How do you charge the Dometic Air Conditioners???

[Shinny]

I searched but didn't find a direct answer.

Does anyone know how to charge the system? My A/C worked perfectly until last weekend. It wouldn't cool the camper below 80°. It used to get to 68° in 95° direct sunlight. The fan ran non-stop but the compressor didn't kick on at all, leading me to believe the system is low on refrigerant. I hate to take it to a dealer for repair and it sit for the rest of the season when charging it may be easier by a trained/licensed person, other than a dealer.

[Jerry01]

Out AC was not blowing cold air. Took it to the dealer and found out there wasn't any freon. They replaced the whole unit. From what they told me there isn't a recharge port. It's a sealed unit. Jerry


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[HONDAMAN174]

Agreed. These a/c units are not like your car. They fill them and crimp/seal the tube all in one shot.

[TURBS]

Yep, replace only.

TURBS
08 duramax tuned n modded
2011 32bhok Sabre
2015 camping "24 nights"

[mud yapster]

Dometic are assembled in China!

These units are a sealed system meaning there are no charge ports. Charge ports can be installed on them though. The refrigerant type is R-410A and is a blend of refrigerants. If your unit is low meaning it leaked out or could have been under charged from the factory then it has lost part of its blend. The refrigerant charge would need to be totally removed from the unit and evacuated and then a factory charge can be installed. You'll need to leak check the system first before recharging or it will just loose its blend again if it has a leak therefor the leak would need to be repaired. ( It is a blend of HFC-32 and HFC-125 (50/50 wt%) that performs very much like a single component refrigerant and replaced the old R-22 refrigerant. )
On a side not;
There was a lot of Dometic units left the China factory that were under charged!
My front bedroom A/C Dometic 13,500 BTU unit was under charged from the factory. Myself being a refrigeration specialist corrected that issue with my unit by leak checking the system first to make sure there wasn't a leak, then removing the charge and evacuating the system to 500 microns and then installing a factory charge of 18 ounces. The factory charge and refrigerant type are on the unit's data plate on the roof under the A/C cover.

If your A/C unit is older then it could still have R-22 in it which isn't a blended refrigerant and is obsolete, but can still be bought and is expensive.
These units are really just roof top window units and nothing special about them except for there use of an external thermostat for convenience and an accumulator to help prevent liquid slugging. These R-410a units must be charged by the liquid form so as to maintain the blend while charging of the system.


Easily checking the charge of your unit just by the delta temp. difference between the supply air temperature and the return air temperature which should be close to a 20 degree split. Average is 18 to 22 degree split depending on fan speed. These readings should be taken with a clean evaporator and condenser coil and a clean air filter.
If your delta temp. is 15 or less you definitely have a issue. Once the blend is lost efficiency of the 410a drops off dramatically and increasingly with a wider range of lost blend.
These units aren't that expensive and are considered throw away units if much is wrong with them because of parts and labor costs. A new 13,500 BTU Dometic unit is only about $600 and if replacing it I'd go with the 15,000 BTU unit and power consumption of the 15K isn't much more and the hole in the roof for it is the same. Only takes 2 people to put it on the roof and set it in place and connect electrical and stat wiring and tighten the 4 bolts holding it's rubber seal tightly to the roof.


Hope this information helps you a little. I fix mine just because I have the tools and know how and my labor is free to me, other wise it would be more cost effective to just put a new one on the roof and throw the old one away like you would do with a window unit on your house or shed. spending more than a few hundred bucks or more on a old one to fix it wouldn't make sense.


Good luck with it and a cold front is on its way. LOL

[Ke5rbd]

Lots of things beside being low on freon. Bad start or run capacitor, freeze control sensor, Burned off or loose wire, bad thermostat, bad relay, just to name a few. Not sure they even have a low pressure control to sense low freon. Need to find a person that can check and repair. Most common problem is the start capacitor. The freon doesn't just leak out in a week and quit working unless a line broke and you would know it if that happened. It would have blown oil and freon vapor all over the place.

[leland1950]

Capacitor was mentioned my Lenox home units (2) both went this past summer in the 100 degree heat. I'd check that first. Look it up on U-Tube.

[edcronin01]

You didn't mention how old is is Dometic has 2 year warranty parts and labor and a 3 yr warranty that covers only parts and shipping.

[mud yapster]

This was the OPs question.

How do you charge the Dometic Air Conditioners???

[edcronin01]

I mentioned the warranty because it still may be under warranty!

[SULTINI]

I realized the OP asked how to charge the RV Air Conditioner however. I would have answered like this. No use in trying to charge a RV or any air-conditioner if the compressor is not running. The first thing to do would be find out why the compressor is not running. Then you move on to the next troubleshooting procedure. 50 years in HVAC & Refrigeration field.

