Climate Control thermostat fix!

[40KB LIMITED]

I have finally found the problem with thermostat, which has been unable to regulate the temp in the RV. After drilling holes in the thermostat housing (cover) to allow air in, I thought the problem was the temp sensor was picking up heat off of the cuircut board making the thermostat think the temp was hotter than it was. For nearly 6 months I've fought this problem! Now that we are in Denver CO, with temps -16, I couldnt get the RV warm enough with the LP furnace. Just the other day, I went to turn off the living room lights and noticed the light switch was very warm/almost hot! so I knew the heat from the switch was rising into the thermostat cover keeping it warmer than it actually is! The first fix I tried was spacing it off the wall with 2 bottle caps lol! that did help a little, but not enough. So I decided to move the thermostat away from the switch and that fixed the problem! In the photo below, you can see the 2 different temps. Cover the hole and bam! done!

Skirting your camper?! who would have thunk it really helps? WE DO NOW! Skirting was $2500 for our camper that was made out of vinyl...no thanks. We saw a few other RV's with insulation board and tape around the bottom so off to Home Depot we went. $200 later, we have INSULATED skirting! And with the thermostat fixed, temps in the camper has been as high as 76 degrees when outside temps were around 42 degrees. The lowest out was -4 and 62 in the camper. Big Difference!

[mhs4771]

You may have solved the immediate problem, but I would be very worried about that lite switch being Hot. Do you have LEDs or Halogen Living Room lites? If LEDs there's a problem somewhere, if the Halogens, might just be their high draw, but it sure sounds like that switch should be replaced.

[40KB LIMITED]

Yes its Halogens and I thought the same thing. I will convert over to LED.

[lwg]

40KB,
So I'm not completely understanding. Are you saying that by moving the Thermostat, spacing it from the wall and putting some additional holes in it that the temp has stabilized and thus you can now obtain a higher temp in the coach?

I've noticed on mine that if I set the heater to 74* that it will only heat the coach to about 68* or 69* before showing on the thermostat a temp of 74*. At that point the heater cuts off, but within a few mins when the thermo comes back down to 69* (the actual room temp) it'll fire back up. It definitely seems to cycle until everything gets heated up. Drives me crazy!


Second question, Where in Denver do you stay? I've long looked for a decent park to stay in the area and just can't seem to find any? Lastly, I'll be skirting similar to yours in about a week when I go to Fruita, CO for the winter. Did you just tape the foam to the underside of the Redwood? How did you secure it to the ground? Stakes?

[40KB LIMITED]

the wholes and spacing is not nessassry now that I figured out what the problem is. it just needed to be moved away from the heat source which was the switch. I had to put a small thermostat next to the one on the wall to see if there was differences in temps because in the summer, the AC wouldnt cut off due to the thermostat reading 87 degrees and the room temp was almost 62! In the winter the heater wouldnt come on due to the thermostat thinking it was 79 when it was actually 62!

We couldnt find anything decent either so we are staying at the KOA in Strasburg, 30 miles from Aurora. Everything is tripple price due to the pipeline workers filling up rv parks. We measured and cut to fit the boards from the ground up to the camper and just taped it. No stakes, hasnt moved at all with the wind. 1" thick insulation board.

[homeguy]

check Flying Saucer RV park in Denver. Not a great area but better than nothing.

[40KB LIMITED]

Yes we have stayed there meany times. I work here every other year. I have never paid more than $550 a month at most places here. But now with the pipe line workers and construction going on here, every place I've called was $850 $1000 and $1500 and these places are 30 minits to and hour away. The prices have tripled do to Suply and demand said one RV park.

[lwg]

Those prices are crazy! We have family in OK in the middle of the oilfield area and we just ended up buying a lot and setting it up for an RV. Way cheaper for us in the long run.

In Denver this isn't quite as simple, but it'd sure be cool to have a small space setup for RV's that one could lease out to a select few for periods of time. Kind of like an RV lot timeshare without the RV park experience (we're not fans of RV parks, but love RV's). There's obvious state and county codes that would have to would have to be navigated.

[JerryL]

FYI, most mobile home parks will install a 50 amp hookup, and they are much cheaper than Rv parks for work campers. The one I'm staying at is 185/month, and my electric runs about 100, propane about 80/month.

[40KB LIMITED]

There was one trailer/RV park 30 min from Denver that offered a price of $350 so we went to it the night we got in to town. It was raining and you needed a 4x4 to get around in the park. I didn't want to pay the $850 at the KOA so we tried it. It was horrible I could barely get the 42' down the narrow roads, drug a tree limb all the way down the paint broke two vents off the roof from another low hanging tree. When we reached the lot they had for us there was no way it would fit in there. As I was on the roof checking on what was broken the manager came up. It's still raining at this time and I'm not happy and I let him know it mainly about the trees 5' out in the road. At this time my brother walks up with my parts that where falling out of the trees and said lets get out of here. So we tucked our tails and went to the KOA. The next day when I looked at the parts he gave me, some were mine and some were from other RVs that must have been stuck in the tree also.

[Hairfairy]

We are having the same problem with our heater. Our Redwood is new and the lp heat just cycles every five minutes. Sometimes it heats sometimes it just blows cold air. We have to wait hours before it heats again. Thermostat feels ok. No heat around it. We have had two repair callers and they can't find a problem. I'm freezing. Help!

[40KB LIMITED]

From what you are describing I think you have a gas problem. It sounds like you heater is coming on and running but no gas is there to light so it cuts back off and then tries again.
First I would check to see if the bottle valve is all the way open.
Second see if all the burners on the stove will run on high at the same time to see if they are getting enough gas to run on high.
If not I would check the diaphragm at the bottle. Mine have stuck a few times I just tapped it a few times with something and it opens to let gas come through.
If you find out there is gas getting to the heater then I would check the igniter it may not be working to light the gas.
Other than that I would have to take it in to a dealer.

[atom ant]

Sure glad I never had to camp in Denver, unless it's the driveway

[40KB LIMITED]

Also this week the the air duct that feeds the bed room come Untaped and fell down. I had to open the wall in the storage compartment and reattach it with black gorilla tape. The zip tie they used to hold it up also cut into the very thin allum piping and was leaking air out. That was a easy fix.

2 day into this cold weather my wife noticed water coming out under the frig. This has happened before. It was the ICE. Maker line on out side of RV behind the frig I have the disconnect it refit the rubber gasket then reinstall it. Good for another few months.

[40KB LIMITED]

We just found RV park in Denver called Denver Meadows. It is same price $850 a month but everything is included in price not extra for electric. Pulls 30 miles closer to Denver and 1.5 miles from job site.

[40KB LIMITED]

Some one just pulled in next to us last night in a front living room model Redwood. Haven't met them yet.

[Hairfairy]

Thanks, we have done all of the above. Even the service tech can't figure it out. It works when he looks at it. It usually cuts out when the weather gets so very cold. I hate to think about taking it back as we are living in it. However, at this point I hate the thought of being cold or our pipes freezing. I'm hoping we can figure it out soon

[Dave&Ginny]

There is a chance if you got your tanks filled on a rainy day or in high humidity....the valves could be freezing. If you have a heating pad, put it on the open valve for about 20 minutes and see what happens

[markw]

40KB, I'm not familiar with your floor plan but is your converter in a cabinate below your t-stat. Mine is in my 36RE. Just wondering if heat fron the converter could be coming up inside the wall.

Mark

[40KB LIMITED]

No my inverters are just behind the wall is to storage.