-
How long did your Carrier OTR compressor last?
Just prior to leaving East Tennessee Luxury Coach on Monday morning Jeff Rowe determined that the big Carrier compressor for the OTR air (bus air) needed replacing. We left the coach there for Jeff and crew to do the replacement with a new one (probably rebuilt). The discussion of Jeff rebuilding it was pretty short.
Last month we replaced our 16 year old Amana refrigerator which had quit cooling. I don’t know what is wrong, after thinking about it I didn’t care. 16 years of life sounded good to me seeing other Prevost owner had replaced their 10, 11, and 12 year Amanas of identical or similar lineage; some of them were being replaced after 20 years. I just didn’t want to have it fail on a trip.
If the big Carrier A/C compressor on your OTR Prevost has been replaced, how long did it last? I’m wondering if 16 years is an early replacement, average, or what.
For those of you who are interested, Jeff said its “on sale” this month. Lucky me.
-
7 Replies
-
Dick,
I can not tell you about the compressor in the buses but I know how they (that type of compressor) preform and last in commerical airconditioning applications. Being taken care of, serviced and correctly charged they can last 30 years and more. They are a tank. But if it is filled with moisture and dirt from incorrect charging and not vaccuming down the systems it could fall apart fast. Moral of the story……. Take good care of it and it could last as long as the bus will……
-
13 years and 112,000 miles before the seals began to leak.
-
Leaking seals are a routine service item and do not reflect the life of the compressor.
My first coach was 17 years old and had about 250,000 miles when I had the compressor replaced. The next coach I had was about 13 years old with about 245,000 miles when I sold it with the original compressor still working well.
-
The Carrier O5G compressor is bullet proof, I’ve seen original compressors hit well over the 700000 mile mark, the crank seals need replacement at times and as posted earlier is a normal service item. You need to keep an eye on the oil level in the compressor, the best way to check is to put a 2×4 under compressor mount and get it level with the air to the bag released and shine a light from motor side site glass and look through the curb side site glass. You want the level in the marked ranges. I’ve seen compressors come apart due to low/no oil and then it gets expensive, being proactive with your OTR air is the best way of keeping cool and keeping your money. A few squirts of compressor oil is ALOT cheaper than a new compressor!
-
So at 17 years old I’m right at the replacement average (with one data point) but my 76,000 miles is apparently in the unfavorable tail of the distribution.
-
Dick,
As we all have mechanical things, we know some stuff breaks prematurely. If your OTR was fully charged at all times the chance of a failure was less than if it lost its charge, had moisture find its way into the system and maybe create a problem that could relate to corrosion. Perhaps a leaf valve in the compressor broke, damaging a cylinder in the compressor. It could also be the planets lined up just right.
Some stuff makes no sense. Others are quite predictable.
-
The planets lined up “right” in a number of ways then! Jeff determined the compressor needing replacement on the blacktop at his shop on Monday. NOT via cellphone while we were on our trip to Wendover, Utah in early August to meet George and Corey.
Log in to reply.