[Nebster]

when i was down to 20 degrees this past spring in utah, one night my compressor froze up. it struggled but i am sure there was moisture in it that had frozen. i bet if you put simple heater in there it would keep it from freezing. i bet there is nothing wrong with the compressors....

(Hey Tom!) Yeah, my second one definitely just froze up. The first one, unfortunately, just gave up the ghost. I'm currently running a heater in that bay, indeed. I'll probably wire something with a thermostat into the existing 120V circuit down there, eventually.

I got water in the little solenoid that relieves the head pressure and it froze. Caused all sorts of problems. It finally cracked and when I removed it, all was well again. After two years, I finally replaced it.

Thanks Bill. My solenoid seems to be working okay. It's interesting that you ran for two years without one. Are you running the Thomas compressor? I feel like I can't get more than two years out of mine anyway, and I hate listening to that blowoff squeal. Maybe I should take mine out!

Is there a reason you have them set for 120 psi?

Hey Richard, yeah... I think that is just something that's required for this coach. If I could get away with 90psi, that would open up a whole lot of other alternatives for the compressor, though.

The second issue is that the push to connect fittings in the air system leak profusely at colder temps.

Slowly, but surely, I have replaced almost all of the speedfit connectors in the system. There are probably some buried behind cabinetry that I haven't gotten to, but under the coach I think is all compression at this point, thank goodness.

That said, in this freeze, we have had fail:

1) fuel filter housing on genset (so diesel went everywhere, instead of air)
2) slide seal
3) air separator at 120V air compressors
4) pressure regulator for genset airbags
5) one Thomas compressor

All in about three days!

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Cold and humidity is your enemy. I too have had this problem. I placed a small heater on an extension cord in my air compressor compartment when we were in the single digits. I had the sensor freeze up and break due to Ice expansion. $110 lesson to replace the sensor.

Yeah... I've given in as well.

As far as adjusting the pressure, for me its a Siemens controller, I tried to go into my program and lower the Preset pressures, because I think I'm smart enough. I'm not. Clint Eastwood says " a man needs to know his limitations". sometimes I need to be reminded. New lesson, I SCREWED IT UP. I had to send it back to Valid in BC for them to reprogram back to factory specs. No Charge by Valid, but is was 2 weeks of controlling the pressures by hand. Valid Told me that I need the designed pressures for the leveling system. If it wasn't for the leveling system, I could stay at 60 to 70 psi. for the slide seals, toilets and door.

And what pressure did you start at? The 125, like mine?

It's interesting that you went in there and tried hacking that thing up. Mine has a black, plastic box with a Valid sticker on it below a grey box that has two digital hour meters and a bunch of 120V wiring inside. The grey box was functional when we started out, but gradually the displays have stopped working/reporting any hours at all. However, whatever logic does the switching on and off, and the toggle that lets me cut over to the alternate compressor, does still work. So I haven't touched it.

One thing I did have to do early on is replace the plastic (ABS?) hoses that Newell installs between the compressors and the manifold. Those were blowing out under heat/pressure, as mentioned earlier in this thread. That plastic tubing is only rated to 120psi or something, to begin with. I didn't know about braided hose, but I just got a 2-foot airline whip on Amazon, and it seems sturdy and has been working fine for a couple years.