Shaihulud2090
Advanced Member
Hey all. This story starts with me fixing interior leaking and replacing my shroud with an ICON replacement for the Dometic Duo-Therm Penguin. I replace the shroud. I slept in the trailer parked in the driveway overnight with my girlfriend because we've traveled the south west in it and it still holds a special place. It's cozy. The AC ran fine. I did however notice a new noise on shutdown, kinda of this high pitched, not very loud whir whir whir as the fan spun down. A couple of day's later I decide to work from the trailer because of indoor noise and I needed a quiet space for some meetings. The AC motor lagged on startup. Then started tripping the trailer breaker throughout the day. So, I go with the usual suspect, capacitors. I replace both the startup and run capacitors with same rated capacitors off amazon. Yeah, they're the off brands. But, I'm still getting lags and tripped breakers. So I break out the multimeter. The capacitors' capacitance is testing within specs. I do a resistance test on the motor's start, run and common power leads. Start --> Common is within specs. Run --> Common is OL. Start --> Run is OL. From what I know that means there are problems in the windings of the motor. The unit is almost 20 years old, so this isn't a shock.
But I'm in a conundrum. I'm looking at new units starting at $800. A used unit starts at $400. A new motor is about $200. I know I can make this work putting a new motor in it, but then there's the compressor....which has been operating fine. However, in 2.5 weeks I have a 2 week trip coming up and reliability is a concern. Given the age and the time constraints, what would you do?
But I'm in a conundrum. I'm looking at new units starting at $800. A used unit starts at $400. A new motor is about $200. I know I can make this work putting a new motor in it, but then there's the compressor....which has been operating fine. However, in 2.5 weeks I have a 2 week trip coming up and reliability is a concern. Given the age and the time constraints, what would you do?
Last edited: