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Roof Air Condensation Leak
One of my Dometic Penguin roof air conditioners is leaking condensation inside. It started yesterday. I took off the inside cover and checked the three mounting bolts. Two of them were loose enough that I could tighten them with the socket and my fingers. I read online that as that the weight of the AC can compress the gasket and the bolts can become loose.
I went on the roof today and the gasket is about an inch tall. I had my wife snug the two bolts just a little and the gasket still has plenty of room left in it. They are snug but not cranked down super tight. There is no gap between the gasket and the roof and the roof is not dipping down to cause water to pool. I took off the cover and then the sealed cover underneath to have a look. The drains on both sides of the evaporator coil are wide open. They are NOT stopped up in any way. Here is a picture looking straight down.
You
can see the evaportator coil in the picture above. The tray it sets in
has a drain hole on each each end and a little gutter to the outside
edge. The problem is that there is water pooling in the tray just
forward of the evaporator coil. That tray is on the right edge in the
picture above.The water is pooling in that tray and it has no built in drain. There is no pathway for the water to travel from the tray with drains to the tray without drains. At least not that I can see. Once I close that compartment it may be blowing there some how but I have no way to see it. It does not pool in the tray that is supposed to be dry with the cover off.
This is a closer picture of the tray that is supposed to be dry that I am talking about.
When
I turned it on the water drained through the drain hole and gutter and
off the edge of the bus like it is supposed to. I buttoned everything up
and let it run. In about 3 hours it was leaking inside again. It is 90+
with sun and humidity so I will wait to go up again early tomorrow as I did this morning.Any ideas how the water is getting in there and what to do to prevent
it? Once that tray gets full it overflows into the screened in area.
Under that screen is the inside part of the AC. From there it goes on
the floor or in the ceiling. The floor I can deal with temporarily but
not in the ceiling.Thank you,
Davy
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3 Replies
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Davy, if you take a gallon of water and pour on the evap unit does the water go out properly or does it leak out. I have seen the drain pans cracked before….
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Great idea. Thanks, Jeff. I will let you know. I am gonna clean it good tomorrow and then I will pour some water on it to check the integrity of the pan.
Davy
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Up on the roof again this morning. As recommended by several places online I sprayed 409 all purpose cleaner very liberally and repeatedly on both sides of the evaporator coil. Between each application I used a spray bottle to spray water on the coil to rinse it off. It did not seem very dirty at all but at least I know it is cleaner now.
Then I used a pitcher and poured two gallons of water all over the coil letting it run down in the tray and out the drains. That was Jeff’s suggestion and it was a good one. This served two purposes. First, it insured the 409 was rinsed off the coil well and secondly it tested the integrity of the catch tray and drains.
With all this water filling the tray and running through, not one drop leaked into the tray that is supposed to be dry but was full and spilling over inside the coach earlier in the week.
I have read and been told that a clogged evaporator coil can cause the condesation to do wierd things. If cleaning the evaporator coil does not fix it then I am stumped.
DKO
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