Extreme newbie needs help with overall use

[ClintKent]

Hi everyone. I am new and the guy I bought my class a off of didn't want to show me how to use......I think cause his wife made him sell it. But I can't figure out how to use water from holding tank, turn on the water heater or what some of these air nozzles in the wheel well are for. I have pictures here that I will post. We will say first pic is "a" second is "b" and third is "c". Thanks all.

 

[ClintKent]

B

 

[ClintKent]

C

 

[therealsimpsons]

Clint,

Welcome to the forum. Congrats on the new to you coach. Hope you have great adventures!

Couple of pointers for getting better results here:

In your forum profile, most show the make and model of their unit. It helps the experts here in answering specific questions.

You can post multiple pictures on one post, as long as the total size doesn't exceed the limit for a single post.

I can take a stab at picture A. Its your water heater. It appears to be a Suburban brand. There is a whole troubleshooting guide on furnaces in the forum library. It would be help to read.

I won't specualte on the other two, but there are people here who will recognize what they are.

Good luck,

Stan

 

[ClintKent]

Thanks Stan!

 

[Lou Schneider]

Picture A is the combustion air intake and exhaust for your Suburban furnace.  Make sure insects haven't built nests inside them, they're attracted by the propane odor. 

The furnace is controlled using the thermostat in Picture B, just like a home furnace.  Turn the bottom switch on, then set the desired temperature on top.  The bottom gauge is a room thermometer.

The furnace needs propane to burn (in the propane tank) with the tank valve turned on so the fuel can flow.  It also needs 12 volt power from a charged house battery or the rig plugged into shore power to run the controls and blower motor.

Picture C is the winterizing bypass around the water heater.  If you store the rig in freezing temperatures, you have to drain the fresh water out of the plumbing lines and replace it with potable antifreeze so the plumbing doesn't freeze.  After you drain the water out of the water heater, you can turn those valves to isolate the heater tank from the rest of the plumbing system and provide a bypass around it (the vertical pipe in the middle).  This way you use less antifreeze because you only have to fill the pipes and not the hot water tank.

The water heater is on the other side of that wood partition.  It has an outside door and grate, it must be around the corner from the outside wall shown in the picture.  Again, make sure an insect hasn't made a nest in the air tube running from the gas valve to the burner or around the burner itself.

To use water from the internal tank, first make sure there's some water in it.  Then find the Water Pump switch and turn it on.  The pump will run for a moment to pressurize the water lines, then it'll turn itself on and off automatically when you open or close a faucet.

Most water heaters  have automatic ignition, look for a toggle switch inside with a red light inside the toggle.  Turn the switch on and the red light will come on, then a few seconds later the water heater will light and the red light will turn off.  If it comes back on again, it means the flame has failed.

Or you may have a manual pilot flame.  In this case, the control valve is behind the outside door and will have an on-off knob and a button to press so you can light the pilot.

 

[Alfa38User]

I did not see any picture showing "air nozzles" in the wheel well but if you meant valves like tire valves, you may have air bags to assist the spring suspension . They are filled just like a tire but the pressure can vary up to about 60 lbs, I think. Some systems have a built in compressor but those with air valves, probably not. With a vehicle that age, they may not function or may have a leak, you will have to experiment and see....

Good luck and welcome to the group....

 

[Lou Schneider]

I just found the other thread where you were asking about the monitor panel.  The switch for the automatic ignition water heater is located there, along with the "W.H. Out" light.  It should come on for a couple of seconds when you turn the switch on, then stay off unless the flame blows out.

The water pump switch is also located there, along with it's indicator light.

The level LEDs (E, 1/4, 1/2. 3/4, F) come on when you press and hold each of the level test switches.  LP tank, fresh water level, Holding Tanks 1 and 2.

If the panel is dead, it's not getting 12 volts.  Look for a blown fuse, loose wire, etc.  12 volt fuses are often adjacent to the 120 volt circuit breakers in the converter and power panel - look for a brown or black enclosure inside the RV.

 

[ClintKent]

i will take pics of the fuse panels and post. can i bypass the fuse and get 12 v power to it by splicing from the dome light to the monitor?

 

[ClintKent]

More pics

 

[ClintKent]

Thanks guys! I took my multimeter to the harness and saw I had power to the monitor. So I took the monitor apart and noticed a 15 v fuse container with no cap or fuse. So I took a 15 v fuse and connected it and everything works now. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

First picture looks like a Suburban furnace to me and you probably don't have to do anything there to make it work. However, that little T handle at the end of the pipe might be a gas shutoff, for use when working on the furnace and you need to shut the LP off. Otherwise, it stays open. Without knowing the Suburban model number, I can't tell you if you need to do anything special to light it, but probably not.

