Make your RV, AC Units run cool & last long. Easy DIY

hey what's up everybody guess what it's time for another p.m. item now today we're going to deal with the air conditioners so as you know Joni and I have been in the RGV for this past winter it gets pretty dusty down there and the last two or three months we have been using the AC quite a bit but regardless what we're going to show you today is something that you should do once a year this is a p.m. item ok details coming up an RV street so the first thing we're going to do is we're going to go into the coach and we're gonna remove the return air filter because I want to be able to show you what it looks like from underneath but we're gonna have to get up on top of the roof to do this p.m. item so let's go on into the coach and let's get started with step number one okay so we're in the coach we have two air conditioners one in the front and one in the back and this is a return air screen and underneath here is the filter this filter needs to be changed or cleaned I should say every couple of weeks when you're using this in the summer these things will get clogged fairly easy so when you're doing heavy use and the summer time don't forget to pull these down and you're gonna clean them and this is what it looks like I just cleaned this one about a week ago but I'm showing you this is what it looks like is this a simple little fiber thing you take it outside you wash it off you let it draw you put it back but here's what I want to show you we flip on my headlight so you can see when that screen is over this filter right here you can see that it only covers just this little part so you can use this screen for about a week or two and then you can flip it around and use the other side so you can actually get about a month at the most using that screen okay so I'm gonna get my little headlight up in here and I'm going to show you what we're going to have to do on the roof but this is the evaporator coil right here and this needs to be cleaned once a year okay the filter that I showed you down here needs to be cleaned about once a month you can get about two weeks out of each side but this e this evaporator coil this neat this gets dirty and dusty and it needs to be cleaned once a year now on that evaporator coil just think back when you used to live in a house we don't have a house anymore and maybe you still do but have you ever had the time when you turned on the AC in the house it's like man I'm getting air blowing out of here but it's not cold it's warm air or it's frozen up you're just not getting any air cold air well what happens is is that evaporator coil gets clogged up with dirt you don't get circulation of the air through the evaporator coil and there you go it gets all clogged up and it freezes up and the main reason that happens that gets dirty is because of that filter I showed you it's not changed and clean often enough but now it's been about a year we need to go up and clean to that evaporator coil I'm not going to go through all the parts right now because there's not many but what we're going to do is we're going to use this product right here it's called evap foam no rinse now what this basically is it's made by new Calgon this is a foaming agent now this says no rinse some of these products do need you to rinse it but you know what like me I never follow the heard right I own my own man so what I do is after I foam this all up I do take a bottle of water and I spray through there and I rinse all that dirty foam down into a towel I'm going to show you all how I do this right now so let's get up on top of the roof and we'll take it from there as usual Martin's using his bucket and his rope he's got the bucket full of all the tools that he is going to need and hoist away okay so here we are up on top of the roof and I am at the very front air-conditioning unit and as you can see I have put reflective tape on top of our AC cowlings and on those numbers represent the last four of my VIN number and I did that as a security thing I did that on the front and the rear cowling and I thought you know if this coach was ever stolen how would you describe this coach to the cops yeah it's a it's a white it's a white RV and just about 35 feet long yeah that would be easy to find but with this reflective tape they can actually now look for the numbers on the roof it'd be much easier to find but anyway a couple little tips here before we get into this I make you know when you get older your knees get too hurt and so I made these rubber mats I went to farmers market or whatever that place is it sells that kind of stuff about a big sheet of rubber matting cut it put two together and now I have a mat then I can put my knees on so the first thing we're going to do is we're going to remove these four bolts so we can get this cowling off so let's get to that to get the cowling off you start from the back and you kind of lift it off the lip and then in the front and it'll lift right off okay so this is what the air conditioning unit looks like with the cowling off and in this little panel right here which I am NOT going to remove it's got this a couple little screws this is where your capacitors are there are three capacitors inside there the evaporator coil that I was showing you from inside is inside this box and the way you get inside this box is there screws along here and I've taken the additional step the last time I did this is I seal this up with foil tape because there is a little tiny gap up around here and so I see once I put the