Arizona to Utah, 2019!

ClydesdaleKevin · April 10, 2019, 11:57 PM

Quote from: LJ-TJ on April 10, 2019, 10:34 PM
Sounds like you should have stayed where you were. It's looking like your going to get hammered for the next few days. D:oH!

Which is why we decided to stay the week at the local KOA with full hookups. I'm actually enjoying the snow, since we rarely see it. And the pups are LOVING playing in the snow! This KOA has a really nice fenced in doggo park, and there are hardly any other campers here. Its going to be a nice relaxing week!

Kev

Shawn62 · April 11, 2019, 08:22 AM

Kev,

Did you attach a propane filter to your Buddy Heater? I saw a couple YouTube videos that say this is important when running those heaters off 20 lb tanks or refilled canisters. Also some hoses cause problems if not made of the correct material. The filter also has to be changed occasionally.

tmsnyder · April 11, 2019, 08:27 AM

We use a small electric heater in ours whenever there's electricity available. Nice dry heat and no carbon monoxide.

Our old 1959 canned ham camper has a nice furnace in it, with a chimney out the roof and a crude box heat exchanger inside. No blower or fan so it doesn't use 12V. Just convection of hot air rising off the furnace. Works great and takes no power, just a little propane.

ClydesdaleKevin · April 11, 2019, 10:38 AM

Quote from: Shawn62 on April 11, 2019, 08:22 AM
Kev,

Did you attach a propane filter to your Buddy Heater? I saw a couple YouTube videos that say this is important when running those heaters off 20 lb tanks or refilled canisters. Also some hoses cause problems if not made of the correct material. The filter also has to be changed occasionally.

I saw that too, but they didn't have any of the filters at the Ace hardware where I bought this thing. I'll get one as soon as I can, but for now this is working. Worst case scenario is that the pilot orifice might start getting clogged, but it is easily cleaned out with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · April 11, 2019, 10:41 AM

Quote from: tmsnyder on April 11, 2019, 08:27 AM
We use a small electric heater in ours whenever there's electricity available. Nice dry heat and no carbon monoxide.

Our old 1959 canned ham camper has a nice furnace in it, with a chimney out the roof and a crude box heat exchanger inside. No blower or fan so it doesn't use 12V. Just convection of hot air rising off the furnace. Works great and takes no power, just a little propane.

It is so cold here at night, we use an electric ceramic heater in the bedroom, and the Buddy heater to heat the front of the rig. I'm going to troubleshoot and repair the furnace when I can (pretty sure the problem is the wall thermostat) because it instantly heats the entire RV...and then you can switch over to the Buddy heater to KEEP the RV warm. As fulltimers that do a lot of boondocking, doing things the most efficient way possible (propane, battery, and water wise) is our main goal.

Kev

Aaarrghh · April 11, 2019, 05:27 PM

Don't you mind the smells from the catalytic or buddy heaters? As for your furnace, the most likely problem is high resistance connections due to light corrosion. Easy to fix.

ClydesdaleKevin · April 11, 2019, 07:49 PM

Quote from: Aaarrghh on April 11, 2019, 05:27 PM
Don't you mind the smells from the catalytic or buddy heaters? As for your furnace, the most likely problem is high resistance connections due to light corrosion. Easy to fix.

We never got or get any odors from the Buddy heaters or the Olympian Wave catalytic heaters. I checked all the wiring at the furnace and all seems clean and good...just no 12 volts getting from the wall mounted thermostat to the furnace (it worked when we first got this RV, but not for long, and it was finicky). I also checked the fuse (all of the fuses actually) with my volt meter, and they are all good. That leaves the thermostat or a broken wire from the thermostat to the furnace.

Kev

Rickf1985 · April 11, 2019, 07:56 PM

I don't get any smell from my buddy heater. On the thermostat, the down and dirty quickest way to check it is to take it off the wall and cross the two wire and see if the heater comes on. If it does then thermostat is bad. All the thermostat is is a switch that closes the circuit, if you cross the wires you just became the thermostat. Needless to say you have to uncross them to turn it off. W% :)rotflmao You KNOW if I did not add that in SOMEONE would have pointed it out. W%

ClydesdaleKevin · April 12, 2019, 01:16 AM

Quote from: Rickf1985 on April 11, 2019, 07:56 PM
I don't get any smell from my buddy heater. On the thermostat, the down and dirty quickest way to check it is to take it off the wall and cross the two wire and see if the heater comes on. If it does then thermostat is bad. All the thermostat is is a switch that closes the circuit, if you cross the wires you just became the thermostat. Needless to say you have to uncross them to turn it off. W% :)rotflmao You KNOW if I did not add that in SOMEONE would have pointed it out. W%

LOL! It is a six wire analog Colman Mach wall thermostat that also runs the ducted roof AC.

Edited: You got me thinking, Rick! Which wires would I cross to check? So I found this video on YouTube of my exact furnace and its wiring. If I take off the outer cover and cross the two BLUE wires at the furnace wire harness plug, it should mimic the thermostat telling the furnace to come on. So I'm going to try that tomorrow! Thanks for the idea Rick!

https://youtu.be/cLDUrkL19Fw

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · April 12, 2019, 05:05 PM

Because the furnace is in place, and not on a bench like the YouTube video, I ended up making a little test wiring harness to bridge across the time delay relay where the red/blue wire meets the blue/white wire (this white wire isn't the same one the goes to the thermostat...it goes to the control board, which fires the ignitor)...and the furnace works! So it isn't the furnace, control board, or any of the switches.

