Air Conditioner Leak Check

nylyon · 05-17-2012, 07:14 AM

Like many of you I frequent multiple RV sites. On another site (not sure which one) there was talk about checking your A/C opening for potential leaks. What I mean my leaks is areas where cold air can escape without going through the duct work. I found several areas on mine which I took some pictures of. I am going to head out to the hardware store and see what options I can have to repair these leaks, but I am thinking some sort of metallic tape. I removed the mounting hardware to make it easier to check everything (and one of my mounting screws was completely lose again!

Shot of a gap which will need to be sealed up.

Same shot without flash which makes the gap show better:

Left hand duct work:

Right hand (curb side) duct:

I have no idea if the efficiency of the A/C will be better, but I have to believe that stream lining the ducts and sealing all leaks can't hurt! More pictures to follow once complete.

nylyon · 05-17-2012, 07:59 AM

Turns out I had the stuff. Some sort of metallic tape...

Here's the taped up ducts:

And just to help out with the return, I blocked off the holed made for the wiring and sealed the gaps. This should help the condenser stay clean, I don't want to clean that one.

Not pictured is the divider. When putting everything back you need to be sure that the divider is sealed properly. If not, cold air can enter the return and freeze the condenser.

I tested the fan operation and it seems to blow a little stronger, like mentioned before, RV A/C's are not the most efficient, so EVERY little bit helps, and it's quick and inexpensive (since I already had the tape) and it just makes sense (to me anyway).

NOW my A/C's are ready for the summer.

3'senough · 05-17-2012, 10:01 AM

Nylon thanks for the info and great shots! While I haven't opened mine up since checking the bolts last year I was thinking that since the air is being forced down and then out some of the volume might be lost due to turbulance in hitting the quick cool vent plate.

Possibly adding some flashing that funnels the air towards that duct would further improve all our flows. Sure you would risk loosing the quick cool dump feature which I hardly ever use anyway it might make the units more effiecient overall. Depends on how many ducts I have behind mine too. You have one it looks like which would probaly increase your flow.

I'm going to play around the next couple of days while doing some of my other mods and see what I come up with.

Maybe that is the pizza box mod I have yet to try or look into

.

nylyon · 05-17-2012, 10:21 AM

I had read something about that and there was a link to a Heartland site with details. To see the pictures, you had to be a member. I just didn't bother, but I would be very interested to see what the hoopla is all about. My "Chill Grille" is about 8' high making it rather difficult for anyone in my family to open (aside from me). I think that I used that feature once, and that's it. Having the 2 A/C's now, I doubt that it'll get used again.

Bob Landry · 05-17-2012, 12:24 PM

There are a couple of more things that will increase efficiency.

Pull the ceiling registers out and seal any gaps that occur between the dusct and the grill opening. Otherwise, you are pumping cold air into the ceiling.

The ceiling duct probably extends past the end register. There is no reason to allow air to go to the end of the duct and stop. Seal off the duct just past the last register. You can do it with cardboard and duct tape, a piece of pool noodle cut to fit, or whatever you have on hand. By doing these and retaping the plenum at the unit, I almost doubled the amount of air getting into the trailer living spaces.

nylyon · 05-19-2012, 05:48 AM

An additional note on this. I ended up taking everything back apart again and added staples to insure that the aluminum tape stayed secure since it was being applied to wood. Don't want to have tape in the ducts now do we.

My front A/C was recently installed by my dealer, so I checked there for leaks as well. The dealer really did a great job installing the A/C and had already taken care of the duct sealing which I was happy to see. So far I am very pleased with Campers Barn in Kingston, NY as a dealer. I think that they have treated me very fairly and have done nice work.

drfife · 05-19-2012, 06:59 PM

I pulled my AC grill cover and outlet covers. All were well sealed with the silver tape, much like your after pictures.

I did find one small (2") strip that had come loose. I added tape and tacked it down.

I was pleasantly surprised that Sunnybrook did the job right the first time.

3'senough · 05-19-2012, 08:12 PM

Well I popped off the cover today and low an behold there were 2 bolts loose. The rear 2. They were tight last year so it was not the plant.

On to the ducts...and looking at them suprised me to find just how shallow they really are. My ducts are only 1.5 inches in height which would exlain some of the air flow issues. The unit and ducts though are foamed in tightly with no visable air leaks.

I started with the metal duct tape that I had on hand to smooth out the foam areas which should help with air flowing to the ducts from the fan once installed. I also came up with a simple mod for the vent plate to direct the air towards each vent from the fan which right now is just blowing straight down at the plate and creating a lot of turbulance. Once completed I will post some pictures of the mod should it work.

