Ris Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Our 4 year old unit has developed a fault which occurs when mains power is switched on to the unit when the Motorhomes internal RCD switch trips. Can anyone advise details of a Dometic engineer in the Surrey Hampshire or Berkshire area. The problem I see is that the top of the unit must be removed to identify the problem and then a further visit to replace part if that is required, so obviously good weather is needed or put in engineers workshop. Urgency is not a problem. Any advice gratefully received. Ris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 http://www.dometicapproved.co.uk/service.aspx ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Joe90 - 2014-12-08 3:26 PM http://www.dometicapproved.co.uk/service.aspx ;-) The link does not work! I will also be interested in replies, as our Air Con also has a problem in that it will not work on 12v, but does on mains. We believe it needs a new invertor, which may be expensive! Also in same area as OP PJay Forgot to say ours is 8 years old, and not sure if same model ,Has not been a problem before. will need to look it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Ris - 2014-12-08 2:27 PM Our 4 year old unit has developed a fault which occurs when mains power is switched on to the unit when the Motorhomes internal RCD switch trips. Can anyone advise details of a Dometic engineer in the Surrey Hampshire or Berkshire area. The problem I see is that the top of the unit must be removed to identify the problem and then a further visit to replace part if that is required, so obviously good weather is needed or put in engineers workshop. Urgency is not a problem. Any advice gratefully received. Ris I had a similar problem in France in September but it resolved itself mysteriously. Still dont know why it occured. We had used the air-con daily for a week or so (not overnight) and one day out of the blue it stopped unexpectedly a few moments after switching on and the MH's MCB/RCD had tripped. I think it also tripped the EHU's MCB as well. Reseting resulted in repeated failure and MCB tripping so i stopped before the EHU post ran out of sockets. I assumed it was a fault and resigned myslef to sweaty times. A few days later I had a rush of blood to the brian and tried again and all was well. No problems since. No explanation discovered. maybe some moisure somewhere causing a short which subsequently evaporated? I am only guessing. I suggest you try yours out again before calling in the engineer. It will be difficult to test roof aircon outdoors in cooling mode in our current weather anyway. Maybe find a heated garage somewhere where you could park temporarily and test it again yourself? In my area I would approach a local firm who have a heated spray booth for motorhomes/caravan repairs. If you find out there is a fault please report what it was on here, so I'll know what to look for if it happens again to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 PJay - 2014-12-08 6:59 PM Joe90 - 2014-12-08 3:26 PM http://www.dometicapproved.co.uk/service.aspx ;-) The link does not work! I will also be interested in replies, as our Air Con also has a problem in that it will not work on 12v, but does on mains. We believe it needs a new invertor, which may be expensive! Also in same area as OP PJay Forgot to say ours is 8 years old, and not sure if same model ,Has not been a problem before. will need to look it up Worked for me Pauline. Try again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 StuartO - 2014-12-08 8:47 PM Ris - 2014-12-08 2:27 PM Our 4 year old unit has developed a fault which occurs when mains power is switched on to the unit when the Motorhomes internal RCD switch trips. Can anyone advise details of a Dometic engineer in the Surrey Hampshire or Berkshire area. The problem I see is that the top of the unit must be removed to identify the problem and then a further visit to replace part if that is required, so obviously good weather is needed or put in engineers workshop. Urgency is not a problem. Any advice gratefully received. Ris I had a similar problem in France in September but it resolved itself mysteriously. Still dont know why it occured. We had used the air-con daily for a week or so (not overnight) and one day out of the blue it stopped unexpectedly a few moments after switching on and the MH's MCB/RCD had tripped. I think it also tripped the EHU's MCB as well. Reseting resulted in repeated failure and MCB tripping so i stopped before the EHU post ran out of sockets. I assumed it was a fault and resigned myslef to sweaty times. A few days later I had a rush of blood to the brian and tried again and all was well. No problems since. No explanation discovered. maybe some moisure somewhere causing a short which subsequently evaporated? I am only guessing. I suggest you try yours out again before calling in the engineer. It will be difficult to test roof aircon outdoors in cooling mode in our current weather anyway. Maybe find a heated garage somewhere where you could park temporarily and test it again yourself? In my area I would approach a local firm who have a heated spray booth for motorhomes/caravan repairs. If you find out there is a fault please report what it was on here, so I'll know what to look for if it happens again to me! Well, if the mains switch incorporates an RCD, there must be current flowing to earth to trip it. OTOH, if the mains switch incorporates an RCBO, it is possibly overload as opposed to an earth problem, so could be a