mountainborn

The anode for the Oliver's Suburban Water Heater is aproximately 9 3/8" long and a larger diameter. Which translates to more surface contact area for better performance in protecting the heater. It is long enough and end heavy enough that when you go to screw in the new one , you have to make a concerted effort to make sure it is level so the threads will mate up readily. I have read on some forums that the installer thought they had the wrong anode because they found it was difficult to start the threads. Level alignment is the secret to quickly threading up a new anode to the water heater housing.

Some aftermarket anodes come in a bubble pack that has a bushing for the larger pipe fitting that the suburban has. Most of them are brass and work well. The one I bought doesn't need an adapter bushing. The one that has a drain petcock in the end of it has an adapter bushing and will fit either size. The drain anode version is pretty handy in some cases. For example, you know that your anode is ok, but just want to drain the water heater. A few turns of the petcock does that for you.

Found this Anode on eBay for $12.70 delivered to our door. While checking to see what the final cost would be, I took the shopping cart to check out in paypal, and for some reason there was a .97 cent discount deducted from the final cost. Since they will combine shipping I also picked up a spare. Here is the Url: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/RV-Anode-Rod-for-Suburban-Water-Heater-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2em20Q2el1116QQitemZ370029491121QQptZMotorsQ5fRVQ5fTrailerQ5fCamperQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories The local RV store was $14.95 plus tax and the expense of a 48 mile round trip.

Want more info about the water heater's sacrificial anode ? Here is a link to the search results for "sacrificial anode" over on the Casita Club's Forums: http://www.casitaclub.com/forums/index.php?act=Search&CODE=show&searchid=d08dba01aaf273610b76db5d7bcda348&search_in=posts&result_type=topics&highlite=%2Bsacrificial+anode

Have you pulled the plug on your hot water heater Yet ? We just pulled ours for the first time since we owned our Ollie. We were a bit worried about how it would look because the accepted wisdom on other forums is that it must be pulled and the tank flushed every Winter. Most of the time they recomend a curved water hose attachment to flush the tank out with. We went thirteen months because we used ours all during the first winter we had our Ollie. Since this is our second Winter with our Ollie and the water heater plug and sacrificial anode had never been pulled, also since our hot water tank had never been drained, we were somewhat worried. The worry was for naught ! The anode had been pitted but was aproximately 70%. The tank drained and flushed easily with very little particulants noted. Photo to follow. I am trying out a new camera. Yeh I know, it's about time ! Ok, gotter": So, whadda' ya' think ? Go for another year on the anode ?

Happy Thanksgiving to all ! No serious weather here yet in the Ouachita Mountains, just cold nights and mild days.

Each equipment manufacturer, or most of them anyway, have an online manual for their own particular piece of equipment. A clickable link to each one, so the end user could print it out as needed maybe ? For example Fiberglassrv has this very informative and useful page just full of links. It is so useful that several online forums link to it. This link is from casita club: http://casitatrailer.com/

I just went to Alltel's web site to see what the latest deal on the starcom is. It is free after a $100. rebate. Alltel will want a two year contract to be able to get the device for free however. It comes with an USB extension cable about three feet long. With the cable and the device, I have been able to find a usable signal everywhere I have been, so far. Some places have been better than others so far as speed is concerned. A good example is the speed tests shown above. Here is what the Ut STARCOM 175ALA looks like:

Home from deer camp, getting ready for work tomorrow. Stole a few minutes to do a speed test and to post the results. This device has it's own assigned cellular telephone number so the distance from where it thinks it is at, to the server can be off by quite a bit, by the time the call bounces from cell tower to cell tower. Using a server in Springfield, Mo: Using a server in Dallas, Tx:

Astrocaster, that is a super setup ! The D shapped brackets will allow the panel to not only adjust, but will fold inward for storage ? We tow with a Jeep Wrangler and TV storage is limited. Is the box on the back of the solar panel a connection point, or is it also the charge controller ? Say, it didn't take you long to get that photo posting thing whupped !

Bugeyedriver said: Very cool idea . . . (now, if you could also incorporate a boat, some jugs, and a HUGE catfish) > Great idea for our next coin Pete ! > Here is the final version of the coin. It has been sent to the mint to be struck. Should be in our hands soon we hope. Because the coin is small and only a limited amount of detail can be placed in such a tiny area, about the size of a quarter, we chose a somewhat styleized version. The web addresses will give complete details when they go there.

Great discussion you guys ! Sounds like we might need a new sub forum for MANUALS, DOCCUMENTS & DIAGRAMS. That could be used as an on line master catalog, with each owner printing as needed. Our member Steve, SCUBARX, might have an intrest in that also. He is a whiz at spread sheets, ect. ect..

Thanks Pete. I think Astrocaster, Steve, is trying to figure out how to post photos so he can give us a look at his setup. We have traded a couple of pm's about photo posting, and I bumped up the "PHOTO POSTING THE EASY WAY" thread in the campfire forum. Neither he or I was able to locate the thread we needed using the search functions, both regular and advanced. It maybe something we can get Jonathan to look into. I will copy, past and send this to Jonathan.

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He, he, I wonder if that's why I subconsiously listed indoors sports activities like breakfast, lunch & dinner ! Last New Years Day we were at the factory in Hohenwald and found a few minutes to look for a few geocaches. It was so cold that the brass monkey . . . . .

