Leaderboard

Try this: https://www.amazon.com/Barker-24130-Auto-Drain-Valve-3/dp/B003VAYMB4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529930280&sr=8-1&keywords=barker+auto+drain&dpID=51YLzqVCWEL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch Bill

The installation of these valves is high on my list of to-do’s. They are manually operable in case of failure (mechanical or electrical). You do not have to remove or modify any of the plumbing to install.

My water heater quit working on gas a couple of days after delivery. I did some basic troubleshooting and determined after ten minutes that the ignitor was not firing. The system would cycle on and off three times, then lock out with a solid red light. The overtemp switches were not tripped, and there was gas, which I proved by carefully sticking a long camp stove lighter in the burner hole. I clicked the lighter and the flame POPPED and whooshed out and burned all the hair off the back of my hand. Check, there is gas! Note to self: do not do this again... I called Jason at Oliver Service and asked if he could send me a replacement board so I could install it myself. He told me that they do not warranty the appliances and I would have to take it to an RV dealer for repair. Fine.... I found a new OEM module on Amazon for $79, and also a much better aftermarket one for about the same price, but it would require a new plastic cover. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0002MG2IK/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IY2Y0Y0X7RVZF&colid=1X5H11EH41351 https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B007HRVXY6/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3LZPCEN833TPC&colid=1X5H11EH41351 Since it was going to be a warranty repair, and I am a confirmed cheapskate, I scheduled an appointment at a local shop in Spokane. They told me it would be three weeks before they could see me, and that they stocked a lot of boards for the Suburban heaters, so most likely they could fix it while I waited. I told them that I would be surprised if the job took more than fifteen minutes, and access to it was great. Three weeks later I showed up, checked in, watched with concern as they took Mouse away, and then I waited. Half an hour later I was called into the office. "The board is bad." ME: "Right, I knew that and I told your tech." "In order to do this under warranty we have to order a replacement board from Suburban, and it will take two to six weeks to get here, do you need the water heater to work before then?" ME: silence, counting to ten very slowly. "Sir?" ME: "I do need it to work on propane. Is there an alternative?" "We can install an aftermarket Dinosaur Electronics board, it is a much better part and has a five year warranty, and we have plenty of those in stock since the Suburban boards fail so often." ME: Sinking heart. "How much would that cost?" "The board is $129 and the cover is $10, and it will be $279 total with labor." ME: "I wish this was mentioned when I talked three weeks ago. Just put it back together and I'll order the part from Amazon and fix the heater in two days." "OK, fine, that will be $50 plus tax for the diagnosis." As I left, the tech who did the work told me quietly, "I left your old board on the floor at the entry, and I also left a used one that was in our junk box. We strip stuff like that off old water heaters when we scrap them. It will probably work fine for years. They sure did build your trailer nice!" I was floored and relieved, and my faith in mankind got a very small boost. I thanked him and left with Mouse, feeling a lot better. I got home, plugged in the board and the heater fired right up. Woohoo! My old (brand new) board that failed (water pump is to the left): The underside, showing the bottom of the fried resistor. The white foam strip goes on the PC board and keeps it off the mounting surface (the water pump and manifold assembly plate). If I had the notion, I could have replaced that resistor for less than a buck.... I don't know how I should feel about the dealer, their parts prices are _over_ MSRP and they sure try to screw you, but then the tech went way out of his way to make things right. He could have got into trouble with his boss, too. Moral of story: unless it is an expensive repair or you can live without a part for a long time, just fix it yourself or have a buddy do it for you. I hope to never go back to a dealer, ever. There is no way I was going to leave Mouse there, and then have everybody start crawling around inside, looking. John Davies Spokane WA

Anybody done a mod where you can close the basement door while a drain valve handle is pulled? I know it’s best to only drain the tanks when there is water in them so I’m not wanting to open the valve and leave it open. I want to be able to open a valve and then close the basement door when it is raining cats and dogs and the water is pouring off the roof directly onto the open basement door. Bill

