The Heat is On


We've officially made it to summer and it seems that the weather now agrees.  Yesterday we got up to 96.  Not nearly as hot as Terlingua (which has been around 112+) but suddenly warmer than it has been.  
Yesterday while eating lunch I heard the familiar sound of water being released onto the carpet.  I nearly hollered at Henry, ready to chastise him for peeing in the RV (especially after having just been out) when I noticed that no dog was where the water was and Henry was sleeping happily on the couch.  Instead, water was leaking from the rooftop air conditioner.  It quickly slowed to a drip, but it was still dripping often.  So, a pot went under the leak and I went online.  I find it an interesting comment on today's society that, with a book on owning an RV that I just bought, sitting 5 feet from me, the first thing I did was go to the internet.  The second was the book.  
Everything I found (both online and in the book) said that it was, in all likelihood) either a plugged drain pan or dirty coils.  So, up on the roof I went.  I took off the plastic shroud and found alot of dirt, but not much that looked plugged.  I did find a scary yellow warning label telling me to disconnect the air conditioner from the power source before servicing.  Nothing I read said that was necessary and I realized that I had no idea HOW or WHERE to disconnect it from the power source.  (I did turn it off before going up top, though.  I'm blonde, but not THAT blonde.)
So, I did what all good girls would do; I called my dad.  He said that I would turn it off at the breaker.  I suppose, now that I think of it, I could just have unplugged the RV.  Wow, that would have been simple.  OK, so maybe I AM that blonde.  
I didn't turn off the power.  Probably not the smartest thing, but I was hoping that the book would have told me to, if it was necessary. 

The book and online help said that I needed to remove a cover from the coils.  I did this, but there was a layer of insulation that had been glued to the metal cover that was now stuck to the housing.  I was a bit leary of removing it for fear of tearing.  But, I got it off without incident.  After that I cleaned up what spooge I found and dusted the fins a bit.  (I couldn't find "coils" per se and I need to learn if the coils are not really exposed and everyone really meant fins or what.) 

I buttoned it all back up, handed the tools down to Dave (who would have helped, but we were concerned about how much weight the roof could hold and I'm still a bit lighter than he is) and down I climbed.  We turned the air back on and the leaking seems to have stopped.  (Fingers crossed!)  We'll see how it goes now.  Today is supposed to be cool, so I may not even turn the air on.