Inverter/Basement Heat

[Cutch]

I have noticed that the basement is quite warm with all the electronics located within. The Inverters, Fridge, Aqua Hot all contribute to generating heat and may affect the life expentency. Has anyone mounted a fan inside the basement to circulate air to try to keep these components cooler? The basement is also pretty air tight without any ventilation. Has anyone vented the basement?

[brobox]

The battery compartment is open on the Classics allowing for air circulation. I live in hot FL and have never had a heat problem in the basement. My TS with the same basement setup was 12 years old when I sold it with everything in the basement still working fine. However a cooling fan on the freezer in warm weather can't hurt.

[Mr_D]

My electrical compartment has two vents in the floor, two in the cover, a circulating fan and snap disk to control it. Both battery compartments are completely separate and open on the bottom.

[jestal]

I agree with the OP. Having lost both inverters this past summer my suspicion is cumulative damage due to heat caused both to fail. Each inverter has a thermister embedded in the transformer windings. The thermister in each unit failed causing intermittent erroneous temp readings outside the boundaries Magnum programmed the unit for and the unit would momentarily shut down causing a momentary power loss in the coach. No diagnostic codes to point to the problem or anything, BTW. And no "memory" built into the inverter to tell you why it just "set a code" and momentarily shut down.

Magnum was quick to help pinpoint the problem.....so quick that once they had the serial numbers I suspect they had seen this before (with maybe a bad batch of thermisters at one point) but offered no relief for an out of warranty failure. Luckily both were replaced with new units under an extended service contract costing me only the $100 deductible.

Still, the Magnum techs I spoke with both mentioned the tight confines of the inverter placement and the possibility of overly high temps especially if that compartment was densely packed (guilty) restricting air flow. I am still looking at how to move some more air to the inverter area with some computer fans and/or tubing to a cooler air source.

[Gary.Jones]

The OP is drdiving a 2015, as am I. I have the basement refer, and the same inverters. Frankly, my concern has been the opposite of his.... my concern is that the basement be heated appropriately to avoid problems. The only time that I ever noticed that my basement seemed to be unusually warm was the time that I turned the floor heat up about 15 - 20 degrees warmer than my other zones to get the floor to get warm. Except for that time, no noticeable extra heat in the basement.

I wonder if your basement heat register is always on or otherwise not doing its job? Do you have a thermometer in the basement, or even better, invest in a temp stick (Amazon) remotely connected to your wireless in the coach and you can monitor it all the time. First thing I do in the mornings, every morning during the winter, is access my temp stick and see what the temp has been running all night. It resets at midnight. I check it before going to bed and again when I get up in the morning, and I always know what is happening out in the coach. Mine sends me messages if the temp is too high or too low. Well worth the investment.

Gary

[Cutch]

Since we mostly travel in warmer climates, I really don’t have a concern about cold temps in the basement. However, I will research the Temp Stick. Sounds like a good idea regardless. Appreciate the responses

[Gary.Jones]

Cutch

Well, we try to always be in reasonable weather also, but this winter, our winter trip got clobbered with health issues. However, the temp stick is even more important in the summer as we travel with 2 pets/cats and we are always worried about the power going off in the coach when the outside temp is 100+ and broiling the 4 leggers. The temp stick will report temps above or below any set temperature and will sample the temperature as often as you want. I do once an hour when I am reasonably confident everything is good, and every half hour when I am more concerned.

Now, the coach is parked beside the house in the driveway and connected to 50A service and I run the AquaHot electric element to heat the basement and 2 small 900/1800 watt heaters in the coach set at 900 watts each. Outside temps are flirting around with 30-34 degrees every night now so my heaters are on timers which kick in at 10:00 and fun until the ambient is above ~40 degrees.

Gary