I think the AC is no good now

TU

TucsonJim

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Feb 6, 2014
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Earlier I posted that the fan would not shut off, even when in auto mode. Now, we're getting very little cooling, if any. The outside temperature is 106 F, and the inside temp is 92 F. This is with all the windows, vents, and curtains closed. We also have dual pane windows. It is an Atwood Air Command A/C unit. So far, I'm not impressed. To make matters worse, we're hitting the road for our summer trip, and don't have time to put it back in the shop. I guess we'll have to live without AC until we can stop somewhere long enough to get it fixed.

It appears the compressor is cycling on for about 90 seconds, and the vent temperature will get down to about 60 F. Then, the compressor cycles off for three minutes and the vent temp goes up to 85 F. When the fan is in auto mode, it switches to high when the compressor is on, and low when it is off. It never shuts off.

Has anyone else experienced this?
I'll give customer service a call tomorrow to see if they have any suggestions.

Jim
 
I talked to Atwood about the fan not turning off. They said that is the way it is designed. Also told me to push and hold the sleep button to show the room temp. They said there should be a good 20 to 25 degree difference from outside to inside temp. Don
 
Thanks Don. I've been experimenting a little more. I push the sleep button, and it will show a temperature. If I leave it pressed in after the compressor kicks on, it will display the temperature as it decends during the compressor cycle. Here's an example:

Thermostat set to 62 F. Fan on Auto. Interior temperature 93 degrees as measured on a thermometer. Outside temp 105.
Compressor off, push sleep mode, temp displayed is 90 degrees.
Compressor kicks on, leaving sleep mode pushed in, the temperature rapidly drops for 90 seconds. Starts at 90, and drops to 62 degrees. Compressor kicks off again, and displayed temperature rises back to 90 degrees. This takes about three minutes.

If I didn't know better, the unit has it's sensor mounted in a duct instead of the room. I'll call JD tomorrow and discuss it with him.
 
Jim, sorry to read about your unit not cooling properly. Good thought on location of sensor. Will be interesting to see what customer service says tomorrow. I did clean my filter and it helped the cooling temp in my unit. It's not the easiest to clean but Atwood recommends cleaning the filter every 2weeks or as needed and with my 2goldens....I suspect I'll be cleaning the filter fairly often.
 
Just got off the phone with JD of customer service. He had me look for the baffle divider between the plentums. It is supposed to be straight up and down and sealed along the edges. Mine was at about a 45 degree angle towards the front of the unit instead of straight up and down so the air was mixing-sensing everything was cool and shutting off. I have had it on for about a half an hour now and am making water outside with cooling going on inside the trailer. Still need to seal the edges and make sure the baffle is straight up and down but an easy fix without having to go back to the dealer. Thanks JD and Grand Design.
 
Don - you have to take the cover off on the inside of the unit. Mine is the Atwood Air Commander. There are 6 screw plugs to take out - (there are mini cutouts to insert a small blade screwdriver and pry out), undo the six Phillips screws, take the cover down and look in either of the plentum openings. The baffle is a polystyrene (sp) board like device with foam edges and it divides the two plentums. I'd say it is about four to five inches tall and 10 to 12 inches long.
 
How funny. Right after you got off the phone with JD, I called him. I told him we were conspiring to break our A/C. Anyway, I pulled my cover off and found that the baffle was tilted over also. After talking to JD, the readings I saw made sense. The temperature probe is on the intake side of the A/C. When the baffle tilted over, it was allowing cold air to go back into the return side. So the A/C would think that it had cooled down the rig and shut off. Mine would run for 90 seconds, then shut off for several minutes, which would not allow the compressor to run long enough to cool off the fifth wheel.

I really appreciate the support of GD on this one. It saved me from having to take the rig to the dealer or an Atwood repair facility. Now I won't have to delay our trip or have to live with these 100+ temperatures while trying to sleep.

I'm attaching a couple of pictures of the baffle before and after in case anyone encounters this problem again they will know that it's a fairly simple fix. Sorry that the focus on the pics isn't the best.

Baffle.jpg

Baffle Tape.jpg
 
Nice pictures Jim - that is exactly what I did only I used duct tape on the edges. It is working good now! Can't say enough about the support. Saved me a round trip of about 150 miles, about 13 gallons of fuel and a day of billable hours!!
 
I know what you mean. My dealer is only 20 miles away, but it's such a pain to take it in and leave it. Although JD said he'd have to hook us up with an Atwood service center instead of our dealer. When I looked, there were several in our area. I'm sure glad I didn't have to take it in for service. Our A/C is struggling a little bit today. It's working good, but the outside temperature is supposed to peak in a couple hours at 109-110! Right now, it's 84 inside, and 103 outside. But we keep opening the door so we can pack it full of all our stuff we "need" on our journey. The nice thing is the vents are continuously blowing cool air, and the compressor hasn't been cycling off and on. We can't wait to hit the road Wednesday.
 
Hopefully you get to some cooler weather! I'd roast in those temps even though it's "dry" heat. Give me 75 during the day and 45 at night and I'm a happy camper. Good luck and happy travels on your adventure!!
 
Interesting that as I read through these forums, I am seeing others with the same issues we have found. We haven't been in any real high heat, so not sure whether the cooling will be adequate, but we have noticed the issue with the fan constantly running. It will be at the dealership soon to address multiple issues from our first trip, and I will be asking about both the perma-fan and the baffle.

thanks to Jim for the thread, and if I learn anything above what is already here, I will be sure to share it.
 
Jim, since you are in Tucson along with me, maybe you can answer my question? With two AC units, can you keep cool during these summer temps? We are considering moving into ours full time in a few years, and would live in Casa Grande. With summer temps up to 110-115, we are worried whether the AC's can keep up and keep life less than miserable. Once I retire in about 4 years, we will chase the whether and hopefully never experience 100+ again!
 
Thanks for the photos of the baffle .

Last night was the first warm night with the air on , we roasted , it kept cycling every couple of min .

Just popped the cover and the baffle was at an angle , ousted it in and metal taped it up , and it's cooling / staying on now .
 
Chuck and Kara - With the AC running correctly, I don't think it's enough to keep the unit cool in very high temps. There is a lot of cubic feet in a 337. I'd recommed a second AC if you are going to be staying in it in the desert heat. We left ours on for 48 hours straight once it started working correctly. The afternoon temp was in the high 80's inside.
 
Since I fixed our baffle, we have not had any problems. Highest temp has been about 84 outside so nothing too bad yet but our 84 in Michigan, also has at least 60% humidity. I had my wife wearing her sweater the last two weekends! The fan does run all the time but it is quiet. I don't notice it all when it is on low. After three weekends in the unit, there is nothing going wrong and we just love it! Can't wait to spend a couple of weeks in it. I hope fuel comes down soon - $4.00 a gallon around Michigan right now - not as bad as Tuscon Jim's prices.
 
Jim, your post and pictures really helped me figure this one out. I had the same issues being discussed in the thread and was ready to take it back to the dealer also. I pulled the interior cover and saw that my baffle was also pushed forward at the top by about 30 degrees and there were air gaps around the top of the baffle. I streightened the baffle and foil taped all four sides. Can't really test it today as the temps are pretty cool right now but will test it more when the heat comes. I suspect the baffle either gets installed wrong by Atwood or is moved somehow during assembly/installation. Thanks for the description and pics. Really helped a lot.
 
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