Truma Aventa Eco owners: Have any of you removed the outside top cover?

[Steve Morris]

I’m still wondering if my AC is working properly. Today it is 75 degrees outside with 70% humidity and mostly cloudy. Inside the trailer it was 78 degrees and 72% humidity.

I turned on the AC to medium, with the thermostat set to 68 degrees. 25 minutes later it was only down to 72 degrees and 65% humidity, with mildly cool air coming from the vents. I changed the thermostat to 60 degrees, and it finally had cold air coming out of the vents. It is now 61 degrees and 51% humidity about an hour later. 

Nothing has dropped from the condensate tubes, nor down the side of the trailer. It isn’t horribly humid, so I don’t know if it would, though. 

I’m still wondering if the fins on the condenser are blocked by the zillion tiny Linden tree flowers/leaves. They’re a good six inches deep under the tree, and the trailer is maybe 40 feet downwind. None have accumulated on top, but I had it running a lot early last week. Maybe it sucked some in?

All that to ask if anyone knows how the top cover (item #10) is removed? The parts list doesn’t show any fasteners. I haven’t climbed up to look yet, wanting an idea where to look before doing so. 

Thanks

[Steve Morris]

Later, I bump the thermostat up to 71 degrees, and now it is 70 degrees in the trailer, and 88% humidity!  Outside is 75 degrees, 68% humidity, and full overcast. It’s almost like the AC sucks the humidity out while the compressor is running, holds onto it instead of sending it overboard, and then dumping the humidity back inside when the compressor shuts off. 
 

Vert confusing!

[topgun2]

Is that a screw or some type of push pin at the rear of the cover in your diagram?

Bill

[rich.dev]

Steve, when you have it in AC mode do you see the snowflake at the top, if you don’t see the snowflake maybe you have it in vent mode and not AC….see attached video clip? Also, I have found the dehumidifying mode (raindrop button on remote) works really well.

 

[Patriot]

Steve,

There are (8) SS screw fasteners on each side of the top of the cowling that secure it. These screws are countersunk in the cowling and filled with self leveling sealer by Oliver Service at the plant on new models or older Olivers post a retro fit. So if you remove the cowling naturally you will need to reseal these fastener areas.
Oliver adds the sealer to preempt any possibility of these fasteners if not torqued properly from leaking water into the top of the unit through the fastener counter sunk holes.
I have never had the cowling off, others that have may chime in. I did add an extra small circle of PPF to the top of the cowling over the fasteners to preempt any concerns if the self leveling sealer were to fail.
 

Patriot🇺🇸

[Rolind]

I have found our Truma to be better at lowering  the temperature than the humidity unless it is is the dehumidify mode.  The dehumidify mode makes it painfully cold in the trailer but also does a great job lowering the humidity. I have also found that the Truma condensate drainage is very sensitive to trailer leveling. If the trailer is just slightly off level, the condensate drips on to the roof and then accumulates above the awning seal. The space above the awning seal can hold a lot of water. Last week, while camping, I would sometimes look at the Truma and adjust the level to make sure it wasn’t dripping from the condensate pan onto the roof. Oliver says the Truma has a very shallow condensate pan. Hope this info helps

[Rivernerd]

6 hours ago, Patriot said:

There are (8) SS screw fasteners on each side of the top of the cowling that secure it.

Our Truma AC was one of the first installed by Oliver last fall.  At that time, Oliver was not yet sealing the screw wells.  After we twice had water leakage through those screw wells, we were instructed by Truma and Oliver to seal the wells with silicone caulk.

Before I did so, however, I removed the cover to see if I could examine the sealing where the unit penetrates the roof of the trailer.  The cover lifted off easily once those 8 screws were withdrawn.  It was also easy to get the cover back in place, and to reinstall the screws. 

In your shoes, I would remove the cover, carefully inspect the condenser fins, then reinstall the cover.

[Steve Morris]

1 hour ago, Rivernerd said:

In your shoes, I would remove the cover, carefully inspect the condenser fins, then reinstall the cover.

Thank you, Ralph! That's very helpful. We take off in the morning for a long weekend with the Ohio Tearjerkers group. If I still have concerns when we get home, I'll pop the top and take a look. Thanks!

[Steve Morris]

2 hours ago, Rolind said:

I have found our Truma to be better at lowering  the temperature than the humidity unless it is is the dehumidify mode.  The dehumidify mode makes it painfully cold in the trailer but also does a great job lowering the humidity. I have also found that the Truma condensate drainage is very sensitive to trailer leveling. If the trailer is just slightly off level, the condensate drips on to the roof and then accumulates above the awning seal. The space above the awning seal can hold a lot of water. Last week, while camping, I would sometimes look at the Truma and adjust the level to make sure it wasn’t dripping from the condensate pan onto the roof. Oliver says the Truma has a very shallow condensate pan. Hope this info helps

Thanks Robert! As this is our first RV of any kind with AC, it may just be that I'm expecting it to be similar to our home AC. I wasn't getting any condensate running down the side, but there may be some trapped behind the seal. I'll look later today when I hook up the trailer to the Cruiser. Thanks!

[Steve Morris]

8 hours ago, Patriot said:

There are (8) SS screw fasteners on each side of the top of the cowling that secure it.

Thank you, David, and thanks for the call last night. As noted above, maybe my expectations are not what's normal in an RV. If it doesn't seem right after the weekend, I'll use the sealant and PPF option to be sure to seal things up well.

[Patriot]

5 hours ago, Steve Morris said:

Thank you, David, and thanks for the call last night. As noted above, maybe my expectations are not what's normal in an RV. If it doesn't seem right after the weekend, I'll use the sealant and PPF option to be sure to seal things up well.

Always glad to chat all things Oliver Steve. Enjoy the trip and maybe convert a few of those Tearjerkers to new Ollie owners! 😊

[Steve Morris]

8 minutes ago, Patriot said:

maybe convert a few of those Tearjerkers to new Ollie owners!

Two of them just bought Escape trailers, and another has a Scamp from one of the new Escape owners. So fiberglass trailers are well represented. (Mostly older folks, so very few teardrops any more.)

[ScubaRx]

On 8/1/2023 at 4:38 PM, Steve Morris said:

Later, I bump the thermostat up to 71 degrees, and now it is 70 degrees in the trailer, and 88% humidity!  Outside is 75 degrees, 68% humidity, and full overcast. It’s almost like the AC sucks the humidity out while the compressor is running, holds onto it instead of sending it overboard, and then dumping the humidity back inside when the compressor shuts off. 
 

Vert confusing!

It sounds like your Truma A/C came with the optional "water-maker" feature installed.