cover back on I seal these areas with foil tape to ensure that no dirt gets in there because that's the bottom line that's what you're trying to prevent is dirt getting into the evaporator coil so for the first step I'm gonna remove this tape remove the screws remove this top and get access to the coil so let's get started okay I've removed all the screws that are around the sides around the bottom I'm pulling the top back and this is the evaporator coil this is what I showed you from down below okay so I've just handed Joni the camera down below so she's standing down there looking up and this is the area that I showed you earlier and this is the area the evaporator coil that we're going to clean I've also removed this little probe right here this belongs in here and this is what keeps regulating the temperature but we're just going to remove that for now so we can clean your filter is right down here the one that you clean and remove from inside and the draws up through here and this is why we have to clean this so we're going to go ahead and get our foam and a towel and we're gonna cover this area this whole hole to keep the foam and the water from going down through there and into the coach okay so I'm up here by myself filming and doing this so I'm gonna try to do my best to show you how this all works so here we go okay so the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to take a towel and I'm going to stuff it here in the hole and underneath this lip right here under the evaporator coil and of course the the reason I'm doing this is obvious I don't want any of this foam and all that dirty yucky stuff that's going to come dripping off of here to get inside the coach all right so we've got that all stuffed in there I'm gonna shake this baby up and we're gonna start from the top and we're just going to squirt it in here it doesn't have to be pretty because this is going to penetrate all those coils and those grooves and I'll tell you what this stuff it it actually reminds me of back when I was a kid when I used to go to the barber shop they'd have that kind of lather that they would after they shaved you and everything they'd just lather up their hands and slap it on your cheeks and stuff that's what this stuff smells like it's got a really really good smell to it or should I say manly smell okay so you see what I'm doing here is that this is not hard but it's penetrating it's foaming it's cleaning and be be liberal with it I to Cannes at a time one for each one of these and that's really gonna be about it now what I'm going to do is I'm going to let that sit there for about five six seven minutes something like that let that all work down in there and then I am going to use my water gun and spray and actually rinse that even though this particular product doesn't it says no rinse I'm rinsing it anyway okay well this Bend long enough and now I take my bottle of water here and then I try to get this adjusted where I like it here and now I'm just gonna just start from the top and let that run through there and I'm just gonna keep doing this and what this kind of does the reason I like doing it with the water as this water is actually pushing that foam even further into those radiator grids there and it allows it as it falls down to even wash it even better this will keep your air conditioner running in tip-top condition because it's it's gonna have good air flow it's not going through all that dirt and all that nonsense well that pretty well does it I got this all cleaned out and I actually I wanted to do this video to show you guys this and I I really didn't think I needed it as badly as it turned out I did well as you guys know we spent the summer all up in Maine and all up in there and all last summer and the fall coming down to Ohio and all that and we never really used our air conditioner as much but we did down in RGB this winter so I really didn't expect to see them very dirty but it was dirty and it did need a cleaning and so again that just reinforces to me that this is a once a year deal okay so now we're all clean what we're going to do now is we're going to take the temperature probe and we're going to put this back up in here I'm going to take this towel out and clean the rest of this up here and then we're gonna put the lid back on and button this baby up and go to the next step what we're gonna do up here okay so you can see how I have brought the top back down and put this side on and now I'm going to put all the screws back and button that down and put new tape to seal up these edges and when we get through with that we'll take it to the next step okay so you can see that I've got the whole canopy this metal casing back in place I've got all the screws all put all back all the way I've wiped it all down and now I'm gonna come back with new foil tape and I'm gonna put foil tape on all these seams to pretty much make it airtight so it's not sucking any dirt through these cracks and okay so we got that side all done all nice and new foil and across the top now let's go to the other side by the way I don't know if I mentioned it or not but on this side which is the driver's side here is the label telling you all about this particular unit the serial number the model number of the amp draw everything you need to know it's got your two barkos down here and like I said right next door is the compartment where your capacitors are there's three of them in there you remove these two screws and this screw up here and this pan will come off and they'll be right in there