RE: RV 500
Well got installed today and to be honest it was idiot proof on the install, it takes a bit to get use to on the mixin of cold and hot water, but works just like id expected!!!!
It didn't happen without pictures! ;)
RE: Rain Gutters
McAfee is also one of the worst AVs out there. Both my AV (AVAST!) and Web of Trust (WOT) show the site as dangerous. It's possible it started out as a safe site and was later infected with malware.
RE: Anyone installed a product called "Cheapheat" ?
Hi Lady Fitz,
So, why doesn't cheapheat provide one then?
all that is needed for a "fail safe" is a two stage thermostat.
Both for the same reason residential heating and cooling systems don't provide a thermost (too many possible combinations) and low demand. A Cheap heat could be installed in an RV with heat only or with heat and an AC from one of two (or possibly more) different manufacturers. Later model Dometic AC/HPs use a thermostat that is not compatible with other brands of AC/HPs. Not everyone needs a "fail safe", defintely not enough to justify the expense of adding on to the Cheap Heat. Nor does everyone camp in sub-zero weather, let alone the extremes you camp in (darned few in fact).
Cheap Heat will save money in the long haul IF one stays at a campsite only a few nights at a time and, thus, do not have their electricity metered. That probably covers far more campers than those who will stay in one place long enough to have their electricty metered.
The convenience factor has already been beat to death and if you haven't gotten it by now, you never will.
I have yet to see anyone, either here or on other RV forums, who actually has Cheap Heat installed complain about it. In fact, they all speak of it in glowing terms (pardon the bad pun). If you and nitrohorse don't want it, whether it's because it doesn't meet your needs, it's out of your budget, you prefer a cheap "redneck solution", or whatever, then don't buy it; no one is forcing you to. But please stop denigrating a product you know little to nothing about, especially in a post where the OP asked specifically, "Has anyone installed an electric heat conversion kit called Cheapheat and if so your comments?"
RE: RV 500
I've seen a post from only one person who had problems with the RV 500. He bought used from a mobile repairman who claimed it cam e from a rig owned by an old woman who was scared everytime it came on. Need say more on that one?
Don't confuse this unit with the Girard which a lot of people have had trouble with.
RE: Anyone installed a product called "Cheapheat" ?
I don't understand you keep saying that the 30 amp Cheap Heat Systems will not work in anybody's camper, when you don't and sounds like you will never install one. I would let everybody know that you can contact Mr Larry with Cheap Heat and ask him any Questions about his heating systems. You can read about it at rvcomfortsystems.com.
I will say it again that this system is not for everybody but if I was working out of my camper I would make arrangements to pay to have a 30 amp electrical connection. Weather it's at a family or friends house. That's just me. I think that if Mr Larry offers two Cheap Heat systems for a 30 amp camper hook up they will take care of your heating needs. Now if you would of said that you purchased a unit from Cheap Heat and tested it in your back yard then I may take your word for what it is. Please have a great day!!!!
Paw Paw John, I've had this discussion with Pianotuna before and it's a waste of time. He is hung up over the cheap issue and either can't understand it or just doesn't want to. That's why I haven't bothered to respond to his posts in this thread. For example, I've already told him all that is needed for a "fail safe" is a two stage thermostat.
RE: Anyone installed a product called "Cheapheat" ?
Cheap Heat is also ideal for full timers who stay parked in one place for months at a time and/or getting propane is inconvenient or impossible.
Doesn't staying in one place for months at a time negate the idea of "FREE" electricity to off set the cost of propane? Any RV park I've been in charges you a metered amount of electricity if you stay a month or more.
You missed the point. If propane is unavailable or inconvenient to get where one is parked, the cost of the electricity over propane is irrelevent.
RE: Anyone installed a product called "Cheapheat" ?
I hate seeing threads like this because they usually get full of people posting opinions based on inadequate or downright wrong information. Although Cheap Heat’s main marketing point is lower heating costs under certain conditions, that is not the only advantage to Cheap Heat. After paying tens to hundreds of thousands for an RV, not everyone wants to have portable heaters cluttering up their RVs or getting in the way. Cheap Heat works through the existing thermostat making operation automatic. Cheap Heat is also ideal for full timers who stay parked in one place for months at a time and/or getting propane is inconvenient or impossible.
For those worried about Atwood, etc. not honoring warranties on furnaces with Cheap Heat installed on them, to Cheap Heat's website and read the Warranty News Release linked at the bottom of the page. For those who can't be bothered to do so, here is what it says:
Warranty News Release
We are receiving some requests for clarification concerning Cheapheat™ system certifications. The Cheapheat™ product is UL Certified in accordance with ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards. Upon receiving a UL system certification, we submitted to RVIA (Recreation Vehicle Industry Association) for Compliance and have received documentation confirming our RVIA compliance.
