Vehicle tow weight

[tstriblin]

My wife & I purchased a 31SA in April 2015. Big problems (questions).

1. Can I tow a Ford F150 (4x4) with the Ford V10 engine?

2. How can you use the res ref with the inverter turned off?

TIA. Travis

[Mr_D]

1. No idea

2. Why turn the inverter off?

[Skip426]

The RV's weight sticker should give you it's tow weight rating and GCWR.
Then all you need is to run the truck over the scales to see if the numbers.

About your inverter, do you mean how does the fridge work when you're on shore power, ??
The inverter, should auto by-pass ( stop inverting as soon as shore power is applied, and switch to charging the batteries if it's a full function unit).

Weight sticker will be inside somewhere , every manufacturer hides them, usual back of a closet or cupboard. Will look like the photo below.

[tstriblin]

I am not on shore power. I did not want to run the gen all night at the campground (Darlington raceway), but as soon as I turn off the gen, the ref goes down. the battery indicator states I have 13.1 battery life. The guy on the phone from Red Bay told me to turn off the inverter when I turned off the gen. That does not seem right to me. What will power the ref (110 volt).
Travis

[tstriblin]

I am not on shore power. I did not want to run the gen all night at the campground (Darlington raceway), but as soon as I turn off the gen, the ref goes down. the battery indicator states I have 13.1 battery life. The guy on the phone from Red Bay told me to turn off the inverter when I turned off the gen. That does not seem right to me. What will power the ref (110 volt).
Travis

[allegro1x]

you might want to talk to other people in MH's that are there to find out how they are handling this situation. Sounds like you will need to run generator some during the day for the refrig. Dave

[twinboat]

The fridge runs on 3 sources.

Shore power, bypassing the inverter.

Generator power, bypassing the inverter.

Inverter power, that has to be turned on.

There must have been some misunderstanding with the guy on the phone.

You will be using your battery power overnight, so you will need to run the generator in the morning for 2 or 3 hours. Then run it again before going to bed to top up the batteries for the night.

If your running your engine, the charging system will top off your batteries, so you won't need to run the generator on travel days.

You actually should be able to leave the inverter on all of the time you are using the fridge. Just turn It off when storing it.

Good luck

[paz]

Originally Posted by tstriblin

I am not on shore power. I did not want to run the gen all night at the campground (Darlington raceway), but as soon as I turn off the gen, the ref goes down. the battery indicator states I have 13.1 battery life. The guy on the phone from Red Bay told me to turn off the inverter when I turned off the gen. That does not seem right to me. What will power the ref (110 volt).
Travis

You should turn the inverter ON when you shut down the generator. That's what it is for - to power things like the fridge when you have no shore power and no generator.

The amount of time you will get from your battery bank will depend on how many batteries you have and what else is running off the batteries. With other things like TV and lights turned off and just the fridge running, you should be able to go all night. If not, you need to think about adding more batteries.

I installed a RR in the Allegro Bay we used to have, and we have one in the 5th wheel we have now. Both were hooked up to an inverter. Since we're full-timers, our inverter is turned on 24/7.

[JohnBoyToo]

heck with the fridge ! what are you doing for air conditioning ?!?!

but, just like at home when you lose power, if you don't open the fridge, it will stay cool for a long time...
consider how long an ice chest works - maybe keep water and drinks in an ice chest for daily use so the fridge can stay cold.

and a good test to tell if your freezer stays cold,
freeze a dixie cup (or cone) of water, tear off the cup and place in a bowl in your freezer, check it daily to see if it's melted

[kab449]

Originally Posted by tstriblin

My wife & I purchased a 31SA in April 2015. Big problems (questions).

1. Can I tow a Ford F150 (4x4) with the Ford V10 engine?

2. How can you use the res ref with the inverter turned off?

TIA. Travis

I'll address the towing question as others have adequately addressed the inverter.
Your chassis should have a GCWR of 30,000 lb. If you weigh just the motorhome fully loaded you can subtract the two to get the weight Ford says you can pull. But Tiffin will only certify the hitch as they installed it for 5000 pounds. Not enough for your truck. If you change the hitch to a weld on truck hitch rated for at least 7500 pounds and the total weight between the motorhome and truck is less than 30000 pounds you'll be ok provided you are satisfied with the performance.
I pull the newer F150 with the Aluminum body but it still weighs 5500 pounds necessitating the hitch change.

[Rockwood27]

The 31SA is built on a 22K chassis with a 26K GCWR. It also has a 5K hitch. I would think a F150 is a bit much for that MH. You would need to weigh your fully loaded, ready to travel MH and the F150 to see how the numbers add up.

[kbhine]

Never turn off our inverter..

[NevadaNick]

I also never turn off inverter.

[allegro1x]

Race is over, so I guess he survived. I didn't know a F150 could have a V10 engine. His gas mileage is going to be really bad towing that truck. Dave