mountainoliver

This my bathroom shower/faucet arraignment and was installed by Oliver when our trailer was built. I wanted to have my choice of shower heads and also have the same faucet in both the bath and kitchen.

Our winter trip to Quartzsite was the first long test of our NovaKool fridge. We left home December 20th and arrived back home February the 24th. The first three days on the road it was cloudy and rainy. I don’t know that I had to but, on the third evening I ran my generator for about an hour. Several days of travel out to Quartzsite we boon docked with one night on shore power. Four nights at Lost Dutchman State Park with a day or so of clouds. Ran the generator one morning for a couple hours. We were at Quartzsite for ten nights with mostly sunny days so didn’t need the generator. Traveling home was a little disjointed so there were some shore power days and a bunch of boon dock days but didn’t need the generator on the trip home. Our fridge typically draws about 4 amps while running. Sometimes running more than 50% of the time and sometimes way under 50% of the time. All the while holding fridge temperature at about 34 degrees and freezer at around 19 degrees. We did need to defrost the fridge on the way home. Don’t know if excess frost affected the cycle time or not. Anyway, with our typical power usage we were overall pleased with the ability of the Oliver LEII solar/lead acid battery performance. One issue which Lithium batteries may solve is the Lithium batteries ability to charge quicker than a conventional battery. There were a couple of times that there just wasn’t quite enough hours of sun to get the job done. The next day of full sun was able to top off the batteries. Either more solar panels, quicker charging batteries, or a little of both would solve that issue. I think that the standard LEII solar setup is right on the edge but is probably about 80% or so adequate. Testing continues....when we’re allowed out of our house. Great information Overland! Your assumptions are spot on based on your actual experience, others actual experience, and my experience so far. We liked the extra capacity and relatively quick recovery when loading room temperature items. With the extra capacity, we found that an extra cooler was not needed except maybe if camping many miles away from anywhere to buy food.

Yes, that’s the one. Currently it is imported and installed by Advanced RV in Willoughby, Ohio. They list a cost of $2,749.00 installed. You correctly listed the YouTube video showing the inside of the unit. I agree it would be great to have an AC unit using the Danfoss inverter driven compressor.

There is an RV shop/dealer? in Ohio that is a rep (Advanced RV) for an Australian built ac unit that is billed as a quiet ac unit. I think that this is the only USA rep so far. Probably google quiet RV ac and that should find it. I looks like a very well built unit and is predictably very expensive.

Last week I ordered two sets of Timken bearings and seals thru a local industrial power transmission supplier. I used these folks often when I was working and feel like I can trust them. They said that they receive their stock directly from Timken so I guess that wherever Timken has their products manufactured....well you know. I’m sure if they are made in a Timken plant they’ll be good quality. The guys did say that Timken bought out National seals so they are now one in the same. That explains why part numbers cross over. The seals I ordered were Chicago Rawhide brand. I’m very comfortable with these as I have used many seals of this brand before I retired. I didn’t write down the cost numbers but I will say this, that they weren’t anything like $5.00 a piece. I’m supposed to pick up my order Monday or Tuesday, so I’ll see then where they were made. I guess that you could just keep buying the Chinese no name bearings and just replace them every year. I just don’t like having to do it on the side of the road. Anyway,

Also, I forgot to mention that there should be an over temperature switch to shut everything down if all else fails. At least I would think that there should be?

Wow! That’s a little unsettling, that means the sail switch that detects air flow/fan turning is maybe stuck in the “made” or air is flowing position. That one little switch is supposed to prevent the burner from igniting if there is no fan to cool the fire box or to provide combustion air flow. (two different fans/one motor on the Suburban furnace) The burner will ignite if there is no combustion air flow but will not ignite if there is no air circulation flow to cool the fire box as the switch only detects the latter. I wouldn’t use the furnace until you can figure it all out. No air flow is a dangerous situation.

Thanks! I originally really hoped to find something already made but there just doesn’t seem to be grills that are 2 or 2 1/2 inches wide and 24 3/4 inches long out there.

Typically the furnace will not ignite until a proof of fan switch is made. In other words, the fan must be running first then the burner will ignite. Either all of the register dampers are closed or the ducts are not attached to the furnace. Check both of these things.

An incremental update. I finished the upper and lower grills so I’d call the installation complete. The fridge has been running continuously on either DC or AC since I received it coming up on a month now. We have been on a long weekend camping/test trip and we’re pleased with it’s performance. It maintains upper teens to low 20’s in the freezer and low to mid 30’s in the fridge regardless of the outside temperature. The compressor seems to run for about 5 minutes and then is off for about 5 minutes if it’s hot (95 or so) outside and is off a bit longer if it’s cool (mid to upper 60’s) outside. So far the 320 watts solar and four T105 batteries have been able to keep up. Testing will continue on upcoming trips.

I’ve noticed the large somewhat blurry avatars as well. They overlap the I guess it’s called banner.

Great job! Looks perfect. Mine has to just set out in the weather.

The fridge has a circuit specifically for a fan. The fans turn on and off with the compressor. They start a second or so before the compressor starts and turn off at the same time as the compressor.

