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Forum
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RE: Re-coating a MH roof - What did you use?
Use Liquid Rubber Roof. It is a two part EDPM Rubber coating that will be happy with.
I agree that this will be the best coating for your roof, and is easy enough to apply. Even if you decide to throw in the towel, you can put the remaining mixed up roof coating into the refrigerator, and store it at 55F for a long time, find someone to complete the job for you, either a painter, handy man, or take it to a RV repair place.
http://www.epdmcoatings.com/rv_roof_repair.html
They sell it by the gallon, it is not what I used - I put on Herculiner because I was determined to have a slip resistant coating that should last over 15 years. My roof is the one mentioned with Herculiner bedliner, and it is really durable, and can be seen at this post.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24993453.cfm
In that post, I described how difficult it is to apply the herculiner, and your dear wife will not want to sleep in the RV during the first week after it's application, as the chemicals soak into the existing roof, and then take a week to go away.
The two part application is easy, even the guys at a RV repair place can do it. Buy a heavy duty metal paint mixer at a good paint store, not the plastic kind. I went to Dunn Edwards, they have a good selection.
Use the recommended cleaner, I used TSP (tri Sodium Phospate, it works well and is also sold at the paint store). I did not change out my A/C gasket, something you might want to do - or not? I painted up to the gasket material, not over it. My gasket is older than yours, my RV is a Bounder, same roof material as yours, 1996. All the white stuff came off when I washed my roof.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/13/12 04:03am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Furnace burning to hot
Pappy...this is a Suburban Furnace repair/service manual...HERE!
And this is for an Atwood Furnace...HERE!
These are service manuals for furnace techs mainly...so unless you are skilled in this type of repair, you may defer to a qualified repair tech or propane device servicer.
Thanks for the service manual, it might be helpful to me someday.
However it did not show the location of the gas valve. My guess is like my furnace, the hot air is escaping from the hot air ducts and returning into the cold air inlet to the furnace. So if it is taking in a mixture of 75% 67F air and 25% of the 145F outlet air, then the mixed air into the furnace will be around 95F. This will produce really hot outlet air, and keep tripping the heat exchanger over temp switch.
I put some insulation (reflex about 1/4" thick) around the uninsulated hot air ducts, and taped them to seal in the air where I was able to reach them.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/13/12 01:06am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Forum is nearly unusable
Hi,
Many times it is my internet connection that is the problem, and when I have a weak wi-fi signal, I usually remember to hit CRTL A and C to copy my reply onto the clipboard. Then I can get back to that post, and hit CTRL V to post the same thing a second time. Or if using "Explorer" I can go to "Tools" click on "Work offline" then the back button will bring me back to the page that I had just typed in something, and I can re-send without all the trouble to type it all again.
Right now I am using http://forums.woodalls.com/Index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26048111.cfm portal to get into the forums. IT seems to be working great today, you might give it a try too.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/13/12 12:55am |
Forum Technical Support
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RE: More led light mods
This thread has nearly 100 posts on it, all about LED lights, and E-Bay source for the fixtures.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25843585.cfm
It looks like you also did a nice job fixing your lights situation. However the propane leak detector, CO monitor and refrigerator all add up to use about 35 AH a day, and that is a lot more power than converting to LED's has saved.
My suggestion is a 120 + watt solar panel, each 100 - 120 watt panel will make about 35 AH a day.
SunElec.com
I had heard about some LED lights that where converted for about $15 each, and then some owners complained the LED fixtures did not last very long - 1 year of part time use and they burned out a row of lights, or something else went wrong with the LED conversion.
I figured that 10 bulbs at $15 each, and I would be much better off installing a new 195 watt solar panel for $265, and not worry about how much power my old lights used. Because I don't leave my battery charger on at night, and use the sun to recharge during the day, the voltage to my lights is only 12.5 or so, not the normal 13.5 that a charger or converter will put out, and this leads to a very long bulb life in my case, I have rarely changed a bulb since my motorhome was new in 96, and even full time for the past 6 years, only 1 light has burned out. Mainly I use two florescent lights.
Yet some of the LED lights in the link I provided above where only $45 for a set of 10, or $5 each + shipping, now the price to covert is more economical, and I might install some of the 5050 SMD panel LED's soon.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/13/12 12:46am |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: astro van rooftop air
A built in 4,000 watt Onan generator and a $750 rooftop air conditioner would cost about $3,500 installed. It might be less expensive to buy a better van.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/12/12 09:40pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Long grades in and out of San Diego on I-8
The grades really are not that bad. If you take your time climbing them, there is not any reason to drop below 45 MPH. And at that lower speed, much less horsepower is required, so that the radiator has time to get rid of the excess heat.
