Fulltime in Minnesota

[Kirk]

now getting 110 volts even with everything running.

If you have 110V you are still low as the optimum today is 120V and most line monitors will turn power off at 108V which is the design low limit for most appliances.

Current problem is the furnace is starting to fail to light every time, from the troubleshooting guide it's either the sail switch or control board. Model is Suburban NT-34SP from 1990. It doesn't make a clicking sound after the fan starts when it doesn't work. I'll pull that out soon. I read the maintenance guide, apparently you're supposed to yank the whole freaking furnace out once a year, take it completely apart and clean it to prevent sail switch issues.

If you do not have one, here is a copy of the Suburban Service Manual that covers the NT-34SP model. If the ignitor isn't sparking and the sail switch is not closing it could be some sort of air restriction preventing enough air movement or it could also be low voltage to the blower motor will cause it to run slower than normal and could cause the sail switch to not close. To be sure of the voltage you need to check it will an accurate meter while the blower is running and you need to see at least 11V.

 

[p38fln]

If you have 110V you are still low as the optimum today is 120V and most line monitors will turn power off at 108V which is the design low limit for most appliances.

If you do not have one, here is a copy of the Suburban Service Manual that covers the NT-34SP model. If the ignitor isn't sparking and the sail switch is not closing it could be some sort of air restriction preventing enough air movement or it could also be low voltage to the blower motor will cause it to run slower than normal and could cause the sail switch to not close. To be sure of the voltage you need to check it will an accurate meter while the blower is running and you need to see at least 11V.

I'm betting on an air restriction...I tried to pull on the ducts to get the kinks out but didn't manage to do much. One of the hoses was squished flat from the previous owners so I unsquished it maybe that was the problem

 

[p38fln]

It worked for 3 rounds after unsquishing the pipes but stopped again. I think the switch is sticking

 

[Kirk]

I think the switch is sticking

I would see if you can't improve on the duct problem. While it is possible that there is some sort of sail switch problem, the fact that what you did helped I suggest that you finish the job you have begun. You may need to replace the duct tubing with some that is a little longer and possibly modify the place that they must pass through

 

[p38fln]

Definitely sticking sail switch. The NT series has an absolutely ridiculous design where you have to take the entire furnace out to do any work at all on it, so I spent half a day taking the dinette bench apart and removing the furnace so I could get to the sail switch. It was stuck, not sure how it worked at all. A gentle tap and it came free. I sprayed the switch with white lithium grease, made sure it moved freely and put the whole mess back under the dinette. The furnace is 32 years old, I should probably buy a new core for it at some point soon.

The duct situation is absolutely stupid, whoever designed the duct layout wasn't trying to balance the airflow or anything other than get a duct into each room. For some utterly dumb reason two of the duct outlets go to the living room which takes up maybe 9 feet of the camper and the other two ducts take care of the other 23 feet, with a splitter sending some air into the kitchen and bathroom and a dedicated duct for the bedroom which is exactly the same size as the living room with a dedicated outside door exactly like the one in the living room. I leave the AC fan on pretty much none stop so the bedroom isn't frozen.

 

[p38fln]

Furnace is still running great. I've put window kits on the large living room windows and the ceiling vent, furnace is cycling much less now.

I got tired of replacing light bulbs so swapped them all for LED 1141 bulbs. I had already replaced some of these bulbs twice and they had burned out again, hopefully the LEDs last longer

 

[p38fln]

Some safety improvements. I don't think this RV ever had one of these before.




The smoke detector appeared to be the original from 1991 once I finally found it in a cupboard... Replaced that as well.

 

[IBTripping]

You are doing a great job preparing for winter and upgrading your rv. Thanks for your updates. Being from Montana, I know how harsh the winters can be.

 

[p38fln]

The tank heaters did come as promised but the pipe heaters were missing. RecPro said they will send new pipe heaters but as others have mentioned heating the tank is pointless if the drain pipes are frozen. Like they are right now . Hopefully the pipe heaters get here soon. I have a torpedo style outdoor use only propane fired heater if I get very desperate to thaw the lines out but I'd prefer the gentle approach first.

