Coleman Mach 8 fail

[Try2Relax]

After my trip to Oliver and then 2.5 weeks in South Utah, in 109 degree heat, I returned home to NH. Air-conditioning use was heavy during the trip and after being back about a week I had to relocate the trailer from under tree shade to direct sun, so I turned on the AC to keep it comfortable. Two hours later I went in and found it was 92 degrees in there. So I shut it down, checked everything inside and couldn't find anything amiss so I made my way to the roof. Upon removing the AC cover I found that one of the 3 fans blades has ripped off, after further investigation it seems that one of the mounting bolts let go, causing the other two rubber feet to tear through and break allowing the newly unsecured mini propeller to attempt a takeoff into the cover housing only to come crashing back down into inside of the cooling fins, this causing the blade to break....

 

Having been thinking about it anyways, time to order the hush kit, installs easily enough and while somewhat more quiet on my unit it was nothing drastically so, I did not find that the original equipment was that loud to begin with and I'd asked others during the trip, bring concerned about the complaints read here, no one thought it was an issue either.

 

Back to the fail, if you are up there, I would recommend checking those mount bolts, remounting that fan was a bit involved as I was unwilling to break the seal where the unit secures to the roof, this the room for tools is extremely limited.

 

Another thing I would recommend to all is to make cleaning the AC fins a part of your yearly maintenance, more so if you travel to dusty areas that would warrant it, as that fan having to pull air through them can add quite a bit of the noise to it with all that resistance built up from being dirty/clogged.

 

 

[Try2Relax]

Buzzy,

 

The main cause of the problem was that the rubber grommets that held the fan down, seemed to be dry rotted and thus weakened, whether this is winter related or not I'm not sure. I do know that they make covers for the AC unit and am thinking of picking one up for extended non-use times. One of the differences between our units is the shroud, the Coleman has he exhaust on the top and allows excessive UV and weather through it, directly on top of the fan, the Dometic is closed on the top and breathes and vents through the sides, I don't know that they would be as vulnerable to the problem.

 

I would recommend cleaning the cooling fins annually though.

[Commanche]

I am planning to order the hush kit for our trailer, it appears it does make a difference. We are going to a egg rally by Manhattan KS. next month, and a lot of the Casita people have been installing the hush kits. Will be interesting to see if any are there and check the noise difference. But first things first, I have a Dexter Suspension Kit on order and it's supposed to be here on Tuesday. Will need to get that installed first.

 

Stan

[Try2Relax]

Stan,

 

Don't know if you've been there done that, but when I did mine it took about 1.5 hrs per side, probably less with the right tools (I never have the right tools) one thing to watch out for is that you note the way the center is configured, arms down shackles up leafs on top. When working with them they can slip out easily and then it's a pain to get back without undoing it. If you can, when they're all in the air just prop something under the other side so they can't move enough to.

 

Maybe it was just me but I'd never done it before and that was the issue I had.

 

Do you plan to touch the bearing packing while your there?

[Commanche]

Randy,

 

Not sure I will do it myself, neither my floor jack and bottle jack are up to the task. May just take it down the road to my regular mechanic. Yeah, I need to repack the bearings.

 

Stan