Houghton Air Conditioner

[Nan]

I bought a Houghton air conditioner. But the air blower would not cut off when the compressor cut off. So, grandson installed a relay to make that happen. I used the AC one time and all was well, but this camping trip the compressor would not come on (just the fan). I had a local camper repair man come and he said the relay is burned up. I have another relay, but do not want to install it without knowing why the first relay failed. Has anyone had this happen?? Thanks so much!

[Nan]

Can anyone help me?

[katanapilot]

Hopefully someone that has done this modification can help you.  It's kind of difficult to troubleshoot via a forum without a lot of details as to what modification was done and how it was installed.

Sorry you are having issues while out on the road. 

[Jps190]

The houghton is designed to have the fan run when the compressor is off.  Turing the fan to low makes it less noise and still allows the air to circulate. The issue with the Houghton is that the thermistor is up inside the unit which is why the fan was designed to run constantly according to the manufacturer.  I would return the unit to its original design (no relay) and see if that solves your problem.

 

John

[Nan]

Thanks for the e-mail.  Yes, Houghton designed their AC without giving a thought to humidity in the South of the US. 

[Nan]

Oh and I forget to say that the thermistor was re-routed to the inside of the camper..actually it is right beside of TV wires.  I ran the AC on the last camping trip and it worked great that that.

 

[NCeagle]

Hi Nan, I made this modification (added a relay to the Houghton) over a year ago and have used the unit to both heat and cool multiple times without issue since.  I used this relay: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07587NZTC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1  

If you are sure that a properly sized relay was wired in correctly replacing it with another and testing it in a controlled environment is what I'd do.  The fact that it was working correctly for some time is a good sign, but to double check the installation, either google for the instructions (I did) or there was a long forum thread on this subject with discussions and instructions (last summer I believe).

I didn't relocate my thermistor as you did.  I'd love to hear more about how that's working once you get your unit running again.  I currently use a small fan on the nightstand that I point up at the Houghton so the thermistor gets some airflow from below when the compressor and fan are both off.  This modification has definitely solved the humidity problems the Houghton created with its design at the expense of having to have that small fan on the nightstand running when the Houghton is running.  Good tradeoff for me but I'd certainly prefer having the thermistor in the cabin.

Best of luck!

John

[mossemi]

2 hours ago, NCeagle said:

or there was a long forum thread on this subject with discussions and instructions (last summer I believe).

@Nan

This may be the instructions @NCeagle is referring to, I am not sure.  Maybe he can verify.

Mossey

 

[Nan]

Thanks so much. Wonder why the fuse didn't blow?? And why would the relay burn up after running the AC this summer??

 

[GSMBear]

On 10/28/2024 at 9:02 AM, mossemi said:

@Nan

This may be the instructions @NCeagle is referring to, I am not sure.  Maybe he can verify.

Mossey

Yes, that's the thread I participated in and I posted a PDF document of the wiring instructions.  Unfortunately, I had an error in the first version and I could not figure out how to update the attached PDF document that was incorrect.  So I settled on an additional post toward the very end of the thread with v2 instructions attached.  I'll attach them here, too.  I hope they are helpful to others who might like to try this.

Gary

 

RecPro Houghton Interior Fan Mod v2.pdf