Leaky Starcool

mmocken

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2007
Posts
308
Location
Chicagoland
Has anyone else had the Starcool leak water on the inside of the SMB?

I assume I'll have to open up the unit or crawl underneath to unplug a drain pan.
 
i pulled out the front board covering the return line today. The 1/2 inch board was soaked and swelled to about 1.5" thick...it was also very musty as the prevous owner had a few leaks too.

I cleaned the foam filter(very dirty), but could not clean out the drain hose as I ran out of time. The hose runs about 16" horizontal and likey is when the clog is. It appears the drain pan is overflowing when full. My plan is to pull off the hose, fix and build another board. The boards look like laminated shelving, so I'm off to menards to see if the are alike.

I also notice quite a lot of open space in there for non essential items. I may make the replacement panel with a hinge on it and leave the bottom 2" open for air intake instead of the easy to damage steel vent cover.
 
I figured out the source of my leak. The drain hose is leaking at the nipple on the bottom of the expansion coil box. I'll add a hose clamp and hopefully be done with this issue.
 
A late update, this thing still does not drain. I place a diaper underneath (yes...) and it ensures no water leakage.

When I get a chance, I'll put some compressed air through the drain line and see if the helps
 
It's gotta be a crack or something in the evaporator. Mine drains to the outside and the other day when it was humid, I couldn't believe the lake of water under the van.
 
Hoping to get help on the same issue.
I have a 95 ford eb smb that I just got make in April (thanks again folks for the help assessing it)
So far we've only been out in the NW and only for shorter trips so not in need of much AC. But now we're on a big 8 week cross country trip and have been using it a lot mainly for the dogs.

It seems that it's been leaking for days and soaked near half the carpet in the van. We keep little mats down so didn't notice sooner.
The evaporator is packed tight in a cabinet so I can't see around or under it, but i did climb under the van and can not find any sort of drain.
Is there any chance that it was installed with out one?
 
Ok dismantled the front of the cabinet to see the sides and sure enough there is a drain tube,
I still cant't find where is exits the van.
The tube is pretty inaccessible unless I take out the whole unit, and I'm not skilled in AC dismantling. (there are some brass tubing connection that I assume are coolant that i don't want to mess with)
Would any RV repair place be able to help here?
Or should I contact SMB?
 
Maybe it's just plugged. I'd call them to ask where it's routed to and ask how to clear it if nobody here has done it. Mine seems to come out almost right under the unit but that can change from vehicle to vehicle. A small piece of coated cable might be able to be pushed through the tube if you can get to it.
 

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