BigDaddy · 06-17-2012, 04:34 PM

I have enough of poor airflow too!!! I took the chill grill off and this is a poor installation at best. The supply air short cycled due to a gap in the frame and cover. Gotta get that sealed. I cant see where the air gets to the ductwork unless its "forced" to the outside of the aluminum frame. I am a general contractor by trade and would have never installed this way. Does anyone have a picture of what this should look like? Also how do you post pictures on these threads.

BigDaddy · 06-17-2012, 04:39 PM

3's enough, I would love to speak to you by phone about this issue. Would you be willing to call me or email a phone number?

**Crabman** · 06-17-2012, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDaddy

3's enough, I would love to speak to you by phone about this issue. Would you be willing to call me or email a phone number?

Try sending him a PM (private message) as he may not see this thread.

3'senough · 06-17-2012, 05:18 PM

Got it. Sent a PM with some details.

I was lurking...

3'senough · 06-17-2012, 06:13 PM

Allright so here are some pics of a mod in the works. Some pics are that of the "awsome" duct work...

. I took a photo with a pen cap for scale as to just how narrow these ducts are in providing airflow to the entire unit

. My mod is simple yet effective I hope in steering the air towards the ducts as opposed to being soley forced into them. The fan blows air directly down at the chill grill which creates turbulance and in turn causes some inefficient airflow IMHO. In my units case running 30 ft I need all the flow I can get. I fashioned this out of simple roofing flashing which is lightweight and flexible. It will be sealed with more metal tape. This mod also allows me to use the dump feature should I want to since the side vents are not blocked.

My unit has two ducts one either side of the chill grill which is why I have it peaked in the middle. One duct goes forward and the other aft to the bunk house. This could be used in almost any case of a ducted unit by just adjusting the placement of the peak to guide the air to the ducts as needed. I still have some work to do with taping and sealing before buttoning it all up but since there was some interest thought I would post the mod in progress.

This mod is untested as of today due to boondocking and no need for AC as of yet. I did notice a little increase in airflow from the ducts in the extreme locations so hopefully it will keep the unit cooler. Overall the install was sealed well at factory but needs some smoothing out to cut down on the turbulance with all the rough areas. Metal duct tape should help smooth this out along with some trimming of the foam which I started to install but did not complete due to time.

BigDaddy · 06-20-2012, 08:46 PM

i tried to load my pics but i guess the files are too big. im new to this stuff. it appears my ducts were never cut through into the plenum like yours.

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Now my curiosity is up since my dealer obviously never thought to look into this. i will post an update on this after i get the "mobil mansion" out of the shop.

3'senough · 06-21-2012, 06:45 AM

WOW! How the heck did that one pass QA. You have vents I am assuming throughout the unit and since you have 2 that is the LR unit you are photographing right? One would think that if no air was coming out of the vents that there was a problem. Your grill is your obviuos only feed into the LR so it must be hot in the bunk room. Is it a chill grill like the one in my photo?

My MBR unit, should I decide to install is ducted yet but the ducts are within 1.5"'s of the unit with beam foam like your pictures seperating the two.

On edit. I installed the flashing as pictured above but decided to tape it in and fully seal the air duct work off. Let me tell you that once I did that it blew out all the construction debris clear through to my bunkhouse. I have a good stiff breeze back there now and I am going to cut in another vent into the existing duct to get more volume in there while sleeping. Closing two of the LR vents really gets both ends increased flow for sleeping comfort.

krackeer · 06-15-2013, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3'senough

WOW! How the heck did that one pass QA. You have vents I am assuming throughout the unit and since you have 2 that is the LR unit you are photographing right? One would think that if no air was coming out of the vents that there was a problem. Your grill is your obviuos only feed into the LR so it must be hot in the bunk room. Is it a chill grill like the one in my photo?

My MBR unit, should I decide to install is ducted yet but the ducts are within 1.5"'s of the unit with beam foam like your pictures seperating the two.

On edit. I installed the flashing as pictured above but decided to tape it in and fully seal the air duct work off. Let me tell you that once I did that it blew out all the construction debris clear through to my bunkhouse. I have a good stiff breeze back there now and I am going to cut in another vent into the existing duct to get more volume in there while sleeping. Closing two of the LR vents really gets both ends increased flow for sleeping comfort.

Do you happen to have a picture of the mod taped in? Did you tape it to the removed cover or to the interior? In the end did it actually cool the bunkhouse better than it did before?

3'senough · 06-18-2013, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krackeer

Do you happen to have a picture of the mod taped in? Did you tape it to the removed cover or to the interior? In the end did it actually cool the bunkhouse better than it did before?

Krackeer, responded to your PM. It's taped into the unit then I re-mounted the chill grill. Yes airflow increased and adding a vent also helped double the volume of airflow in the BH.

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