I went out to work in the Euro the other day and the roof AC doesn't seem to be blowing cold. It's about 4 years old. I cleaned the filters and still not cool. Is there anything under the shroud that could need cleaning, like the cooling fins in the house unit? It's a Coleman.

Danny, take the shroud off completly and search for mud dobbers. Remember the one we took off was completely full of their nests. They can attack the contacts when they are building. It probably will be something as simple as a relay. It's too new to have trouble with.

I took off the cover, and everything looks good. No mud dawbers or anything like that. I'll clean the coils tomorrow and see if that helps, but they don't appear dirty, so I'm not optimistic.

Quick question. Is the compressor starting and running. Two totally different problems.

I'm assuming you have fan but no cool. Does the compressor cycle at all?

Mine has a power switch and a thermostat on the panel.

With unit turned off, turn the thermostat slowly lock to lock. You should be able to hear it click in and out.

TURN OFF BREAKER!!!

When you take the inside cover off there is a connector plug in there to check. Check wires on the power switch and the thermostat, the spade connectors are often loose.

There really isn't much else to check

In the FL heat, the Usual Suspects are the start and run caps. If the compressor doesn't run, try replacing those before major surgery.

Finally got a day off to look at the AC. Removed the ceilimg cover and everything looked fine, no burnt wires or plugs, everything tight. Removed the bonnet and same, everything clean and tight. Compressor doesn't appear to be running, no noise and tubes are ambient temp. Not knowing what caps are or where they are, is there anything I can do before hauling it in to be checked?

The capacitor/s (may be one or two) look like a small can with terminals on the top.

Thanks Rusty, before I just lay out bucks, can these be tested. I have a very basic multimeter.

Danny, you can but I don't think with a regular VOM. Good news is they are probably under $10 each and maybe that for the pair. The electric supply house may be able to test for you.
Do not hold onto the two connections, the capacitor will have enough jolt to make your lights turn on. This could be a test but even one that is failing might light you up.

AC caps can't be tested the same way as DC caps; take them to an electrical or AC supply - some places have a tester. I replaced the ones on mine and found the real issue was a bad spade connector.

There's also a relay activated by the 12VDC from the 'stat that provides power to the compressor - that could be bad. The fans are powered through a different relay.

R,I think the answer was take em out get new ones and hope. Yes?

Rusty wins the kewpee doll, it was the relay.

Cheap and easy is good!

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Cheap and easy is good!

cheap and easy is good but from what I can gather these people were without cooling for two months wally van-isle.