I showed this to Scott Oliver at the Rally and he had not seen it before. The trip to Lake Guntersville has this starting to happen again on both sides. I am going to Hohenwald in June and will see if I can get them to address it. Hope this is helpful to others. Hello All, I wanted to update those of you following this thread on our fenders. We had a service call in Hohenwald last week and I got the opportunity to met Daniel Oliver as he wanted to see our trailer and what was going on with the fenders. He introduced himself and went right to work crawling under our trailer and looking at the fenders. 5 minutes later he was back in front of me saying - "That's not right. Sub-assembly (this is what Oliver calls the tandem wheel carriage) is mounted too far forward by almost an inch." He then went right on to tell me the solution "Going to order you a new sub assembly with no mounting holes drilled in it. This way we don't re-drill your frame and weaken it. Instead we will drill the sub assembly one inch back, to make it all perfect" I have to say Daniel knows his product and made me feel very good about how Oliver was going to address my problem. Few company's admit their mistakes and even fewer fix them on their on dine. Very happy and proud to be a Oliver Owner. It will require another trip back to Hohenwald but, we love TN and it's just another reason to go camping. One interesting note to share: Parked right next to our trailer in the factory service area was the Muckle's trailer. This is the trailer that made us Oliver owners. The Muckle's spend two hours with us that day and it was the best orientation we ever got. I still hear Gary talking to me every time I setup or pack-up our trailer. Onward!

Yes, that's the filter. A good tip when emptying it is to first shut the valve leading to the fresh tank before unscrewing the clear bowl. This will prevent the water left in the line from sucking anything that was caught in the bowl back into the tank as you release the seal. Have a towel handy as it will always spill a bit. The city water bypasses the pump and fresh tank, so there's no reason to turn it on when connected. If you haven't already, I would disconnect the city water, add some water to your fresh tank, and then test the pressure with the pump on. That will help narrow down where the blockage may be. And if it does work, then you at least have the option of filling your tanks and working from the pump. You can actually use the onboard pump to flush out the city water line, same as you would compressed air. You just have to remove or reverse the check valve at the city water inlet and then turn the pump on. Since I always forget to check the obvious things, have you checked for kinks or a blockage in the hose? Also, how is the hot water pressure relative to the cold? If the hot is fine and the cold not, then likely there's blockage at the second tee. If it's the same, then the blockage would have to be at the first tee or in the line between there and the city water inlet.

If plenty of pressure at the pedestal, I would shut it off. Then I would turn on the pump and see what that pressure looks like. If the pump works ok, the lines and faucets are ok. If the pump system is ok I would recheck, one by one, all the valves again. I have taken a copy of the valve picture in the manual and keep it in the valve compartment. The next question I would have is what did the Service department do? What might they have done, especially if all was ok before they touched it?

Sucking air before the pump will cause the same sort of problem. If any of the line connections aren't air tight it can be hard to locate, I found one of the plastic connectors couldn't seal completely.

Novakool observations - model R5810 This was the closest fitting fridge to the opening from the Dometic, there is approximately ½" on either side (½" foam insulation extremely tight fit) and about 2½" both top and bottom, but not having all the propane components in the rear the fridge is actually deeper and this has more interior space. With the extra space above and below I utilized that two area for the ventilation. With the compressor only needing to be cooled and the exchanger in the back being able to exchange the air, unlike a 3-way which actually generates extreme amounts of heat, I decided to keep everything internal and closed off the outside vents. The compressor on it is in the upper left rear corner, which is good as it then keeps any compressor heat generation above the exchanger in the rear, for maximum fridge cooling performance. I blocked off the top area, to control airflow, and installed two 40mm (I think) super quiet computer fans to pull the warm air out, which connects to the OEM fan connector to run whenever the compressor runs. I used reflectix insulation, with the curve of the hull some places are 5 layers deep and the thinnest is 2. In the outside, I have cut to fit vinyl sheet, from some cheap the surround wall, between the tight fit and the stock vent covers it is held in pretty tight. I haven't determined a permanent resolution yet, but this one will last a while. As to performance, the fridge runs on an approximately 50% cycle and the overnight draw is usually 23AH, which is easily recovered by 10-11am most days. The fridge is extremely stable temperature wise, the difference between fridge and freezer is generally 16 degrees so at a 4.5 out of 7 on the dial, it maintains 35 in the bottom shelf of the fridge and 18-19 in the freezer. I do not have any sort of air circulation inside the fridge, everything is stock. I used rectangular aluminum under the fridge, secured to the floor, to lift the fridge 2", for the bottom air intake. I did not want to screw through the face so I drilled holes into the rectangular aluminum and used turn buckles to secure to the screws where the face frame mounts to fridge body. The bottom of the fridge is pulled tight against the cabinet frame and the airflow block on the top is a tee that spans the width of the fridge and is cut to fit height wise which keeps it tight and prevents the ability of tipping (just in case). The vent covers are held in place magnetically, this was an afterthought or I would not have had the screw holes cut. While in dead silence sitting at the table you can make out the sound of a fan hum the only real sound it makes is when the compressor kicks in there is a low vibration hum that fades out once it is going, I figure something I did is slightly loose and could use some padding but unless you're Archie Bunker it wouldn't be an issue.

