Community Forums

dgerstel · 09-25-2007, 08:55 AM

We have decided to take a break and get out of town for some R&R and a chance to check out some of the projects that I had been working on. Just a short trip to Pahrump.

I find the new location for the Jake brake switch to be much more comfortable to use. I can rest my arm on the arm rest and hand on the shift pad/Jake brake switch. This requires no reaching to operate the jake brake.

The insulation under the drawers above the engine works great. The problem is that I am still getting heat from the rear closet wall. The area between the rear cap and rear wall is open to all of the heat from the engine and I am not sure if the rear wall has much or any insulation. I had foreseen this and had a couple of ideas on how to fix this.

#1. Make short templates out of card board for the lower area between the wall and cap. Transform these into thin plywood pieces that I would "spray foam" into place, effectively sealing the area off from the engine heat.

#2. Stuff as much fiberglass insulation up into that area as I could and again "spray foam below to hold in place. The advantage with this fix is to help with heat from the sun on the back of coach and in hot areas (like Las Vegas.) I would welcome any suggestions as to a better way to accomplish this before I start it.

The Aqua Hot is working very good now, good air flow, quicker heating and next to no heat in cabinets. I will have to say that I may have done more work than necessary, but was not trying to test what was causing the problems, I was just interested in fixing them. The larger vents that I reworked may not have been necessary, as the one in the toilet room was not changed and after straightening out the ducts is getting better air flow. I didn't change this one since it feeds such a small area and I didn't want it to get too hot. Also thanks to the post from Jerry and Judy Davis, we know that some coaches are just fine. The other complication to my project was as I fixed the ducts and vents I found 1 heat exchanger had a fan disconnected and on another there was a piece of tape across the back of the fans restricting air flow. As to the shower vent I think if may have normal air flow but is hard to tell due to the fact it is only fed from one duct and has a large opening (slow air flow.) The best I can tell, there is only heat loss to the small area in the shower floor ahead of the vent. I did change the outlets under the couch, the ones it came with directed the air flow at the floor and I changed it to blow the air out into the living area. I haven't worked on the ducts in the dash and that air flow is still less than the others and directed at the floor.

The fan system in the entertainment cabinet works well. I have wired the fan above the Directv receiver to run on a separate switch so that I can run it with out the TV on. The receiver, standard or DVR, generates a lot of heat all of the time when the inverter is on (all of the time with residential fridge). I put the temperature sensor from the new tank gauges in that area so I can watch the temperature. I do plan on putting it on a thermostat. The fans are still noisier than I like and I plan to experiment with other fans when I get home.

Dale

dgerstel · 09-25-2007, 08:55 AM

We have decided to take a break and get out of town for some R&R and a chance to check out some of the projects that I had been working on. Just a short trip to Pahrump.

I find the new location for the Jake brake switch to be much more comfortable to use. I can rest my arm on the arm rest and hand on the shift pad/Jake brake switch. This requires no reaching to operate the jake brake.

The insulation under the drawers above the engine works great. The problem is that I am still getting heat from the rear closet wall. The area between the rear cap and rear wall is open to all of the heat from the engine and I am not sure if the rear wall has much or any insulation. I had foreseen this and had a couple of ideas on how to fix this.

#1. Make short templates out of card board for the lower area between the wall and cap. Transform these into thin plywood pieces that I would "spray foam" into place, effectively sealing the area off from the engine heat.

#2. Stuff as much fiberglass insulation up into that area as I could and again "spray foam below to hold in place. The advantage with this fix is to help with heat from the sun on the back of coach and in hot areas (like Las Vegas.) I would welcome any suggestions as to a better way to accomplish this before I start it.

