I bought an old camper they sold cheap cause the AC didn't work and bought another one. The first thing I checked was the evaporator coil and low and behold you couldn't even tell there was any coils. It was just a solid wall of dirt. Cleaned it and the AC works perfectly.
Great Video. I pay a RV dealer in Sanford, Florida for an annual PM A/C service and when I got up on the roof a week or two later it appeared they didn't do any cleaning to the coil. It looked like they didn't even remove the outside cover. I guess they only cleaned the indoor filter if that. I paid $158.00 for this service for basically doing nothing. For now on I will do it myself.
Wipe down both evaporator and condenser fans as well, just a little dirt & grim on the blades can reduce fan efficiency (air flow) a lot more than you might think. Esp if you cook greasy food on the stove. Also, look at the capacitors for bulging and/or black marks at the wire connections. Great video!
FYI,The cleaner is designed to be sucked thru the condensing coil,The AC should be turned on so it sucks the foam into the coil,As the foam expands it pushes the "nasty" out. I use a wire brush and wipe from the bottom..up,And wipe excess off with a rag. When the coil sweats,The moisture flushes the excess foam out thru the drain. Everything he did is absolutely correct other than running the unit while cleaning the coil. I'm an authorized tech for Dometic and Coleman,Which is what he has, I own a mobile rv repair company in Tallahassee, Fla. That coil cleaner is a great product. Lowes/home depot carry it, Not expensive at all and easy and safe to use.
We have a 1994 Winnebago with basement air. After watching this video twice and with help of someone who knows more than me, I got two cans of the EVAP FOAM NO RINSE and sprayed them twice. The first time the foam turned from white to gray and black. I don't know if they had ever been cleaned. I let it sit for a half hour and then sprayed it down with a garden hose. Oh the dirt that was on the asphalt!! YUK!!! I sprayed the second can and it never left white. So one can really did do an excellent job! I have this noted in my calendar to do this every year on September 1st. Thanks Martin! Our AC has now been "Martenized"!! Really enjoy your videos and have learned a lot.
Whenever we open equipment and see the Mfg tag with Model/ser#s, we take a photo and save it in a file on the PC. You'll always have the info when you need parts or manuals. AC, Water Heater, Chassis tag, etc. Thanks for the video!
Very good point. We have done the same thing. We also have downloaded all our manuals, wiring diagrams and stuff like that. That way it's readily available when we need it.
Love this video! My A/C started leaking today and as a first time RV owner, I began to panic inside because living in west Texas, it's impossible to live without one. You made this video very simple and easy to follow along to. Thank you!
Please keep playing these videos!! I miss y'all so much! Martin's videos are the best! He was a Great instructor/teacher! Continued prayers for you Joni. Sending Much Love and Hugs
Over time I have saved a lot of money servicing my RV myself. At 71 I hate getting on ladders so I access my roof through the overhead escape hatch over the bed in my truck camper. LOL, like you, the knees need some extra padding when I'm up there so I use strap-on knee pads. Thank you for this tutorial. Now I can service my air conditioner too! 🌲❤🐶😽😽💔🌲
something I haven't thought of for 35 years. The barber shop and the after shave. Funny. Thanks Brother. You deserve all the best Life can give you ...
I remember those days oh so long ago. I have barber now that even though he’s only about 30 he has shop set up old school kind of old west with a free shot of whiskey or a cold beer with every cut. Also he gives a wicked close shave with a straight razor. Oh man heaven lol
I always love to do my own RV Maintenance and it is even better when there is a good teacher demonstrate the process. I wish more folks that come to our campground would do regular maintenance on their RVs. Many aren't able to do it themselves and it is with great effort to avoid stepping in myself, but I always offer to point them in the right direction to encourage folks maintain their investment!
I like how well you take care of your home. Good video on how to take care of ac unit before it becomes a problem. Most people wait til its not working right.
I'm a senior widow and full time RVer and just happened to come across this video. I have been concerned about my A/C's and how to clean them. You made this seem so simple, I'm planning to see if I can do this myself! Thanks so much for the instructions! Also decided to subscribe!
