Coleman Mach 46515-611 Heat Pump installation.
Time frame: May 2023 – Oct. 2024
These articles are newest on top and older below.
This section is about the replacement heat pump I bought and installed to replace the tired and suffering Coleman Mach heat pump installed in 2002 by Winnebago. Go here to see the original 2019 maintenance article: 2: Heat Pump
April 2024, discovered that the NEW heat pump, less than a year old, had a problem. After working without fault for heating and cooling for months, one day in late April 2024, noticed that it wasn’t cooling. After inspecting, discovered that the ODFM (Out Door Fan Motor) was not spinning or was spinning slowly when I flicked it. Ended my stay near Yuma at that time as it was getting hot there, and the following is the story of repair of this device. Warranty is 3 years parts and labor, with another 2 years of extended warranty provided by the manufacturer, that extension cost me an additional $90.
Articles are in reverse order, mostly. Newest on top, oldest below.
August/Sept 2024 – On receiving the 2nd warranty replacement heat pump…
And than Sept. 27th…the warranty replacement heat pump showed up. FedEx truck arrived, dropped it off in the yard, didn’t look too bad in direct sunlight, I signed, than later when the shadow made it easier to see, and I removed some packaging, found a huge dent under the cardboard and plastic wrap.
DRAT!
Took a few pics, sent them to AirXcel and they approved another new heat pump. AirXcel gave both the original year old heat pump AND the shipping damaged heat pump to me for salvage.
And I was running out of time. Cold, wet weather is fast approaching. This was Sept. 2nd and in 3 weeks it’s going to get miserable having to work outside getting the heat pump’s factory deficiencies repaired and the unit tested, than installed into it’s basement compartment.
The big problem was arranging for muscle to move these three heat pumps around. They weigh at 200-225 lbs.
Today is Oct. 3rd 2024, and yesterday I was finally able to fire up the heat pump and get air-conditioning. And this morning got heating from the finally installed heat pump. A project I’ve been working on for months now. The replaced heat pump had been installed less than a year when it failed in late May ’24.
I showed pictures of the shipping damaged heat pump delivered by FedEx above. Than around 3 weeks after receiving that damaged one, AirXcel delivered another one, again by FedEx, but without shipping damage this time…except it was obvious that somewhere either the pallet was dropped, or a fork from a forklift caught a cross member on the pallet, or something heavy was placed on top, or the truck had hit a swale in the the road that caused a compression event. Which caused the heat pump to push down on the pallet, breaking a cross piece. So it was on a 10° tilt on the pallet when it arrived. Made the shipping guy stand there while I peeled back the wrapping and inspected. Eventually determined that it was likely just the compression event and there was zero damage to the heat pump as far as I could determine. So I signed.
Then it sat there on the pallet while I tried to arrange for muscle to move it. Two weeks passed and finally had a couple guys hired and they moved it to the platform next to the RV and it’s basement compartment. Opened the top, replaced the oil type pillow block bushings with pillow block ball bearings, rerouted and dressed the poor wiring in the control section, and than tested it. And it tested within spec. Both compressors came on, all the currents measured within specs. Pretty happy about that. I also found that the factory worker who put the top on had stripped out 3 or more screw holes that hold the cover in place, grrr. So it rattles a little bit when either compressor switches on. But it seems it settled down as I haven’t heard it since the first time I turned it on.
So here it is installed. I won’t say much about the difficulty with installing this in the rack and frame of the RV but I will say that the tolerances were measured and this new heat pump is the same dimensions as the original, but it does take some finagling to get it in the compartment. The main problem is getting it squished up against the foam seal from the return air plastic vent that drops down from the bedframe. Getting it to go that last inch to under that lip is a bitch. Once it’s mostly under the lip, then have to quickly start ratcheting the bolts to raise the tray. Took over an hour to get it positioned just right and under the lip, and the tray lifted without damaging the frame of the heat pump by prying too much with a crow bar and a flat bar.