short circuit somewhere. So, without knowing for sure the nature of the mains switch, either are possibilities. Whatever the cause, these faults should not be left but should be investigated: because if it has happened once, the odds are it will happen again. A physical check of the wiring from the mains unit to the aircon unit should be relatively safe and simple, would be a good placeto start, and may avoid an unwelcome bill for merely tightening a terminal screw. It is possible that movement and vibration of the van while travelling has caused a terminal clamping screw to loosen sufficiently for a wire to partially pull free to create a temporary short, or earth fault. Unlikely, I accept, but it has happened in the past: all it needs is one badly tightened terminal screw that further loosens. It is also possible that the wiring between the mains unit and the aircon unit may be badly installed, and the insulation has chafed through on something rough, creating the fault. Tracing these kinds of faults can be quite time consuming, but are more or less as quick for an owner to spot as for a relatively expensive aircon technician to spot. Just make sure the mains is disconnected before investigating! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Very rational Brian - but I suspect these roof aircon units are not rational beasts at all, but operate on a supernatural basis. Our unit is now nine years old and about five years ago I became convinced it had stopped cooling and had probably therefore lost refridgerant gas pressure or something. So I took it to a Dometic agent, who spent four days trying to find a fault and failed. I accepted this expert view and adjusted my expectations of how much cooling it would do, even on a good day. No further concerns until last September when we had the hissy fit as described. I have no proof that supernatural forces are at play but I suspect so, If the recent fault was a short it was downstream of the power switrch on the unit, which we use only infrequently. When in use lots of condensate forms and runs along the roof and down onto the ground. It's a steady trickle. I have had a look at the drawings of the unit on the Dometic website and admitted defeat. We use the roof aircon so rarely that I have decided to go for the supernatural explanation and take my chances that the short (which resolved spontaneously) will never recur in my MH - because the Evil Spirit which caused it has migrated into the OP's roof aircon unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 To the OP, do a google search for "dometic service agents uk" that will find the site, we contacted one approved engineer listed on their site who was very helpful when we had a fridge problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Joe90 It was another forum-member (P Jay) who said she had problems with the link you provided, not the Original Poster. As in Brian Kirby’s case, the link you provided works OK for me. If the problem P Jay had with the Dometic website persists, these are details of the three Dometic service agents near to Fareham: Albany Mobile Caravan Services Ltd Shirrell Heath Telephone: 01329 609872 Distance (from Fareham): 11.0 km South Coast Leisure Services Unit 4, Catherington Business Park, Catherington Lane, Waterlooville PO8 0AQ Telephone: 02392341869 Distance: 14.0 km Bennys Gennys Southampton Telephone: 07969 119393 Distance: 18.7 km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ris Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Many thanks to all who responded. I will follow up their suggestions and will put on the forum the outcome but it will be sometime as this is not the time of the year to start checking the interior of the unit on the roof, will wait for warmer weather. Once again thanks. Ris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ris Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 It has been sometime since I put on requests for help to the problem but today as prearranged Rick from Albany Mobile Caravan Services , as given by Joe 90, came and having removed the top of the unit it was easy to see the problem "a dry joint was arcing in the circuit board" thus causing the short circuit. Rick has taken the board and will firstly see if it can be repaired or otherwise a new circuit board. Hope this is of assistance to those that requested knowledge of the outcome. He is returning in 3 weeks to refit the board and test the unit, fingers crossed it all goes to plan. Gerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thanks for taking the time to let us know the outcome, Gerry, and I hope the bill isn't too much of a fright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Indeed yes, thanks very much for that, since it could indicate the type of latent fault (now resolved) which my aircon presented. A dry joint should be repairable so I think I'll have a look under the cover to see if there evidence of the same on my board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 A dry joint on the circuit board wouldn't normaly blow a fuse.. But if the joint had the compressor relay on it it could have got hot because the compressor was starting to tighten up and taking more current. It's very often the compressor when fuses/trips start going. I've never worked on a caravan a/c system but they are the same as ones in buildings, and I've worked on and installed 1000s of those. Fingers crossed it's not anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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