It makes me really sad to see such shoddy work from the factory techs. There is no excuse for that. It is a result of the person not caring at all about the quality of his work. But more upsetting, it was not inspected and corrected afterwards. Two fails, bad news. I am not impressed. John Davies Spokane WS

Was this not the exact problem the Cash’s were having at the rally? He posted about it here, but I don’t recall ever reading a solution.

Other than checking lines for "kinks" as per Mike's suggestion the only other thing that I can think to do would be to use an air compressor to try to blow air from the bathroom sink faucet towards the water pump - first remove the water pump filter so that you don't blow any foreign matter back into the water pump. I'd do this in short bursts of air at no more than 50 psi. However, if you are not at home this is a bit difficult to do unless you carry an air compressor with you. Bill

We had that same problem, I did the same things you have, with the addition of removing the shower head and flushing out the line. I was getting ready to remove the sink cartridge and soaking it in white vinegar when it just returned to normal. My guess was that it was just a temporary clog. Good luck Steve

After I had the accumulator tank added I was having water pressure problems, too. They moved the water pump to the left to make room for the tank but used the old hose which wasn’t quite long enough causing a kink. I went to Home Depot and got a hose 2” longer and the problem was solved. Here’s a picture of the kink.

I have some experience with sailboat refrigeration too. I went from ice to a Danfoss 12 volt compressor system that was built into a highly insulated, top loader box. The box was much better insulated than anything in an RV. The compressor was 12 volts in, but it had it's own inverter system and was actually an AC hermetic motor. The compressor and condenser package was mounted under the galley sink and the lines went to an evaporater plate in the box. It got rid of it's heat with a typical air heat exchange coil and it was remote enough to have no affect on the box. This system worked well as far as keeping the box cold, just as a home refrigerator does, but it used a lot of power over time. IIRC, it took about 3.5 amps and ran about 30% of the time. This meant it ALWAYS had to have power, 24 hours a day, and that is a problem on sailboats. It's also a problem in RVs. Solar works during the day, but having enough to dedicate to the fridge and keep it going reliably all night, every night becomes a problem. A fan in the box really helps cool everything down, but it's not always the best thing, or has to be sized right, because it tends to make everything the same temp, including the freezer section. My next home built system, on the boat, was a holding plate system with a true 12volt motor and belt driven compressor. I mounted a skid with the equipment in a locker near the fridge box and got rid of the waste heat with a heat exchanger cooled by sea water. This was much more efficient, but the water cooling system was troublesome because it required a thru-hull fitting below water level that was also not likely to get air bubbles while sailing. Plus the pump used power and did not last long in that situation. So I went back to the drawing board and designed a submerged heat exchanger for the fuel tank. This delivered all the waste heat to the fuel in the tank and required no pump or sea water system. Excellent! It reduced the power draw and eliminated all the associated other problems. I was also able to manage the power use because it only needed to run about 15 minutes every six hours or so. This meant I could time it to run when hooked to shore power or with the engine running, a lot of the time. No more near constant draw. The difference was a relentless, but low power draw that always had to be on vs a manageable, occasional draw. The constant low draw is much harder to deal with and is the way it is in RVs, unless you have relaible solar and batteries or a shore tie. Absorption has it's shortcommings too, such as slow operation and a lot of waste heat, but I can't see how 12volt systems are enough better to warrant the change. Before deciding on a truck fridge, look at a small office fridge or your home fridge. They run a lot because they don't store cold. And they make noise. Consider how a constant energy draw will be managed in poor weather, or at night or in the shade. Those passive condenser coils are a poor way to get rid of heat, are mounted right on the fridge and must have ventilation.

Jason, very glad to see the article in Trailer life magazine on the LE2. However, I was VERY NOT GLAD to see pictures of the small storage areas that ONLY Oliver owners should know about in the article. Don’t know if the folks that allowed the pictures to be taken were Oliver associates or “helpful” owners but anything you can do to discourage this in the future would be very much appreciated. This (yes I am being intentionally vague even here) is a great feature of your trailer, but NOT a selling feature. Please PM me if you have any questions. And btw..... this is not the first time this has happened in this publication. Thanks, Scotty