I now have 3X 200 lb Coleman Mach, AirXcel heat pumps. One installed, one damaged in shipment that I’m setting up to test, and one that has a failed compressor. The first two just a few weeks old, the one with the bad compressor started this entire saga back in late March of this year when the unlubricated pillow block bushing on the ODBM sized up, after almost a year of use. That caused a cascade of issues of burnt up relays, discolored motor wiring due to over current, and finally the #2 compressor either failed or was bad all along. Inside the house, it’s hard to tell if one or both compressors are running and the way the thermostat works is it only triggers #2 if there is a wide differential between set point and ambient. So it’s hard to know if it ever worked or not as I’d not really tested it for that.
It costs around $250 to ship these things so AirXcel was happy to let me keep them for salvage. I’m going to try to build one good one out of the two bad ones. And then try to arrange for them to be stored while I try to sell them, part them out and sell off the parts (could take years), or take them to the local dump. I really don’t have much room to store them. I’m anticipating that and have an idea or two that I’ll have to get permission from this RV park to do. Most of the ideas involve leaving the two pumps here over the winter, which brings it’s own set of problems due to wet weather. I hope to recoup some of the labor and time costs out of them or I’d have taken them to the dump already.
May 2024:
After arriving in Pahrump, the weather was mild enough that I spent a few days not needing the heat pump. Hoping that the problem I’d had down near Yuma was temporary or something I was or was not doing. But then it started getting warm in mid-day so I’d need cooling. And it worked okay for a couple days, then it just stopped cooling. Crawling under the RV, I found that ODFM wasn’t spinning. I could get it to start and run by spinning the squirrel cage fan and I did that for a few days. It usually worked.
But eventually, that wouldn’t start the fan spinning so decided to shut it down, not use it, and head north and cooler weather to work on it. As it turned out the RV park I was staying at was closing the row I was in anyway so I’d have to move, plus it was very near the end of my paid up space rental anyway. I arrived in Milton Freewater on May 9th and just relaxed for a couple weeks, then checked the authorized warranty repair shops listed by Airxcel…the nearest is 60 miles and another one is 100 miles away so I contacted a nearby RV dealer and they declined to do warranty work on the heat pump. Then I contacted a nearby mobile RV tech and he’s basically a flake…taking weeks to answer 1 phone message and ignoring 2 emails. So he’s out of the loop now.
Which means I’ll have to do the work myself. Contacted the Airxcel tech department and they tell me parts will be free in any case, and so far I’m hesitating reinstating my business license and registering my business name but perhaps just reinstating my EIN (IRS ID for tax purposes) will be enough for Airxcel to authorize my business as a warranty repair shop. I’ll have to check on that.
June 5th, 2024:
Like the last time I worked on this heat pump, since I know it needs to be pulled out and it’s getting hot here, I also bought two window ACs and installed them the same as last time: Miscellaneous Heating & Cooling…
This time I found a nearly new 12,000 BTU Toshiba AC that is listed at $499 new. The guy had it listed in a FB marketplace ad for 3 weeks first at $250, then when I spotted it, reduced to $200 and hadn’t had any nibbles. He accepted my $170 offer and I’ve now installed it, and another 6,000 BTU in the bedroom like before. The Toshiba fits in the LR window just fine. It’s well balanced and doesn’t need any outside support, even with the 1/4″ per foot slope to drain.
Have begun the work of pulling the heat pump. It’s in the 70’s here now so comfortable working temps, removed the RV’s rear bumper, the 90° duct elbow, dropped the tray in prep to pulling the unit…power CBs are off and the connecting cables are all long enough to allow the pump to sit on a 2-bucket, 12″ X 2″ X 4′ platform I’ve used during the past pump pulls (see pics below).
Had my son come over and help me pull the pump onto the platform, opened it up and found that the ODFM shaft bearing…an oil-able type, had seized up. Either the manufacturer or Airxcel had neglected to oil the batting that surrounds the brass bearing. This causes it to grossly overheat, which eventually, in my case, seize up, and eventually stalling the motor. This can damage the motor, the power relay in the control panel, and/or the wiring and connectors due to over current conditions. It also caused scoring on the motor shaft.
