AC Blowing Rain Water from Air Discharge

[Bob&Joyce]

I'm hoping someone can offer some suggestions to a weird problem.

I have a 2008 3124KS with what would be the standard AC for that model year. Any time it rains, I get water drops blowing from the air discharge grill on the side by the switch. I removed the filter grille and the plastic shroud around the AC. When I shine a light up into air return opening on the side with the power junction box, I can see water coming in from the side of the AC just above the power junction box. The water is dripping on top of the junction box and in a small area around the box. The water is getting blown by the fan out of the discharge grill.

Any thoughts on where this might be entering? I know there is a gasket that must be periodically tightened. Any idea how to see if that is where it is seeping in from?

Also, I have actually been considering changing out the AC for a lower profile, and hopefully a much quieter, unit. I would think RV AC units are fairly standard size (physically) and footprint, but really have no idea if that is indeed the case.

Are there only certain units that will fit a TM? Or should any brand AC of the same physical size be suitable?

One last question, if anyone has run into this before. When I took the plastic ceiling shroud down from around the AC, I can look up in the ceiling hole and see where the plastic base that the AC sits on contacts the roof of the TM. I see three or four small vertical hairline cracks in the plastic base running from bottom to top of the base. It almost looks like a stress crack perhaps from a screw installed too close to the edge of the plastic, and when tightened caused a small crack in the plastic.

These do not appear to be causing a problem at this time, but my fear is that if I remove the AC and loosen the screws in the base, these cracks might worsen or actually cause a real crack or break in the base and render it unusable. Is the base used by TM a custom part, or is this a standard AC base available from an RV supply house?

Any help at all with any of these concerns would be MOST appreciated.

Cheers All!!

Bob

[Redtail Cruiser]

Hi Bob,

If you will use the search tool at the top of the page and type in 'AC unit leaking" there are a couple of threads there that might shine some light on your problem. I don't have any first hand knowledge as to what might be causing your leak, but the search tool always is a good place to start.

Good luck

[Riwright]

I can't answer all of your questions but I'll tell you what I know.

The AC unit sits on top of a large foam gasket. There are bolts that needed to be tightened periodically. If you get a manual for your unit it will tell you how to do it. Take the plastic cover off and you should be able locate the bolts using the diagrams in the manual. You should also see the foam gasket. This is the most common source of leaks that come when it rains.

The manual will tell you how far you should compress the gasket. You should not tighten the screws all the way, that will compress the gasket too much.

However I imagine that if an older gasket is compressed to a proper thickness and still leaking that the right thing to do would be to compress it a little more (ior replace it.)

You can also replace this gasket if that doesn't work. They don't cost much but I imagine it takes a bit of doing to replace it. The installation is simple but the unit is fairly heavy. The manual lists mine at 83.8 lbs.

The manual will give you installation instructions. These should include the size of hole needed for the unit. I believe that the hole sizes are fairly standard. My manual specifies a 14" to 15" square hole. Any unit that fits in that hole size should work.

I don't think that the AC unit has anything Trailmanor-specific in it.

[wbmiller3]

In our pop-up we had this problem because the through-bolts (that hold the inside and outside units together) had loosened up.

[scrubjaysnest]

We had this on a class C motorhome. New gasket fixed the problem. RV A/C units are a standard foot print, the opening is a 14"x14" for the standard vent, with only the gasket being vendor specific.

[Bob&Joyce]

Thanks to all of you for your responses.

I have a feeling the gasket is going to be the culprit. Do you have to completely remove the AC unit to replace the gasket?

[Riwright]

Tighten the bolts first. It fixed a leak for me.

I think you'll have to remove the unit to replace the gasket. I would try putting one side at a time up on a long 2x4 and then using as a set of rails to slide it out of the way.

If anyone has actually removed an ac unit perhaps they can chime in.

[tentcamper]

usually you can tighten the bolts one additional time after the gasket was installed then you have to replace it. But don't over tighten, just a 1/4 turn