1996 Jamboree Searcher - How to?

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Dalat

Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2013
Posts
20
Hi All,

I recently purchased a cheap 1996 Jamboree Searcher.  Everything seems to work:  The motor runs good.  The interior looks super. The water pump pumps.  The problem is me and the manual: I don't know anything about RV, and the manual is the worst user manual I ever seen.  Hopefully someone who had/have owned a Jamboree can help me out.

1.  How do I flush out all fresh water in my RV?
2.  How do I turn on/off the refrigerator?
3.  How do I tell it to use electric instead of battery?

I have more questions.  ;D But I don't want to shock you too much.  ;D






Thanks.
 

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There typically an on/off button on the "brow" panel of the fridge, but if you have an LP gas only model, it may be just a matter of lighting the pilot or not.  What make & model of fridge it it? Fridge manuals are generally available online.

You can't tell it to use electric - the 12v system always has the battery as one of its sources. What you do is simply plug into shore power (or the generator, if it has one), and the coaches converter/charger generates 12v in parallel with the battery, both re-charging it and supplying any other needs.

Flushing water out takes a bit more explaining. First, are we talking about fresh water or waste water (gray and black waste)? And does "flush" mean just emptying the water out, or were you thinking of some cleaning or sanitizing procedure?

 
Hi Gary,

I will check on the model of the refrigerator tomorrow.  Regarding the flush, I mean the fresh water, not the black and grey tank.  I want to empty the fresh water tank and the hot water tank, clean them so that they can be free of the pink winterized fluid.  I surely don't want to take a shower or clean may broccoli with water that has that pink color.

Thanks.
 
The fresh water tank should have a drain line that goes through the floor under the tank.  Look underneath the rig for a stub line.  It will either have a valve on it or a screw in cap that will drain the tank when you remove it.

The hot water tank may have a drain valve on the outside, open the outside access door and take a look.  If you don't see a radiator type drain valve, you'll have to loosen the large hex bolt in the side of the tank.  It's either a drain plug or the cap of an anode rod depending on the make of the water heater (Atwood does not use an anode rod).

If the tank is empty, then if you look at the inside of the water heater (probably in an inside cabinet) you should see the inlet and outlet lines.  If there's a bypass line going between them, you should also see a couple of valves that can be set to bypass the water heater, so you don't have to fill it with 6 gallons of antifreeze.  Turn them back so water flows through the tank.
 
My 1990 Searcher has a manual transfer switch in the bathroom to change from the generator to shore power.


Mylo
 
Thanh you mylo.  Can you show a picture of the exact location?  And I just wonder it sparked and the circuit tripped because I did not switch from battery to shore prior to plug in the electric.
 
My RV is at a storage site. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it... but I can say that you "can't miss it". It's on the wall of the lav cabinet, right next to the head. I think it's a pretty "dumb" switch that just controls what source the "main" 110v breaker gets attached to. It is a "break before make" kinda setup, meaning that there is no physical way to be connected to the genny and shore power at the same time. There is no "bad" or "spark" consequence from plugging in the shore power cord with this switch in the wrong position. If it was in the genny position when you plugged in, then you'd still be running off of battery. If it was in the middle (deadband) position then nothing is connected, and if you were in the shore power position then as soon as you plugged in cord, your breaker panel would immediately be getting current from shore.

The internals of your converter may also have a contactor (or large relay) like mine does - that switches the DC load from directly connected to the batteries, to connected (in parallel) with the charging circuit. The coil of the contactor is 110v. You can verify the existence of this (when your electrical problems are fixed) by connecting your panel to the genny (via the switch above) and watching what happens to your 12V lights as you power down the genny... They will slightly dim as the motor slows - and then when the field collapses on the contactor coil, you'll hear a "click" and the lights will return to normal brightness.


Mylo
 
It sounds like you have 110v short in your system somewhere. Maybe some insulation on a wire rubbed through. Turn your transfer switch to "shore", and shut off all the breakers. Then plug it in. If it still shorts, then the problem is somewhere in that wire from the plug to the main breaker. If it doesn't trip immediately, then turn on the main, and then turn on one 110v circuit at a time until it pops again. The circuit it pops on is where you focus your next round of troubleshooting.


Mylo
 
I have 1994 Tioga, which is a step down from Jamboree I think. My fresh water tank has simple white valve on the outside of the RV next to the water tank. Turn it on, water tank empties.

The Fleetwood manual is horrible. They should be ashamed.

But all the equipment should have its own paperwork, if not most all of it you can download online.

My generator has no switch. You unplug the electrical cord from the generator to plug it into shore.
 
Hi All,

Thanks all for your kindly responses.  I finally have a time to make two camping trips with my RV, and the electric system works great.  The E350 ran smoothly, quietly.  The refrigerator works well.  The air conditioner keep us... cold at midnight.  ;D. 

The only draw back is today at home, I get on to my RV (electric is unhooked) and turn on the light, but the light is not turned on.  There is a control panel.  I turned on the battery checking switch, the light is not not.  Nothing on the control panel can be checked.  And I cannot start the generator either.

This panic the hell out of me.  Can someone shed a light, please?
 
Did you turn off the house battery (ies) using the storage switch?? They have to be left on if you wish to charge them while running down the road, I think!!

The house batteries are likely dead but you should  measure across the battery terminals using a voltmeter or multimeter and check the voltage. If it is less than 12V or so, they are (or it is)  effectively dead and needs charging. You can try plugging the coach in using the appropriate adapters and a heavy duty extension cord to a non-GFCI protected house plug or attach a separate battery charger and try that. It might be that the house batteries are no longer being charged from the engine while running down the road. (They should be, in most cases.)

As an FYI, the generator is most often started using the house batteries so that will explain why it will not start at this time. You may have a momentary-on switch on the dash that permits you to jump start the generator (or the main engine from good house batteries).  If the engine starts ok, start it and then use that switch and  try  to start the generator that way. (This switch goes by different names in different brands of RV's and some are not even labelled as such!! Perhaps someone with a similar model will jump in here and suggest a name/label).
 
Our water pump is running but no water is coming out (and yes we have water in the tank).  I'm wondering if the water pump has a filter that is clogged but don't know where the water pump is located.  Any help would be appreciated.  thanks
 
Might be much better to start your own thread with this problem but.... Does your trailer have the ability to fill the water tank from the city water connection?? If so, it the valve that permits this in the correct position and not the 'fill' position.

You should be able to locate the pump from the noise if you can hear it running.
 
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