I won’t bore readers with pictures of prep’ing for removal of the heat pump as this article covers that process…2: Heat Pump
Here’s some shots of the new 46515-611 ready for and opened up for repair. I didn’t open the main section when installed last year despite my misgivings about the quality of the wiring because of not wanting to void the warranty but I probably should have done so and changed out the pillow block bearings then. Removal process was the same as last time. 
First thing was to clip the zip ties and move the wiring out of the way.
Here’s the rear end of the ODFM and I notice that there isn’t an oiler tube like with the older Coleman unit motors. I sure hope the bearings are ball-bearing. The motor start/run cap is attached to the case of the fan. I’ll move that so it’s more accessible later.
Here’s the IDFM that also has the brass pillow block bearing. I’ll change that one to ball-bearing too.
Again, no oiler tubes.
And here’s the pillow block bearing that seized up less than a year after purchasing this machine.
And here I’ve replaced that bad bearing with ball-bearing pillow blocks, Dayton 2X897. I harvested the two of these from my older Coleman before giving the heat pump to someone that wanted it for scrap.
The process is to remove the two screws holding the bearing, then the screw holding the bracket on one side, grabbing the two washers behind it, than just loosen the screw on the other side which allows the bracket to move down a bit to allow removal of the bearing. Remove the old pillow block bearing from the shaft, and in my case that overheated bearing had scored the shaft somewhat so had to tug on it a bit. Installed the new pillow block bearing. Reverse the process after installing a new ball-bearing pillow block. Than spun the fan by hand while tightening the screws in order to have a free-spinning fan with no binding. Takes some finesse to find the exact place. Fan should spin for a very long time after hand spinning once everything is aligned correctly and the screws tightened. In my case here, the original bearing wasn’t lubed either during manufacture or by Airxcel so it quickly dried out, started to overheat, eventually seizing up causing the fan motor to slow and eventually stall. That action scored (squalled?) a portion the extended motor shaft but I was able to dress it a little so I could get the new ball-bearing assy slipped onto the shaft and in place without much trouble or damage. No tools required. These Dayton ball-bearing bearings have Allen set screws so the damaged shaft won’t affect it. And here’s a shot of it after reinstall and tightening all screws. There’s plenty of room in there for a small 1/4″ ratchet with a Philips screw attachment. Room to get the bearing off too.
With the bearings replaced, it was time to move to a mod that I wanted to do and that was extending the wiring for the ODFM start/run capacitor that is inside the condenser section of the case (attached to the outside of the squirrel cage fan), which requires pulling the entire heat pump out of the basement compartment to change for regular maintenance, perhaps a few years down the road. Unlike all the other caps which are mounted in the accessible control board and wiring area.
What I’ve done is drill a hole in the baffle between the indoor and outdoor (condenser & evaporator) sections then inserted a rubber grommet wire protector. I then worked the two brown wires though that rubber so they’re inside the evaporator (the cooling coil area) than routing them via extensions over into the control area. Note the magnetic tray there to catch any metal from the drilling process. I chose that area because I could get my drill in there straight enough to make the hole without impinging on the condenser and because there wasn’t much room to try and drill a hole directly into the control area with possibly damaging something.
Those brown wires from the motor are high temp type 18 ga stranded and I’ll extend both with 16 ga so there’s not much voltage drop to the capacitor.
As it turned out, I was able to find 16 ga high temp, high voltage wire at Ace Hardware for just $0.85/ft, so bought a 4 foot length. Crimped on the connectors, added the heat shrink, and the extension wires are good to slip through the other grommet…
And here’s where I’ll bring the extension wires into the control area, through that rubber grommet.
And the wires will drop down to the re-positioned ODFM Start/run capacitor, there isn’t enough of the plumbers tape to reach the old mounting hole so I used a zip tie. I’ll put some thin cardboard between the cap body and those other two caps for insulation. The cover plate still has a half inch of space between the caps terminals and the cover’s metal with that cap in place.
And here’s the routing I took with those extension wires down to the motor cap. I used a cardboard insulator between the caps, and installed the original rubber topper to protect the terminals from shorts.
Here’s the ball-bearing replacement for the IDFM bearing, another Dayton that I saved from my old 6535 Coleman. Same procedure to remove/replace this bearing as with the ODFM.