The Aqua Hot is working very good now, good air flow, quicker heating and next to no heat in cabinets. I will have to say that I may have done more work than necessary, but was not trying to test what was causing the problems, I was just interested in fixing them. The larger vents that I reworked may not have been necessary, as the one in the toilet room was not changed and after straightening out the ducts is getting better air flow. I didn't change this one since it feeds such a small area and I didn't want it to get too hot. Also thanks to the post from Jerry and Judy Davis, we know that some coaches are just fine. The other complication to my project was as I fixed the ducts and vents I found 1 heat exchanger had a fan disconnected and on another there was a piece of tape across the back of the fans restricting air flow. As to the shower vent I think if may have normal air flow but is hard to tell due to the fact it is only fed from one duct and has a large opening (slow air flow.) The best I can tell, there is only heat loss to the small area in the shower floor ahead of the vent. I did change the outlets under the couch, the ones it came with directed the air flow at the floor and I changed it to blow the air out into the living area. I haven't worked on the ducts in the dash and that air flow is still less than the others and directed at the floor.

The fan system in the entertainment cabinet works well. I have wired the fan above the Directv receiver to run on a separate switch so that I can run it with out the TV on. The receiver, standard or DVR, generates a lot of heat all of the time when the inverter is on (all of the time with residential fridge). I put the temperature sensor from the new tank gauges in that area so I can watch the temperature. I do plan on putting it on a thermostat. The fans are still noisier than I like and I plan to experiment with other fans when I get home.

Dale

EngineerMike · 09-25-2007, 09:46 AM

Dale- Did you reuse the TV fans that came w/the coach or are these V2.0 fans?

dgerstel · 09-25-2007, 10:33 AM

The new "quiet" fans.

Dale

OldForester · 09-25-2007, 06:12 PM

Dale & Dixie,

Didn't you put in the new fans from Michael Robinson? I put his fans in and I can't hear them; neither can my wife. Twice I've removed the cabinet doors on one side and the black cover panel over the electronics, because I couldn't hear them, and found they were both running. I'm amazed how quiet they are, especially compared with the factory ones.

So, I'm just curious if you put in the same fans, which I thought you did, and why they are making some noise.

dgerstel · 09-25-2007, 08:26 PM

OldForester,

They are the same fans. They are much quiter than the stock ones. Are you just using 2 fans?

Dale

OldForester · 09-26-2007, 07:24 AM

Yes, we are only using 2 fans because that's all that were in our cabinets on our '06 Limited - one on each side of the TV.

dgerstel · 09-26-2007, 07:55 AM

The 2007's (and on?) use 4 fans one in each side cabinet and two behind the TV. When trying our system last nite I shut off the fan above the DVR and only ran the one above the TV and the one by the DVD/amp. The temp above the DVR stayed fine. I think I can get away with only one fan when taking the hot air from the top, behind the TV and then running the other fan, above the DVR, on a thermostat for when the TV is off.

Another way that may work better than stock is to make some openings in the black panels above the satellite receiver and the DVD/amp, use thicker silicon bumpers on the cabinet doors to hold them open slightly (this is what I did) and use just 2 fans blowing in. This would pull cooler air in from the lower area by the windshield and exhaust the hot air out of the top of the cabinets, from the openings in the front panels you made, to the highest area in the coach.

Dale

dgerstel · 09-26-2007, 09:08 AM

I wanted to add to my report on the use of the Aqua Hot system that it now works acceptably on electric power. It is not as fast as with diesel and is mainly good for only one end of the coach at a time, but a great way to be able to use it when plugged in.

Dale

dgerstel · 09-26-2007, 02:42 PM

After seeing how my fan system for just the DVR worked this morning, with temperatures in the mid 70's and lots of sun, I have rethunk my design. The way it is working now, is that I am blowing the hot air out into a dead area. The heat's only place to exit there is under the cabinet and up the face to the higher ceiling. This kind of defeats my purpose of the air intake in the face of the cabinet. I think a basic rule of heat transfer would be bring cool air in the bottom and exhaust hot air out the top when possible. The design I mentioned in my last post seems to be a much better idea. I will try this when I get home and report how it works. I will still need it to be able to keep the DVR cool when the TV is not on, but I still think it may be possible to run it with one fan and multiple power sources. It has been hard to test anything at home, as the AC running all of the time changes everything. Hopefully it will cool down soon.

Dale