All interstates have a maximum 6% grade, and I have taken that one with my work van a couple of times, thought nothing of it. Once in Alpine California, you are at 2,400' elevation, with not much further climbing to go before hitting the peaks around 4,200' elevation, but most of the grades are separated by a long distance going eastbound. Westbound is more one long grade, then a couple of short ones, all seemed not to difficult to me.
Some cars when you shut off the A/C the cooling fan also shuts off, so many are better off leaving the A/C on, because the electric cooling fans will stay on at high speed. Yet a class C or class A, if the engine starts overheating, then shutting off the A/C is a good idea to provide a little cooler air to the radiator.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/12/12 06:04pm |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Led Lights under rig
Hi,
Speaking in binary code does prove a little difficult for others to understand you!
Just a note not to ever have the blue lights on while driving, only police cars are allowed to have blue lights and any vehicle in this state with blue lights will get impounded if they are driving around with them on, or roof mounted blue light even if they are off.
Yes I even saw a car get pulled over in Las Vegas for simply having blue LED's below it, and turned on at night while driving down the strip. They impounded the car and arrested the driver on a un-related charge.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/12/12 02:36pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: Cargo Carrier on Coachmen CaptiviUltralite
I guess you realize that you will have to keep everything really light in the carrier, because each pound that is 10' behind the rear axle will take off 1/2 pound of the hitch weight 20' in front of the rear axle. So 500 pounds might make a handling difference, while 200 pounds will probably not change anything.
Yes it would be possible to build a hitch receiver with the 2" square part sticking out above the bumper. It would require plates of steel that are bolted to the frame (never weld to a treated steel frame) and then the crossbar put in between those two plates, and the 2" receiver attached to that. Yet this is all dependent on your trailer being built in such a way that all of this is possible.
Or else you might have to remove the bumper, and then rebuild everything from scratch. Sort of make the hitch fit around the back of the trailer framework and body sidewall, then mount the bumper back to the trailer receiver.
Good luck!
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/12/12 02:26pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: RV Extension Cord
Hi,
It only happened to me a couple of times in over 20 year of camping. Once I just wanted to back into a site about 1/3 of the way, because it has great tree cover, but to get the roof mounted satellite to work, I needed to be closer to the campground road, and moved forward about 20'. Yes it was a huge site. I can camp a week without dumping tanks, so I moved back when ready to leave and dumped the tanks. The 25' extension cord helped. But I would not need to use the 20' dump line stretched out all the way.
Another time I was camping with a group from work, and they had reserved a large campground near a lake, with about 40 sites. Problem is they had over 80 RV's show up, and we had to share sites. So I needed about 50' of cord to reach the hookup for the site provided. Lucky me I had enough cord.
Another situation where a long cord helps is when visiting friends, and you can park in front of their house. The 50' of #10 gauge wire is much better than any #12 wire, and that of course is better than hooking up to #14 wire.
The best places to plug in when visiting friends is a dedicated outdoor receptacle with no bedroom circuits on it (because a hair dryer used inside the house in the morning will trip your circuit breaker if you are making toast, or coffee). Or the Laundry room has a pair of 20 amp 120 volt receptacles in it (if built after the 1965 NEC code took effect).
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/12/12 02:20pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Grateful new owner of a 1977 24' Tioga w/ 360 engine
Hi,
I really did not take time to get into the list of maintenance items that need your prompt attention before driving the motorhome. Sure tires you can look at and say I better get to a junk yard, find some decent $30 each used tires that have at least enough tread on them to pass the state inspection, and are less than 5 years old.
Before driving further than to the propane station and state inspections, I would be looking at changing the brake fluid. If you are considering any out of the county adventures, then of course consider a engine oil change mandatory, transmission oil change something that must be done in the next 1,000 miles, brake fluid change, rear axle fluid change.
Also you have a old "Converter". This puts a unregulated amount of voltage to the coach battery, so it is better to disconnect that battery if you will be parked all summer, and re-connect about a week before moving the RV. And Check the battery water level on it frequently! If it as one of those green eyes that does not use water, then make sure that does not turn red, or the battery is out of water and might blow up if charged any more! NEver jump start a car or truck if the green eye thing has changed to red color.
Best to just disconnect that battery, and then it will not boil the water out of it.
My guess is a blue tarp is less expensive than the brown one, yet the brown one is more acceptable to the park managers, who might let it stay up for about 1 month, then it must come down and the roof have been repaired in that time.
