B190 Enthusiasts

I had a slight leak coming from the roof air conditioner during rain w/o the air conditioner running on my 1999 B190. I had the air conditioner removed and the mounting gasket replaced (approx $230.00). The air conditioner still leaks through the filters. The camper is parked on relatively level ground. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks...Ralph

Could the cover be cracked? I'd hope the shop that removed and repaired the gasket would've caught that, though... hmm...

(Moved to Appliances.)

There are a couple of small cracks (approx 2"0 long from the screw holes) on the lower section of the cover. Do you think that may be the problem? I noticed someone else had asked a question about the A/C shroud or cover. Are the shrouds availble? The A/C unit is a Duo Therm.

Ralph wrote:There are a couple of small cracks (approx 2"0 long from the screw holes) on the lower section of the cover. Do you think that may be the problem? I noticed someone else had asked a question about the A/C shroud or cover. Are the shrouds availble? The A/C unit is a Duo Therm.

You can replace the shroud. Getting one that says Airstream might be harder/more expensive, but it's a standard air conditioner and there should be standard shrouds available that would fit it (albeit they might be a bit taller than the original one).

I'm not entirely sure it is the shroud, though. It seems to me rain could come in the vents on the side of the shroud easily, but mine hasn't ever leaked. So I'm not really sure what to say. It's almost like the water is dripping through the air conditioner unit itself, which definitely shouldn't happen.

I'd be tempted to climb up there, take the shroud off, and look for rust holes or something like that. If you have a helper, take a garden hose up and see if you can spot where it's leaking (I wouldn't douse the thing in water but some parts should be okay).

Thanks Skater for the suggestions I will try to give them a try next weekend weather permitting. I really appreciate your efforts and the website. It is a real benefit to all B190 owners. Thanks again.....

Its very important to check the tightness of the bolts holding the air conditioner unit down properly onto the thick foam gasket...its a really good place for a water leak to develop.

To check those bolts you need to remove the bottom of the unit from the headliner of your rig...simple to do

Once removed you will see 2 small hex-head bolts up inside, at the front. Frequently I have found that those same s bolts at the rear are NOT installed, they are 1/4-20 bolts about 3 1/2 inches in length, looking up in there you will see the threads where they go up into the air conditioning unit. You may also notice that the thick black foam gasket is compressed at the front where the bots have pulled it down, but at the rear that foam gasket is quite think due to the bolts missing....look up in there with a flashlight....I have also found that the holes for those two bolt haven't been drilled, you will need to do that.

The gasket between the air conditioner and the fiberglass roof is about 3/4 inch thick, soft foam, so it settles over time and the bolts become loose which results in water leaks

I had this problem too...leaking from the filter area. I found cracks in the shroud around the screw holes and a hairline crack in the top. The shroud was only 2 years old..I had replaced it earlier for the same problem. I patched the cracks and the leaks stopped. Both shrouds were OEM from Dometic. They seem to get brittle from the sun. I found a company in Canada who makes a shroud to fit these Dometic Penguin models. It's close in price to Camper World's OEM shroud, about 100 bucks, but it has a 30 year gaurantee. When I got it I found out that it is much lighter in weight and much more flexible than the other material. It fit great. I had to drill a couple of holes in the metal flange to as not to stress the predrilled holes in the shroud but other than that, it fixed the leaks. The website for the shroud is ....
http://icondirect.com/ProductCart/pc/Pe ... ud-3p3.htm

This site is so cool! Another question/problem answered and figured out! Yeah!

Thanks!

continuing....

Well, a gasket is leaking. I just went up there with a hose and it started leaking right away.

So, what should I do?

I was just up on the roof and pulling with all my might and couldn't budge the unit. I'm figuring that the unit is stuck to the roof via the gasket and whatever sealant is used on the it. I'm thinking that I need a spatula like tool to break the connection at the roof, lift the rig out, scrape off the old gasket, apply a new one, put it all back together and hope for the best.

Yes? No?

Okay, searched the web, watched some vids, looked and looked and looked and just now went up there, cut the gasket in half, went up on the roof and pried the AC unit off!

Yeah!

I cleaned up the old gasket remnants and am ready and waiting for the new one to arrive (can you say "Next Day Air"?).

Dang! Easy Peasy!

Glad you got it off!

Thanks, I was really sweating it but it was no big deal when I finally dove into it.

Okay, so now, the gasket has sticky on only one side, I suspect that is the side that goes on the roof. Yes?

Glue side down.

After searching the web for this topic, I've determined that replacing the AC gasket is the second most common activity of RVing. Driving it is first.