Roof air not cooling

[tomhamrick]

My 3 year old Dometic Penguin II has stopped cooling. I can here the compressor start and run but the air never gets cool. Have I lost the freon and it is toast? I do know the compressor is running by listening and watching the 110 power amp meter.

[Bill B /bus]

I suspect refrigerant has escaped. Couldn't handle the pressure . Had that happen to our front unit. We were still getting some cooling about 10F delta in/out.
Before you order a new unit pull the cover and look for the obvious. Sometimes a simple look saves a bad diagnosis.
Good luck.

Bill

[Mike in GA]

Same thing happened to one of our Penguins. The chaps down at Welch a/c in Stockbridge GA spliced a tee into the sealed system and recharged it. Worked for a while...
Mike in GA

[baker4106]

Should be able to get it recharged by an ac technician.   Looked at a class A some years ago and found the factory had not allowed for vibration on two units and the pipes had no room to vibrate so they broke.   Added a copper loop for vibration and recharged and they worked good.   Learned this many years ago on the farm with tractor gas lines.

[Oonrahnjay]

Same thing happened to one of our Penguins. The chaps down at Welch a/c in Stockbridge GA spliced a tee into the sealed system and recharged it. Worked for a while...
Mike in GA 

        Yeah, if it leaks once, it's probably because it's got a leak in the system.   If you recharge it, it's likely to leak from the same place again.

[TedCalvert]

Dirt, dust, debris, bird nests can block up the condenser coil and keep it from working.  Even a good coating of dust can slow down the exchange of heat between refrigerant and air.  I've used Gunk Engine Brite to clean condenser coils.  Of course, the evaporator coil and filter must be clean also.  Take the shroud off & check it out before you write it off as dead.  HTH.

[86102A3]

Have you been running it on low speed? Many times they will completely freeze over, you will not get much airflow out of it if that's the case. Hope that it is the case, let it defrost for a couple hours. Clean the coil and I would recommend only high or medium speed on the fan to keep it from freezing up again. Low speed does not allow enough air across the coil to keep them from freezing up.


Jeff LoGiudice
1986 TMC 102A3
Silver 6V92TA
Allison 740

[tomhamrick]

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like a freon leak since it was a sudden and total loss of cooling. I think I will check with a local tech before replacing but from others past experience it does not sound promising.

[eagle19952]

sad, but in my experience it is hard to find a local tech that will even look at roof airs. 

[Geom]

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like a freon leak since it was a sudden and total loss of cooling. I think I will check with a local tech before replacing but from others past experience it does not sound promising.

If there's a leak in the system (which sounds most likely) sometimes you'll see an oily spot where the freon is escaping. Usually leaks happen where one component connects to another (compressor to copper tubing, copper tubing to coils, air handler etc). Sometimes it's simply a bad joint solder, but if it's the condenser or evaporator coil that's leaking, you're probably better off just replacing it.

I'd also check your warranty. There might still be some coverage considering that it's only 3 years old.

Good luck!
George

[Seangie]

sad, but in my experience it is hard to find a local tech that will even look at roof airs. 

Tom - I have found this same thing. For some reason they don't like working on systems that are mobile

Take it to a local tech school and ask if they want a challenge to fix and repair it.  Tell them you are willing to pay for the work and I'd be suprised if they didn't take it on as a project.

-Sean