Mike_Tassinari
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Re: 2007 OKanagan 117
Hello and good evening Bosun Truck Campers usually have 3 check valves in the water system. 1: City Water Fill You cannot see it but its there to stop water from coming out of that device when you are using on board water. Your water pump is drawing off your fresh water tank and pressurizing your entire R/V. That Check Valve stops the water from leaking out that city water fill 2: Water heater (Discharge side-hot water coming out of the tank) It looks like a 2" plastic nipple coming out of the hot water side of your water tank. Its internals consists of a spring and plastic ball.Its put there to stop the back flow of anti/freeze when you are winterizing and putting in that pink stuff. If it was not there, you would be pumping 5 gallons of anti-freeze inside your water heater. Now saying that there are some MFG who opted for basic shut off valves and you maybe not have a check valve!! But based on your comment of the lack of water pressure, my vote is yes you do have a check valve 3: 12 volt Water Pump Its part of the water pump assembly to stop water from back filling into your fresh water tank A) You have a bad check valve in your water pump - Replace the entire unit b) You have calcium build up in that check valve on the discharge side (Hot) of your water heater. Replace with a brass check valve244Views0likes0CommentsRe: Antifreeze NOT Bypassing Water Heater
Evening Dan. So here is what is happening. If I read your post correctly, 1- You have the by/pass valve open that switches the water pump suction side from its normal operation of taking water from your fresh water tank, and now suction anti-freeze thru a hose stuck in a bottle of Anti-Freeze 2 - You have the second by/pass valve close to stop anti/freeze from entering the cold water inlet side of your water heater, and when in that position allows anti/freeze to enter the hot water piping of your R/V 3 - What most people do not know, is what the heck is stopping the anti/freeze from entering the hot water outlet in your water heater That because to save money - instead of putting a third valve to stop the anti/freeze from entering the hot water outlet of your water heater--------There is a check valve and I am guessing your check valve is junk and letting anti/freeze into the water heater via the hot water outlet pipe. FYI - Looking at that outlet nipple that threaded into the hot water side of your water heater - it looks just like a 2" or so nipple - NOPE, there is a check valve inside that puppy. Lastly go with a brass check valve instead of the plastic one. Mike Tassinari544Views0likes0CommentsRe: Adding more Solar and DC-DC charger
Hello Moonlitsouls. Lets face it, going off grid is all about battery storage capability - solar panels and how to charge ones battery bank. This is my set up,,, Ford Truck - 2002 Ford F350 7.3 diesel Truck was ordered with the single alternator. Second independent Alternator - 200 amps Twin Deka group 31 flooded deep cycle battery's hanging from the trucks frame rails. All wiring is of 1/0 gauge welding wire. (fine strand) Lance R/V - Twin Deka group 31 flooded deep cycle battery's Total of 4 solar panels for a whopping 470 watts of charging. The solar panels are fixed and do not move. Also for ease of wiring, the 2 factory solar panels have one thirty amp charge controller and the 2 Kyocera panels that I added also have their own 30 amp controller Also the Lance R/V has been totally re wired with 1/0 welding cable. For connectors between the Truck & RV I used 175 amp Anderson Connectors All Battery's are wired in parallel configuration with the positive wire of the R/V on battery #1 positive post and the R/V negative with on battery #4 of the negative post. This way all battery are equally in play and draw down together and charge up together. Besides the usual R/V electrical usage, I keep an ARB compressor freezer in the back of my truck that also draws off my Battery Bank. It stays on all the time and have had this ARB in the truck for over 2 years now. Lastly I have a 2000 watt pure sine invertor located in the R/V and is wired with 3 - double pole, double throw relays so I can take 3 120V circuits off the Lance 120 volt system and with a flick of a switch swap these circuits to the Inverter. I can go up to 3 cloudy days with no sun and my battery bank will be in the 11.8 to 12.0 range. My latest test was my R/V was parked in from of my house for 3 weeks with no shore power and admit to have no more than 2 cloudy/rainy days at any given time and my battery bank never ever dropped below 12.2 amps. The best charging feature for me is that independent 200 amp alternator and its exciter circuit. I have seen over 50 amps of power going into my battery bank when driving down the road. Yes the solar is great but with 3 stage controller limiting me to 70 percent bulk charge then 20% absorption charge then the final 10% float charge, when your battery bank is down 50 percent or so, you need something faster to charge those 4 battery's Lithium battery's do not work for me as I do too much winter camping and if you are the owner of Lithium battery's you know what the cold does to them. Bottom line: Four - 115 amp Deka flooded battery's Four - Solar panels with a total of 470 watts Zero electrical issues. Mike Tassinari816Views0likes0CommentsRe: Lance 1172 plug wiring access
Morning Everyone. I have replaced a couple of "Camper Side" pigtails for Lance 1172s. Inside the R/V, you need to remove the carpeted step that you stand on to climb into the cab/over. You do that by finding the screws hiding in the carpet. Once you find all the screws (5 I think) - voilà the plywood step can be removed. To the left of that step, is a smaller carpeted piece of plywood. One time I had to remove it - one time I did not. Same procedure look for the screw heads in the carpet. Lance makes it very miserable to change out that Camper Side pigtail. To the left of that black Atwood Board is a couple of cut/outs in that piece of wood that supports the Atwood board, where wires are coming thru. Once you wade thru the rat nest of wired, you should be able to identify the black & white 8 ga charge wires that come from the T/C pig tale. I found by removing the screws that hold that plywood with the atwood board and the mess of ground wires and the 2 grounding bars, you could slightly slide or lift that plywood to the right and access the lance pigtail Good luck Mike Tassinari P/S - I need a bit more specifics before I cam answer your second question. p/m me and we can exchange phone numbers and chat. Mikeee258Views0likes0CommentsRe: Atwood camper jack
Good afternoon John I can help you as I was a test bed for Reico Titan jacks a few years ago. They wanted a heavy T/C (Lance 1172)and we replaced my Atwood jacks one at a time with a Reico Titan jack. The R/T jacks tracked perfectly with the Atwood jacks in all configurations. Also an added bonus is the R/T jacks are a direct bolt on with no additional hardware needed. R/T does recommend you purchase 2 jacks at a time. So sitting in my shed is 4 Atwood HD jacks. Thats my truck and T/C in the Truck Camper Magazine article. Mike Tassinari P/M me and we can work out the details I live in eastern MA 20 miles north of Boston465Views0likes0CommentsRe: Atwood Furnace Problems
Good afternoon Pomology. Had the same problem with my Atwood furnace a few years ago. Drove me crazy and spent a pile of cast replacing parts that were probably good. I bit the bullet and went to a friend of mine down on Cape Cod who does R/V repairs of all sorts. It turn out to be the "High Tension" wire that supply's the electricity from the main electronic board to the spark/sense rod. What made it worse for me as my furnace always worked fine in the moderate temps and fired up every time. When it got down to say in lower 3o ties or colder - sometime it would fire up - most times it would not. Hope this helps BTW - Everytime you shut off the on/off switch on the furnace - you are resetting any faults what may be on the board. Mike T552Views0likes0CommentsRe: Water pressure problem
The water pump has a built in check valve to prevent water from flowing back into your fresh water tank when you are hooked up to city water pressure. My guess since your water flow problem in common to all of your hot and cold faucets, that check valve must be stuck and severely limiting the amount of water getting into your hot and cold water lines. Easy way to check this is to disconnect your outlet water line at the water pump and see just how free flowing the water is comming out of your pump. Mike Tassinari663Views0likes0Comments
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