How To Tighten Your RV Roof Air Conditioner

Above, The Beast at the Keene Ranch near Tehachapi before the rain squall. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last year, I spent a few days camping at the North Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park. It rained about half the time I was there, but I was dry inside the comforts of The Beast.

About a week or so later, I attended my first Clampout (on the Keene Ranch near Tehachapi) since 2007 and we had a small and brief rain squall come through. During this, some drips were coming down onto the dinette seat from the roof air conditioner. Oh, God! A roof leak?!

After getting back home, I checked on the iRV2 Forum about this and was advised that the roof air conditioning unit probably came a little loose and told me how to remedy the problem.

So, I followed their directions and tightened up the bolts inside the RV and, sure enough, it solved the problem. No more leaks.

The good folks at RV Life posted an article on how to tighten your roof air conditioner.

It begins with:

Rattling down the highway does more than jar an old man’s dentures. Your RV suffers too. One way those bumps and jolts can manifest themselves is in what appears to be a roof leak. But wait! Don’t think your roof is leaking from something ‘upstairs’. It may be something that you need to fix from downstairs. 

One area not often thought about: the RV air conditioner. Sitting up there on the roof, all by its little lonesome, the A/C unit is subject to vibration and rattle like everything else. And buried under the “inside cover” are bolts that hold all that machinery tight on the roof. Those bolts, sadly enough, can get shaken (not stirred) by rough roads and vibration from running. In time they can loosen, and may first make you aware of the situation by allowing the passage of precipitation from the roof to fall into your rig. Not a happy way to spend your summer afternoon!

To read more, go here.