And that’s what I’ve gotten done so far, I’ll soon re-test it, then button it up if it’s okay. I’m a bit worried about the operating temps of the Toshiba compressors as I tested the heat pump with the cover in place and an ambient air temp of 88 ℉ (31.1 ℃). After an hour of cool air from the supply vent, the black cases of the compressors were running Comp #2: 230 ℉ (110 ℃) and Comp #1: 189 ℉ (87.2 ℃) which is really high for the case and implies the compressors are low on Freon, which is used to cool those motors. The inside motor temps are supposed to be in the 80-85 ℉ range and never above 225 ℉ to avoid boiling the internal oil. I’ll have to check with Airxcel tech support about this.
April 2024 update…Out Door Fan Motor (ODFM) not spinning. And why I decided to buy a new heat pump…
Parked at Preferred RV in Pahrump, Nevada where the inside temps had increased to 84℉ before I noticed, while the heatpump was set for AC but I didn’t notice if it had run at all. Removed and substituted my backup thermostat with no change. Did notice the inside fan was running, but there was no cold air output from the venting. Noticed the faint odor of burnt motor coils in the area under the RV where the heatpump is in the basement compartment. Shut it off, and suffered the rest of the day in the heat. The next morning…
Checked the airflow from the outside fan and found no airflow. Crawled under the RV with the system off and tired to spin the squirrel cage fan with a long screw driver. Fan was not free spinning like I’d expect, sluggish, tight. Went back inside the RV and set it to cool then quickly returned to under the heatpump, by then the IDFM had started up and was spinning. But the outdoor fan was not turning. Spun it with the screw driver and it caught and ran up to speed. No squeal or rumble from the bearings. Faint odor had dissipated by that time. Sent this email to Airxcel service dept. via the ‘Contact‘ link on their website.
The company sent back this message about the LED error codes, incomplete, but I was able to find those codes in my documentation for the older model I replaced AND I found that on the back of the panel that covers the control area of the pump there’s a label that has a schematic of the electrical connections and a section showing the LED readings:
LED Pulse Codes for 1 GRN and 1 RED LED on control board. There is a 1 sec pause between blinks.
GRN: – – – – – – System Normal, 1sec on 1sec off
GRN: – – – – DOB timer running
GRN: — — — ID or OD freeze temp out of range
GRN: —- —- —- AC1 line voltage out of range
RED: ON solid if AC2 voltage is in range and stage 2 called for.
Have found their documentation page but the only document they offer for the 46515 is the installation guide. No Users Guide or Service Guide, so I’ve emailed them again about this (received PDFs of those guides from Airxcel later).
Anyway, it’s running for now but I may be requesting a replacement motor, and I’ll design an airflow monitor to install to prevent running the unit if there’s no ODFM or IDFM airflow. Perhaps.
It has been working okay since, starting up like it should and cooling, but this event portends a failure of the ODFM before too long. This is the same thing that happened with my old Mach unit before the ODFM finally died after 22 years. And after 4 years since I’d done maintenance on it, oiled the bearings on the motors, and replaced the lousy oil type pillow block bearings on the shafts of both motors. Why they’d use those in a machine that is unlikely to be removed and maintained unless something fails is beyond me. I replaced the pillow blocks with ball bearing types in my older machine and will do that to this new one too.
UPDATE: It’s going to be hot today, 29Apr24, so I climbed under the RV and spun the fan two full turns plus, than turned it on using the thermostat, ran out and spun the fan again, but this time it didn’t catch and start spinning so I’ll be baking today. It’s 72℉ outside and 86℉ inside even with a couple fans running. Grr.