I just completed my changeover to a Nova Kool compressor fridge. The model I ended up with is a R5810. These photos show some of the major steps of the installation of the new refrigerator. Because the opening is a little bit too wide, I had to fabricate the four stainless brackets. They are epoxied in place and allow the fridge mounting screws to pull against the fiberglass cabinet front. The outside upper and lower vents are still removable and are sealed with closed cell foam. I used the outside access several times during the installation and can see a benefit to having outside access in the future for cleaning behind the fridge, etc. Because everything associated with the fridge is now inside the camper, it is 100 times easier to remove and replace. I disconnected the gas line outside under the camper and replaced the "T" fitting with a flair union. I plugged both ends of the gas line that runs up to the old fridge so that it'll stay clean for future use if needed. The last things that I have to fabricate are the upper and lower grills. I have 1/8 aluminum stock that I'll cut to size and mill slots in. I plan on painting these gloss white. When running the only noise (and it's very slight) are the fans I added to help remove the heat from the back of the fridge. So far the fridge has been running on battery power from the day I received the fridge now 14 days ago. There have been several cloudy days during this time and the batteries have come back to 100%. The only things running have been the fridge and the Maxxfan on auto mode. There have been temps in the camper of 95 degrees and the fridge has maintained 18-22 degrees in the freezer and 33-35 degrees in the fridge. Testing will continue with a few short trips before we head out to Quartzsite in December or January.

Mary Kay and I were greatly saddened by this news! We are thinking of and praying for strength in the coming days for the Oliver family. We are very thankful for knowing Jim. He will be greatly missed.

<p style="text-align: left;">Sherry, next time you see Steve you really need to take a look the rock collection! I’m surprised you haven’t seen it yet. ?</p>

NowrNever, you asked what other folks’ weights were. On our LEII the tongue weight is around 650-675 pounds and the loaded trailer is about 6,700 pounds. I have the tongue basket with a Honda 2000 generator and a fuel container with about 2-3 gallons in it. I also have the two 30 pound propane tanks. We also always travel with a full fresh water tank and empty (as much as possible) black/grey tanks. I tow with a 3/4 ton truck and don’t use the Andersen Hitch. As John said, the Oliver LEII trailers tow perfectly stable.

Steve, this new slide design sounds cool. I know that if you’re designing it that it’ll be great. I can hardly wait to see the finished product! I have been considering a bed slide but now want to wait until I can see your new one.

Yes, 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts and nylon locking nuts. My original coiled cables were attached to the tongue with 3/8ths grade 8 bolts. I wouldn’t use anything smaller than the 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts.

This is what I ended up with. I chose 3/8ths grade 70 chain and hardware. Grade eight fasteners with heavy washers. The black washers I made from 1 1/2 dia bar stock and are 1/4 in thick. The stainless washers I cut from 3/16 plate. The large bar inserted into the tongue is 1 1/2 in thick stainless machined width to just tap into the tongue. The matching grade 70 hooks fit nicely into the Chevy 2500hd Duramax hitch. I think that EACH chain assembly is good for (WLL) is 6,600 lbs. Breaking strength is 4 X the WLL so 26,400 lbs of breaking strength.

Mine does not have any type of foam filter in the inlet. There is just the outer plastic grill and a plastic frame with a finely woven nylon screen that snaps to the grill and that’s it, just these two pieces. The terms used in the previous posts are somewhat confusing. There is an outside grill with round holes maybe 3/16 in diameter and a screen made up of monofilament nylon finely woven that acts as a filter. This is snapped to the back of the grill but no foam whatsoever. At least on my air conditioner. If there is an additional piece (a foam filter) mine is missing that. That would make three pieces: the outer grill, the woven nylon filter, and the foam filter according to the other descriptions?

Raspy and Dave, you are correct. The safety chains should each be able to carry the full load as there is no way to absolutely guarantee that both chains/hooks will share the load evenly. Having two chains allows provision for a backup in the event that one fails. I changed from the factory cable setup for several reasons, one being I got tired of cutting myself every time I had to wrestle the cables/hooks into compliance when attaching or un attaching them. Also they were only connected to the trailer tongue with 3/8ths bolts and fender washers. Lastly, the small hooks would not fit my truck hitch. I went with 3/8ths grade 70 chain and hooks and grade 8 bolts/nylon lock nuts. I believe that this chain has a breaking strength of 28,000 pounds. (That could be wrong, I haven’t looked that figure up in a while) anyway, there’re sufficient. Also don’t twist/knot the chains to achieve the correct length. That weakens them! Cut them to the correct length. I haven’t changed the break away switch cable but you are correct. The cable should not be infinite in length as our coiled cable is. It should be solid and just long enough so that if the trailer disconnects the brakes will apply before the chains reach their length limit. We (I) should get rid of the coiled brake safety cable version and get the true cable version that won’t stretch. It should be at the correct length. Also the brake safety cable should be attached to the tow vehicle or hitch directly only not to the safety chains. Sort of defeats the purpose if the chain breaks? I believe that the intent is to have an independent attachment point again for redundancy as with having two safety chains.

The sealant that is now used at Oliver is ASI (American Sealants, inc) 335. It’s a 100% neutral cure RTV silicone. I have used it and it’s very good. I have also used a GE silicone product stock number SIL2KB WHT 140648. This seems similar (don’t really know) and it works pretty good as well.

So with the “Ram Boxes” it looks like you cannot use a bed cap or a tonneau cover, correct?

Cool, you all should have a mini new owners rally! All of you staying at the same campground will be great fun! Congratulations to all of you, I know that you’ll love your Olivers as we do ours.