The 23FB forum

[PKI]

Folks who align truck axles most likely would be a good resource. Several threads come up if you enter "axle alignment" in the blue search box. Pat

[Bobbo]

Does the 2017 FC 23FB's refrigerator have a light in it?

[PKI]

The '15 does not have a light.

Now, a confession. Can't get the new quiet fans to run. Tested one of them on a 12 volt battery to figure out the wiring. Ran great. Two installed and they don't turn. When temp is up, it looks like the thermostat delivers 12 volts. At low temp, not much voltage is available.

After researching several posts, it appears everyone has a slightly different design. What is not too clear is how the fans are wired. Are most of you just using the existing positive and negative leads from the original fan or are you adding a new circuit from an alternate power source?

Your help is appreciated. Pat

[Fair_Enough]

Refridge outside fans I assume. I used the original wiring but didn’t use the factory thermostat control. I want the fans to come on at a much lower temp that what the thermistor called for. An addition of a digital thermostat with temp probe located at the top of the space and an accompanying dc/dc converter to provide optimum volts is what I did.

[GettinAway]

I swapped out the original refrigerator fan for a quiet one. It does seem to run all the time. I can’t hear it though, so I have to look in the upper door, or hold my hand outside it to feel the warm air, to see if it’s running.
Our fridge kept everything cold (freezer works also) for a week on the Outer Banks with temps in the upper 80s. I thought about adding fans etc., but so far just swapping out the one loud fan for one we can’t hear seems to be working fine. Uses less battery also.

[PKI]

Clint and GettinAway, thanks for the response. Appreciate your info and help.

Back to troubleshooting. Pat

[PKI]

OK - fan blades turn now. Pulled fans - they ran on a 12 volt battery. Knew those Interstates would come in handy.

Installed the fans and bypassed the thermostat. No fan turn....????

Dug out the old digital multimeter. Had been using a HF giveaway analog meter. Voltage with the digital was 11.9 voilts. The fan data sheet said some fans needed 12 volts to run. The test battery was 12.45 volts. Hmmmm? Wonder if the fuse is too much resistance? Pulled the fuse looked OK. Opps - dropped it. Glass broken. Had a 4 amp in the spares kit. Popped it in and ....... the fans were running so quiet I did not notice the success for almost a minute. Now have a 1.5 amp non-slow blow fuse in the circuit and those blades are still turning. Overnight test running.

Thanks for the help. If not for the report of a blown fuse, this might have gone on for another couple of weeks while I ordered an OEM fan.

Now on to the toilet seal rebuild. Pat

[Franktr]

We are at a KOA in New Mexico and the forecast is for a low of 25f. I will have the furnace on but should I drain my fresh water tank?

[Bobbo]

I would say no. Some of the furnace heat is directed into that area of the underbelly. Also, that is a very large mass of water and would take a very long time to freeze.

[VTSmitty]

Originally Posted by Franktr

We are at a KOA in New Mexico and the forecast is for a low of 25f. I will have the furnace on but should I drain my fresh water tank?

We spent last night at the Albuquerque KOA on our way east, and it was cold and WINDY! But to your question, keep the water tank 1/2 full or better, and run your furnace, and all will be fine. We've done over night with lows in the teens and never had a problem.

Dan

[Steamy1]

Originally Posted by Franktr

We are at a KOA in New Mexico and the forecast is for a low of 25f. I will have the furnace on but should I drain my fresh water tank?

We recently stayed at Angle Fire where the temps dropped to 21 degrees. Out of caution, we:Disconnected the fresh water hose from the hydrant and the intake on the trailer, then drained the hoses. stored in the truck;drained the black and grey water tanks. closed the valves and poured in RV anti-freeze in both thanks so that it would settle at the valves.

re-connected in the morning and took out showers. No issues.

[Franktr]

I disconnected my grease water hose but I should have put it some place warm as it was not usable until I pit in the shower with a small heater. I filled my freaks here water tank to halfway. All was good except my dump valve froze. Had to wait until the afternoon to get them opened. Ordered a heated water hose. Last night hose was remove and place in the front storage compartment.

[VTSmitty]

[QUOTE=Franktr;2307530]All was good except my dump valve froze./QUOTE]

We generally don't worry about the dump valve; even if it freezes over night the tank was empty when that happened (assuming we were full hookup), and we don't use enough water in the morning that the tank would fill appreciably before the valve thaws the next day. Now if it's forecast to stay below freezing that's a different story, and your solution is probably worth doing.