Thank you, new rv owner, to a used rv and and I’m pretty sure the previous owner had never done this before. The coils looked like they had a wool sweater. It runs so much better and cooler now. Again thank you for your video
*New sub here, love the videos especially the one you did about painting over a faded decal! I do this every spring to our Ac’s, funny story.. a few yrs back we went to land between the lakes in Kentucky for a week long getaway with some friends and one friend rented a class c motorhome that was roughly 5-6yrs old at the time. Well it turned out that the week we went turned out to be the most god awful hottest week we have ever camped I think period! On day 2 by buddy with the rented class c comes running over in a panic at 1am saying it was 90 in the coach so I go over and sure enough the ac is blowing Luke warm air, I go top side and pull the cowl off and you wouldn’t believe the mess I found!! The unit was frozen over, the inside of the white cowl was brown, you couldn’t see a single piece of sheet medal and the dirt was so thick I had to scrape it to see the screws! I had them shut it off and they had already moved to our coach so we let it thaw out and in the morning we went up with my compressor and first blew what I could out which looked like a dust storm hit and then I rinsed it with water and put it back together and it work the rest of the trip.. now here’s the best part! At 1am the first thing I did was pull the inside cover off where the filter is and no filter but instead stuffed up inside was a pair of women’s underwear and a bra! I looked at my buddy and said tell christy (his wife) these go in the dresser not the Ac! Lol there is no way that Ac had ever been serviced like this particular rental company claimed to service every single system after every use, my buddy ended up getting a good portion of his money refunded but needless to say we ended up with a story of a lifetime!
a story of a lifetime! indeed. OMG GCJK, the best story ever. I especially loved the part "pulled the inside cover off where the filter is and no filter but instead stuffed up inside was a pair of women’s underwear and a bra! I looked at my buddy and said tell christy (his wife) these go in the dresser not the Ac! That is to funny and luv you wit. Sounds like something I'd say. Proper PM is sooooooo....important to keep these babies running good. thx so much for this story.
I cleaned mine exactly as you recommend. I couldn't believe how dirty!!!! They didn't look too crazy dirty. But after I cleaned them they looked so good!!! And cooler better. Thank you!
Glad to hear you offer people encouragement to do this on their own. Lots of simple jobs that can save a lot of money. I do this on my heat pump units at home too. Best of luck to you.
I just love your DIY videos! The air conditioner is the next task on our list of many, "to do list". Thanks for all of your great videos. You speak a common language to us who do not know technical/mechanical jargon. Thank you Martin!
Hey you two, love your videos, it’s so great to have someone showing the nuts and bolts of PM on a coach that is your home. The cheapest repairs are the ones you don’t have to make and I really appreciate you guide to maintaining the rig.
Really enjoyed your explanation and thorough description on this subject. Also appreciate your candid encouragement to those who may not feel comfortable doing this job. You’ve earned a new subscriber in myself. Thank you sir!
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Another commenter made a great suggestion. Go to Home Depot and buy one of those garden pump sprayers and fill it with water. Much easier to rinse than the bottle I used. Funny thing is, I carry one of those on our rig and never thought to use it.
Absolutely right I’m going to try to take care of it myself. I’ll make sure my battery is unplugged and follow instructions as you said. Thanks so much for your video. Blessings from a first time camper owner
Bought a 04 fifth wheel that sat around for 3 years. I had problems with the ac off the bat. Needed a new thermostat and I installed it. Then had a problem with getting cold air. I didn't know what to do. So when I seen this video I did exactly what I seen.. looked at it and it was dirty as hell. When I cleaned it with the spray's. I did it step by step and boom! My ac is throwing out the coldest air, and removed the odor of cigarette smoke from the previous owner.. THANK YOU!! 🤘💯
Great job Martin, we clean our filters at least once a month or sooner if needed. I also wash the grills and use a Clorox wipe to clean the surface under the filter housing. I also inspect the coil while I have the filters out. I’ll be cleaning my coils when we get back from the beach in a few weeks. Keep these great PM videos coming.
Thanks so much. But about those Clorox wipes-yep great idea-but where do you find them these days with all these COVID anti virus supply hoarders? We're still using card board for toilet paper.
I'm was an electrician before I retired, after which I helped my next door neighbor frome time to time (he was an HVAC man), he taught me to do this cleaning pretty much the way you showed. I would also check the caps; if they were 10% to12% low I would change them, binging an electrician I knew the unit would not run 100% if the caps were low (power factor would drop and it would take more electrical power to keep up. You would need a multi-meter to check the microfarads of each cap. It does help to have a little knowledge of electrical works. Just a little something extra.
Beetle1 Excellent strategy. I am handicapped and can 't climb to the roof. But i was able to clean from the inside using the foam and an A/C brush. Worked well for me.
Service the AC today both took about an hour and a half the 300.00 was well worth the self maintenance. note nobody sells the liquid wrench oil had to go to an ace hardware to find it. all went well thanks Martin. thanks you for your Service on this Memorial Day weekend.
