TimD

We have had a significant water leak on our current stay in central NJ. After connecting to city water and finally sitting down after a long day we noticed a stream coming from the rear street side scupper. After some investigation we discovered that a plastic PEX-to-female NPT fitting had cracked and broken clean off. The fitting is located at the HW heater outlet and is subject to full (regulated) city water pressure. Needless to say this was like spraying a small garden hose into the engineering space, not good. We've succeeded in drying things out but we will add fans and dehumidifiers back at home. A bit of a scramble later I'd replaced the failed part with a brass fitting sourced from a (fortunately) nearby and very posh Airstream dealer. As it was 4:45 PM on Labor Day Saturday they were very quick to help me and see me out. IMO this part is a failure risk and should be proactively replaced. We aren't sure why it failed other than fatigue. In the pic the NPT part of the broken fitting is not shown. Hope this helps Tim

We did not add that, but it is possible the prior owners did as they did a lot of deep winter camping. Thanks Tim

Forgot one. You can see the black & red power wires for the existing fan (mounted on the coil fins) rising vertically from the control box. Perhaps it is thermostatically controlled. I'd didn't bother to figure it out.

Finished the install. A somewhat complicated project but definitely helped by all the great info posted in this thread and elsewhere. Thank you very much! To summarize: As the brackets supplied by Beech Lane weren't going to work in our 2021 LE2, hull #701, I rearranged the fans to bring the cables to the front and then fabricated a mounting bracket from some ABS sheet I had in my shop. ABS is great stuff, nearly indestructible and easy to glue with ABS glue (a mix of acetone, MEK, and dissolved ABS. Don't drink it.). Nothing else works, including epoxy. The fans and bracket sit atop the space, let's call it a plenum for simplicity, in which the 'fridge coils reside. The rear longitudinal piece, which has foam tubing on it in the final version (not shown) sits snugly in the vee of back wall. The tabs on the lateral pieces sit atop the hull honeycomb behind the grille surround and are screwed vertically into the honeycomb with 8x1 1/2" stainless sheet metal screws. The fan assembly isn't going anywhere. The three cables from the controller run through a new 1/2" hole drilled in the cabinet wall and downwards. One you find the right spot with the fish tape it is straightforward to push the cables & tape downwards until they are visible from inside the plenum. The fan power cable and connector are routed to the right, wrapped in electrical tape, and secured against the wall using 3M 3340 HVAC tape. From there it passes through the bubble wrap insulation and up to the area to the left of the upper cabinet, behind the 6" round access panel and switch panel. It is necessary to pull the bubble wrap insulation and original HVAC tape away to access this space from inside the 'fridge upper vent area. Meanwhile, the controller and fan power wires are routed across the top of the vented area and secured to the plywood. It is necessary to remove a piece of foam secured by HVAC tape to access this space. From there the power wires are routed down the aft side of the 'fridge coil space and secured with cable clips. As suggested by @RonbrinkI spliced the power cables into the existing +12V and ground by removing about 1/4" of insulation, wrapping the fan power wires around the 10 ga. 'fridge power wires, soldering them in place, then covering with shrink wrap and electrical tape. The power cable supplied by Beech Lane is too short to reach all the way down to the bottom of the 'fridge so you'll need to add length if you go this route. I used 18-2 cable from a big box store. The OEM Beech Lane cable is like 22-2 and somewhat difficult to solder, so be forewarned. The controller & fan power wires were secured with cable clips and 8x1/4" stainless sheet metal screws. The temperature sensor was provisionally mounted in the upper aft part of plenum and secured with 3M HVAC tape. Not sure whether that's the best place or not yet, it may be better off further down the plenum. The pink foam which had formed the front wall of the uppermost part of the area behind the upper grille was replaced and secured with HVAC tape. Last, the controller was mounted to the rear wall of the cabinet using heavy duty Velcro. I used two 1/4" wide strips of hook material on the back of the controller and two 1" squares of loop material on the wall. There's no need for more than that as the controller weighs very little and using more hook material will just tend to pull the loop material off the wall if and when you need to move the controller. We'll see, we're not going anywhere 'hot' until February when we'll be in central Florida. Bench testing showed about 0.6 A draw, or the amount shown on the fan label, when the fans were set to run at 100%. Thanks to everyone and I hope this helps. Tim

Hey Geoff, yes, that's what I suspected, and the notion it was coming from the panel was confirmed when I pulled the cable off the back of the panel and the V went to zero. Oddly the LED did not illuminate when I removed the fuse, unlike with the other fuses I tried. Thanks everyone, this forum rocks! Tim

Perhaps someone here can help this retired engineer (BSEE / MSCS, not bragging) understand what's the heck is going on here. I'm in the final stages of wiring up a Beech Lane 'fridge aux fan. My plan, based on a suggestion by @Ronbrink in this post , is to splice the fan power into the heavy-gauge red & yellow power cables connecting to the rear of the 'fridge. Soldering to the yellow conductor (ground) went fine. The red (+12V), however, is sitting at 12.09 V after I've pulled the 20 A Refrigerator fuse (#1). With the fuse in place the voltage rises to 13+ V, which is what the solar charger is putting out at the moment. I have not yet disconnected the batteries... To be clear the 10 ga. red & yellow wires come up through the floor of the 'fridge compartment and normally connect via spade lugs to the black control box on the back of the 'fridge. Are these not the DC power cables to the 'fridge? I don't think they lead to a motor start capacitor... Seems like there's some path to the batteries, but I don't understand why that is, and why it isn't interrupted when I pull the fuse! Thanks in advance... Tim