[Eaglelover]

Hi All: There are saddle ports, also known as bullet piercing valves available to install on the sealed cooling units. I ordered two for my air conditioner from the internet and also the R410A refrigerant. Adding these valves allows the cooling unit to be recharged. I think the valves were about $12.00 each and the R410A was around $50.00 shipped UPS. The container looks like a small propane cylinder and has a content weight of 28.2 ounces. The container also comes with a charging adapter and gauge. My unit has been working fine since I did the recharge. The main thing is to polish the area on the copper lines where the valves will be installed.
My rig is a 2012 3001W Windjammer with a Coleman air conditioner. Regards; Frank

[Todouble]

Originally Posted by Eaglelover

Hi All: There are saddle ports, also known as bullet piercing valves available to install on the sealed cooling units. I ordered two for my air conditioner from the internet and also the R410A refrigerant. Adding these valves allows the cooling unit to be recharged. I think the valves were about $12.00 each and the R410A was around $50.00 shipped UPS. The container looks like a small propane cylinder and has a content weight of 28.2 ounces. The container also comes with a charging adapter and gauge. My unit has been working fine since I did the recharge. The main thing is to polish the area on the copper lines where the valves will be installed.
My rig is a 2012 3001W Windjammer with a Coleman air conditioner. Regards; Frank

Watch that tap valve carefully. They usually turn into another leak themselves. Add in all the road bouncing and jolting and well you get the picture.

[Toddupton]

Originally Posted by Todouble

Watch that tap valve carefully. They usually turn into another leak themselves. Add in all the road bouncing and jolting and well you get the picture.

X2
If you are going to have to evacuate and vac out the system it makes more sense to put inline valves in instead of the "always going to leak" self piercing valves.

[Myrle]

You have lost freon I talked to a dealer mine was under warranty. He told you can fix them so that you can put freon in but by the time you get all this done if you didn't do all the work it is cheaper to replace the unit. Some of the Forest Rivers the AC was going bad prematurely.

[Ke5rbd]

Originally Posted by mud yapster

This was the OPs question.

How do you charge the Dometic Air Conditioners???

If you don't have a license to buy the freon and line piercing connector, you are out of luck. You also need to know what the pressures for the freon it uses or how to measure the super heat. You can also pump it down and measure the freon you put back in it by weight. If you do have all that you wouldn't have to ask that question.

[TURBS]

Long story short,
Under $400.00

http://www.rvpartscountry.com/Dometi...FQGqaQodpncHCA

TURBS
08 duramax tuned n modded
2011 32bhok Sabre
2015 camping "24 nights"

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Myrle

You have lost freon I talked to a dealer mine was under warranty. He told you can fix them so that you can put freon in but by the time you get all this done if you didn't do all the work it is cheaper to replace the unit. Some of the Forest Rivers the AC was going bad prematurely.

Forest River does not make Air Conditioners; they install them.

Dometic and Coleman make Air Conditioners used on FR and many other brands.

I also have been told that they (like the new TVs) are cheaper to replace than repair.

On the other hand, I saw MANY air conditioners replaced for free at the Rally last week.

Always next year!

[Thurman]

"Shinny": On your post there is a footnote that you have a 2015 Sierra 32QBBS. I have a 2015 Coachmen that had the air conditioner quit cooling at three months from purchase. There are some posts on this forum regarding my situation. Long story short--Dometic is not admitting that there "may be" a problem with some (a lot of) Dometic units not cooling. After contacting the selling dealer and finding out that they were six to eight weeks behind on RV repairs I contacted Dometic myself. Luckily there was an Dometic authorized service center in my area and they knew of this problem. I just had to schedule an appointment to get my Dometic 15K unit exchanged under Dometic's warranty, not the Cherokee or Forest River warranty. Dometic did not argue at all about sending a replacement unit for my TT. The service guy told me that mine was the third unit they had replaced within a two month period on new RV's. My recommendation: Contact Dometic directly, have your RV info (brand, serial #) handy. Remove the grill of the A/C unit inside the RV and get the info of the Dometic unit-model #, serial # unit size (13.5 or 15K), and see if you can find an SKU # (they like this for some reason). Once I gave the lady I talked to these numbers she started the process of sending a replacement unit to the local RV shop. The shop owner told me that usually Dometic can have a unit delivered to his shop in 48 hours, but--since all this started it is now a one week waiting time. When my replacement unit came in they called me, I took the TT to them the next morning and picked it up that afternoon with a working A/C unit. Dometic has not issued a recall on these units but I read every day on this forum where someone else has this problem. Good Luck