Where's the Drain Hole in the Danby Side-Mount Air Conditioner

[Bob K]

My 2016 185RB Baja has the Danby side-mount A/C, model #DAC080MUB1GDB. Last year, water would happily pour out of the drain pan on muggy days. This year, water pools inside of the A/C case and makes contact with the fan inside, which causes a loud, annoying sloshing sound and slightly slows the fan speed. Compressed air blows the pooled water out (a cup or more) and stops the noise until the condensed water builds up again.


This occurs regardless of the trailer's lean angle. In fact, I jacked up the passenger side well beyond Danby's recommended 4 degrees and water still stayed inside of the A/C case rather than exiting via the drain pan.

I suspect that the drain hole from the A/C case down to the drain pan is clogged. I cleaned the gap between the drain pan and the bottom of the A/C case with compressed air, forceful water, and a thin paint scraper just to make sure the drain pan wasn't blocked. Nonetheless, only a small amount of water exits via the drain pan.

The owner's manual makes mention of this drain hole but doesn't say where it is.


Does anyone have personal experience with accessing the drain hole on this particular model? I know I need to go digging, but it would be nice to know where I have to dig before I start.

[RogerR]

Mine has little slots in the bottom of the outside plastic trim. Drips out of there in moist weather. No drips in Moab or Cortez but the humidity there was tiny.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by RogerR

Mine has little slots in the bottom of the outside plastic trim. Drips out of there in moist weather. No drips in Moab or Cortez but the humidity there was tiny.

Thanks, Roger. Mine drips in the same spot when the A/C is draining properly though I had some problems with that last year: https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...tml#post887558.

My problem now is that the condensed water isn't getting out of the A/C case and down into the drain pan so that it can drip out of the drain pan & plastic trim outside of the trailer. It's pooling inside of the A/C case, I'd guess, because the drain hole (somewhere inside on the bottom of the A/C unit) is plugged. I'm wondering how far I have to dig to get to that drain hole.

[Bob K]

An email to Danby didn't get me far. A customer service rep said this unit has no drainage hole despite the owner's manual saying otherwise. A follow-up email to John has gone unanswered.


I decided to just drill new drainage holes. I didn't see much use in completely uninstalling the A/C unit (and wrecking my Eternabond job) in order to unplug the drainage hole (if there is one) just to have it clog up again. This way, I can unclog the new drain holes from the outside. The refrigerant pipes are about 1/4" away from the A/C frame on the inside, so I slowly and carefully ground out two holes with a pencil grinder and carbide burr.

Voila! About 2 cups of water poured out of the little holes and the fan no longer sloshes through the water buildup.

[Bob K]

More back and forth with Danby yielded no help. Despite telling the customer service rep that the fan blade is sloshing through water (and slowing in speed) and that I'm getting nearly 2 cups of stagnant water out of the A/C box, the rep, in ESL, continues to tell me this is "normal".


My new drain holes continue to work perfectly as I traverse the muggy Midwest.

Has anyone ever replaced the side A/C unit with a mini-split?