After copying the numbers from the control board, I was able to find what appears to be a cross P/N for it that I may need in the future; 6535C320, the label is notched nearby the 320 and it could be a 320 9 but I’m not sure of that, however, one of the downloadable drawings a vendor provides DOES show number 6535C320 above a picture of the board. I put that drawing in my PCs 46515 folder, in Documents, shown at this site and downloadable or opens as a PDF: Source
Installing a new Coleman Mach heat pump, June 2023:
Based on the appearance of the inside of the heat pump when I opened it back in 2019, the previous owners hadn’t used the heat pump very much before I bought the rig in 2016. Fairly clean inside the case. There were some rust spots on the trailing edge where I suppose water lifted up by the rotating dual tires had eventually caused rust, and I used Eternabond tape to cover those big spots after treating them with rust preventative. Further inspection reveal the water was coming from melted ice on the condenser most likely. I had cleaned out the plugged duckbill drain years before so the rust was from the condensate water accumulation from that blockage.
Anyway, back in 2019 I’d done a lot of maintenance work and was able to get it running quite well again. Even removed the duckbill so the drain was open. It did have an annoying clatter noise from the outside fan as it started up but I couldn’t find what it was and eventually just let it ride. And for 7 years after that major maintenance work (cost less then $300), I only had a couple issues easily taken care of that I wrote up here on the blog. I’d used it full timing in very hot weather too so the thing would sometimes run almost 24/7, like when I stayed in Tucson.
But then in late April of 2023, suddenly, the AC just quit. Searching around, I found that the outside motor (condenser motor) had frozen up. Wasn’t until May that I was able to work on it. During the down time, I researched and debated different ideas on how to replace the heat pump with a newer more modern system. Like a mini-split. I eventually just determined that the best route for my situation was to buy a new Coleman Mach basement air system just like my old one.
I had tried to find just a replacement motor and it was $500, had no substitutes due to it’s odd 875/865 RPM dual speed design. I had tried to test the compressors but couldn’t determine if they would last much longer or not, and because the thing is so old, made in 2001 and here it’s 2023 (22 years old!), I felt that it was time to replace the entire unit. When I checked prices, wow, they’d tacked on a 48% increase since I checked it in 2019 as it was now $4000 (best price) when back then it was $2700. The actual inflation rate between those years was a paltry 16%. Sigh. Well, Hebron RV Parts had the best price with free shipping so I went with them, even with the excessive price.
I had pulled the old unit out from the basement and opened up the case and found a lot of compacted and loose dirt inside the outside fan & condenser area. Hmm. I guess using it full time the last 7 years did that, I had used it on the road while driving to cool the interior before I arrived at an RV park in the heat. I felt that all that grime and road oils may have contributed to the failure of the outside fan, but I wasn’t about to open the new Coleman to try to modify the design to give it more protection, didn’t want to void the warranty. The factory warranty is 2 years, and I plan on buying the extension of another 3 years.
Anyway, that’s the background, and here’s a few pictures and commentary of the installation of the new Coleman. Hebron used Old Dominion as the shipper and it arrived in a semi like this. In good condition, no shipping damage. Had it’s own wooden platform resting on top of another pallet.
The driver could only drop it onto my grass as there wasn’t a wide enough path on the cement. After unstrapping and uncovering, a couple neighborhood young guys lifted and carried it’s 275 pounds over to the work bench I’d made and set up right outside of the basement compartment it lives in. They’d also helped me move the old one out of the way nearby.
And this is the ratsnest of wiring the factory didn’t bother to dress. Really pisses me off to see a mess like this. It’s dangerous to the life of a machine to have it that messy. Terrible quality control. Or rather total lack of quality control. I’ll dress that wiring up later.
First thing I did was wire it up to AC and plug in the thermostat. Flipped on the switches and it started right up when the thermostat called for it without any odd noises or anything. Let it run for a couple hours to make sure that it’s okay. See that cardboard on the left? That was on the evaporator to protect it during shipping and I didn’t notice it for a while. If you get a new Coleman, be sure to remove that before install. It sucks air there so the suction can hold it in place blocking air flow so be sure to remove it.
This is the only damage I found on the unit itself. A smooshed palmprint area on the condenser. I have a comb so I straightened most of it.
Here’s where the 2 lines of 120 Vac come in. You can see where the circuit #2 wires are a bit too short. So I just swapped the two sets of wires routing #1 to #2 and then swapped the hots up at the CBs so the nomenclature would match. Now there’s little to no stress on the wires.
