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+--- Thread: Doom, Gloom, Coach Sold, Politics, Fuel, Taxes, Fridg & Engine Heat Fix (/showthread.php?tid=6626)
Doom, Gloom, Coach Sold, Politics, Fuel, Taxes, Fridg & Engine Heat Fix - bumpersbird - 04-21-2008 04:05
Well with all the doom and gloom you guys are talking about it's nice
to see good coaches are still available to those who are willing and
able to step up to the plate and stick that nozzle in where it counts
and pump away. Good luck with your new bird.
Politics its simple â¦â¦ ..VOTE!
Don't VOTE â¦â¦â¦ .......Don't Bitch!
Sorry Mike â¦â¦ .The Devil Made Me Do It!
I freaked out the first time I filled up my coach, the low fuel light
was on and when the pump hit $902.00 HOLY S---! Now it's $1200.00
PLUS! The shock has never worn off. But I still do it. I don't like
taxes either and this year was the most expensive to date but, that's
what it takes to keep moving forwards. With the fuel, housing and
food markets in a state of flux the stock market is not in bad shape.
The stock market is the only indicator that looks towards the future,
and once this future arrives growth will once again overtake all the
doom and gloom. Everything runs in cycles.
Speaking about moving forwards and cycles I have some updates and
fixes for some age old problems that are reoccurring come this time
of year.
HEAT!
Project 1 Cooling the refrigerator compartment.
Project 2 Cooling the engine compartment.
Project 1 is complete and I am happy to say it has worked out very
well. I will get some photos of it soon.
A quick description, after looking at others solutions and reading
all available info which unfortunately the reference files I had
saved for this project were lost to a computer virus.
The goal is to move air past the cooling coil mounted on the rear of
the fridge, a Dometic RM 7030. I have an angled setup with an
enormous space behind the refer. It is recommended that there be no
more than 1" a space behind the fridge to facilitate convection for
cooling the coils. Well I'm not one to reinvent the wheel so I wasn't
going to pull out the fridge to build a baffle system. The
recommended fix.
To move a sufficient amount of air past the coils. You have two
choices you can suck or blow. Blowing is not recommended, but it
works.
So how do you suck enough air volume past the coils to make a
difference? I not an engineer so I went for POWER!
You know the old saying. Put enough thrust behind anything and it
will fly.
I mounted 5 - 130 CFM computer fans inside the flue vent on the
roof. I got a marine style switch with a four switch/breaker combo. I
chose waterproof because I mounted it on the cabinet near the sink in
the bathroom and because its high quality and most of all because it
looks cool. I tagged into the 12V power leading into the fridge. Not
a big draw for the fans and the fridge doesn't draw anywhere near the
20 amps supplied to it. I used 2 of the 4 switches leaving 2 for
future use. I wired the switches, #1 runs 2 fans, #2 runs 3 fans so I
have the capability to run 2 fans @ 260 cfm, 3 fans@ 390 cfm or 5
fans@ 650 cfm.
Yes if you're standing near the access hatch you know its working. On
a calm day it will suck in cigar smoke in from 12" to 14" away.
I also mounted 4 fans in the fridge that blow air across the cooling
fins inside the fridge and of course they circulate the internal air.
They are powered from the internal light assembly and mounted in
pairs they are quite nice. I got them from a guy on e-bay. Once you
see these little jewels you'll want them to.
The only problem I had was getting the wiring up to the fans. I used
a piece of pvc pipe I don't remember the size I just grabbed some
pipe that was laying around the barn and some mounting clamps,
inserting the require wires into the conduit before mounting the
conduit to the wood walls. I poked a hole up through the protective
screen in the flue vent, keeping it smaller than the diameter of the
pipe so it has a good grip on it. I had to drill one hole through the
wall to run the wires into the bathroom. A glob of silicon sealed the
hole and holds things firmly to prevent chaffing. I also used wire
loom where possible. Problem solved.
So far so good, this summer will tell if its working as well as I
thinks it will. I have already had to set the thermostat up to keep
everything on the lower shelves from freezing.
Is it noisy? Yes
Is it bothersome? Somewhat
Choice between noise and cold beer? Only you can answer that.
The fans are the 5.? Something inch @130cfm. There are fans of this
size that have a lower cfm and are much quieter to operate. I have
used these same fans to replace the blowers on some of my heaters and
they are quiet compared to the fridge set up. The only thing I can
think of is the fridge cabinet is hollow it may amplify the noise.
Project 2 is well underway.
The idea here is to exhaust the heat out if the engine compartment.
I do not like a hot bedroom in August! In January it's great.
So I decided to mount 2 â 1650 cfm plastic radiator fans in a
removable bracket that is mounted to the inside of the swing out door
on the side of the coach. The bracket has been fabricated and all
that is left to do is weld it together. I designed the bracket to
swing away from the door for cleaning and potential maintenance. It
is also removable and has a folding stand built into it so it can
stand up and be used as a fan for comfort cooling. While you are
enjoying that really cold beer you just got out of the now really
cold fridge! That's the plan. It may have to have some weights like
shot bags to hold it down and of course it may be too noisy or
powerful to use. Once built and trial runs are made I'll let you know
how practical this is. You know I've spent way too much time on this
one.
There will be 2 snap thermostats to operate the system automatically
with a manual override.
The system can also be operated remotely from the dash with a
infrared handheld control. The infrared control operates 8 remote
relays @ 30amps each. This remote is supposed to work up to ½ mile
away from the relays. I hope so; there is a lot of metal between the
driver's seat and the engine compartment. I may use these remote
controlled relays to switch the larger Bosh style relays I bought
before I found the remote relay system. I may have to mount the
receiver on the left side of the coach instead of the right side if
it will not receive the signal.
I would also like to mount 4 fans on the radiator and AC core to help
in cooling. My hope is that this will work well enough that I can
turn off the manual fan override and that the dash A/C will function
with out the main fan running. Everyone knows that the fan has a
parasitic power loss of somewhere around 45 HP. To be honest with you
so far 25,000 miles or so since I've owner my coach I can't see any
noticeable power or performance differences whether the fan is on or
not. I have never looked at this from the stand point of calculating
it with the Silverleaf VMSpc because if I don't run the fan
continuously the temp will rise to critical levels in a short amount
of time. So if it doesn't work as a stand alone system, it will
augment the existing cooling system.
Some of you are probably thinking that he has a radiator problem.
Probably so, I've been trying to ignore this problem but its
reoccurring and I have had the radiator cleaned twice professionally
and I have cleaned it several times myself. That's why I installed
the Racor Closed Crankcase Ventilation System to keep the oil vapors
from being sucked back into the radiator thus clogging the cooling
fins. If this doesn't work a new radiator or a recore may be in my
future.
It would be nice if this works out. It could in theory give me a
continuous 45HP increase. That's almost 10% increase in power. Maybe
I can get up to that 8 MPGallon all those Prevost guys brag about. If
you believe that you probably think going green, and going nuclear
aren't the same thing. OOPS!
I will also mount some larger internal compartment lights to better
see at night. And a 12v access port.
Kurt Hovath
95 PT-42 WLWB
Fayetteville TN