Don't you mean saving the $300 was worth it? You bet it was 😎 You could of ordered the oil from my Amazon Store. Everything I use and talk about is always in my store. www.amazon.com/shop/rvstreet
Thank you!!! I love your channel. Period. I am a part-time RVer and when I record myself PM on my Class B Rv (as soon as we have a warm day) I am shoutouting out your most valuable channel!!! Thank you for teaching so well and stay safe out there! BTW, last month I changed my rv generator oil MYSELF!!! I recorded it and was thrilled to self serve!! 🙌🏽🙏🏽 owning the RV and DIY has me more empowered and excited I saving hundreds of $$$$
Now Stephanie, your my kinda gal. Digging in and getting it done. *YOURSELF* Thanks for taking the time to chime in. This will help other gals out there that they can do this stuff too 💗 Oh.....next time you do something, and shout out...say I just Martinized my RV.
@@RVstreet no lie!! Thank you!! I’m also a veteran but as you know, the drive to DIY and to know our own rigs probably comes something deeper. I have seen other ladies DIY their rigs that have inspired me. Therefore, I hope my channel inspires all others, as you are taking the time to educate us all on your awesome channel. 🙏🏽😎🎊
You’re the BOSS!! I did this today getting up the courage only because of your video. My front AC on the 40’ DP was basically dead. The air is very cold now on a 92 degree day in Va. Thank you for such excellent videos sir.
Martin, first of all...THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY!! Second, I just wanted to say I’m a new subscriber, and truly appreciate your videos. They’re VERY informative! Great job! Thanks Again! Frank
I had no idea this needed to be done. I ask for yearly service, but I'm certain that unless I explicitly ask for this to be completed it will not. Thank you so much.
I just did this on my a coil in my mobile home 2 weeks ago. We had a ac guy come check our ac. He told my son-in-law we need a new a coil because we smoke and hadn’t cleaned it in 20 years. He said it was real nasty. After they left I looke in the acoil and they just barely opened the tin so they couldn’t even c in there. After I got it all open up it was not nasty at all but I did spray the same stuff u did. I didn’t know about it until I googled it and saw how easy it was. I did talk to another guy and he said he would clean it for 125 bucks but after I saw how easy it was I did it my self. Now I can do it more often. I saw a guy on utube that his had 3 inches of cat hair all over it from 20 years.
Thank you SO MUCH for this video. I'm gonna clean the coils in my window units as well. This is the stuff my AC guy uses and charges me (lots) for. I'm now gonna save some serious money. The cans (2 pack) are about $36- FAR LESS than a new ac unit. God bless you!
Thank you for demonstrating how to do this. One thing though, my air conditioning man that cleaned my unit on top of my building said to start at the bottom because the cleaner is so strong that if you start from the top, it doesn’t work as well. I watched him do it so I could do it in the future my self. He sprayed from the bottom each row and then moved up, back and forth all the way before moving up. Just thought I should tell you, you may want to try it.😊
Great video. I couldn't agree with you more. Everyone should have a maintenance schedule for minor things like this. It extends the life of things and saves money.
Rinse itself? The ac unit literally has no water involved in it’s operation so it won’t be doing any rinsing. If anything the unit may blow some of the dirt out of the fins with air flow when it’s running.
Thank you so much on this. I honestly didn’t think about cleaning all of the inside and coils. You just saved me possibly a couple hundred dollars! I owe you a big fat thank you.
Such good information! Very appreciative of how u explained it as u went. Easy for this senior, solo nomad to comprehend. I might need help on the roof, just for safety, but it’s worth it for the $$$ saved. Thank u!
Thanks to Joanie for the camera work and Martin, I truly dig your "extra mile" detailed explainations. I just cleaned our A/C unit according to your vid this morning. Your detailed checklist for the automatic stairs were also spot on (our chassis ground wire was the culprit). We recently dropped our extended service agreement and I've been enjoying learning from the RV Street videos (in hopes that I am truly teachable : )
That was very informative and actually one of our ac’s is blowing warm at first then cold so it’s saying it needs some tlc…… you’re full of great information!
I am so glad these videos are still available, info I have been referring to for Years.... It warms my heart to listen to this wonderful man. Please keep these available because there are so many new RV'rs that need to learn from him. Great man...
"YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME"! I THINK YOU GOT SOME REALLY GREAT TIPS, THAT I HAD BETTER USE,, CUZ ITS WAY WORTH IT TO TAKE PREVENTATIVE MEASURES,. AND EVEN MORE SO, IF YOUR LIVING FULL TIME,. AS I AM TOO SO THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR INFO,.
I so appreciate instructional contributors like yourself where I learn so much about my own Travel Trailer maintenance. This one was very detailed and comprehensive. . . and thank U for your service.
