PDA

View Full Version : basement air


2dogs
07-15-2010, 11:23 PM
does anyone know what freon and oil is used and what capacity? they are duo-therm thanx, Brian

folivier
07-15-2010, 11:43 PM
My '93 has R-22. But I don't know how much. The a/c guy who works on my house units checked them out last year and charged them.

fulltiming
07-17-2010, 04:45 AM
I will try to dig through my manuals this weekend and see what I find.

RussWhite
07-17-2010, 07:02 PM
I know you asked about the Duo-Therm units, but I thought this might be a good thread to add information about charging gas and capacity for other basement units too. So, for those of you with the Specific Climate Systems units, each compressor is charged with 36 ounces of R-22.

GORDON HUMMEL
07-17-2010, 07:21 PM
I have the installation manual for the Duo-Therm system model 56948.302.
It states R-22; "System Refrigerant charge with line set lenght" as follows
8 ft 22.5 oz.
16 ft 24.0 oz.
24 ft 25.5 oz.

Nothing is stated about the oil, but as I recall, refreigerant oil is specific to the type of refrigerant & should not be mixed!

Richard and Rhonda
07-18-2010, 02:33 AM
They use R-22. I haven't found a capacity on them, but I can give you my gauge readings at ambient.

At 100 degrees ambient, yeah I know it's hot in Fort Worth right now, I run about 85 to 90 lbs suction pressure, and the units blow air right around 64 degrees.

Hope that helps you check them.

Richard and Rhonda
07-18-2010, 02:40 AM
While we are talking Dometic basement air.............

I have trouble with all three units, however, not the blower motor or compressor motor burn out that most have.

My troubles have all been with the relays on the control board that supply power to the motor or the wiring connections themselves.

My bedroom air was tripping the breaker today. The compressor sounded like it was cutting in and out, and the gauges were acting weird. I opened up the control box and sure enough I found burned wiring connections. Not the ones I had worked a couple of years ago, but new ones.

The point is this, bad wiring connections drop voltage and jack up the current. That's bad for any motor. If you have basement air, I would open up the control boxes and physically inspect for potential damage. Unscrew the wire nuts on the 120V connections and look at them for burning or arcing. It could save you a blower motor or compressor.

larryweikart
07-21-2010, 02:09 AM
Interesting Richard. I have been trouble shooting Bad compressors and fan motors for some time. Guess what. Air #2 has been blowing the breaker and I just found a burn't wire in its control box. Changed it and the air works well. Thanks for the great input! You can rest assured my next project will be to check the other 3 units! What a wonderful forum this is!

prairieschooner
07-21-2010, 01:58 PM
Ours aren't the basement type but we had a similar problem on our '82. I shortened the wires. The terminals on the circuit breaker were also in poor condition so it was replaced. I went through the switch panel at that time and corrected any short comings as well as isolating the circuits for the power inverter (the 2 televisions, an isolated outlet and microwave oven).
In my previous career maintaining a production facility, I would shut down the facility and bring in a short staff to help tighten all of the terminals throughout the switch panel. This was a large panel with most of the circuit breakers around 150 amp 440 Volt, three phase power. It almost always surprised me how some circuit breakers would need to be tightened.

After reading this post I think that I will be checking my switch panel again. I was taught to always disconnect any power (including the power inverter), check with a meter, and work as if it was still hot.

Richard and Rhonda
07-21-2010, 03:23 PM
Steve,

That is a great point. I found a loose breaker in another Newell, but I haven't looked at my own. Makes sense, not only will they loosen from thermal cycling, but vibration is an issue in the coach.

While you guys (and gals) are checking the terminal strip, don't forget the plug in. My first electrical issue was with a loose connection in the plug in.

chockwald
07-21-2010, 09:56 PM
Was having problems with my block heater not coming on (no not this summer, but in late Spring), but kind of put it on my to do list for this summer. Well, after reading the prior posts about loose connections at the service panel I decided to check while I was over at the storage yard today.....what do you know? No, there was no loose connection, the breaker was just switched off.....hahahahaha! Don't know how that happened. OK, one thing crossed off the to do list!

I did, however, go through and tightened each connection anyway. There were a few that were getting a little loose, so hopefully I have averted future electrical issues originating at the service panel.

Still need to get together with Steve Ward to troubleshoot some other minor issues, including the bad relay on the genset. Need to isolate the stuff that runs off the inverter after reading Steve's posts. Right now when I turn on the inverter every AC outlet, and appliance has power......I now understand that is not good. Really just need a couple of outlets and the TV's to work. Finally, need to install the new microwave/convection oven I bought on Ebay.

prairieschooner
07-22-2010, 02:15 AM
leave it to Richard to come up with an engineers description. yes I agree we should also check the terminals at the the shore power inlet. That would be the relay panel on our older coaches.