We got a good look at Paul and Sherry's solar panel setup at the RVER II. It was ever so cool. No storage problem or carrying problem with their set up. A quality installation and set up in every way. Betty and I have talked about it every since the rally in VanBuren Arkansas. After much discussion about our style of camping and our power needs, we have came to a bottom line conclusion. The majority of our camping is here in the mid west, you know, trees and shade around the lakeside. That means that our Ollie is almost always parked under a oak tree, in the shade. Bad for solar panel productivity. So we need a panel or panels that can be set up in a sunny area away from the Ollie. That brings up several other issues. Cable length, cable size, wattage output, controller location and equipment security, just to mention a few. Portable solar panels were discussed in this thread earlier, but most of the questions above were either not brought up, or just barely touched upon. We found a 120 watt folding panel set up in Australlia. Shipping was as high as the initial cost. Things we worry about in our quest to go solar: Where to store the panels and protect them from travel damage. ( Had same issues on our generator ) Most panels don't have protective frames around them, no storage case, and don't fold for storage. Higher wattage panels usually are designed for permanent installation on a roof, and are large and heavy. One high wattage panel might do for us, but a single rock strike might put it out of business . Replacement cost for a damaged larger panel could wreck a good trip's budget. Gradually we became of the opinion that if we had a metal, under the Ollie, lockable storage, it would solve some of the above. The panels that we think might work are small 15 watt units that have a plastic frame and a ground stand bracket. They gang togather with a controller to make a 60 watt charger. Two of these setups would give us a 120 watt system for around $800. Northern Tool Part # 50044 I guess that going out on the lake and leaving a $800 solar system sitting there unattended in a boondocking location would worry us some. Any ideas on how to secure panels sitting 50 feet away from the Ollie ? I probably havn't listed all of the issues, solutions or concerns, but if you would, please, help us to brain storm this solar thing. We really would like to have solar battery replenishment capability. Your questions, suggestions and critique will be appreciated.

The third week of January. The dead of Winter. The hollidays are over. It is too early to go fishing and deer season is over. Cabin fever runs rampant ! Somehow, this time of the year, we just gotta' get out. We are discussing another trip to the factory to get a few upgrades, you know, stuff like those double pane windows that weren't available when we picked up our Ollie. Any one else going to be going to the factory during that time frame ? We could make the nice folks over at the Junkyard go crazy ! We could make breakfast at the General a real happening ! We could make the Mexican buffet at the RIO Colorado an absolute blow out ! We could . . . . . well, you get the idea. So, how about it fellow Ollie Owners, are ya' gona' be anywhere in the area about that time ?

Want to put your hull number in your signature line as some members are beginning to do ? Just open the user control panel and click on edit signature. Type HULL NUMBER In capitol letters, swipe the words to highlight them, make them bold by clicking on the B, after then type the last four digits of your vin/hin number, 0004 . To turn the numbers red just swipe them to highlight them, then select font color red.

Laptop in deer camp, just came in for a late lunch. > Many Rv'ers refer to their electrical hook up as shore power. Much of our trailer's equipment and the trailer it's self, is Marine grade. Traveling our nation's highway system is much like navigating our nation's intercostal waterways in a boat. Since the highway system connects our nation from coast to coast, our highway system might well be referred to as an intracoastal byway system ? All of that might just be the fanciful meanderings of an old Navy bratt. But, there is some logic to the reasoning behind the Hull Number system. Here is a link to a Wikipedia listing for Hull Number: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_number I'll bet nearly everyone can draw some similaritys out of the article. Just something to ponder as we cruise our nation's vast asphalt network.

The topic seems to come up often. I began to notice it at the River Valley Egg Rally II. It came up as Oliverans, Casitans and others, discussed their favorite topic, fiberglass travel trailers. Almost every day I would hear some refrence to someone's HULL NUMBER. I didn't know what our hull number was until some one showed me it was a sequence in the VIN. That's the Vehicle Identification Number. I think it was Chuck, TUMBLEWEED, that showed me that our hull number was three. After that, I found myself looking at VIN stickers to see how much newer than our's, was their Oliver. He, He, nearly every one's is ! For example, at the RVER II, the newest Oliver there was Steve and Tali's hull number 26. I guess that there is something about those sequential numbers that places travel trailers in their own special slot in the history of the manufacturer. Lots of brand names of travel trailers seem to list those numbers prominently, and their parts department often refers to that number when something is needed. I guess that most of us are fascinated by those old photos of travel trailers gone by and the photos of some of the various trips and safari's they went on. Sometimes they would convoy in numerical sequence. The Owner of an Oliver may change, but that hull number will always be the same. It is a permanent part of that vehicle's registration, and a way of tracking the history of that particular Oliver. It makes me wonder, is it too early to start a OLIVER DIRECTORY ? Maybe a online directory ? I know that Betty and I wouldn't mind being in such a directory. So to that end, I have listed our hull number in our signature line. I think that is is kind of a cool way of marking our Oliver's place in time !

Thanks Cherie ! We really like the paper towell rack and think it might also be used in other applications. We will look in Target at the first opportunity. Now, how about those big old suction cups you are using for coats and hats ? Where did you find them ?

Large heavy raindrops woke us up in the night. Wind gusts up to 30mph, we learn from NOAA radio. A norther blew in during the night. Ice on the inside of the windows dissappears quickly with a single flick of the thermostat. Yeh, we sure do need those double pane windows ! The stained old coffee pot percolates on the stove as we flush and brush. The starband 175 is somehow pulling two bars of signal out of the cold pre dawn air. It is time to venture outside and poke up the campfire. The dogs in the kennel are ready to go.

Just got back to deer camp from a day out in the woods. At first I thought I had clicked on the wrong link and was at some other forum. Easier on the eyes ! Thanks Jonathan ! By the way, saw your facepage. Pretty Lady, there with you.

It is deer season here in Arkansas, so we are in deer camp. The camp is really out in the sticks. I have found one place in camp where there is one bar of signal that seems to come and go frequently. Yet, we are able to post on the forums and view web pages with occasionaly having to click refresh to get a page to load.

SWEET ! Thanks Evon !