AC Question

[sor126]

So yes in Fl we already do need AC. We took our Cardinal with a Dometic AC to the house,,, had a cord to the camper on normal household. The AC would try to power up and then shut down. never had a problem before. Took the camper out to a campground with 50 amp clean service and it did the same thing,, push the on switch up and the unit powers up then shuts down. If you pushed the on switch up and down several times could get it to run and the just control it from the thermostat and all was cool,,,it ran for days cooling took it to Camping World and they say we have a Freon leak and the unit needs to be replaced, just checking to see if this is right.... Seems strange that we could get it to cool very well with messing with the thermostat switch. Thanks everyone for being here!!!!

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by sor126

So yes in Fl we already do need AC. We took our Cardinal with a Dometic AC to the house,,, had a cord to the camper on normal household. The AC would try to power up and then shut down. never had a problem before.

Trying to run an A/C off of a 15 or 20 amp household receptacle can possibly damage the unit. Don't know if this is your case or not, just pointing it out for future.

Here is an excerpt from one of Mark Polk's great articles that can be found at the link below:

Basic RV Electricity - RV Information (RV Maintenance)

Most campgrounds you go to will provide you with a 30 Amp outlet that your RV power cord will plug directly into. If you go to a campground that has a regular house type outlet there are adapters that you can use to go from your RV plug to the house type outlet. When you do this you are plugging into a 15 Amp or 20 Amp power source. This means you will be limited as to what appliances you can run in your RV. It is even possible to damage some appliances if they are not getting the required amperage to operate properly. Let’s say for example you plug into a 15 Amp outlet and you are using a small appliance that is drawing 5 Amps, that leaves you with 10 Amps. Now you turn the roof air conditioner on and when the air conditioner compressor engages it needs about 13 Amps, but it’s not available, and it damages the air conditioner compressor.

[TexasBob]

Originally Posted by sor126

So yes in Fl we already do need AC. We took our Cardinal with a Dometic AC to the house,,, had a cord to the camper on normal household. The AC would try to power up and then shut down. never had a problem before. Took the camper out to a campground with 50 amp clean service and it did the same thing,, push the on switch up and the unit powers up then shuts down. If you pushed the on switch up and down several times could get it to run and the just control it from the thermostat and all was cool,,,it ran for days cooling took it to Camping World and they say we have a Freon leak and the unit needs to be replaced, just checking to see if this is right.... Seems strange that we could get it to cool very well with messing with the thermostat switch. Thanks everyone for being here!!!!

I would get a second opinion. My limited experience with Camper World Technician has not been good.

[Blackhat6mike]

You may need a "hard start capacitor" installed in your A/C. Any A/C dealer carry them. It's just an additional capacitor hooked in parallel with the stock one. Not expensive and easy to install. I put in one on each of my A/C when brand new.