Another shot of the control wiring. What a mess. Terrible workmanship. And the worst thing? That bundle of wires right above that silver capacitor on the right side is traveling right on and next to and near the bare terminals on that capacitor. On a road traveling vibrating machine! A disaster waiting to happen. Another issue with the wiring is that there are several crimped connectors where the tech didn’t strip the wire correctly so the insulation isn’t crimped like it should be in the insulated part of the terminal. So bare wire is exposed at the end of the connector, which encourages corrosion to take hold or potentially a short condition (though less likely in this setup because of the wide spacing of the connectors). Poor workmanship.
A wider angle shot of the control panel wiring for future reference.
Getting to the actual installation, this is how the duct work attaches to the heat pump. I have to add some aluminum brackets to the output air hole in the side of the pump that holds this right angle piece of duct work. I just positioned it here to get an idea of how much room I had to juggle things around to make them fit.
_
And here’s a shot with that 90 degree bent duct work removed for a better view. BTW, that piece is special molded plastic custom made and designed just for this project and it would be hard to replace if yours is damaged so be careful with it. This picture shows the raw end of the venting that comes down inside the endcap that that custom 90 degree bend attaches too. I’d just finished repairing and taping up the raw end of that tube and this is the result. I used clear packing tape and when I finished I realized that that was a dumb move because I have an entire roll of Venture tape that I should have used as it’s resistant to heat and cold. Well, it’s mostly covered anyway so I hope that using packing tape won’t make any difference.
And here I’m using the old heat pump as a template to transfer the drilled holes in the case where the aluminum brackets attach, to the new heat pump. It pays to not toss things to early. I didn’t realize I’d need this as a template for a while.
A piece of cardboard aligned to where the duct tube would mount…
a few marks aligned to the screw holes…
And pilot holes were drilled into the Coleman, followed by self tapping machine screws taken from the old heat pump. I did eventually turn off power and remove those two armored cables for more work space. The zip ties tell me which goes to the #2 & #1 compressor terminals. 
And here using the 90 degree bend to adjust the position of the upper bracket. Once that’s installed, I’m ready to slide the pump into the basement hole. For those that haven’t removed their own heat pump yet, note that those brackets and the screws that hold this elbow are really difficult to get to if you don’t remove the rear bumper. I gave up and call it impossible. I suspect that at the factory, that bumper isn’t there when they install the heat pump so removing it makes sense.
Those two sheets of insulating foam just inside the compartment shown here go on top of the heat pump as it’s installed but before it’s cinched up to the top of it’s travel when the tray is raised. It would be impossible to get them in there after the tray is in position so make sure you get them in before raising the pump on that tray/rack.
And then I spent 1-2 hours trying to get the new heat pump all the way into the basement compartment. It just didn’t want to slide back against the return air molded plastic form that entirely covers the heat pump’s evaporator grill when it’s pushed back. That form has insulating foam tape all around the perimeter of the return air box (which is still in good condition) that is pressed up against the smooth side of the heat pump, makes a seal, and prevents outside air leakage into the return air system. I was trying to avoid using a pry bar where it might damage the condenser coils and fins or the case or the area around the control circuits so I was being extra careful. And took many breaks.
Eventually, I got the far end just started and in the right position, raised the tray with the big bolt a little so it would stay there under the lip shown below and then used a 1″x4″x3′ wooden stick to lever this near end back the final 1/2″. While holding it in place with the lever, I then grabbed my impact drill with one hand and quickly spun the 1/2″ bolt to lift the tray the pump sits on up higher. See that lip the pump is behind now? The pump has to be back behind it as shown here. That’s what it was so hard to get past, it was 1/2″ of trouble. The tray the pump sits on is lifted by two 1/2″ bolts, one bolt on either end accessed from below. So not easy to do it alone.
After I was able to get the heat pump in the correct position, then installed the 90 degree duct elbow pipe. Here’s what I did the last time with that vent as far as insulation to make a good seal. Instead of the poor open cell foam insulation that Winnebago used, I used the vinyl foam weather strip shown here. It held up well when I put it on in 2019 but had some damage and degradation that happens when pushed into place or removed so this time I put all new tape and put a 2nd row of tape right next to the first one, so I now have two rows of insulating tape all around the perimeter of the mouth of the elbow.