Also, the thermostat makes no "click" when you move the temperature slider up and down. So the thermostat is definitely bad.

I scored a brand new Coleman Mach analog 6 wire wall thermostat on Amazon, with free 2 day shipping...for 20 bucks! It was the last one at that price. All the others, on Amazon and eBay, were 50 bucks and up. It will be here on Monday.

DANG is it pretty here in Beaver, UT! I could live here for the rest of my life and die a happy man! It is a very small town on rolling green hills, surrounded by snow capped mountains. I feel like dancing around singing Edelweiss (Sound Of Music reference)...but I think the very friendly locals might think me a bit mad and lock me up...lol!

Kev

joanfenn · April 12, 2019, 07:21 PM

You would have to wear your kilt while you are singing. ohhhh ohhhhh now I can't get that picture out of my mind :)rotflmao

ClydesdaleKevin · April 12, 2019, 07:44 PM

Quote from: joanfenn on April 12, 2019, 07:21 PM
You would have to wear your kilt while you are singing. ohhhh ohhhhh now I can't get that picture out of my mind :)rotflmao

LOL!!!

Kev

joanfenn · April 12, 2019, 08:14 PM

N:(

HandyDan · April 12, 2019, 10:59 PM

That's going to be hard to forget!

Rickf1985 · April 13, 2019, 08:25 AM

On both sides of the picture!

Aaarrghh · April 13, 2019, 09:02 AM

Brrrr! Just checked the forecast for Beaver - it's cold there - 28 degrees this April morning! Hope you get your furnace back online soon. I worry about anyone exposing themselves to CO poisoning or oxygen deprivation from portable heaters.

https://campertrailers.org/heater_dangers.htm

Have fun, but be safe!

ClydesdaleKevin · April 13, 2019, 10:01 AM

Quote from: Aaarrghh on April 13, 2019, 09:02 AM
Brrrr! Just checked the forecast for Beaver - it's cold there - 28 degrees this April morning! Hope you get your furnace back online soon. I worry about anyone exposing themselves to CO poisoning or oxygen deprivation from portable heaters.

https://campertrailers.org/heater_dangers.htm

Have fun, but be safe!

Yep...it is pretty chilly here! 25 degrees right now. It is supposed to get up to a balmy 55 degree today...and 65 tomorrow. A tropical heat wave!

6000 feet in elevation...but for how beautiful it is here, I could definitely deal with the cold season if I lived here full time.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · April 14, 2019, 10:41 AM

It is going to be 65 degrees here for the next two days, and nice! Pretty much everything in town is closed today, being Sunday and all...so I'm going to drive the Jeep down to the local outdoor free shooting range today and FINALLY get around to shooting my Ruger Super Redhawk .44 Magnum! It came with a Nikon scope, and I've owned it for a year and haven't even shot it yet...lol! I'm going to shoot it with and without the scope to see which configuration I like best.

Tomorrow Patti and I are going to explore the town some more and take advantage of this beautiful weather.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · April 14, 2019, 04:33 PM

Lots of fun at the range today! Those clay pigeons didn't have a chance! I shot the Ruger Super Redhawk with and without the scope...and to be honest, I like it better without the scope and shoot it a lot better. The Walther PPKs, also pictured, is my EDC (every day carry)...it didn't get shot today, but is shown to contrast just how big the Ruger is. I only brought 50 rounds with me because I thought the .44 Magnum rounds were going to be harsh to shoot and kick like a mule...NOPE! It was easy to shoot, and lots of fun! The weight of the gun absorbed most of the recoil. The last picture is my target at 50 feet, the last six rounds of the day...no scope, two handed, standing. Not bad!

Now its time to clean it!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · April 14, 2019, 09:51 PM

While I was taking pictures today, I decided to take pictures of our solar panels and the inverter system I installed recently.
Here are the panels on the roof:

As you can see from the pictures, I have room to add at least two more (possibly three more) panels to the roof in the front...and still have room to walk around and maintain the roof. The battery compartment is what it is, and I can only fit the two new Trojan batteries depicted. If I want to add more batteries, I'll have to add them to the compartment to the left of the entry door, box them in, and ventilate them to the outside (under the coach). Those aluminum brackets you see in front of the charge controller are for tilting the panels at the sun when stationary. I added the white outlet in the power compartment to plug the coach into when on inverter power. And under the fridge you can see the control/monitor panel I installed for the Tristar charge controller, and a simple digital volt meter to keep an eye on battery charge.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · April 14, 2019, 10:04 PM

And just for fun, you have to see this to believe it! Paladin, our male German Shepherd, loves to help Daddy drive the RV on our journeys. If he's not laying on the sofa right behind us, this is where he likes to be...lol!

He's pretty darn cute...LOL!

Kev

joanfenn · April 14, 2019, 10:11 PM

Big goof, oh and Paladin is cute too.

HandyDan · April 14, 2019, 10:24 PM

Got to love a dog that thinks it's human.
LOL
Dan

ClydesdaleKevin · April 16, 2019, 10:41 AM

So Amazon decided to send my new wall thermostat via USPS...and this KOA doesn't have a mail box, just a PO Box. The tracking numbers say it arrived at the local post office and is available for pickup. They open up at 9am, so I'll be driving down there very soon to see if I can pick it up.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · April 16, 2019, 11:36 AM

YAY!!! The Post Office had my package! So today I'll be installing the new wall thermostat. Hopefully that will get my furnace going to get the morning chill out of the RV. If not, I'll be tracking down a loose wire or bad connection somewhere.

Kev