Swamp cooler leak August 04, 2019, 03:45:40 am Harvey the RV (22' 1989 RB) has a built in swamp cooler that needed some repairs. There were two main problems:1.) Inside the unit there is a small electric pump to circulate water. It was obviously the original pump and was completely rusted and inoperative. I replaced it with a small submersible 12v pump from Amazon. I was able to use the same wires and was able to use the output hose by crafting a step down with a short piece of intermediate plastic tubing. 2.) the clear water supply line has a leak inside the wall of the closet. This is the same type of 1/4" line used for an ice maker. In Harvey, the line starts under the sink where there is a tiny petcock. The line runs down, under the floor and up into where the water heater is, then up through the inside of the wall in the closet. Then it goes into the ceiling and over to the swamp cooler. The guy I bought it from showed me that it would drip water down by the water heater. I was planning to run a whole new line, but was concerned about drilling a hole in the roof! So today I realized that the leak must be in the side of the closet... Because there is no water stain on the ceiling. I carefully pried the interior side panel off and found the cause. There was a staple through the hose! It looks like a rusty snake bite! I suspect this was from a different repair and not the factory. Tomorrow I will cut out the damage and splice the line back together.
Re: Swamp cooler leak Reply #1 – August 04, 2019, 04:14:55 pm "I carefully pried the interior side panel off and found the cause."That takes quite a bit of Intestinal Fortitude to undertake investigations and repairs such as that! Something a lot of folks do not have, including me.
Re: Swamp cooler leak Reply #2 – August 05, 2019, 11:08:05 am I used to own a 1986 Lance camper with a swamp cooler. It didn't run when I bought it, so I fixed it and got it working. As soon as we used it on a trip, we realized that inside the material used for absorbing and evaporating the water, mold had grown and the smell blown into the camper was atrocious. When we got home I removed the swamp cooler and installed a Fantastic Fan. It worked as well as the swamp cooler, moved the warm air out of the top of the camper, created a breeze, and didn't stink.Harold
Re: Swamp cooler leak Reply #3 – August 05, 2019, 11:30:02 am Hi Harold; I installed a swamp cooler (Recair) in my previous motorhome. I added a quick disconnect on the tank, matched to a QD drainline, so I could empty the water out into the sink. Otherwise it would splash water all over the 'house' when driving. It worked well in the dry air in Julian and deserts. You could run out the water by turning off the valve, and spray some bleach into it (While running it after getting home). I later added a 2.6kw generator, and a hole in the roof with air conditioner next to the swamp cooler. I didn't know that Lazy Daze existed back then. Years later, talking to Ed in the 'showroom' in hot Montclair, I was impressed that he had done many things to his motorhomes, that I had done to my motorhome separately. Things that only someone who had camped in a motorhome would know about. I'm still amazed that most motorhome sales people (probably 'moved on' used car sales persons) really don't know the details about this camping style. But often they are selling to buyers who don't know better either. RonB 2 Likes
Re: Swamp cooler leak Reply #4 – August 05, 2019, 11:34:31 am Ron, I wish I had known you back then!Harold
Re: Swamp cooler leak Reply #5 – August 05, 2019, 02:40:26 pm Here are the results. I was able to splice a new line into the old line at the ceiling and ran the new line all the way under the floor back to the petcock under the sink. I cleaned the inside of the swamp cooler, and tested it all. No leaks! Whoop! The hardest part was getting the shelf installed back in the closet. 1 Likes
Re: Swamp cooler leak Reply #6 – August 05, 2019, 06:32:24 pm I just read that you had it back together but if you feel like it, cut a hole at the union and put a 4 square blank cover over the hole. Access to stuff is always nice and they make plastic covers that would match fairly close.Jon
Re: Swamp cooler leak Reply #7 – August 06, 2019, 11:00:30 am I did a complete repair to the swamp cooler on my '93 6 years ago. I didn't have a leak in the main line from the petcock, but the entire interior was shot: pump, hoses, absorbent matting, etc.It worked great up until about last year. I'm 99% sure it's just the little DC motor pump going out again (as OP noted, they become completely corroded), so I ordered a new one from AMZ. One of these days I'll get back up there and fix it yet again.As far as replacing standard accessories with after-market eg swamp cooler for fantastic fan, I've got a real issue with changing out anything from stock. IMO, there's this awkward period where anything goes from new to old to vintage. Having a new(ish) purchase can give you years of making modifications for your own purposes.Vintage is a nice way of saying "really old", but given the right item, value can begin to climb again given certain factors. I think one of those is factory stock, but that's just my hangup.
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Topic: Swamp cooler leak (Read 244 times)
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