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DIY Cruisair Service
Its still warm here in TX so I decided to checkout all 3 Cruisairs this morning.
The aft unit was barely cooling at all. The fwd unit was ok but not cooling as well as the mid/portside unit. All condensors, evaporators, and filters are clean. All units are controlled by SMX II units.
I have a big 30 Lb bottle of R-22. My ac gauges/hoses are for R-12 w/removeable R134 adapters. For your info, R-22 system fittings are the same as R-12. When it comes to pressures, I’m happy using the outer scale on my gauges. For evaporator exh air temps I have several cheap small temp gauges made specifically for ac work(not pictured). I use the cheap CenTech(Harbor Freight) IR temp gun to obtain quik accurate suction line temps where the suction hose hooks onto the king valve. The King valves have plastic o-ring sealed caps(13/16″) are opened by turning the valve stem clockwise(inward) 1 full turn using 1/4″ wrench or 12 pt socket.
It was a humid 72f inside and outside the coach this morning. My goal was to get the fwd & aft units blowing 42f air like the mid/portside unit. I was able to do this by adding R-22 until the suction temp lines on the aft & fwd units matched that of the mid/portside unit, 42f. All three units eventually cycled on and off and were blowing 42f air. Pressures ended up being 70psi and 210psi.
I hope this helps.
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9 Replies
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That’s terrific! I’ve never been able to get a 30 degree differential on mine! Maybe 20 if conditions are just right.
2005 XL Thompson Coach
Rarely tow anything behind us.
Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years. -
There is a slow leak somewhere? in the aft/bdrm unit. To date I’m hesitant to put any stop leak in the system in fear of doing more damage than good. Everything works normally except it was blowing room temp air, not cold air. Ambient conditions were 83 degrees and high humidity.
Hooked the gauges up and the pressure in the system with it turned off was 102 psi which is low. Turned on the unit, opened the king valves(cw) and the pressures were suction/low 40 psi and discharge/hi 155 psi which are both low. There were also a lot of bubbles in the sight glass. The system was evacuated, then suction was put on it for about 15 mins. Then slowly liquid R-22(30 Lb bottle upside down) was added a little at a time(I don’t have a scale yet) to the system and temps and pressures were monitored. With my IR temp gun I noted temps at both king valves, and at the evaporator air inlet and outlet duct. As I gradually got close to having the proper charge in the system, all bubbles disappeared from the sight glass.
In the end this is what the #s were: suction/low side 70psi & 40 degrees, discharge/hi side 250 psi and 112 degrees, evaporator inlet 72 degrees and outlet 40 degrees. AWESOME!!!
New o-ring were installed on the king valve caps. I hope this will fix the slow leak.
I’m gunna tune up the fwd units soon too. Summer is here 🙁
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Where did you get the o-rings for the plastic caps and what size or part #?
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Harbor Freight(red assortment), #112 = 1/2″ id, 11/16″ od, 3/32″, they sell them in metric too. They sell flat ones too.
NAPA and/or AutoZone(small pack), the metalized o-rings are left overs from a new compressor job I did recently on my Surburban.
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Don,
Is that the second bay from front on passenger side ? That would be behind my outdoor entertainment center and grill.Thanks for Your posts BTW,
Safe travels,
Rocky -
Do you add Freon in liquid state? I’ve always heard gas. For any of you folks that have hoses on your cruisairs, Fred and folks sell a braided hose that will sure take a leaky hose out of the equation. Had AC hoses installed on front swing out ac in mine and after a few years that R22 found a way to get out. Wish you could replace the stems on the kingvavles without having to solder a new one in on the back 2 in mine. One leaks at stem. Can’t snug it any more.
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Glens, Yeah I know, put it in slowly and no worries.
I checked the temps and pressures on my mid and fwd Cruisairs today. I’m ready for summer.
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Rocky, yes #2 curbside bay. I have a 100+ gal fresh water tank that has to come out. The tank is translucent plastic and is easy to remove. Ball valve drains it, 5 phillips head screws and 2 hose clamps and it just about jumps out.
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Thanks Don
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