I got a great deal on a Generac Champion Generator today

[SlaterDoc]

As for the burnt receptacle on the cord.
It was probably "made in China"!
This may explain itself: "RV community"

[RangeMaggotBob]

Originally Posted by 6x16inside

Well, maybe if you had been in here helping all along, maybe if wouldn't have lasted so long!!

Don't let these guys get to you. Just keep asking away. So what if it's a long thread. You are getting educated. More than can be said about a lot or RV owners...

[RKins]

Sounds like you made good progress today - that's great!
Is the new converter in? But you say it's not putting out 13+ volts, like it's not charging? Watch the voltage on the batteries and don't let them get too low.
Did you mention that you have a pilot light on the stove? I didn't think they had pilot lights - mine doesn't and it's not much newer than yours. Mine has the electronic starter that starts clicking when you turn on one of the knobs. But you have a couple burners working - great. As mentioned, blowing out the stuff will help - only takes a spider web in the path and they won't light.
You'll need a LP leak detector now. They are usually mounted low, near the floor.
Progress, progress

(I updated the water heater thread in the Vintage RV forum - trying to keep these topics separate)

[okcnewbie]

Originally Posted by RKins

Sounds like you made good progress today - that's great!
Is the new converter in? But you say it's not putting out 13+ volts, like it's not charging? Watch the voltage on the batteries and don't let them get too low.
Did you mention that you have a pilot light on the stove? I didn't think they had pilot lights - mine doesn't and it's not much newer than yours.You'll need a LP leak detector now. They are usually mounted low, near the floor.
Progress, progress

(I updated the water heater thread in the Vintage RV forum - trying to keep these topics separate)

The new converter has been in for several days and is working fine. Now all four batteries are installed.
Stove definitely has a pilot light.
There already is a leak detector and most likely with a solenoid over at the propane tank.
The Fridge seems to work on propane. The freezer was at 18degrees or so when I left.
Ran out of time with the furnace. There's several systems and no manual.
The house battery voltage didn't change when the engine(alternator) was running for a few minutes. I wanted to check the before/after voltage at the chassis battery but ran out of time (neither of us really knew how to get to the battery.) Front mounted Diesel.

[okcnewbie]

Can't help but think that it's Christmas time and most people could use a little extra money;

I wonder if either of the guys selling the Onan 5500's would take less money? You'd be road ready for sure if you had a nice genset installed.

[RKins]

This is amazing - some good help and a little focus and things that were going to be ignored a week ago are now up and running. Now she can cook without a BBQ, can keep food cold without coolers, keep food frozen too. I bet the water heater works with a little cleanup, and the furnace - I don't know anything about them either - yet. Hopefully it works too.
6x16 you mentioned some outlets not working and that was with or without shore power? Without an inverter that kicks in when the AC is removed, the outlet shouldn't work without shore power. You mentioned the overhead lights worked too - having 12V is a good thing.
On the fridge, I would look at the tag inside the door and get the model, check the recall lists to see if it has been serviced. Mine showed it on the recall list, the RV place I took it to said it was not coming up as already being serviced, but when they went to perform the service work, the guy said it looked like it had already been. He replaced what he could again though. Nice that it kicked on. She mentioned she needs to clean up the area she can get to on the outside, for the fridge.

So the coach is a FRED? Cool.

[4x4van]

Sounds like you've made a huge amount of progress; congrats. The fact that you've decided to include propane in the mix will certainly make life much better for you; fridge, stove, water heater, furnace...

A couple things;

Your LPG detector, as you say, likely is tied to an electronic valve on the propane tank (my last RV, same vintage, had that same type). Just remember that if the detector is turned off, or if it detects propane, it will automatically shut the propane off at the tank. So if you can't get the stove or other LPG appliances lit, check the detector (been there, done that).

The melted plug adapter? Two things could typically have caused that. One is trying to pull to many amps through it. Even though your RV and cord are 30A, that adapter is only good for 15A (or 20A). If you were trying to run the A/C or an electric space heater or two, you may have simply overloaded the adapter. It could also have been caused by a loose fitting plug (on the RV itself).

Also, when plugged into shore power or generator; usually the 120VAC outlets are daisy chained together, and at least one of those "chains" will be protected by a GFCI outlet. If that GFCI is tripped, all of the downstream outlets will also be dead. So if some outlets are dead but not others and the breakers are ok, look for a GFCI somewhere (often in the bathroom).

Next, from the pics, it does indeed look like your water heater has the "motor aid" feature that runs engine coolant through it. Cool, that will provide you with hot water simply from the engine running even without turning on the water heater. I have the same setup, and it's really nice to have hot water both on the road and as soon as I get to my campsite, before setting up camp and turning the WH on.

Finally, if your house batteries are not charging from the alternator, it may be as simple as a bad solenoid switch. Most RVs of that vintage used that to charge house battery from alternator rather than the more complex BIRD sometimes discussed here and used on newer coaches.

Oh, one other thing; it is not necessary to turn off the propane while fueling; only that you turn off anything that has a pilot light. Since I don't use the stove, furnace, or water heater while traveling, the only thing that needs to be turned off is the fridge.

[RKins]

Originally Posted by 4x4van

Your LPG detector, as you say, likely is tied to an electronic valve on the propane tank (my last RV, same vintage, had that same type). Just remember that if the detector is turned off, or if it detects propane, it will automatically shut the propane off at the tank. So if you can't get the stove or other LPG appliances lit, check the detector (been there, done that).

Hmmm, I wonder if mine is like that. I have looked at the LP tank but maybe not close enough. It sounds like a nice feature to keep you alive and/or to keep an explosion from happening. Learned something new today.

Did they come out with something better later on?

[4x4van]

Originally Posted by RKins

Hmmm, I wonder if mine is like that. I have looked at the LP tank but maybe not close enough. It sounds like a nice feature to keep you alive and/or to keep an explosion from happening. Learned something new today.

Did they come out with something better later on?

Most units now no longer have that; the detector "sounds", but doesn't do anything else. Not sure why. Perhaps they were problematic, although in the 15 years I used that RV, it never caused problems for me.

The only issue I had was this: my generator was located at the back corner, and my RV door was just in front of that, with the detector just inside the door. If I ran the generator and had the door open, occasionally the exhaust fumes would creep in and set of the detector. No problem, except that because of that valve, my fridge pilot would then go out. On that vintage RV, the pilot wasn't automatic; you had to hold down a button until the pilot was lit and the thermocouple was hot. So if the LPG detector went off, I had to remember to relight the fridge pilot, or end up with spoiled food.

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by okcnewbie

.....Front mounted Diesel.

Didn’t think they made FRED RV’s back in 1991.... if that’s the case there won’t be a gas tank to hook the gas generator up to (if she gets one)

[okcnewbie]

Heck's it's probably a gasser.... IDK.

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by okcnewbie

Heck's it's probably a gasser.... IDK.

But I thought you said it was a diesel ?

[SlaterDoc]

Originally Posted by okcnewbie

Heck's it's probably a gasser.... IDK.

Minor issue 😱
BTW, there's an Onan 5500 on the OKC Craigslist that has been dropped from 1800 to 1500. Bet they'd take 1200.
But then, gas or diesel is the question!

[twinboat]

Researching the year and model says its a gas engine MH.

That would agree with the RV tech that offered her a used gas generator.