Water leaking from AC

[plmwright]

On our second campout in our 2009 TM, we experienced water ocassionally dripping from the AC. (coming out of the left filter side of the AC). We placed a waste can under to catch the drips. After the campout, I removed the plastic cover on the AC unit by getting on the roof and removing three screws. I removed a little debris in the pan and noticed some putty that I pressed closer to the metal tray. I am not sure whether this putty is complete and in the right places. I did not find any dripholes or hoses out of the pan. It appears that condensation fills the pan and it spills over the side that is lower. Any help would definitely be appreciated. I am a new TM owner and have only had it for less than one year (just two camping trips.) I love my TM, but would like to fix the drips.

The AC cooled the TM very well (outside, 90 degrees +) and cycled normally.

[hhoenig]

This might happen if the trailer is "too" level. We always had the front end slightly high to allow all condensate to run off the back.

[plmwright]

Thanks Hhoenig. I can tell you that the TM was definitely level. I will try your tip (no pun intended); this "fix" will be easily accomplished.

PLMWright:

I had the same problem recently (very intermittent leak in same place that you mention) - took out the filters and cleaned them - leak stopped.

Skeetman

[bell]

Take inside cover off. Check the 4 screws holding Ac down .Don't over tighten. If this does not work you may need the dealer to replace the rubber seal it is on top of.Best of Luck

can u elaborate on the filters and where they are located?
r u talking inside or outside?
thanks.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by bell

Take inside cover off. Check the 4 screws holding Ac down .Don't over tighten. If this does not work you may need the dealer to replace the rubber seal it is on top of.Best of Luck

Bell is correct. Condensation water happens on the condenser side of the A/C system, on the roof and totally separated from the inside of the camper (when the AC is working correctly) and should not be able to enter the inside of the camper under any circumstances. If it continues, put a bit of red or green food coloring on the inside of the condensation pan. If that colored water is finding it's way to the inside of the camper, the gasket between the A/C upper unit and the roof is leaking (or you have have hole somewhere).

If the water is clear, that means that it is coming from the evaporative side of the A/C unit (the lower part, located inside the camper). This may happen if the filter is restricting the air-flow or the unit is low on freon, causing icing.

The two halves of the A/C unit (outside and inside) are totally separate. No air flows between the two units. The only thing that the two units share is electricity and the flow of freon. NO water should be able to pass between the upper (outside) unit and lower (inside unit). If water could pass between the 2 units, you would have a flood inside the camper every time that you towed in the rain or the wind blew in the rain.

The gasket on the roof should be changed about every 5-years. It's made of a very soft material and it gets hard over time which may cause a leak from the vibration of towing. This is especially prevalent if the camper isn't used for a long period of time. The gasket will take a certain shape and it doesn't like to change. Using the camper often keeps the gasket more pliable.

It's not a big job to replace that gasket. I've done a few of them. In fact, I did my brothers just a few weeks ago. His camper is 6-years old and the gasket was about 1/4" thick and hard as a rock. The new one was about 1" thick, soft and pliable.......NEVER use a sealer. I helped someone replace that gasket one time and he had been stuffing caulking under there for a couple years (which obviously didn't work). I thought that we were going to have to tear the roof off to get that A/C unit off.

Moaboy:

Filters (2) are on inside unit, each end, rectangular, thumb tab ends indented. Grab indentations and pull away from unit. Clean, dry and push back in - simple 3 minute job - tops.

Skeetman

thanks, found 'em and yea shall I say they were "less than clean."

[ThePair]

Agreed on the filter cleaning. Had the same issue with water coming out of the "temperature" knob. This was immediately after a storm blew a large branch onto the roof, so I assumed the worst... however, rain never got in. After reading this thread (and others) I pulled the filters, washed them well, dried and replaced. Lo and behold, no more drips! Seems like there simply wasn't enough air flow in to take away the internal condensation (high humidity in the midwest ), and the cleaner filters removed that obstruction.

Thanks!