And here is the multiple rows of Venture tape I installed on the junction of the 90 degree duct with the duct work coming from the ceiling of the RV. I’d found a leak after my first install right at this junction and added a couple more layers to completely stop any air leakage. The leak didn’t show up for a couple days of operation so make sure you leave the back bumper off for several days to check if you do this replacement. So far the multiple wraps of Venture tape weather strip are working well as I don’t feel any leakage around that junction. I learned back in 2019 that the Venture tape does age out so that was one of my yearly checks…for any leaks in this outside section of duct work. I’m pretty sure that complaints about the Coleman not cooling or heating the RV enough is due to leaks here.
Here’s how it looks from under the RV looking up at the duct to pump junction. You can see the foam weatherstripping just peeking out of the seam. Making a good seal around the periphery.
And after it worked for a few days, it was time to dress this wiring. Of course, power was shut off and the thermostat control cable unplugged to remove 12 volt from the circuit board. What I did was find the best route for each wire and one at a time, unplug them, re-route them, then plug them back in. Preventing any issues from mis-wiring. This is the before picture.
This is just inexcusable for a $4,000 machine. Bad workmanship.
Here’s where all those wires contact the sharp edges of the terminals of the capacitor. A few months, perhaps years and there’s going to be a dead short there. Fire, smoke, flames perhaps. And a dead heat pump.
This was about as well as I could do with the dressing of the wiring. I’d have to open the case to do a better job. All the engineers would need to do to help matters is to move those two holes that pass wires into the condenser compartment on the right just above the caps up 1″! Then TRAIN the technicians to route the wiring better. And teach them that they can shorten wires that are too long so they need appropriate tools and supplies as well. The AFTER picture.
The loose blue and orange wires, in the lower space in the above picture, I disconnected from the old Coleman relays and I’ll use them to wire up those pigtails mentioned above. Right now they’re just hangin’, called flying leads.
Edit: Found the Winnebago wiring diagrams for the flying leads…
According to the correct drawing there for my Journey 36GD, the WHT/blk and ORN/blk wires downstairs inside the control section of the heat pump come from the load shedding circuit relay contacts and are wired in series with the power wire for the Compressor #2 relay coil.
So if the load shedding circuit senses that there isn’t enough power to run both compressors, it won’t allow the #2 compressor to run. In my RVs hallway is a control panel that has the thermostat, the tank level indicators, the genset hour meter and off/on start switch, and several other control switches. AND the load shedding device…Power Line EMS. That’s the device that controls #2 compressor relay. If I am plugged into a 50 amp 120V/120V power source, it just shows a green LED on for Comp#2, if I move to a 30 amp park, then that LED is off.
Here’s what a friend sent me about those flying leads in the thermostat cable:
“The Airxcel techs reply was:
“Rewire from old to new: Remove the compressor 2 blue wire from the PCB at the top, connect to the orange/black wire, then connect the white/black wire to the spot on the PCB that you removed the blue wire. The orange wire on the relay can be discarded.” ”
Continuing to dress the wiring better, I loosened the plumbers tape clamp on the caps and turned the far right capacitor CW a bit, re-dressed the wiring somewhat and that should work to prevent any of the wires going into the outside fan compartment from scraping on and shorting out to the cap terminals as none of those current carrying wires are touching the terminals like before.
And for reference, this is a shot of the wiring diagram from the backside of the control panel cover.
So that was the gist of it. The new heat pump is now installed, working correctly, and is working well. I still have some work to do with putting the bumper back on and buttoning up the basement compartment but that’s only an hours work. Right now I’m enjoying the cool air.
I will have to study the wiring diagrams for the heat pump and the thermostat to get the two pigtail wires connected but I’ll do that soon… done, see above. Pretty sure those wires are used when the RV is parked at a 20-30 amp only shore power situation. I’m at a park with 50 amp so it’s okay for now. Like they keep the 2nd compressor from operating without 50 amp but allow it to run otherwise. Controlled by the load center.