2017 376 - BHOK A/C Issues

[Daniel976]

We have a 2017 , and my main unit will not cool at all. I have checked the forum and have taken every ounce of advice. I have taped all of my ducts. I have cleaned all of the construction debris from the duct work. I have pulled my registers down and made sure I have no holes in the ducting. The coils are clean. I can hear the compressor fire up. The flow isn't great but there is no cold air. I am out of ideas. I am ready to call Forest River. I have had my unit less than a month. Camping World has been no help. I need some advice with this before I go after Forest River. It's a Dometic unit. Any suggestions?

[brad2388]

Bite the bullet and install a 3rd ac. I know it sucks but thats the fix for these big campers.


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[R3Jones]

Originally Posted by Daniel976

We have a 2017 , and my main unit will not cool at all. I have checked the forum and have taken every ounce of advice. I have taped all of my ducts. I have cleaned all of the construction debris from the duct work. I have pulled my registers down and made sure I have no holes in the ducting. The coils are clean. I can hear the compressor fire up. The flow isn't great but there is no cold air. I am out of ideas. I am ready to call Forest River. I have had my unit less than a month. Camping World has been no help. I need some advice with this before I go after Forest River. It's a Dometic unit. Any suggestions?

There is a two year warranty from purchase on dometic units. There was a large batch of the brisk air II units with premature corrosion issues. I've had two of mine replaced under warranty. The third unit appears to be working quite well. Hopefully they purged the bad units and you'll be good on a replacement.

Call up dometic and ask for a authorized mobile tech in your area. You'll pay for the techs trip charge but domestic with pay for the rest if it's a problem with the unit. Expect to pay $50-$100 for trip charge. Or take it to a dealer and you have no trip charge.


-R.Jones
Nitro 31FQSL

[Sierra360PDEK]

Send Dometic the bill for trip charge with a nice note and they will reimburse you. I received my $115 back this spring when our 15000 BTU AC died.

[jsk]

Originally Posted by R3Jones

There is a two year warranty from purchase on dometic units. There was a large batch of the brisk air II units with premature corrosion issues. I've had two of mine replaced under warranty. The third unit appears to be working quite well. Hopefully they purged the bad units and you'll be good on a replacement.

Call up dometic and ask for a authorized mobile tech in your area. You'll pay for the techs trip charge but domestic with pay for the rest if it's a problem with the unit. Expect to pay $50-$100 for trip charge. Or take it to a dealer and you have no trip charge.


-R.Jones
Nitro 31FQSL

What years were these units produced? Is Dometic any help outside of warranty?


2012 F350 CC SRW 6.7
2012 Sabre 34-REQS-6

[R3Jones]

The units were late 2015 and early 2016s. Dometic acknowledged the issue in a posted bulletin.




-R.Jones
Nitro 31FQSL

[R3Jones]

Here's the bulletin. It says units produced in the 2013-2015 era.

http://share.dometic.com/previewCamp...rvs.com&cid=99




-R.Jones
Nitro 31FQSL

[chop249]

Originally Posted by R3Jones

Here's the bulletin. It says units produced in the 2013-2015 era.

Dometic Brisk Air II Technical Bulletin




-R.Jones
Nitro 31FQSL

So how do you check for this? Our 381RBOK Has had problems with the main cabin keeping upend cooling below 79* during the day.

[R3Jones]

You'll need a recognized service rep to check your unit in order for dometic to replace under warranty.

There were a couple things he did. First he placed an ammeter around a wire on the outside unit. He stated some unit wouldn't read correct amps were indicative of faulty compressors. Then he used a laser temperature gun to verify the temperature difference in the air going in to the unit and out of the unit. If the delta is less than 16 then there may be an issue. This is indicative of freon loss.


-R.Jones
Nitro 31FQSL

[Sierra360PDEK]

Originally Posted by chop249

So how do you check for this? Our 381RBOK Has had problems with the main cabin keeping upend cooling below 79* during the day.

Pull the top cover off and look at the decal on side of unit. Will have production date on it. Take a picture of the decal for future reference also .

[Daniel976]

Thank you guys for all the information. Thankfully I have my dealer on this and I am trying to get Forest River to warranty this issue, seeing how my unit is only a month old. I am so happy I joined the forum. Thank you all again. I appreciate it.

[davetrk]

Our Sandpiper is at the dealer now getting the main AC working properly. Forest River did not put enough return vents in, our dealer told us. Forest River sent him repair kits. The dealer is also fixing a major hydraulic leak. We could not use the 5th wheel. When the factory build the unit they put a hydraulic line between the frame and the water tank. The line burst. Great huh. Did any body else have this happen? Ours is a 2017 Sandpiper 5th Wheel.

[brad2388]

Originally Posted by davetrk

Our Sandpiper is at the dealer now getting the main AC working properly. Forest River did not put enough return vents in, our dealer told us. Forest River sent him repair kits. The dealer is also fixing a major hydraulic leak. We could not use the 5th wheel. When the factory build the unit they put a hydraulic line between the frame and the water tank. The line burst. Great huh. Did any body else have this happen? Ours is a 2017 Sandpiper 5th Wheel.

Yes the new blizzard ac units are known problems. The 5 return vents dont help either. Not sure where it will end up going with forest river.