You probably have about $500 in oil and fluid changes before the RV is going to be safe to run on the highways. If you price out new tires, 6 of those will be around $165 each, depending on the brand. So go to the junkyard, and try to find something decent. They are fairly common on all E-150 vans that have the 16" rims, or all dually trucks made from 1970's to 2005. But the bolt pattern will be different on your van, so you can not take the whole tire and expect it to fit.
Good luck!
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/12/12 08:36am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Charging Rates for Batterys
Hi,
Look at the charger. Does it say "Boost 40 amps"? Does it also say only use the boost mode for a maximum of 2 minutes, then allow the charger to cool for 30 minutes?? ? ? ? ? ?
My suggestion with such a small generator is to first plug in the RV and let it's internal 35 - 60 amp charger start to recharge the batteries. This is a huge load on the small generator, so give it at least 5 minutes to bring up the RV battery voltage a bit, then use the portable charger starting on only 10 amps. This is 140 watts (probably 170 watts considering the charger will lose a little power in the process.)
The RV charger will also be putting out up to 35 amps at 14 volts (this is 575 watts input to the charger) for the first 1/2 hour or so. If the generator is not bogging down, then change to the 20 amp setting, if this does not overheat the charger.
If the charger rate is only 40 amps for 2 minutes, then never use this setting on your portable batteries. I might only use that setting when jump starting the truck battery, or when you need to pull in the slides, and the RV battery is pretty dead, and this is not bogging down the generator to put it on the 40 amp setting. I would still be using 20 amps, so you can plug it in for more than 2 minutes (the charger will overheat unless rated at 40 amps all day long and has a internal fan).
Once in a RV park, then use the internal charger only for the RV. The boat battery can be set on 10 amps for about 3-4 hours, then the 2 amp taper setting is good for overnight. Yet check the owners manual on the 2-40 amp charger, if it has a smart taper charge, then leaving it on 10 amps overnight is acceptable, and if that is a 100 AH battery, it might take 10 hours at 10 amps to fully charge it, shifting to 2 amps will only slow down the charge rate.
Those answer above suggesting leaving the charge rate at 40 amps probably are not considering that this might be a 40 amp boost mode, that if left in 20 amps + for any length of time will overheat the charger. Also they might not be considering that a 40 amp charger putting out 15 volts will need over 625 watts going into it to make up for losses in the transformer and other components inside it. So you can overload your generator too.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/12/12 12:10am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: long hitch shank?
Hi,
It does depend a bit on the tow vehicle. If you are towing with a pickup, then the chance the trailer will ever touch the tailgate, that will be rare. With a van, it is more a requirement to have the trailer a little farther back. I did see a motorhome towing a cargo cargo trailer pull almost straight into a 3 lane street, and then turn hard to the right as the back axle on the cargo trailer was going over the sidewalk. This caused the front right of the cargo trailer to push into the back of the motorhome.
They needed a longer shank, or make a more modest turn onto the street, so that they did not pull straight out to the middle of the road, then make a sharp 90 degree turn, hitting the cargo trailer into the motorhome. Probably made a big dent, I was going the other direction.
Yes you are right, the further back the hitch ball is from the center line of the rear axle, the more weight that is transferred from the front axle to the rear axle when hitch weight is applied. Yet by design, the weight distribution bars will re-transfer some of that weight to both the trailer axle and front axle of the tow vehicle.
My biggest complaint about the long hitch shank is that you tend to run into them in parking lots if they stick out more than about 12" and you are not paying attention to where you are walking, and it hits you in the kneecap!
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/11/12 11:50pm |
Towing
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RE: cell & laptop batteries
Hi,
I went to the AT&T website and found some used "Reconditioned" phones for much less money than the new ones. In some states of the phone carrier declares that the phone has a retail value of say $199, then you must pay sales tax on that amount, even if the price is really built into the 2 year contract, and they give you the phone for signing up for 2 years at a very excessive fee.
Yes that battery place is also nice for AGM batteries for a electric wheelchair, and other small batteries, such as a emergency exit light system.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/11/12 07:33pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Huntington Beach Weather
Well no snow in that area in many years, and even when it did snow, it was only a few flakes, that did not stick.
You can check Weather.com and look at other months.
It should be nice. I normally wear shorts until mid October.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/11/12 12:51am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Help suburban sw6de runs out of hot water very quick
Hi,
There is supposed to be a tube that goes to the bottom of the hot water tank.
So the fresh water going in should go to the bottom, then not mix with the outgoing hot water. Then as the cold dense water flows in, it should be staying at the very bottom, until it heats up, and not mix with the lighter weight hot water.