Image B is the thermostat and appears to handle both furnace (heating) and a/c (cooling). Typically, the lever switches (top and bottom) both turn the appliance on (an initial "click" and set the desired temperature on the mechanical display.


Image C shows a couple of different things.In the back corner are the three valves for bypassing the water heater when prepping the system for winter storage. The "H/W" on the wall stands for Hot Water. The vertical pipe allows cold water from the bottom line to bypass the heater and flow directly into the outlet pipe at the top. That valve should be closed for normal use, while the other two (top and bottom) should be open to allow water to flow in and out of the tank.

The plumbing label "To Pump" at the front left is probably a port for adding anti-freeze during winterization. The water pump would suck from a hose connected at that point, pulling antifreeze into the water system if the hose was stuck into a bottle of it. It would also work for sanitizing the system if the hose was stuck into a bottle of chlorine bleach solution.

I don't know what those hoses lying in the compartment are for.

 

[JudyJB]

Most fellow campers would be happy to help you figure some of these things out, so if you go camping and can't figure something out, feel free to ask your neighbors.  We all started out new at one time. 

 

[ClintKent]

My aux batteries don't charge very well when fridge is using dc. Is this common? I hear the batteries click every five minutes or so. And when I drive should I have dual batteries switch on to charge aux while I drive?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The fridge in 12vdc mode draws a lot of amps, so there probably isn't much left over for battery charging. But oif the batteries were fully charged when you started, they should stay that way. You have a converter/charger that should supply your 12v needs while connected to shore power. However, when shore power is connected, you should be using 120v mode rather than 12v.

Batteries don't "click", so you may be hearing the charger kick on or off. What is the battery condition like? New or perhaps old and unknown? Have you checked the water in the cells (I'm guessing it's a flooded type battery) of both the chassis and house batteries?

Yes, have the dual charge switch on while driving, then turn it off at the campsite or any long stop. When on, the engine alternator can charge the house (aka Aux) battery, but you want it off when camped to prevent the house from draining the engine (chassis) battery.

 

[ClintKent]

Thanks Gary and everyone else for help. How do you change to 120 mode? Is there a switch or something?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

What make & model of fridge is it? Generally there is a switch on the front of the fridge to select electric or gas mode, and some have a choice of 3 modes: LP gas, 12v, or 120v.

However, it is conceivable that a 1989 has a gas-only fridge.

 

[ClintKent]

There is a dc on off and an auto off gas switch.

 

[Lou Schneider]

I just started using a similar 3 way refrigerator in my new-to-me motorhome.

Normal operation uses either 120 volt electric power or propane.  In Auto Mode the refrigerator switches automatically between gas and 120 volt electric operation, depending on whether or not 120 volts is present.  Gas mode makes the refrigerator use the propane flame regardless of the 120 volt power status.

The DC on-off switch turns the 12 volt heating element on or off and overrides the Auto-Off-Gas switch.  In other words, the 12 volt heating element replaces the other heat sources instead of supplementing them.  There's a limited amount of power available at 12 volts, even with the engine running, so the DC heating element generates less heat, and produces less cooling, than either of the other modes.  It's meant to slow the rise in interior temperature while the vehicle is in transit compared to turning the refrigerator completely off, not for regular use.

Most newer refrigerators have eliminated the DC mode, due to the high power drain and limited effectiveness of 12 volt operation.  I suggest you leave the DC switch off and use either the Auto or Gas modes, depending on whether or not you have a surplus of 120 volt power.  It's OK to use the gas mode while you're underway.  If you're using an adapter to plug into a 15 or 20 amp outlet, or you have low shore power voltage, you can lighten the load on the shore power and save the available electricity for other uses by switching the refrigerator to Gas mode and turning off the water heater's 120 volt heating element.

 

[micd111]

Itasca is from Winnebago which has tons of information available for old models which makes it easier for those of us who own them.

Here is a link to the original brochure. It has useful info. like tanks sizes.
http://www.winnebagoind.com/products/previous-models/1989/pdfs/itasca/89-Sunflyer-bro.pdf

You can also contact Winnebago and they will send you old manuals, parts lists, wiring diagrams etc.

Edit: I just found your parts list. If it doesn't open in your browser there will appear an option to open with a different viewer. Do that and select Adobe Reader. Then it opened just fine for me.
http://www.winnebagoind.com/service/wincd/1989/89wcn23rc.pdf