I ran wiring to the two underbelly tanks but I'm waiting for the pipe heaters to actually power them up since it seems pointless without thawing the drain lines as well.

 

[p38fln]

The pipe heaters that were left out of the package arrived today right as I was getting ready to go without them. I realized I can only hook up two big pads and the 3 pipe heaters without exceeding the individual circuit output of the power distribution center and I only had one empty 12 volt circuit so I left the fresh water tank disconnected for now. It's inside so hopefully won't freeze.

Surprisingly the pipe heater pads attached just fine at 22 F, I though they wouldn't stick very well because of the temperature but they sucked right down when I squeezed them tight. I put one at each end of the grey water discharge and wrapped another around the valve box, the pipe from the black tank to the valve box is only about 10 inches long and doesn't have a straight section anywhere so hopefully it works.

I didn't hook the switch up, too much of a pain in the butt. It's going to be below freezing for months straight, I can just pop the fuse at the end of the season.

Looks like they're pulling something like 120 watts

 

[Utclmjmpr]

All I can say about this is, "better you than me"..>>>Dan

 

[Kirk]

I left the fresh water tank disconnected for now. It's inside so hopefully won't freeze.

I would think that as long as you keep the inside temperature to something even close to comfortable, you potable water should not freeze. It might be a good investement to get one of these multi-channel temperatured monitors from Amazon to be able to minitor the temperatures at your fresh water tank and perhaps a couple of other places?

 

[p38fln]

I would think that as long as you keep the inside temperature to something even close to comfortable, you potable water should not freeze. It might be a good investement to get one of these multi-channel temperatured monitors from Amazon to be able to minitor the temperatures at your fresh water tank and perhaps a couple of other places?

It got down to 15 last night, fresh water tank was fine.

The hoses that I was trying to use to make it easy to fill up the fresh water tank, unfortunately, did not fare so well. Even after blowing them out enough water remained to completely plug them up when it froze.

I had to resort to using buckets and a transfer pump to refill the onboard tank. It worked, it was still better than trying to gravity fill it, but it took an hour, two 5 gallon buckets and 3 trips with a sled to the pump house to fill the tank all the way up. Obviously, I need more 5 gallon buckets

So far the heating pads have been enough to keep the water tanks warm enough to drain. The "stinky slinky" isn't heated but it's not too hard to make sure it's completely drained after each use.

 

[p38fln]

Update on this - the heating pads kept the tanks from freezing, but the pipe heaters didn't work at all. They simply don't have the heat output needed. The greywater pipe actually froze and cracked almost the entire length of the pipe heater, right above the pipe heater. The pipe heater was actually covering the crack, I noticed the water dripping when it got up to 42 degrees yesterday and pulled it off to see the crack it was hiding. The 60,000 BTU Mr Heater torpedo heater made short work of the freeze-up.

It's been down to 6 degrees, fresh water tank under the bunk is still fine. I have the cabinet open to let warm air into the compartment, seems to be doing fine.

 

[IBTripping]

Thanks for the update. Sorry about the Grey water pipe. You've done a great job preparing for a cold winter.

 

[Jkoht]

And to think, it's only November and we haven't even hit the worst of winter weather yet here in MN.

 

[p38fln]

And to think, it's only November and we haven't even hit the worst of winter weather yet here in MN.

Yeah I need skirting lol probably wouldn't have cracked the discharge pipe if it had skirting of some kind. The heater absolutely rocks in this thing, toasty warm every night although it does seem capable of using 20 pounds of propane a day easily.

 

[Jkoht]

Buy some hay bales cheap and skirt the edges, and then either put a small heater below or a trouble light with a regular incandescent bulb.

 

[Larry N.]

Buy some hay bales cheap and skirt the edges, and then either put a small heater below or a trouble light with a regular incandescent bulb.

Hay bales attract critters, and are flammable...

 

[Oldgator73]

Folks skirt their RV’s with those foam boards that are silver on one side. Wind might become an issue so you will need to find a way to anchor them and maybe tie together.