okay so now we've got this foil all the way around and I'll just make a comment again that you know there's probably some air-conditioning guys that would say Martin you don't need to do that that's way overkill yeah maybe so but that's just the way I am I'd rather take the added effort to take it off and to put this stuff on because now I have no leaking seals or anything around this metal casing where dirt can get in there alright so now let's move to the front of this unit okay so the next thing I do up here while I've got this cowling off and everything is it's a recommended item to put a little three in one oil right back in behind this little seal there's really no other maintenance or lubing you can do to this motor but a little three-in-one and a few drops right back in there on that shaft and let that work in can help just Lube that inner seal there and then you just spin the fan okay okay so for the last thing I'm going to do is I'm going to clean this front grille area this does not require the foam what I do is I just use a hose and gently use a spray and I come from the front and I just wash and let it just kind of drain through here and get some of the dirt out of there you can't do it from this side because you've got the fan cowling here and you can only get so much water so it's best just to come around the front and do it from the front now as you saw here just a couple of weeks ago I did a full detail wash and so I've got these towels around here because I don't want this dirty water to run down on off of my roof and onto the coach and all of that so I guess if the story was to be told right I should have done this first before I washed the coach but the day I chose to wash the coach it was nice and cool just like it is today and that's why I am choosing today to work on the air conditioner so let's just go ahead right now and give this a quick little wash doesn't have to be heavy we're just trying to get some of that surface dirt off of there this is not that thick and that way we have both of these grilles nice and clean okay oh man this is looking so good so I gently use that hose and cleaned out that front grill area and then of course that water came on the inside and down and through here so I cleaned all that bottom tray and where the drain plug is down here in the drain hole and just just got all the surface dust off and now this unit has been totally serviced for the next year we're going to put the cowling back on and wrap it up with some final thoughts and there's the cowling back on all buttoned now we'll go back and do the second one same exact procedure you know a couple last comments that I've been thinking about and I really don't want to miss on these points as I understand that some of you guys or girls you're not able to get on the roof you have a health issue or you have arthritis or maybe you're just afraid to get on the roof and you're not able to do this I totally understand that but this video is really for those who are able and they want to save some money and they want to know how to do this this is something that needs to be done every year if you want to keep those air conditioners running and top-notch condition but just to put this in context if an AC guy was to come out and do this he's gonna charge you at least a $75 service call just to show up then he's gonna probably charge you a hundred and twenty-five dollars an hour to do this cleansing unit so it's gonna be an hour for the first one an hour for the second one a $75 service call plus he's gonna charge you for the foaming the cleaning oiling and maybe doing a couple other little checks on the capacitors or whatever talking about what 350 400 bucks to do this every year you can do this it'll take you a couple of hours and about 30 or 40 bucks worth the goods come on we're retired we're trying to save money and have fun take the wife out to dinner a few times for the money you save so that's why I'm showing you guys you know in trying to encourage you to do this you guys can do this and save a ton of money I love this soap phone as you saw how easy it is to apply and how good it works the second thing is is remember this here we're gonna go back inside and button this up because this is all done now but once you've washed this you'll be able to use half of it for two weeks turn it around screw it back up use the second half for two weeks then take it out wash it and start all over again especially in really dusty months and when you're using the air conditioners a lot anyway guys I hope that this i/o this AC a maintenance video was helpful to you if you liked this video this one right here click that like button would you let me know that you liked it and if you haven't subscribed consider subscribing hit that subscribe button and ring the bell off to the right and you'll be notified the next time we upload our next antastic free video this is Martin from RV Street stick around [Music]

Channel: RVstreet

Views: 752,575

Keywords: RV air conditioner maintenance, cleaning your RV ac units, cleaning RV evaporator coils, RV AC not cooling properly, staying cool in your RV, RV living in the summer, RV AC maintenance, RV roof maintenance, RV ac problems, RV DIY AC videos, rv AC not cooling, my RV AC units are not working, keep your RV cool in the summer, gas motorhome maintenance, Cleaning RV Air Conditioner Coils, RV AC units - Full Time RV Living, rv ac troubleshooting, rv AC filters

Id: oTo9xGqSeEI

Length: 20min 53sec (1253 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 07 2020