Great video and very helpful.. The only thing I have seen you might need to do in addition to this. If your AC unit has a lot of bent in fins.... There is a fin comb you can use to get them all straight again. if you have only a few places it is no big deal but as you stated, airflow is the key so if a lot of fins are crushed you might need to do it.
Really great info. I was really afraid to even spray the outside of the cowlings down when I washed the roof! Then I realized that they get trashed during thunderstorms so I'm not going to hurt them.
Doing your own maintenance can save you a lot of money. Full time RV living in Texas, many, many hours on the AC unit. My Coleman 15,000 BTU ran for 14 years. Had to replace it about a month ago but I really feel I got my money's worth out of it. I do all my own work, just backing Martin on the importance of preventative maintenance and giving my compliments for the detailed video. Thank you.
Yep, regular PM is the key to keeping these RV's in top notch shape. WOW, 14yrs. on that Coleman, I mean yeah...you definitely got your monies worth out that baby.
Its called no rinse because the AC should be cleaned during hot humid weather and ran after sprayed with the cleaner so the fan pulls the cleaner and condensate through the coil to clean it deeper and rinse itself with the condensate.
This is a great video, you should make it longer and describe the drain holes in pan. my pan was so close to the roof from gasket failure that the pan holes were pushed against roof top and closed the holes off for roof top drainage, This caused massive leaks inside camper, I made holes larger and put plastic shims next to each one to raise it above the roof. I hope this helps others.
I spend thousands of hours a year on the road. I have never seen a cop climb up on the roof of an RV. Good demonstration of cleaning the A/C unit. Happy camping 🏕🚍
Martin here. I luv that name PAMIE. And good for you doing your own maintenance. I'm sure you learned from others too, but I'll take what little credit I deserve. 💕 💕
Excellent step by step DIY PM project. I'm a fanatic about keeping the filter, but in the year that I've own our RV I haven't cleaned the coil yet. I think I'll get to it this weekend. I'm going to use the Evap Foam product as well. Yes, I'll rinse too. Great video. Thanks for sharing!
I've got a 2021 50ft tandem axle 5the WHEEL JAYCO LEGACY RV with 4- slide outside. I've got 3- roof top a/c units with rubber roof. I've never clean mine but I will now. thank you for your helpful video.🙏
Came across this vid in my recommendations. Good job man. I'll try that product myself next time I clean mine but before I rinse with water, I'll let the foam dry completely and shop vacuum the coils with a brush attachment first.
Thank you SO much! I recently bought a 10 year old pop up. We've done some driveway comping with our family but this past weekend was our 1st real camping adventure with it, of course it was 90s and the AC wasn't working. With another trip scheduled for this weekend I was nervous... but I followed your steps verbatim and it's working great again! Also, we didn't have any of the cleaner locally on hand so just went to home depot and bought their $5 can and it worked flawlessly so for $5 and an hour or so of elbow grease and we're back in business. I can't thank you enough!
Spot on I did mine last week and it is very important to take the time to do this once a year as you said. Great video I wish I would have done a video of mine or a picture because I am second owner of my Coach it looked like coffee grounds in the coil fins 🤢 looks like new after using the no rinse foam as you did I rinsed mine of also.😁 Great video 😎👍🤘👊
This video is excellent! A note to all: make sure the drip pan below the evaporator is clean, and the drain holes are clear, AFTER you've foamed the evaporator. I cleaned my AC a month ago, and now I have water inside the trailer whenever I use my AC unit. I am going on the roof again today, to clear the drain holes.
Enjoyed your video I'll be purchasing one and I will do the maintenance on it like you you're a great guy thank you for sharing this you need the air to work at hot weather
Hi Rick, can you offer some advice, since trying all the reccomdation in this video we still have warm air blowing. The compressor kicks in when the thermostat is set and the copper wires get cold with no sign of refrigerant leakage ! Any tips?
Excellent video...I pulled mine out of storage and the unit would trip off...I went up and pulled the cover and found a birds nest (Not kidding) built around the fan and ac coils...removed that and cleaned her up so the fan blades were clear to rotate and it worked like a champ. Was a bit freaked out at first thinking this thing is only one year old and already an AC failure...but it was really simple to fix...I guess the bids needed an RV too!
Don't know if this has ever happened to you but there is a gray plastic drain pan under the evaporator coil with two drain holes that can become clogged and if they do, the drain pan overflows water into the coach through the return grid. Whoops, ask me how I know;-) Anyway when you are doing your annual evap cleaning you may want to include cleaning that drain pan.
Sorry Martin watched vid again and the drain pan you refer to is under entire unit, drain pan I refer to is not the same one. Check it out and you will see what I am talking about, grey plastic drain tray directly above return grid under evap coil. Enjoy.
