We are packing the coach getting ready to leave our place in Illinois and go to our place in Florida. My wife sits on the recliner to answer a phone and looks up and sees a stain on the roof liner in front of the front AC. I take the cover off to check things out and get wet from water on the AC interior cover. I checked the 4 mounting bolts and everything is tight. I'm stumped! I can't seem to see where the water is entering. We did have a very hard storm yesterday with very high winds and rain coming from the south west and our coach front end was facing that direction. Still with that in mind I still can't determine where the wind was pushing the water through. The only thing I can think of is to check the seal under the AC. I also need to go on top and check the AC cover for any cracks and make sure it is secure.
We will have to clean the liner when we arrive in Florida.
John M.
[edited topic title to be more descriptive - Michelle]
Safe travels back to Florida guys. Hope its a rain-free trip!
John,
Have you checked for small cracks in the roof cover. I doesn't take much of an entry point to have rain water come in via the ceiling grill area.
Jim
2002 U320
John:
I had a similar problem and it was cracks in the AC cover, I used eternabond to temporally fix them until I could get a new cover. Never hurts to change the gasket but make sure you do not over tighten it.
Jerrett
John, I had water come pouring in on the bed. Turns out the water came thru around one of the shroud hold down bolts and managed to migrate thru the AC until it exited onto the bed. Caulked the bolts and no more leaks. Oh, I also added a large fender washer under each bolt head.
Water can easily leak through the poor seal where the sheet metal blower cover mounts to the base of the AC pan. You should definitely use HVAC mastic to seal up every seam on your AC from the rooftop. Aluminum tape didn't work nearly as well as the mastic did. It will stop any exterior air infiltration and allow your AC to run more efficiently.
Well I got up on the coach today and discovered a crack on the shroud. The crack is on the left front corner edge and it's on the same corner where the water stain is on my headliner. We will need to put some silicone on it for now till we get to Florida.
John M.
You can buy thicker rubber mastic backed foil duct tape, just don't apply it to something that needs to be disassembled. Also when you buy any roll of the foil tape ask for a squeegee (they are like the ones used for body putty) they are normally shipped in the cartons of tape but only about 2 or 3 for every 10 rolls of tape and make application of the tape look very professional.
John I currently have the same problem with my rear air unit. Get 3M - 5200 it's a marine sealant. Just don't put it on anything you want to dis assemble later. It can be cut off with a razor blade, but is pretty much permanent when dry. Much better than silicone based sealant.
Cheers Ric 8)
One of these days I'll find it, but we had a leak in our rear AC when on low. It quit when on high, worth a try. ^.^d
Mike,
If you get condensate that drips from the unit with the air on low fan, very possible that the evaporator is icing up.
High fan speed may be moving enough air that the evaporator stays above 32 degrees F. Rear air is much more susceptible, as it is cooling a much smaller area, so lower evaporator temperatures are present.
If using the rear air to cool the front, consider a small fan on the floor of the hall to direct cool air forward. That will also raise evaporator temperatures and likely will reduce icing.
...well I've had water dripping from the rear AC forever, a FOT tech said it was icing up, but it doesn't seems to matter whether the front or the rear AC is on....only the rear ices up, drips cold water into the bathroom. I sleep at night with the front AC on low, rear unit still ices, drips.....no matter which unit is on, it's always dripping from the back. Somebody else offered to go up on the roof & check for mud dobbers, does that make sense? I have a date soon with Paul Y. so one more thing to look at....maybe that fan will help?
Miz,.,
It is quite possible that the drain holes in the A/C drain pan are plugged. Normally it lets condensate water run onto the roof. Pull the A/C cover on the roof to see if you see junk blocking those drain holes. While you are at it, clean the condenser coils you see up there with a brush, maybe a coil cleaner spray and air.
Also check from inside the coach with the ceiling filter cover removed to see if there is lot of debris plugging the evaporator coils. Lastly see how much or how little tension there is on the 4 mounting bolts for the foam roof seal - also from downstairs. Over tightening or under tightening them will encourage condensate water or rain leaks.
Others should contribute their suggestions as well.
Jim
2002 U320
If the leaking A/C units are Penguins, I had a problem with one of those units a couple years ago. I initially thought it was plugged up condensate drain holes, as mentioned above by Jim F. However, I found my leak in a different place. I documented my find (and fix) in the thread below:
A/C Water Dripping On Bed - PROBLEM SOLVED (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=25235)
Good point Chuck, for those with styrofoam pans, the use of coil cleaning products could very well damage the foam and eat holes in it. As stated earlier poor airflow across the evaporator coil can easily lead to icing, dirty fan blades can also reduce fans ability, along with the filters. Once the icing gets started it spreads across the coil quickly.