| |
Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
|
 |
RE: Surviving the cold without heat and without winterizing
Having been on the road with real world experiance with short and long term (1week) experiance with cold weather precautions (25 years) and the result of various attempts to keep pipes from bursting. Notice I did not say from freezing. Many posters have indicated and correctly so in my opinion that night temps that drop to 25 or so then rise during the day ahve little effect of damaging water lines that only have water in them. We have on one occasion had to abandone our motor home so quickly that witerinzing for short term exposure as we regularly do was impossible. Night time temps did in fact drop to 25 or so and rose to above freezing during the day for that week were we gone. When we returned from the 5 day absence, the water lines were in fact unable to past free flowing water. I now Know that the lines had developed a slush in them that prevented the water from flowing freely thru the faucet, but ovenight warming did result in restoring free flow of water. As far as short term exposure (overnight) while we are on the road, I can share our experiances as they are many and my practice has distilled down to this. Overnight, without hookups but using the propane heater/furnace either from battery source or generator, ( we have both ) the following is what I have developed we no freezing or slush problem in the morning. The grey water tank is hooked up for discharge to an always carry blue tank so that no material is held in the onboard tank. Then just befor bedtime we back fill the water lines via the kitchen sink's faucet with a solution of 3 to one RV anti freeze/water mix. I do this by hooking up a hose connection to the kitchen faucet's threaded connection and using a plastic squeeze bottle squeezing the bottle to discharge the mix into the pipes till it discharges from the farthes sink faucet which for us is the bathroom. Once pinckish solution discharges from that faucet then I procced to the other side purging both the hot and cold water line effectively to a temp of 10 degrees with that mix. We do have to remember to isolate the water heater from the circut (water heater by-pass) which is already in place as the winterizing option allows us to prevent using RV mix in the water heater's tank. I've used this technique many times including 15 degree overnight with free flowing water in the morning. The Colorado writer's concern should mirror my experiance with 1 week non use with water in the tanks and lines to put his/her mind at ease.
|
chainegang
|
05/03/13 10:40am |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: furnace help?
What about the auto-light feature. Is it part of the switch or is that the term that the previoue owner used. If that is the case then I understand the term. The furnace needs nothing for the operater to do because the sensors do it all. First the fan comes on then if the speed of the fan is at an actcaptable level thru the sail switch, the gas valve will open to allow ignition which at that time you will hear the roar of the burner firing up. Is that what we a re talking about????
|
chainegang
|
04/28/13 09:52am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: furnace help?
By the way....when you are not using your motorhome, move that filed off thermostat switch back to the OFF position. Leavind it ON will in time, drain your house battery. It draws a small electric current in order to sense the call for heat. Current is also drawn when the fan switch separate from the thermostat, to operate the overhead unit, if it's still in the motorhome, also draws current for the same separate reason. Everthing should be in the positive OFF mode when the unit is not in use.
|
chainegang
|
04/28/13 09:10am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: furnace help?
From yor picture I see that you do have the OEM setup. The thermostat is original but I'm still confused as to your comment that the auto-light switch is on. There is no auto light selector on the thermostat. As to the heater switch, the other poster is correct in that it is the water heater. Your system is "engine" heats the water while on the road. their is no selector for that option. It will always do that. The "electric" heats the water when connected to a power source and the "heater switch" fires up the water heater's propane option. Leave the "heater switck OFF and only ON when you want the propane heating option such as when boondocking etc.
|
chainegang
|
04/28/13 08:08am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: furnace help?
If the thermostat is on auto light then the switch at the base of the thermostat is in fact set to operate or ON. But the most likely issue based on what little has been said so far, leads me to believe that the internal portion of the thermostat is the culprit. There is a very very fine wire wire that a slide adjusment moves thru it's length that sets the interval for temperature difference that activates the call for heat. This determines when the furnace will reactivate afetr shutdown to provide heat which is usually some small variation below what the thermostat is set at. All this being said, IF that fine wire is broken then the furnace WILL NOT RUN. If it is broken the slide can be moved all the way to the high end and the furnace will run but never shut off. This would only be a test to confirm the problem. A new thermostat would be the solution as that problem is not repairable. Thermostats replacement is a very inexpensive item unless there has been an aftermarket substitute installed by previous owner but the original was very basic. What puzzels me the the auto light feature. That dosen't seem to be an original OEM feature.
|
chainegang
|
04/28/13 05:28am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: curtain tracks
Check out this site...Curtain Hardware
|
chainegang
|
04/25/13 05:21am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: What is this?
