Cruisair repair?

[adamdegraff]

Hey All. I'm down one cruisair. As usual, my first call was to Johnny at AAP. And as usual, he went above and beyond. Volt meter in hand, he walked me through a diagnosis. Turns out my compressor is bad. So far, so good.

So I'm near Dallas/Fort Worth next week and thought I'd get the new compressor installed at either Prevost or Marathon. Bolt told me the same thing. They don't install compressors, they replace the entire cruisair. The new (I assume rebuilt) cruisair runs $2,000, plus 4 hours labor to install it. Both said they don't like messing with sweating the new compressor in and prefer to just replace the whole unit. This seems strange to me. Am I missing something? I can get the new compressor from AAP direct. (Heck, I could get a whole new cruisair unit from them for $1250.) I just can't vacuum the lines down and refill them myself.

Am I missing something here? There has got to be a way to get a new compressor installed into what is otherwise a perfectly good unit. Sure do wish this happened when I was trucking past AAP in Virginia. Anybody know of a place in central TX to get this fixed? Here is our list of stops over the next couple of weeks:

Marshall, TX
Paris, TX
Terrell, TX
Irving, TX
Brownwood, TX
Midland, TX
Carlsbad, NM
Artesia, NM
Plainview, TX

And then, if I haven't got it fixed by then, a very long trip down to Juno Beach, FL. I could take any variety of routes... especially if somebody has a good idea of where to get the compressor installed and the unit charged.

Any ideas? I'm thinking this shouldn't be so difficult. I seem to remember pictures of some dude out in the dessert somewhere replacing a compressor on a POG bus? Who was it?

Thanks for the help.

~Adam

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Marathon owners will have to tell you what is involved in replacing the condensing unit, but I replaced all three on my old coach and it involved removing the screws securing the unit to the floor, removing two refrigerant lines, and removing the three wires. Out and in in about 1.5 hours. I then drove to a refrigeration shop that vacuumed the system and recharged it.

The units from AAP come precharged, but you do have to vacuum the lines to the evaporator, and the length of the lines to the evaporator will require the refrigeration guy to add a little R22. The refrigeration guy charged me for an hour of labor.

Forget the compressor replacement. The condenser coil is not going to be as efficient as new, the condenser fan and all the capacitors are also old and prone to fail so with a new / rebuilt unit you are probably close to the same cost with lots of peace of mind.

Find some POGGER with a big driveway and some tools to help. Lubricate him with beer.

[gmcbuffalo]

After you get the rebuilt unit in your storage bay, what about dropping by a Auto AC/radiator shop that works on trucks. Thermo-King or a company like them that repairs units in refrigerator trucks. They worked on mine while they were repairing my generator. Most of these trucks have separate small diesel generators that run the refrigerators. So these companies, install and repair both.

Greg

[MangoMike]

Adam,

I would replace with a rebuilt unit. In 2006 AAP installed a rebuilt one in my Liberty for $900 for the unit plus 4 hours of labor at $75. You could easily do it in 3. My guess now they're probably $1100.

The benefit of the rebuilt vs just a compressor is they have had a number of design changes in the unit to make it work more effeciently. Including a new fan design, extra cooling tubes and I believe a change in material. A quick call to AAP will verify.

Mike

[tdelorme]

Adam, I had a new (rebuilt, actually) CruiseAir sent down from AAP last fall. I remember something like $1400 including shipping and I had my local HVAC guy do the install here at the farm. With me helping him, it was a two hour job. I know, the guy could have done it himself in one hour, very funny. Really not that big a deal if it is one of the front units that is down.
I hate to see you spend an extra grand, let's talk when we get together Sat.

[aggies09]

Adam,

I may be like Ted and with my help we can make a project last twice as long, but I live one hour north of Brownwood and have plenty of room and an electrical hookup for your coach. I would be happy to help you with replacement if you wanted to have AAP drop ship to my house. Let me know if I can help.

[garyde]

Hi Adam. Jdub had a condensor repaired or replaced while at disneyland in Anahiem a couple of years ago. He called a local Cruisaire crew who works on local Sea craft in the area of Marina del Ray. So, search the yellow pages for cruiseaire dealers.

[mike kerley]

Adam, I just had Liberty Coach in Stuart Fl. replace a compressor in one of my cruise air units. $1200 total price. Unit was just over three years old, so I did not change entire package, just the locked compressor. Troy, at 772-463-2701.

Yes, they worked on a Country Coach!!

[adamdegraff]

Sounds like the conventional wisdom is that I should replace the entire unit. I called Johnny back and he agreed that since my current unit is 13 years old that I might be better served with a rebuilt unit.

So, how much of this can I do myself? I have two other 13 year old cruisairs. I'm wondering if I should invest in the necessary equipment to vacuum down the system so I can replace this unit myself. (The others are working just fine, but one never knows... do one?)

Do I have these steps correct?

1. Make sure power is off.
2. disconnect three wires.
3. vacuum lines
4. unbolt unit from floor and remove.
5. put new unit in place.
6. recharge lines? (Can one recharge their own lines or is this something a pro needs to do?

Am I just spinning my wheels here? I really enjoy know how to fix these things myself. Especially in a case such as this where I have two more older units.

Thanks for all the input. You guys are great.

Ted and Jan... see you Saturday!!

~Adam

p.s. thanks for the offers of help. I may be taking some of you guys up on the offer. Jon, how exactly do you lubricate with beer? Just kidding.

[Jerry Winchester]

Adam,

With the potential inflexible schedule you have, you might be ahead to have it done by Prevost or Marathon. If you were at my hanger or someone's shop with ALL the tools you might need, then I would say do it yourself.

And there is nothing worse than having to pull the bus into Prevost with all the parts laying in the bay after you hit a snag trying it yourself and having to get them to fix your mess.

I had a condenser fan changed out in the RV park in Anaheim two years ago and it was easy in the Royale, but is even easier in the Marathon.