Brought our new 97' Allegro Bus home on April 3rd of this year. Winter didn't ended up going away till late May then my mother became ill and passed on....so, we now have her place finished and are back to our own life in progress.I've got the leveling system and Norcold fridge figured out. The Norcold was real nice how it searches for the optimal power supply automatically which in my case right now is AC as I've got it plugged into the house.Ok, my question is for the Duo-therm control for the A/C. I would like to fire up the generator and test the A/C units with that because I'm afraid of tripping my breaker. I know not to use both units at once on a household line but I may try doing a zone at a time. My fear stems from the fact that I think this electric line also carries our water point pump and I don't want to mess with that at all.The operator's manual for the Duo-therm says nothing at all about power source (the genset manual doesn't seem to help me answer this either.....I have a huge folder full of owner's manuals about transfer switches, etc. at my finger tips I just don't know where to start.I need to know....after I start up my generator how can I be sure that the A/C units are going to use it for a power source without unplugging the MH and my fridge? I just plugged the Norcold in yesterday and don't want to unplug it yet....but will if I have to.Thanks

On most the gen set overrides the shore power.

MountainAir05 wrote:On most the gen set overrides the shore power.I think the opposite ! On mine the Shore power overrides the genny. If the switch in your home senses shore power it will use shore power. My thought is to switch the fridge manually to propane/gas and then unplug the shore power. Conduct the a/c test then replug the shore power and put fridge back on automatic. Run the genny with just the fans running on the a/c for a little while just to make sure everything is functioning well on genny then load up each a/c one at a time. Check for surging of the genny after turning each one to a/c. I have a feeling the genny has not been used in a while.

Thank you both for your replies.I think to be on the safe side I will unplug first just to be safe then if I learn otherwise I'll know.Thanks again! PS. The generator hasn't been run since April.

Hmmm...I'm just looking at the generator section in the little handbook for the bus itself and it reads, "The 120 volt output of the generator is connected directly to an automatic change-over switch. With the gen power plant operating, power is available at all of the 120 volt power outlets in the MH just as if the cord were connected to an external source."I still think I'll unplug first though.

Look for a manual for an automatic transfer swith.. Or if you wish to shortcut.Pull the shore cord.. The Norcold should switch to GAS within a couple minutes, verify this then start the generator.. MOST onan generators start like this.Hold the STOP button till the light comes on.. I like to hold it another 10 -30 seconds. Then push START (The 30 second hold starts the fuel pump and primes the system, NOTE that is for gas models, Should work OK with Diesel as well).Once it starts release the button and sit back, in about 1/2 to 2 minutes you should hear a CLUNK and/or notice interior lights get brighter.Once that happens the Norcold should switch back to A/CNow start your Air conditioenrsTO SHUT DOWN GENERATOR... NOTE This time let it run at least an hour, 2 would be better, also if you have water in the system fire the heater up)Turn off A/C first (And water heater in fact ALL big loads) THEN push the stop button, wait at least a minute before restoring shore power. Short: UNPLUG first, THEN start generatorShut generator down first THEN plug back in.

Need a hint please! RE: 97 Allegro Bus/DuoTherm/onan gen

dayakster
Explorer
Jul 24, 2014
I have another quick question about the A/Cs. The unit over the bed has less vent holes and therefore doesn't "blow" much whereas the one in the living area you can feel. Is that normal?

NEVERMIND....I feel the air coming through the ducted ceiling vents!

Sorry about the thinking out loud!
dayakster
Explorer
Jul 24, 2014
CORRECTION! This morning when I fired it up I had forgotten to umplug first, oops! But this time when I went out I did unplug and the Norcold was set to auto ac before I even got to it AND the microwave was lit. It wasn't earlier.
dayakster
Explorer
Jul 24, 2014
Oh...I found the manual for the switch but it was just primarily an installation guide and then I found the switch box itself and there were no buttons or dials or switches on the outside of it so I am assuming it's fully self operational?
dayakster
Explorer
Jul 24, 2014
Well, I finally got a round tuit. I didn't feel well yesterday but today when my husband left for work I decided to push the genny button and see what happened and it fired up nicely on about the 3rd push. The last time it was on was April 3rd.

So far I've learned 2 things.....my hour counter doesn't work which I hope isn't too big of a deal. Is there another one besides the one on the dash? Is the a counter on the generator itself? I used the remote dash button to start it because I'm a girl and I'm afraid to push buttons on things that could splode in my face.....anyhow it turned out ok so far. I let it run about an hour and a half.

The other thing is that my Norcold stays on Auto LP with the gen running and when I read further into the operating manual it seemed to back that up.

Since it was only in the 50's this morning I decided to wait till it warmed up this afternoon to try the A/Cs so instead I pulled the filters and washed them and hung them up to dry.

The generator sounded good....my husband has been in the generator manufacturing business for 42 years but the MH is my baby so he stays out of it until I get things figured out....but if there are issues with the generator itself he can probably help with that.
dayakster
Explorer
Jul 23, 2014
Will do! I've got the Tiffin forums in my favorites and I surely will drop in.

Thank you again!
dougrainer
Nomad
Jul 23, 2014
darsben wrote:
MountainAir05 wrote:
On most the gen set overrides the shore power.

I think the opposite ! On mine the Shore power overrides the genny. If the switch in your home senses shore power it will use shore power.
My thought is to switch the fridge manually to propane/gas and then unplug the shore power. Conduct the a/c test then replug the shore power and put fridge back on automatic. Run the genny with just the fans running on the a/c for a little while just to make sure everything is functioning well on genny then load up each a/c one at a time. Check for surging of the genny after turning each one to a/c. I have a feeling the genny has not been used in a while.

ALL Transfer switches come with the APU as the controlling over ride. ON some Transfer switches you have a switch internally that you can change the option to Shore Power as control and the over ride. Some OEM's (very few less than 1%), will have the Shore Power as over ride. Doug
accsys
Explorer
Jul 23, 2014
dayakster wrote:
Thank you John/Doris. I think you put it in the simplest terms yet! I appreciate it!

I am signed up for the Tiffin forum but I felt with a 1997 oldie but goodie kind of out of place with the folks ordering brand new Tiffins but I'll have to give it another try.

Don't feel intimidated by all the new coaches. A good many of those owners may have owned a 1997 at one time. Tiffin owners tend to be very loyal to the brand and keep buying newer Tiffins as they go along. It is probably the best RV forum I have been on as it addresses our coaches and the users are very knowledgeable about them. If you have a problem, there is probably someone on there that has had the same problem and will reply with the fix.
dayakster
Explorer
Jul 23, 2014
Yea, Tinstar, the problem is this is an old farm house and I'm just not sure. The outlet on the back porch than I'm plugged into is right above the water pump down in the basement and I have a hunch they are on the same circuit and I really don't want to mess with that one.
Tinstar
Explorer
Jul 23, 2014
If you've got 20 amp breaker, you should be fine to run one a/c without a problem.
dayakster
Explorer
Jul 23, 2014
Thank you John/Doris. I think you put it in the simplest terms yet! I appreciate it!

I am signed up for the Tiffin forum but I felt with a 1997 oldie but goodie kind of out of place with the folks ordering brand new Tiffins but I'll have to give it another try.

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Need a hint please! RE: 97 Allegro Bus/DuoTherm/onan gen

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