A/C Problems

[James Elliott]

I spent the weekend on my friends 1989 501 Chris. He has five units and only one compressor would come on. It seemed like they were all locked up. All the units have great water flow. I find it odd that four of the five do not work. Is there a stuck valve in the reverse cycle? Is there a way to make the compressors come on. Help me, my brain is fried.

[ron6785]

Are you saying the compressors never came on or came on and quite????Depending on the manufacturer there is generally a high pressure breaker either on the unit or remote. Did the fan work when you turned the unit on? If the compressors never came on and the water pumps were working, it sounds like a fuse or breaker. Did the units work last season??

[James Elliott]

The fans will run but the compressors never came on. They are cruisair units. Thank you for your reply

[fixin-to-cruise]

Are the LED's on in the controls? If yes then you have power to the unit. Push the cool and heat buttons and adjust the temp set point and confirm that the proper cool or heat green LED is on. If no, then you have a control problem. If yes, check the voltage on the pink wire (I think) that should be labeled COMP. You can unscrew the control from the wall and measure the voltage from the connection there. Push cool then off and confirm that the voltage goes from about 5V to 1V. That is the compressor control wire that goes to the power board on the unit. If the voltage does not change (and the LED does) the control is bad. Otherwise it is a problem at the unit, maybe a bad SCR (trigger) that is used to turn the compressor on and off. That can be replaced for about $5.

You can swap the control from the working cabin if you suspect a bad control to confirm.

I have had mostly bad controls but have had 2 bad SCR's for the compressor. I'll check back for your reply. Take notes of what you did to stay organized and take pictures so you can rewire correctly. It can get very confusing.

[BUSTER]

When the unresponsive units are turned on "run" what is the apereage draw and does each trip it's corresponding breaker?