Friday, October 7 – We finally got the air conditioner installed, and it's working hard to cool the 5th wheel here in Houston (currently 93 degrees). What a two day nightmare.
Paul picked up the AC and accompanying parts at PPL here in Houston on Wednesday. PPL was very busy and couldn't install the unit for approximately two weeks, so they recommended Jeff Allison of Allison RV Repair for the installation. Jeff is a mobile tech and said he would put us at the top of his list due to the extreme hot weather.
Jeff and another worker arrived Thursday morning and quickly removed the old Carrier (They are no longer made and parts are not available.) from the roof of the 5th wheel and replaced it with a new Coleman Mach 8, 15,000 BTU unit. Now for the interior wiring.
Good thing our neighbor stopped over to supervise…lol
The Carrier had a remote control panel, which are no longer available, so Jeff had to install a wall thermostat to control the new unit. This is where the trouble began. He followed the schematic shown in the installation instructions carefully and could not get the thermostat to work. He worked over 6 hours on Thursday and finally had to call it a day. He promised to return Friday after investigating with several other techs what the problem could possibly be. (Yikes, this has Paul nervous). Another night in hot Houston without air conditioning!
Friday arrived and thankfully so did Jeff. After-all, he wasn't paid for his work all day on Thursday. He was alone today, so Paul helped troubleshoot the thermostat installation problem. Well, after another four more hours, getting a replacement thermostat from PPL in case the original was bad, four calls to Coleman Technical Support and many re-wiring tries, they finally got the AC to cool properly.
The problem was in the installation instructions. On our final call to the Coleman Technical Support, the technician was explaining the wiring and mentioned it should look just like the diagram ON THE BACK of the thermostat, which was all ready mounted to the wall, NOT like it is shown in the instructions. What! We removed the thermostat and rewired it according to the diagram and PRESTO it worked. Over 8 hours of frustration solved in about ten minutes. Crazy!
Looks pretty nice.
Paul and Jeff arrived at what they felt was a fair price for two days of frustration and parted friends. Everyone was happy. Friday evening was spent at home relaxing in the air conditioned 5th wheel watching the Cleveland Indians win game two of the American League Division Series. They've won the first two games over Boston. GO TRIBE!!
The Elks Lodge campground it packed. We were very lucky to grab the last spot available. It is on grass, but we have a spot. The people in Site 1, our normal site, will be leaving in two weeks. We will pull into that spot as soon as they pull out.
Site 9
Looking right.
Looking left.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
Marsha - I can totally see how inferior documentation can screw up anything.... and not much is fun when working in 90+ sun... in my former life, we owned a technical publishing company - were swamped with work because we actually went through installation/repair/troubleshooting before the manuals were published! WOW - if we were 25 years younger (make that 35...), this would be a very good $$ opportunity... but alas - retirement is way too much fun... if I can just keep Ron out of the pulpit... glad things are cooling for you - no fun in the heat - GO TRIBE :)
ReplyDelete90's with no air would not be fun. Glad you were able get it fixed.
ReplyDeleteOops, a slight oversight. How frustrating!
ReplyDeleteGlad things worked out in the long run. Ninety degrees can be a pain.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you're the cool kids on the block again! Not sure who writes the installation instructions for products...obviously someone who has never done the installation! This happens way too often, but certainly not with the inconvenience and uncomfortable working conditions of installing in 90 degree heat! Glad this one is 'in the can,' and you can get back to doing the fun things you love!
ReplyDeleteIt's good to be cool! Glad you guys got there again.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nightmare getting your new AC to work. Why can't things ever go right the first time?
ReplyDeleteLots of those instructions cause most of the electrical problems. Glad to see you have a cool outlook after your ordeal.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
Cool must feel very good. I remember we had a problem this summer and had to wait over the weekend to get it fixed.
ReplyDeleteNice that things are all well and cool again. Now to relax and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWe won't need a/c now until the spring sometime, so not an issue for us yet. All working good for now.
So glad all finally worked out with the air conditioner:) Thank goodness for hard working techs that stick with a job. Go Indians!!
ReplyDeleteOne thing you cannot be without in Houston is the air conditioner. The heater ... no problem but air would be a definite emergency. I would be pretty nervous about that bill after two days of labor too. We liked Site 1. It was nice of you to let us use your site for a while!
ReplyDelete