Dometic AC

[MichaelW]

Well it’s been a bad year camping . Lost 2 tires in late March coming up from Florida to Michigan. And this week lost my AC burned up the refrigerant. It’s a 2016 wildcat 28 sgx had no idea about this coming worked fine in Florida

[chriscowles]

You have my condolences.

[Iwannacamp]

?? What did your a/c do? HFC and CFCs are not flammable...the oil has a flash point.

[MichaelW]

Originally Posted by Iwannacamp

?? What did your a/c do? HFC and CFCs are not flammable...the oil has a flash point.

Just blows warm air. Had it checked out by a tech the AC is working properly but the refrigerant is gone. The tech has been replacing a lot of the same unit. Good thing I purchased a Extended Warranty. Taking it in this coming week.

[Toddupton]

I’m betting the tech is blowing smoke. Unless he added service valves how does he know there is no refrigerant left. I guess he could have used clamp on valves to test but I doubt it.

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by MichaelW

Just blows warm air. Had it checked out by a tech the AC is working properly but the refrigerant is gone. The tech has been replacing a lot of the same unit. Good thing I purchased a Extended Warranty. Taking it in this coming week.

He is right. There are countless reports of refrigerant loss in the Dometic units of that era. Supposedly fixed in summer of 17.

It is hard to tell if the compressor is pumping or has low compression without seeing some pressures. Hermetic units normally either burn up the windings, crack/break the valves or twist the motor shaft(usually ~1 HP or less). Scroll compressors don’t like frozen coils or dirty condenser coils. Reciprocating compressors hold low charge better, but aren’t supposed to be as efficient.

Glad you have a solution as it’s too hot to camp most places without a/c.

[latner]

Originally Posted by Toddupton

I’m betting the tech is blowing smoke. Unless he added service valves how does he know there is no refrigerant left. I guess he could have used clamp on valves to test but I doubt it.

He's probably right. I read somewhere that back in '15 - '16, Dometic received units from China that did not have the right amount of refrigerant. I had to replace ours this year, 2015 model. Everything ran right, including the compressor, just blowing warm air though.

[RobinZ]

We too have a 2016 SGX and are on our third AC unit. Thank God for extended warranties.

[MichaelW]

Originally Posted by RobinZ

We too have a 2016 SGX and are on our third AC unit. Thank God for extended warranties.

I’m taking it to the dealer tomorrow. I don’t understand this BS with the manufacturer they should recall and fix the problem. Do you have a bedroom AC?

[RobinZ]

Yes we do. We are very lucky that our dealer replaced our AC in one week's time as we were going to NC for vacation. It was October and we didn't use either unit. One good thing is Dometic starts the two year warranty all over again. So basically it has been replaced under Dometic warranty and not my extended warranty. Keep the paperwork.