Another Air Conditioning Issue

[John Hagen]

Well, it is smokin' hot here in Oklahoma. Running 100+ everyday and barely gets below 80 at night. Three ACs working hard and then... bang, bang, bang... About 3 this morning the 15K unit in the living room starts having issues with the blower wheel (squirrel cage). It's making all kinds of noise like it is ready to take-off.

So first thing this morning I got on the roof and took the shroud off. Sure enough, the blower wheel is expanding when it gets up to speed and is scraping on the frame. Same thing happened last year to the bedroom AC, only it blew apart.


Last Year's Blower Wheel Failure

Last year AirXcel sent me a new blower wheel under warranty. Not sure if they will this year. Have already sent them email and photos so should know something tomorrow. I also ordered a spare one because I am positive I will need it.

Also last year the condenser fan flew apart when the mounting legs broke. Sent fan blades every where. That happened to my kitchen AC unit. Figuring it is going to happen again, I also ordered a spare one of those.

Last Year's Condenser Fan Self Destruct - Note The Broken Mount Points

Anyway, right now the kitchen AC is working it's tail off trying to maintain a temperature in the low 80's. Better than in the low 90's!

John

[John Hagen]

After exchanging a few emails with the Airxcel Service center, this is part of an email reply:

Originally Posted by John Hagen

John

I am sorry to hear about the problems that you are experiencing with the AC units. Normally when we see the parts break as you are describing, it is due to the AC units being overtightened would check the thickness of your gaskets under the unit. IF they are less than ¾ in thick, then the unit was overtightened. As the back leveling pad is non-compressible, and is an inch thick, any overtightening on the front causes the unit to torque up and bind, which can cause failures in components. It is very common that this is the case, as a lot of technicians use power tools to tighten the units, not torque wrenches as suggested. I will send you out replacement parts as a customer satisfaction but I cannot promise they will not break if the units are not installed correctly.

Mike Dickey

I was discussing the three failures with my Mach 8 ACs. Last year Mike told me this about over tightening the units to the roof. Mine were sitting correctly so not sure why mine failed. I am posting this to let everyone know it is something they should check.

Airxcel did send me a new blower unit and a couple of 3-bladed fans. The blower wheel I needed to get the AC back on line. The blower fans are a newer revision (Rev D) and also come with a standoff that mounts on the power box to help keep the main AC shroud from coming in contact with the moving parts. These were sent to me as a customer satisfaction order at no cost, even though I was out of warranty.

Good service from my perspective.

John

P.S. Even though Airxcel denies it, the three bladed fans do significantly reduce the fan noise everyone complains about.

[SeaDog]

glad it is working out for you and that they came thru, you are lucky to be handy with the tools.

[dwilhite]

John,

Sorry about the continued failure of your Coleman Air X-Cell A/C units. Though subjective, I am convinced, the design of this unit is poor. Like yours, ours is too loud. Keep in mind, it is a factory unit at this point. There is just too much vibration, which is destructive and noisy. KWood struck gold by putting the older and proven technology up in replacement.

Sure the height is an important consideration, primarily for clearance issues. Seems Dometic and Coleman have issues with their low profile units, in addition to the apparent drop in performance.

Sure this is a big swing, though probably not a whiff!

Don't know what we will do when ours fails. Right now, holding out hope Coleman will upgrade it's product to resolve their mistakes. I know it comes down to $$! Since the liability is limited; If the warranty costs are cheaper than doing it right, it's likely we'll continue to see band aids rather than fixes. (Thinking the bearings and balance of the fan motor in comparison to the blade design is the culprit. Although the design of the fan blade could be exacerbating the issue)

Stay cool!


God Bless,
David & Cathy

2015 Trilogy 38FL
2016 Silverado 3500HD DRW
Trailersaver TS-3 Hitch on B&W Platform

[John Hagen]

David,

At this moment I will continue with the free parts from Airxcel. Once I have another failure and can't obtain the parts from them, I will replace the unit. Cheaper to replace than have someone else come out and attempt repairs. I don't have AC skills, just mechanical ones so I can do these fans and blowers.

Clearance to me is not an issue. I have a satellite dish up there and it sits higher than the ACs currently installed. I am sure the older, taller models would fit just fine.

John

[Iwannacamp]

Mine came apart one time. I found tan/reddish looking dirt in there. Hmmmm wonder what that was? It was the day before a trip so I epoxeed it and ordered a new one and it stayed that way till totalled.

[John Hagen]

Well, instead of starting a new thread, I figured I would add to the one I started a few months ago...

Yet ANOTHER blower wheel failure!! We are currently at Fort Wilderness in Disney World. We went out to Epcot today and I headed back early. When I get to the Trilogy I had the banging sounds of the blower wheel in the middle air conditioner. This is what the blower wheel looked like when I removed it:

Fortunately I had a spare with me. The humidity here is awful, I hate to sweat...

I am getting so tired of having these things fail. I am looking for a replacement wheel that is made of metal, not plastic. You know, it really sucks when you know the exact tools needed to fix the AC and you can knock it out in 15 minutes. Argh!

Waiting on a response from Airxcel...

John

[Broadway Joe]

John, what are the dimensions of the blower cage and shaft size?

https://www.mccombssupply.com/hvac-r...l-cage-wheels/

[John Hagen]

Joe,

Thanks for the link. I did some research and I found an aluminum blower available in what I think are the correct dimensions. I have ordered it and will try it out once I get back to Oklahoma and will then post the results.

Thanks again for the help!

John

[kwoodrg]

John did you get a working metal blower fan?

[John Hagen]

Yes, I did receive a metal blower wheel but have not installed it. I'm waiting on another plastic one to fail before putting the metal one in place.

John

[Iwannacamp]

Isn't it usually dirt dobbers? Possible it rubs at some point?

[John Hagen]

Nah, cheap plastic.

John