September 05, 2013, 11:46:21 am
It's not real "snow" just flakes of some white stuff. 

Is yours ducted at all?  Is there any sound of a blower fan (squirrel cage) hitting something?

In our ducted system there is an adhesive-backed thin white flexible foam sheet material used to seal the unit to the duct opening.  If your installation has a similar foam and if it loosened and is in contact with a fan, maybe bits could be scraped off and blown by the fan?
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Keith and Joyce on September 05, 2013, 11:56:35 am
Michelle,

It's a brand new unit and not ducted.  I will take the interior cover off tonight and poke around.  There is no unusual sounds just the usual loudness of these new "improved" units.

Keith
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: wamu1david on September 05, 2013, 03:23:04 pm
This is just a guess ..... but it sounds like some styrofoam packing wasn't removed before installation?

Dave VanAmburg
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Kent Speers on September 05, 2013, 04:43:23 pm
I have installed two new Dometic unducted A/C units the last two years. I have to agree with Dave, it must have been packing that worked its way into the fan. There really isn't anything else in the system that I can imagine would produce your "Snow".
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Keith and Joyce on September 15, 2013, 07:26:41 pm
After taking the inside cover off and finding the stuff in the cover I looked everywhere in the unit from below and there is no evidence of anything white.  So it's a call to Dometic on Monday!

Keith
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: MR B2 on September 16, 2013, 12:45:57 am
Try running it with the cover off, Then you can see where the snow is coming from,
Then again, It might be all gone by now, what ever was in the unit case,
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Keith and Joyce on September 16, 2013, 02:10:32 pm
Brian,

Yup, tried that yesterday and everything looks OK inside from below.

Talked with Dometic and after talking with a gal who knew far less than me I told her to look in the records at my past contacts.  She did and asked me to hold.  Came back all sweetness and light and told me to take it to a local dealer under warranty.  Obviously their computer told them what a determined pain in the posterior I was last time when they tried to fob me off ::)

Keith
Title: Re: It's snowing inside my coach!
Post by: Keith and Joyce on October 18, 2013, 01:05:21 pm
OK so this is what the Dometic authorized dealer has found.  There are roof drains installed on the coach.  It appears that a white powdery substance is in the tubing.  This is being drawn back inside the unit somehow (negative pressure in the plenum?) and being discharged into the coach.  This is the only connection between the interior and exterior.  There is also some of this powder in the rear A/C but it has not got into the coach.  Must be some kind of algae or mildew as the water will not have calcium or salt in it as the coach is not near salt water.

Keith