Additionally, there have been some questions regarding what effect the addition of the Cheapheat™ system may have to the furnace warranty. From the beginning, RV Comfort Systems has been committed to providing a “Do No Harm” product. In the spirit of that commitment, we will provide not only a 1-year new equipment warranty on our product, but also a warranty for the FURNACE as follows:
OEM Coach Manufacturers
For 2 years RV Comfort Systems will reimburse the OEM coach manufacturer for the cost of any failed part not covered by the furnace manufacture to which the Cheapheat™ System is attached.
After Market installation
For 1 year RV Comfort Systems will reimburse the installing Dealer for the cost of any failed part in the furnace caused by the addition of the Cheapheat™ System.
Lastly it should be made clear that the based in the 1974 Magnusson-Moss Act –Public Law 93-637 Section 2302 Paragraph (C) “Rules governing contents of warranties”. In Summary-It is illegal for a primary product manufacture to void the warranty when a 3rd party product is attached to a primary product. For exact wording please refer to Public Law 93-637.
Respectfully
Larry McGaugh
RV Comfort System
PO Box 1554
Bothell, WA 98041
Ph# 1-425-408-3140
Fax# 1-800-453-8961
www.rvcomfortsystems.com
larry@rvcomfortsystems.com
RE: On Line Backup?
I've used Carbonite for several years and have been happy with it. I researched Backblaze a while back and it didn't measure up to Carbonite. Crashplan has had troubles with their servers being overloaded, resulting in impossibly slow upload speeds (go to their forums to see what is going on). Mozy no longer offers unlimited storage for a flat fee.
As far as cloud backup being unreliable goes, that is true of the free cloud storage sites. Those often disappear with little or no warning. Also, unless you encrypt your files yourself, they are subject to being hacked into. I do use Amazon's Cloud Drive to temporarily back up photos when I'm on the road (in addition to backing them up on a 2.5" HDD, my notebook, and a 32 GB camera card I keep in my purse) but I would never use it long term.
Carbonite has had a reasonably good track record for several years. Your files are uploaded already encryted automatically without any perceptable slowing of your computer. You can also access your data from another computer (I find that handy when on the road). At a bit under $5/month, it's a bargain. The only two downsides of Carbonite is data recovery is slow and your computer has to be on long enough for your data to upload. If you are on the computer for only short periods, tere may not be enough time to upload your data.
All media will eventually fail, be it CDs, DVDs, hard drives, or the cloud which is why redundancy is vital. A bare minimum backup plan should include a local backup, such as on a hard drive, and one offsite. Carbonite will serve as an offsite backup but should not be relied on solely (although that would still be better than nothing).
I personally have three HDDs to use for backups for each HHD in use. Two of those HDDs stay at home and the third is kept in a safe deposit box at my credit union (the credit union HDDs gets swapped out with one of the other HDDs at least once a month). I also use Carbonite on my desktop computer (I don't keep any critical data on the notebook I use when I travel or when the desktop is down). That way, if I lose my computers and local backups to fire, theft, or whatever, I can quickly recover the bulk of my data from the HDDs at the credit union and the data that was added or changed since those backups were made can be recovered from Carbonite within much less time than recovering all of the data would take.
It seems anal but much of my data is irreplaceable and it would be time consuming and expensive to replace the rest.
RE: Favorite non alcoholic drink with a meal
I don't like coffee and can't have caffeine or sugar. That really limits my choices. At home, I mostly drink water and have a couple of cans of Caffeine Free Diet Coke a day. When eating out, it's almost always water although I occasionally will get club soda. On a trip, it's, again, mostly water but I also carry a supply of the Caffeine Free Diet Coke and a small cooler to chill them and bottles of water.
RE: Upgrade from MS Office 2003 to version 2010 or 2013, or not?
I am in the process of switching from 2003 to 2010 Plus MS Office Suite. Just received the 2010 the other day and haven't installed it yet. Was running the 2003 on an XP desktop and will put the 2010 on my new Windows 8 desktop. Not really a choice, as when I tried to load the 2003 to the new computer, got the message I had exceeded the times I could install that copy. Wasn't aware they had a limit as to the number of installs allowed.
I always thought you were only limited to three installs at one time with 2010 and earlier. However, I just found out that with Office 2010, you are limited to one install on a desktop and one additional install on a portable device on which the user is the same as the user on the desktop. In other words, you can install one copy on your desktop and on your laptop but you can't install a copy on your desktop and use the same license to install a copy on your spouse's laptop.
From what I've seen and read about Office 2013, you couldn't give it to me.
Btw, Office 2003 will reach its end of life on 04/08/2014, same as XP. M$ wil not issue any more security dates starting then which could leave your computer vulnerable to attacks. Office 2017 is good to 2017 and 2010 is good until 2020. Office 2007 is good only to 2017 while Office 2010 is good to 2020. Now would be a good time to upgrade to 2010 while copies are still available.
Minor correction. End of life has a different meaning to the consumer than it does to MS. Office 2003 will reach it's end of support for MS support on 04/08/2014. Your office 2003 software should still work after MS stops supporting it.