Look back in the forum and make the dealer seal all the duct work. The front ac wasnt even connected on my unit and there are some other people as well on here that wasnt connected.

The hydraulic line busting is a new one. I havent heard anybody say anything about it but i bet it will start to show up if its a problem thru forest river.


I did find out this weekend that my black tank gauge dont work as the tank is filling up. Gotta dig in that and see whats going on there.


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[chop249]

Originally Posted by brad2388

Yes the new blizzard ac units are known problems. The 5 return vents dont help either. Not sure where it will end up going with forest river.

Look back in the forum and make the dealer seal all the duct work. The front ac wasnt even connected on my unit and there are some other people as well on here that wasnt connected.

The hydraulic line busting is a new one. I havent heard anybody say anything about it but i bet it will start to show up if its a problem thru forest river.


I did find out this weekend that my black tank gauge dont work as the tank is filling up. Gotta dig in that and see whats going on there.


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Black tanks are notorious for not reading correctly. Poo gets on the sensors and messes them up. I have yet to fill a black tank on any trip we've taken. The grey and galley fill up way faster. The flush is supposed to clean the inside of the black tanks. I have yet to use it on our new Sandy because I haven't bought a non potable hose to have on hand at the dump station. In our old unit though I had fabric softener that I would dump in it occasionally to help with the issue. There are all types of opinions/fixes online.

[brad2388]

Originally Posted by chop249

Black tanks are notorious for not reading correctly. Poo gets on the sensors and messes them up. I have yet to fill a black tank on any trip we've taken. The grey and galley fill up way faster. The flush is supposed to clean the inside of the black tanks. I have yet to use it on our new Sandy because I haven't bought a non potable hose to have on hand at the dump station. In our old unit though I had fabric softener that I would dump in it occasionally to help with the issue. There are all types of opinions/fixes online.

Ive never had one that wouldnt work at all other than the bottom light.
This was out first trip in it as well its brand new.


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[Daniel976]

The hydraulic line is new to me too. I hope it's a one in a million incident. Within the first week, we did have a cold water line burst in the underbelly. The factory cut the Aquapec too long at the rear bedroom slide causing it to crush itself into a 45 degree angle when the slide was in. It finally ruptured and rather than drive 365 miles to the dealership, I fixed it right for about $45 at Homedepot. I hope this isn't a trend with our Sandpiper or Forest River....

[ingalmi]

I'm having the same exact issue with our 2016 35 ROK. The front unit (13.5) seems to be doing okay but the main unit (15.0) seems to be really marginal at best until the sun goes down. Best I can do is about 81 degrees in the middle of the day (Florida) and that's with blackout shades down, roof vents closed and pillows installed. I'm now back at the dealer with it and the Dometic tech bulletin to have both A/C's checked. My understanding is that Dometic has a really good reputation for service so here's hoping. I guess if all else fails I'll look into adding a third unit in the main living area by replacing a roof vent should be same size hole. If I do it myself I can probably get by for around $600.00 (non-ducted).

[SilverbackMel]

I had a similar issue. Called Dometic. Tried all suggested. No change. Finally FR replaced with a new A/C. All good after 1 Summer. These are basically sealed units.

My suggestion: get that thing replaced sooner vs later.

[Taberry]

We took it for our first trip in our Sandpiper 389rd in Florida, we melted in the middle of the day. We have 2 units, the one in the bedroom is the regular kind, on the ceiling, works great. The main ac is the new quiet kind with only vents. It sends strong cool air to the bedroom and bath but the vents in the kitchen and living room barely function. We tried closing shades ,doors, taping the vents, it is still an oven in the main living area. I am following the thread about the ac problems, I have an appointment for Camping World next week to look at it, but I have little faith in Camping World. Should I get with Forest River first? Is there a tech support number for them,I could not find it in my paperwork. Thanks, Taberry

[SilverbackMel]

Originally Posted by Taberry

We took it for our first trip in our Sandpiper 389rd in Florida, we melted in the middle of the day. We have 2 units, the one in the bedroom is the regular kind, on the ceiling, works great. The main ac is the new quiet kind with only vents. It sends strong cool air to the bedroom and bath but the vents in the kitchen and living room barely function. We tried closing shades ,doors, taping the vents, it is still an oven in the main living area. I am following the thread about the ac problems, I have an appointment for Camping World next week to look at it, but I have little faith in Camping World. Should I get with Forest River first? Is there a tech support number for them,I could not find it in my paperwork. Thanks, Taberry

NO. FR will refer you to your dealer. If that does not work; go directly to DOMETIC. They are moderately helpful. Go to Home Depot and buy yourself one of those TEMPERATURE GUNS. Shut your camper ac's off. After the entire unit is even temp; run both ac's for 20 minutes and shoot each at closest point of air exit. That will tell you which one is way off. Then you have the info you need to fight the battle for an AC replacement.
WARNING: I had issues 2 years ago. FR could not take us in Topeka. Sent us to a provider. They replaced my AC and all good; along with other issues corrected. Got all the way back to GA and found my brand new rig with a torn and patched roof!!
Guys were FIRED. I waited until this year's rally to have a whole new replacement roof put on. In fact, left rally a day early to have it done.
Just had it checked and it's good.
Just be careful what you ask for!!
Just say'n!!