I'm continuing to work on the Beech Lane aux fan install. I will post pics when done. Meanwhile I discovered our trailer already has a fan on the 'fridge coils! Not sure it is operational. I don't think it is very effective. The clue was the black & red wire pair running from the electronics module on the back of the 'fridge upwards towards the evaporator coils. I did not RTFM to determine whether the fan speed is controlled by the 'fridge. The Beech Lane fans should make this redundant but getting it out would require removing the 'fridge, which I'm unlikely to do. Photo is looking up from inside the lower access panel. Tim

Thank you @jd1923 and the rest of youse for all that! Very helpful! I've looked at the Gree unit and the Turbro previously. Continuous fan run seemed like it might be a problem, as did lack of a condensate drain connection. I was not aware of the Cielo thermostat. More homework to do! Thanks again Tim

Reviving an older thread. Thanks to all who posted! We are preparing to replace the Dometic AC in our 2021 LE2, mostly because it is so crazy loud. At the moment the Houghton unit looks like it is as good or better than anything else out there. Would anyone care to offer an update to their experiences? We live in New England but haven't done much winter camping, mostly en route to/from warmer climes. We're not dissatisfied with the propane furnace, but one less thing to break is always good.. Anyone wish they'd gone with the heat pump and eliminated their furnace? Last, anyone more confident that 9.5K BTU is enough cooling? Thank you!!! Tim

Here's an update on the LE2 sliding vent window tracks. I believe the correct Hehr part numbers are H109-602 (for the curved sections) and H109-599 for the straight pieces. These can be ordered from Pelland. There is an update for these vent tracks. The tracks having the wooly fuzz on each side vertical section were replaced by flexible track made of TPV. I do not have part number or supplier information for that, at least not at this time. The TPV track is flexible enough that a separate radius-ed part is not required. The sliding portions of the 5600 / 7600 windows are not designed to be removed (the only Hehr window sold up to this point which is designed this way), so replacing the vent tracks can be tricky. I understand the vent tracks were made by an (unidentified) outside supplier and not by Hehr. I further understand that the window model number is 5600. Hehr 7600 windows are identical to the 5600 with the exception of the outer trim, meaning 5600 and 7600 series parts should work on Ollies with 5600 series windows. Neither the 5600 series nor the 7600 series are shown among Lippert's current product offerings. The story is a lot longer than this, but the important information is above. Tim

Having worked as a design engineer for 40+ years, including 20 at the world's #1 telecom manufacturer, I think I can say that this is emphatically not how you should treat your customers. I can accept assemblies going EOL (though just why a sliding window becomes "obsolete" isn't at all clear), but refusing to provide even basic information with which a customer can identify an alternative parts supplier is simply not OK. Tim

Today's update. After getting a mild runaround at Lippert, I was connected to a "CS" rep in Direct Sales Customer Service, from whom I learned the following: The Hehr manufacturing plant in Chesaning, MI, where at least some of the RV windows are made, is closing in the immediate future. Whether the windows used in our LE2 were made at this plant isn't 100% clear, but I think they were based on the discussion. Per the Lippert "CS" representative, that plant cannot provide spare parts, or any information on the parts used in the window, the window model number, or whether the plastic bits of interest are manufactured on-site or by an outside supplier. They don't give that information out - obviously it is top secret - but were unable to provide any rational explanation why. The Lippert "CS" representative was unwilling to provide a contact at the plant. The explicit suggestion was that I replace the window (!!!), which oh by the way might require modification before it would fit. The Lippert "CS" representative's position, on which they have been coached, was that window obsolescence in the RV industry was common practice and, implicitly, that I deal with it. I made clear that there were approximately 2000 Oliver travel trailer customers who were being stranded by Lippert. I'm not quite done on this path but the situation isn't looking promising right now. Oliver, if you are reading this, a phone call to Lippert might be in order. Tim

Reviving an older thread. First, thanks for posting this. These tracks - in which the glass panes slide and which are NOT the flexible rubber 1/2" black or white seal easily available from Pelland - are cracked in spots on our hull #701. I'm trying to identify model of the (we think) Hehr windows and the specific part number and description of these tracks. There are both straight and curved pieces, which conform to the perimeter of the glass. They appear to be segmented into 4" or 6" lengths. If anyone has more info on these please post it. I'll share what I learn, if anything. Thanks!!! Tim

No issues so far and I don't really anticipate any. Could be wrong. We did upgrade our rack to an "RV rated" unit from 1Up. Best Tim

Had ours done today, hull #701. The unit which came out looked brand new. I think I'm going to salvage the igniters and possibly the solenoid. My shop billed an hour. On to the compensation phase of the project 😀 Tim