WE have a Saphir AC. Now 2 years old. when we first got it, it was great. Now absolute rubbish its forgotten its an AC and supposed to cool, it just blows medico air.
It was still under its 2 year warranty when I contacted Truma, they said had to take it to an authorized dealer here in Adelaide. The dealer kept it for 2 days "checked it over" and said could find no fault, it's working ok.
Next trip away it was no better, still no real cooling. I have my doubt anything was done, dodgy mob, I can't mention their name because of legalities, A . Now it's out of warranty and need I to find someone here to check it over again.
Soon as I mention it's in a Caravan no one wants to know about it.
It's in a Coromal 604 (25' pop top) the Saphir is under the bed, 3 ducts one each end of the van and one in the center all head height. It drops the temp on hot days (30+) down by about 4 degrees that's it, no better even in shade.
As I said when I first installed it it was great. Very disappointing $2,000 we would expect better. Seems no one cares, once sold to bad, back up service from Truma and A poor.
PS if any one in Adelaide know of a "decent" AC mechanic would be great to hear from you, help please. 0404 964 958 don't know if I'm allowed to put number up but I'm desperate.
I had the same aircon in my van, ran it a couple of years before I moved the van on and didn't experience any loss in performance, just became a bit more noisy!
I assume you've checked the obvious things first?
1. Check all the vents are unobstructed. The unit sucks in returned room air at the blue grille on it's front. There needs to be a corresponding size of vent in the side of your bed box and no obstruction between this and the aircon (clothes, boxes etc.) to allow a good return air path. There's also two square vents through the floor of the van under the unit for the exhaust air intake and outlet. These also need to be unobstructed for it to be able to exhaust the hot air.
2. Check the return air filters are clean and unblocked. On the front of the unit there is both a gauze grille and behind it a paper concertina type filter that need to be regularly cleaned/replaced for the unit to work effectively.
3. There is a temperature sensor attached to that same grille with a clip which controls the cooling function by sensing the temperature of the return air, so check that hasn't been dislodged.
4. These units are primarily designed for Europe, who don't have our nice red dust, so there's no filters over the exhaust air vents mentioned above in No 1. So, after a while the internal heat exchanger can get clogged with debris - dust, insects, grass etc. and so become less efficient at ejecting the heat. You can remove the unit and access the internal heat exchanger from underneath to give it a good clean to see if this helps. Also worth cleaning out the two ridiculously small water drains at the same time, although I don't think these blocking will affect the cooling performance - just leave you with a puddle inside the van! As a preventative measure to stop the heat exchanger getting dirty I also fashioned some filters from aquarium filter wool and put them in the holes through the floor.
Otherwise, it may just need re-gassing like any air conditioner, but I'm sorry I've never needed to do this so don't know if it's an easy task or not.
Filter for re-circulated room air, and black temp probe in middle...
Inside heat exchanger fins after cleaning, and tiny water drain to its left...
My home made filter out of aquarium filter wool...
-- Edited by Mamil on Sunday 24th of January 2021 03:34:40 PM