Dan

[Fair_Enough]

Motivated to make access to upper fridge easier by a fellow member, I made a new plate and 3M'd to the inside cover. I added a quick connect plug and adjusted the thermostat to a higher setting (on a 95 off at 90F)
WW

[Fair_Enough]

I added a Wave 3 heater. I really needed it for the cargo trailer, but decided to make it transferable / usable in the AS. Tapped into the gas line to the fridge and ran a braided hose down and into the area under the wardrobe (next to the fridge) and made a new door to mount it to, in case it ever needs to go back to stock. Used it 2 nights (lows of 45F) and it was great on low (1600BTU); bring the temps to mid 60s; it is totally silent and just sips LP.
WW

Edit: also added a quick connect between the 2 braided hoses.

[GettinAway]

WW, we burn two ventless propane log sets in our home. I love the quiet heat. I’ve heard, but not experienced the humidity that ventless is supposed to produce. We still have to run the humidifier on our furnace. But the AS can get damp inside. Did it make any difference humidity wise, when you ran it in your 23FB?

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

WW, we burn two ventless propane log sets in our home. I love the quiet heat. I’ve heard, but not experienced the humidity that ventless is supposed to produce. We still have to run the humidifier on our furnace. But the AS can get damp inside. Did it make any difference humidity wise, when you ran it in your 23FB?

It would have had to added some humidity. But, very little; probably too little to be noticeable. Windows will fog up with only people, conservative stove use and no LP heat. That is an easy fix by cracking a ceiling vent open a 1/4 to 1/2 inch. This small heater is said to be 99.9% efficient, using about 1/8 of a pound of propane on high... 1/15 on low. If my math is correct that would be about 160 to 300 hours on a 20# cylinder. My Airstream has only a 16K BTU furnace and I figured it could use some help, but nights like the last 2, by itself, it was perfect. There is no open flame, its silent, and CO detector that is about a foot away, was happy. I bet the 8000 BTU model could do better than the 16000 BTU furnace.
WW

[SimRunner]

We converted our 2014 International Serenity 23FB bedroom from a queen bed to two 34” x 80” twin beds this past spring 2019. We wanted to share the project with the community after testing it for 2,500+ miles of camping. First, we want to thank the following forum members for inspiring our work with their projects and for answering our questions: eagletoo, Apalach53, KJRitchie, DBSteed, PKI, and OTRA1.

We achieved six project goals.

1) Complete bedroom conversion ourselves to reduce cost and ensure quality.
2) Customize new furniture from scratch to improve function for us while staying within the International Serenity style (use the same finishes to make the bedroom look as if Airstream produced it). The one exception is that we had to select a different laminate for the nightstand top because Wilsonart discontinued the laminate originally used by Airstream in 2014.
3) Provide more space for external storage to make setting up and taking down camp more convenient.
4) Keep total weight of new furniture within the total weight of the original furniture to maintain towing characteristics of the travel trailer.
5) Install new furniture without making new holes in aluminum walls to preserve the clean look of the room if someone reinstalls the queen bedroom furniture.
6) Arrange the queen bed furniture in the guest bedroom of our house to make us smile when it’s not camping season.

Pictures 1, 2, and 3 illustrate our completed project. Picture 4 illustrates the extruded aluminum frame supporting the roadside bed. Aluminum frames also support the curbside bed, nightstand, and curbside hanging wardrobe cabinet. The use of extruded aluminum frames helped keep the weight of the furniture in check and produced very durable furniture. We used a product by 80/20 Inc., https://8020.net/, to make the frames.

Picture 5 illustrates the white wall section we removed under the original curbside wardrobe to convert the dead space behind the wall to storage. The new storage area is about 7.5” deep, 19.5” wide, and 23.0” tall. We left this storage area unfinished at first trying to decide how we wanted to access it. Airstream ultimately answered our question when they produced the Globetrotter 23 FB Twin configuration; so, we copied their approach. Our version appears in Picture 3. It’s a great place to store daypacks or clothing in pack-it cubes.

We have not decided between putting a third drawer in the bottom of the nightstand, per our original design, or leaving it as flexible open space (Picture 6). We started with open space and used the basket shown under the nightstand in Pictures 1 and 2 for laundry, which was handy. Perhaps the area could serve as a pet’s bedroom (see DBSteed’s example: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f468...se-186848.html) or house an extra heater for winter camping. We bet you all will have lots of terrific ideas for the space.

Overall, configuring the floor space into a single aisle between two beds made the bedroom more user friendly to us. It provided space for two people to change clothes simultaneously, easier access to both the storage under the beds and to the overhead storage at the front of the travel trailer, a more visually open space giving the feel of a larger travel trailer, and a secondary lounge area.

After 2,500+ miles, no doors or drawers opened in transit. No screws or nuts and bolts loosened.

We are thankful to have this forum with active members inspiring us to camp better!

[Apalach53]

Very nice work on the twin conversion! Looks like a factory job, or better!

[GettinAway]

Agreed! Really nice work. How long did it take you? Looks like a bit more work than a weekend project.