Ahhh... If you were a hiker you'd no right away what this is. It's a mini pump that friction fits over a nipple on a fuel tank to pump air pressure ( like a hand operated tire pump )into the tank to encourage the fuel to begin bleeding out the tank to the burner of a backpackers cooking stove. It's usually needed during colder conditions or high altitude locations.
|
chainegang
|
02/06/13 05:05am |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: condensation under mattress
A little late responding but this shoud do it. MATTRESS UNDERLAYMENT
|
chainegang
|
12/28/12 03:43pm |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Furnace keeps shuting off.
My two cents worth....If the cover were "off all night" and the furnace ran fine all night going thru many cycles, but with the cover on the problem recreates itself, then faulty switches should not be the first suspect. IMHO the cover MAY be in close contact with wiring and has chaffed the wiring just enough to allow current to jump to the cover and short out that circut from operating properly. That chaffing would occur over time caused by vibration from over the road travel. I'd take a very very close look at any wiring that could come in contact with the backside of the furnace cover to eliminate that as a possibility. The wire need not be chaffed completetly to the bare wire to cause problems. It can even be a very hard to see crack in the wires insulation. Look for a clean small section of wire that has no (dust/grim) on it and look for a possible crack/break in the wire cover material. Careful not to create a clean section by handeling the wiring before inspection of suspect area. Good luck and please post the final solution.
|
chainegang
|
11/22/12 05:41am |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Extend-A-Stay kit on a Sprinter based "B"?
Just a quick note from an avid DIY'er. Positioning and hauling propane bottles up onto the roof is going to be difficult at the least. Larger units will almost be impossible without extra provisions such as people or getting the containers at roof level before placement. Further, the combined concentrated weight (point load) may not be approprite for the roof. But wanting to extend propane capacity makes sense. Extend-a-stay tied into your existing on board system would be simpler long run if the extra bottle or bottles could be carried on an extended platform at the rear bumper location. If your sprinter requires constant rear door use at the campsite, then the the bumper shelf would need to be emptied at the boondocking location. With this set-up the extra long lenght of the extend-a-stay hose would be eliminated as the bottles could be connected either from the rear bumper shelf or from the ground which will be much closer to the extend-a-stay tee that will be installed onto your system. Good Luck!
|
chainegang
|
10/27/12 05:44am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: Come in furnace experts....please
With all that has already been done and the symtoms described, one likely suspect come to mind. Since the system IS operating correctly to release gas flow to the ingnitor, (because you wrote that you could smell it) then it seems that not enough gas is flowing to ignite via the electrode. Check to see if the orafice, that brass fitting wth a small hole in the center, may have some crud or grime on the surface that can be cleaned off. DO not try and insert anything into the hole to clean it as you can and will change it's size and shade therby permantly damaging it. Taking it off and blowing thru it is a satsfactory option. Good luck. Just my two cents worth.
|
chainegang
|
08/22/12 05:15am |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Water has oily taste when connected to onsite supply
Even thou you are using a food grade plastic hose/tubing used in resteraunts, the elment that it is NOT exposed to in reteraunts is sunlight heat. That sunlight heat does encourage migration of the material to leach into the water. A common example of this is getting a drink from a regular garden hose. The first hose lenght of water will taste oily/ruberry till it's hose lenght is purged. It's a far stronger taste when the hose has sat in the hot sun for awile. That's why the white hoses are more appropriate and made especially for the conditions of RV'ers/Marine use. I really think the culprit in youe case is the plastic tubing. Just my 2 cents worth.
|
chainegang
|
07/21/12 05:08am |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Hot water heater "overheated"?
Hey guy's.. If the unit is an Atwood whereby the temperature of the water is fixed via a temp sensor that is pressed against the water heater jacket, then the possibility that the sensor is no longer indirect contact with the jacket which will allow the burner to keep operating way beyond the fixed temp setting and create the issue the OP described.
|
chainegang
|
06/23/12 05:42pm |
Tech Issues
|
