Newell Gurus

On my last trip up I-5 two of my roof air conditioners failed.  Newell said that they were not serviceable and would therefore need to be replaced.  After careful inspection I determined that the tubing connection to the evaporator cracked at the connection point.  The problem is that the compressor is mounted on shock absorbers and the evaporator is attached to the frame and no motion is allowed for.  The fix is relatively simple but requires a knowledgeable A/C service tech to perform.  Order the shortest flexible line that Grangers offers (I think it is about 8" long), order a service valve (schrader valve) for the low pressure side, cut out a section of the hard copper tubing and install the flexible section between the compressor and the evaporator, install the service valve in the low pressure line.  Recharge the system and you are good to go.

While I was at it, I had the technician make that modification to all 4 A/C units.  Total cost to modify all 4 was under $1000.  New units are around $2000 each plus shipping and installation.

Good job and good call. What year and coach do you have?

Excellent job! Not only did you find an economical solution to a problem, but it included an improvement to the original design of the product.

Seems as though most roof airs will suffer the same fate from copper fatigue. I noticed my Penguin II has a similar design. I give it 3 years tops life expectancy.

Well done and improved to boot

Nice! And thanks for posting. Always great to have “upgrades” listed for known problems.

That's an interesting repair. Can you provide the Grainger part number and the model of A/C unit? Pictures?

It's a full time job staying ahead of engineering/manufacturing failures! Good job.