That's essentially what I said. Once M$ stops supporting it, there will be no more security updates so when more new security holes are found, they will remain unfixed, leaving one's computer unprotected. Sure, it will keep working but is it worth the risk?
Btw, I had some bad information about the number of installations on a license of Office 2010. What I said about single user licenses still stands but most retail copies are actually 3 user family packs, even if the package doesn't make that clear. If one's copy of Office 2010 has a SKU of 79G-02144, it is the three user family pack. It took me some serious digging to clarify that. You won't find that info on the M$ site.
Many vendors (such as Frys Electronics; they are down to store stock only) are starting to run out of Microsoft Office 2010 so if you want a copy, now is the time.
RE: Upgrade from MS Office 2003 to version 2010 or 2013, or not?
I am in the process of switching from 2003 to 2010 Plus MS Office Suite. Just received the 2010 the other day and haven't installed it yet. Was running the 2003 on an XP desktop and will put the 2010 on my new Windows 8 desktop. Not really a choice, as when I tried to load the 2003 to the new computer, got the message I had exceeded the times I could install that copy. Wasn't aware they had a limit as to the number of installs allowed.
I always thought you were only limited to three installs at one time with 2010 and earlier. However, I just found out that with Office 2010, you are limited to one install on a desktop and one additional install on a portable device on which the user is the same as the user on the desktop. In other words, you can install one copy on your desktop and on your laptop but you can't install a copy on your desktop and use the same license to install a copy on your spouse's laptop.
From what I've seen and read about Office 2013, you couldn't give it to me.
Btw, Office 2003 will reach its end of life on 04/08/2014, same as XP. M$ wil not issue any more security dates starting then which could leave your computer vulnerable to attacks. Office 2017 is good to 2017 and 2010 is good until 2020. Office 2007 is good only to 2017 while Office 2010 is good to 2020. Now would be a good time to upgrade to 2010 while copies are still available.
RE: Upgrade from MS Office 2003 to version 2010 or 2013, or not?
One of the things NOT mentioned here is the newer versions of office saves its documents in DOCX extender opposed to older versions of Office (lets use Word again) that saves in DOC extender. What does that mean? Newer versions of Word, excel, access, PPT can read backward compatible but older versions of Word, etc cannot read newer versions. Its something to think about especially since the default save for all newer versions of Office is "X" extender or a compression form that earlier versions cannot understand. If I send you a document your version will not understand it or open it however, if it is reversed I can read yours.
Office 2007 and 2010 have the option to save docs in an earlier format (such as .doc instead of .docx). Some of the newer features won't be available when doing so, though. I ran into the compatibility issue with 2003 when I made docs that used Enhanced Metafiles in word docs; earlier versions of Word could read them. I got around the problem by converting my docs to PDFs since they were for read and print only.
RE: Tankless water heater
The only possible benefit I could see to adding a tankless water heater inline with a tank type water heater would be to reduce propane consumption by allowing the tank type water heater to run on electric only. Obviously, a tankless water heater will use more propane than a tank type water heater running on electricity only. I doubt you would save any money with an inline setup like you proposed but it could save trips to get more propane which could be significant if propane is hard to get where you are parked. Tankless water heaters don't use all that much propane; a little less than a tank type so, unless you remained parked in one place for weeks or months at a time, it may not be worth the effort since a tankless water heater will provide all the hot water you want when you are on hookups.
If you do get a tankless water heater, get one approved for RVs and stay away from the Girard's for now until time proves they have fixed the problems they have been having.
RE: Destination & Park models ???
My mobile home, a '74 Sahahra, has a 50A panel inside and is plugged into one of the 50A receptacales on the lot's pedestal. The AC is plugged into the other 50A pedestal outlet. I once had a'60 something Shult that had the same arrangement. 50A is the largest receptacale I've ever seen in a mobile home court.
RE: How to save a diabetic traveler - out of cash
I worked 5 1/2 years in a convenience store and I've heard every line and seen every scam. I normally tell panhandlers to bugger off but I like the idea of calling 911 "to get them help." Besides shutting down the crooks, it could get help for people legitamately in trouble. I'll have to try that the next time.
RE: Destination & Park models ???
Not to mention Mobile Home use 70-100 amp service....
Actually it's either a 100A or 200A service. A 100A service has two 50A outlets: one for the home and the other for the AC. A 200A service is hardwired into the home and the AC is fed from the home's main panel.
my neighbor has a 70 amp main breaker...'
The main breaker on the MH may be 70A but the standard amperage for pedestals is either 100A or 200A (breakers can be changed out).
RE: Destination & Park models ???
Not to mention Mobile Home use 70-100 amp service....
Actually it's either a 100A or 200A service. A 100A service has two 50A outlets: one for the home and the other for the AC. A 200A service is hardwired into the home and the AC is fed from the home's main panel.
