If you have water coming inside your recreational vehicle or it isn’t cooling, it probably needs a good cleaning.

Leakage:
Most roof air conditioners have drain holes in the pan that the compressor sits in, but frankly there is not enough of them and they are not large enough!  With this in mind, know that they will clog.. and pretty darn easy.

Make sure that your RV IS NOT plugged in.

Go up on your roof.  TIP: I like to lay a couple of 2X4’s across the roof so the center isn’t having to support my fat butt!  RV roofs can typically consist of 1X2 construction and that won’t support much!  Also.. alot of times this core lumber is held together with staples or brads!!

Remove the plastic cover.  This is usually held with 4 nuts (sometimes the bolts are attached to the frame of the A/C so make sure you don’t damage the studs!).

After you remove the cover you will notice lots of leaves, dirt and branches among other things.  Get a hose and gently wash that stuff out (you can damage something with too high of water pressure, use you hand or a brush to get the big clumps out).

As mentioned there are drain holes.  Inspect them.  Chances are they are 1/4″ and sometimes there may be as few as 1 or 2 drain holes.  I like mine to be 1/2″ and have a minimum of two in the rear AND two alongside the middle (one end will stay moistly dry but you may consider another hole in or near the center).

Be VERY CAREFUL when drilling holes in the pan.  It will be a heavy steel pan and you will have to push down somewhat.  I like to start with a very small pilot hole first.  MAKE SURE that you don’t drill through the roof!!!  Drill bit stops are a good idea.

Before you replace the plastic cover, you should clean the fins.

Not cooling:
Coming Next: Cleaning the Evaporator and Condenser Coils (fragile fins).