The 23D thread

[Boog]

Here's a linky to my latest project - more mods to the fridge!

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f425...ml#post2072667

[eagletoo]

Hi. How noisy is the water heater under the CB?
Thanks.

[Hoonanea]

Silent on electric except for the rare occasion when you hear the thermostat click to begin a heating cycle. You notice it more when running on LP but I don’t run mine that way at night. I use electric at night or I just turn it off and then back on (LP for quick recovery) in the morning.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by eagletoo

Hi. How noisy is the water heater under the CB?
Thanks.

good question... I don't think we've ever heard ours (!)

[eagletoo]

No heat rising up to bother your bed?

[Hoonanea]

No heat noticed for me.

[GMFL]

Well the saying goes something FREE will break you. I got 2 of these renogy 100 watt panels for free so now I gotta come up with a solar controller and a few $$$ other odds and ends and I’ll have a 200 watt solar install.

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-100-wa...e-solar-panel/

[Fred L]

Originally Posted by GMFL

I got 2 of these renogy 100 watt panels for free so now I gotta come up with a solar controller and a few $$$ other odds and ends and I’ll have a 200 w

Hoping you can take some pics of your work and a write up Ronnie. This project will be next for me.
My biggest hang up is punching a hole in the roof, just doesn't feel right...

Wishing we had the AS at home this past week. Power went out last Friday and just came back. With solar panels we could have boondocked in our driveway quite comfortably.

[Fred L]

Originally Posted by eagletoo

No heat rising up to bother your bed?

The water heater burner is basically outside the trailer with a thin cover and vent over it and should not be running at night unless youre using hot water, and if there is a concern, simply turn it off.

The tank is fully insulated and if any minimal heat were to rise, it would dissipate to the open air areas in the rear storage before you would feel it.

[Troutboy]

I can say that if you leave it on at night, when the water heater fires up, it is LOUD, and can wake people up.

If we are using hot water, we just turn it off when we go to bed, we do the same with the water pump.

Seems to work well. Then we turn it on in the morning .

[GMFL]

Originally Posted by Fred L

Hoping you can take some pics of your work and a write up Ronnie. This project will be next for me.
My biggest hang up is punching a hole in the roof, just doesn't feel right...

Wishing we had the AS at home this past week. Power went out last Friday and just came back. With solar panels we could have boondocked in our driveway quite comfortably.

I will plan on documenting the process. Planning on using the 10 ga Airstream pre-wire which is located in the hole the front fantastic fan is located in. Hoping to be able to drill hole in the side of the fan housing and gain access inside trailer there and not drilling roof.

[eagletoo]

Thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughts, experiences and suggestions in regards to the 23CB water heater.
Does not sound like a negative factor.

[switz]

We installed the Truma AquaGo comfort model water heater in both of our trailers. The is the mid model of three. The base model does not have a freeze proof feature. The top model is designed for a hot water recirculating system like in a house. It would really burn thru a tank of propane in a hurry.

There is a single three position switch (eco - off - comfort) for operation plus we reused the power switch in the bathroom for the original water heater as an inside on-off switch. The comfort mode keeps the pint of water at a higher temperatures the hot water starts moving as hot water. The eco mode adds a few seconds to water flow before reaching temperature. The mode controls the cycling of the burner with eco mode being a lower cycle rate.

The 23D Truma is under the bed and the Classic Truma is under the bathroom vanity sink (both locations were where the original water heaters were installed).

Below is the installation/operation manual for our units. There have been significant upgrades to the control system since we installed ours over two years ago during the summer of 2015.

We do not find the burner noise problematic so usually just leave the unit powered on. We find we use much less propane for the summer living in the trailer full time in the Airstream only RV park in Lakeside, AZ (for 2017 I was in one or the other trailer from 30 April to the 5th of October).

[Rocinante]

We installed the same Truma a few weeks ago. So far, so good. We do flip it to “eco” mode at night, though, to reduce noise and, hopefully, propane consumption.

[eagletoo]

I just read about the Truma-combi. Heater/water heater unit that is installed in high-end RVs. Anybody seen or have experience with this piece of equipment?
It sounds amazing!

[Hoonanea]

Switz — have you ever measured the refrigerator compartment temperature of your Vitrifrigo in your 23D? I’m on my first weekend trip after installing mine and I’m sadly underwhelmed with the performance.

The unit cools quickly — happy with that part — but an indoor/outdoor remote thermometer placed inside the refrigerator compartment shows a minimum temperature of 41 degrees on the middle ventilated shelf and 43 degrees on the bottom shelf with the clear plastic bins removed. Cool air falls to the bottom but the bottom shelf has a solid glass shelf above it which probably impedes the coolest air from reaching this section. The black control knob is set to the “max” position.

I’m really disappointed in this after spending so much money on the refrigerator and the effort to get it installed. I still have the working Dometic absorption refrigerator. Conundrum.

[Troutboy]

Hoonanea, do you have any fans on the rear vent? I think you still need to move the hot air out of the back of the 7nit to get cooler temps.... depends on outside temp etc. sometimes just opening the vents can help as well...

[Hoonanea]

I have three computer fans moving air into the bottom vent door and exhausting through the top vent door.

I set the control knob to almost the lowest point and the interior air temperature barely changed. Went from 40/41 on the max setting to 43/44 on the low setting. Seems there should be more variance than this.

[Rocinante]

Is there any chance that your Vitrifrigo is low on refrigerant? Is there a way to check?

[Hoonanea]

The refrigerator is brand new so that *shouldn’t* be the problem. I think a good indication of low refrigerant is continuous running of the compressor. At the max temperature setting, the cycle-on time was consistent at 16 minutes and cycle-off time was consistent at 25 minutes. If the refrigerant was low, I think the compressor would just keep running.

Keep the thoughts and ideas coming! Just a few minutes ago I sent a detailed email to the vendor where I purchased the refrigerator. I’ll likely hear back from her tomorrow.