Replacing AC Fan Motor

[roberjam]

Hi Folks,

I'm interested in your opinions about a repair on my RV. I have a 2006 25RKS Gulfstream travel trailer. I am the only owner. It hasn't been moved in years and serves primarily as a cabin kept under a carport out in the country. I would probably need to replace the four tires in order to tow it on the highway. I say this because that is a bit of a barrier to bringing it into an RV repair shop. For the last 15 years or so, I have handled the repairs which have been mostly minor. Several years ago, I started smelling a burnt wire type of odor when running the AC most of the day during 100+ weather. Fortunately, that stopped almost as quickly as it developed. However, during the past fall, the odor came back. It emerges whether the AC is set to cool or just fan only. The unit cools just fine. I checked the two capacitors and they seem fine. I think it is the fan motor. I watched a couple of YouTube videos on replacing the fan motor on this AC, which is a Dometic Brisk Air Model # 57915.541. This is the best one I've seen:

I think I could get a new motor kit for about $150 plus shipping were I to do this myself. The thing that scares me is accessing the squirrel cage to remove the motor (as shown in the video). Apparently, I have to pull out the evaporator coil ever so slightly which could bust a copper pipe that runs to it. If I attempt this myself, then the probability of busting the copper pipe is probably much higher than if a professional repair person does it, and that might make the ultimate repair a lot costlier (if even possible). This is really one of those jobs for which I would take the RV to the shop to have done by a professional were it not for the tires and packing up all the stuff inside. I've also been thinking about trying to hire a mobile RV repair person to do this, but I have not explored that option much other than to get some names of mobile repair techs from the internet. Finally, there's also the issue of sinking this money into a 19-year old air conditioner versus replacing the whole thing. What would you do if you were me and you only had medium-level repair skills? Thanks.

Best Wishes,
Jim

 

[Texas Shriner]

I've changed motors in the past and it's not a huge effort. That said, there have been many improvements in RV HVAC over the last 20 years - quietness and energy efficiency being most noteworthy. If it were me, I'd upgrade the whole system.

 

[jamesham]

I would also suggest just buying a new unit and have it installed on the roof by somebody with a fork lift to do the heavy work of getting it up there. After the wrestling match to get a new AC unit positioned over the existing roof hatch, installing with 4 corner bolts, three power line wires, and two thermostat wires is easy work. The fork lift makes it easy to remove the old unit safely from the roof also. I have seen people just push the unit off the roof and destroy the plastic housing on ground impact, sometimes breaking the pipe and releasing refrigerant into the atmosphere. Not a great outcome.

With the old unit on the ground, it would be possible to install new parts, or recycle used parts. Any service person that works on kitchen appliances like refrigerators would have the correct equipment to recover the refrigerant or rebuild the unit and replace the part you think is bad. If you have to open up the sealed refrigerant system, it is no longer a DIY job.

 

[roberjam]

Thanks for the replies. The AC finally would not even start. When I described my issue to a mobile tech, he immediately replied that he thought that my long string of events were due to a bad control box. Sure enough, many wires in my control box, and even some of the wire caps, were melted. My new control box runs the AC fine with no burnt wire smell anymore. This should hold me for awhile I hope. Thanks again.

Jim