Many water heaters use a plastic tube to carry that hot water to the bottom of the tank. Home water heaters even have a warning to not use more than 110F inlet water.
My guess is you might have a broken water inlet tube, you have all the symptoms.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/11/12 12:15am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Why is my dog eating cat poop?
Litter box may contain something that is sweet tasting? Just a guess. Perhaps something in that brand of litter that tastes good, perhaps something used to make it not smell bad?
He might just prefer a bowl of kitty litter, (test with about a teaspoonful, and see if he wanted to eat the cat litter as a treat) less the cat deposits, in which case I would say the dog is crazy, and eating the stuff because it is sweet taste. Put the cat box out of his reach. The cats will have to learn to jump for it!
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/10/12 11:38pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Grateful new owner of a 1977 24' Tioga w/ 360 engine
Hi,
You really need to do something about the roof quicly, or the RV will begin to smell and become un-livable. The engine tune up can wait, and thank God that your propane tank is somewhat full, and you have that first month rent paid.
Driving a cab can be much like working for any low wage job, you stay plenty busy. I have heard it compared to eating soup broth with a fork. You stay busy, but don't seem to get much done.
Hopefully you will be able to get some jobs laying tile. Put an ad on Craigslist, there is always someone interested in getting some work done around the house, or put up a brick fireplace in the back yard, or install a brick something or other around a BBQ for someone.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/10/12 10:25pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Cheap way to meter electrical usage? Or just guess?
Hi,
If you run your refrigerator or water heater on electric, you will use a lot of power. The refrigerator is about 333 watts per hour, or 1 KW in 3 hours run time, and I might guess it will run about 12 hours per day, or 4 KW per day.
The A/C units, while they might draw 2 KW together, their run time is much less than 48 hours per day, more like 8 - 12 hours each at 1 KW per hour each. There is a lot of compressor off time at night, and early mornings. So you might figure 24 KW per day at the most for your total usage, unless you turn on the refrigerator to electric then add another 4 KW per day. I would leave it on gas, just to avoid running up a excessive high electric bill.
Let the electrician know that the ground (round) and flat blade (neutral) are in the center of the 50 amp plug, and they must have 120 volts (give or take 10 volts) to the outer two flat blades before hooking up to your coach. It is a normal stove receptacle, you can buy a surface mount, or mounted in a box style at any hardware store, it might be less expensive than a electrical supply store.
So probably $3 per day is enough to cover your electrical use.
I have not seen a electric meter able to measure 50 amps for less than $250. But they do make them for submetering apartments.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/10/12 10:07pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Do You Disconnect The Battery
YEs a cut off switch on the top of the battery is one way to keep the battery full, my buddy keeps his batteries inside the trailer to prevent theft at his RV storage lot.
I keep mine full with a solar system. They are much less expensive nowdays, only $400 for a somewhat generous 200 watt panel and Pulse Width controller, if you go to the right places.
SunElec.com look for a 18 - 21 volt panel in the 100+ to 200 watt range. This will more than make up for the 35 AH daily used by the CO and propane leak detectors.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/10/12 07:53pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Tell me about for camper and SRW truck
HI,
I mentioned to my brother that the F-250 should not be allowed to have a diesel engine in it, because of it's low 865 pound cargo rating back in 2000. Then in 2005, the F-250 can carry 3,000 pounds! I guess Ford did not want to change their lineup and dump 66% of their customers, so they modified the GVWR, and increased it from 8,800 pounds to 10,000. The SRW F-350 went form 9,900 pounds to around 11,500 pounds and the dually went to nearly 15,500 pounds in some models. So the 2005 and newer F-350 dually can carry over 5,000 pounds without overload springs, or higher weight rated tires, stock brakes and axles. Yet don't try that with a 3500 dually, it will squat like a girlly truck it is.
Get a towing guide for all the big three trucks, it will list the cargo rating on all of the trucks. My best recommendation for a truck is the F-350 longbed. I like the supercab best, not the extra long wheelbase crewcab.
By using a longbed, you have the most weight as far forward as possible when you have a 8' or 9' long camper. It is also possible with a longbed to tow even a horse trailer behind a 9' long camper, using a dual tube hitch, that is rated at 7,500 pounds GTW and up to 550 pounds deadweight capacity. That is plenty for most 2 horse trailers.
I also used to have a SRW Supercab 1975 Ford, only about 5,500 GW empty, much lighter than today's trucks. It could carry 3,300 pounds without exceeding the GVWR of 9,600 pounds. It had a 460 V8, one of the first supercabs, and early version of the 460 cubic inch engine too.
Fred.
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Golden_HVAC
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05/10/12 06:40pm |
Truck Campers
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