With 5 people in our trailer, the black tank can fill quickly. My solution - turn off the water to the toilet using the valve behind the toilet. It only gets turned on when someone is putting solids into the tank. This gives us at least 5 days of dry camping.
I did manage to hit my drain pipes on a cement block. The plastic parts can flex quite a bit, and the aluminum skin can rip easily. After the block was removed, everything was OK requiring only a bit of duct tape over the rip.
Rick
__________________
2005 30 Bunkhouse
2005 Chevrolet Suburban 2500, 8.1L 4.10 rear axle
Honda 2000 Air #99 WBCCI #8895 (Grandpa's number from the 1960's)
Chrispy, there are two easy solutions to your smoke detector problem.
1) Open the Fantastic Vent and run it whenever you are cooking. The vent hood isn't enough to prevent the smoke detector from alarming, but the Fantastic Vent moves a lot more air. Be sure to open a window for make-up air, as well.
2) If your detector is the same as ours, press the "Hush" button. As written on the back label, "the Hush button will decrease the alarm sensitivity for approximately 7 minutes. During this time the alarm will chirp every 45 seconds." This does the trick every time.
Re: low hanging plumbing. If you draw a mental line from the bottom of the rear tire to the scraper bar on the rear bumper, you'll see it's pretty hard to catch the plumbing on something without the rear scraper hitting first. (But as Rick Gillis has proved, it's not impossible.)
If you don't buy that explanation, try this: We've been off-road with our trailer, and in/out of literally thousands of driveways and we've never snagged it yet. So far, two years of full-time travel, seven crossings of the USA, almost 60,000 miles of towing, and not even a scratch on the plumbing. It looks bad but it really isn't a problem.
Chrispy, there are two easy solutions to your smoke detector problem.
1) Open the Fantastic Vent and run it whenever you are cooking. The vent hood isn't enough to prevent the smoke detector from alarming, but the Fantastic Vent moves a lot more air. Be sure to open a window for make-up air, as well.
2) If your detector is the same as ours, press the "Hush" button. As written on the back label, "the Hush button will decrease the alarm sensitivity for approximately 7 minutes. During this time the alarm will chirp every 45 seconds." This does the trick every time.
Re: low hanging plumbing. If you draw a mental line from the bottom of the rear tire to the scraper bar on the rear bumper, you'll see it's pretty hard to catch the plumbing on something without the rear scraper hitting first. (But as Rick Gillis has proved, it's not impossible.)
If you don't buy that explanation, try this: We've been off-road with our trailer, and in/out of literally thousands of driveways and we've never snagged it yet. So far, two years of full-time travel, seven crossings of the USA, almost 60,000 miles of towing, and not even a scratch on the plumbing. It looks bad but it really isn't a problem.
Enjoy that bunkhouse!
I get a little gunshy when I have to back into a site that has a curb /log to keep you from going into too far
In campsites where there's a log or curb at the back, I have my professional "backer-upper" (wife) look below as I move sloooowly back. She makes sure we don't hit the curb. There has been many sites where we've backed the rear axle right up to the curb, and a few where we couldn't because we'd scrape the plumbing.
Right!! I have one of those backer-uppers as well but it doesn't work at night or in the rain!!!!..Thanks for the insights....glad to see you're doing plenty of streaming...Don
This is our first wnter with this Airstream. I successfully (for Texas weather) performed this process for several winters in our previous Excella.
This weekend, as we packed up from our Thankgiving trip, I winterized this trailer. I began the process of draining all the lines and fresh water tank. Then I blew out all the lines using an air compressor set at 60 lbs. I finished the process by sucking the "pink stuff" until it discharges from every draing line and plumbing fixture.
After completing the prcess, i decided to read the manual to test how I did. With the Safari, I see a couple of items recommended in the manual that seem strange to me. It say you have to disconnect the pump at the intake. Is this necessary? Do have sitll have water where I don't want water? Is there a major step that I missed?
Please advise.
__________________ FishByFly because I catch fish on a fly...
It sounds like you covered it. If you sucked the "pink stuff" through the pump, you have it covered. Don't forget the outside shower and the inside tub drain. The shower tub drain goes all the way around the back of the trailer in a big "U", so there is a potential for water to get stuck there.
I presume you used the water heater bypass after draining the heater tank and opened the two system drains located between the wheels, curb-side. I also like to let a little antifreeze into the heater tank.
I pulled the batteries out today and put them in the garage where it doesn’t get as cold. I also topped of the electrolyte and charged them, as fully charged batteries are unlikely to freeze.
So do you have any thoughts about how to avoid ripping out your plumbing BEFORE it happens?
Don
Only the normal awareness of rocks, logs, etc.
The closest call I ever had was actually a 2x4 that I had placed for leveling. As I moved the trailer so I could retreive all of my stuff, the wheel pushed one end of the 2x4 down, the other end up into the grey water valve. Yes, I'm glad it was the grey. I was able to get it shut back off, but it damaged the bracket and required some repair.
Dave
I presume you used the water heater bypass after draining the heater tank and opened the two system drains located between the wheels, curb-side. I also like to let a little antifreeze into the heater tank.
I pulled the batteries out today and put them in the garage where it doesn’t get as cold. I also topped of the electrolyte and charged them, as fully charged batteries are unlikely to freeze.
Amsterdamer,
Thanks for the confirmation. We actually got cold enough last night to get a mild frost. I slept well knowing that I got this done before the weather change.
I did find the two low point drain values. These are something my last trailer didn't have. I also bypassed the water heater and like your idea of letting a little into the tank.
As for the batteries, I've never pulled these in the past here in Texas. I installed a disconnect to prevent the slight draw down from the trailer. I'll go out periodically to place a charge to top them off.
Thank you again for your input!
__________________ FishByFly because I catch fish on a fly...
Amsterdamer,
Thanks for the confirmation. We actually got cold enough last night to get a mild frost. I slept well knowing that I got this done before the weather change.
I did find the two low point drain values. These are something my last trailer didn't have. I also bypassed the water heater and like your idea of letting a little into the tank.
As for the batteries, I've never pulled these in the past here in Texas. I installed a disconnect to prevent the slight draw down from the trailer. I'll go out periodically to place a charge to top them off.
Thank you again for your input!
Hey FishbyFly,
Isn't there a master diconnect switch on the wall right by the door next to the light switches? That's where mine is and it prvents the slow discharge you spoke of...Maybe they only put that as part of the solar charger setup...
FishbyFly,
There's also a quick drain on the water heater so you can also just drain your system dry which is what I do also living down here in S. Texas and then I just leave the drains open to allow for any frozen residual to drain out ...it worked for our 25' Sovreign wnd on that one I had to remove the drain plug on the water heater every year...that quick drain makes it nice.
FishbyFly,
There's also a quick drain on the water heater so you can also just drain your system dry which is what I do also living down here in S. Texas and then I just leave the drains open to allow for any frozen residual to drain out ...it worked for our 25' Sovreign wnd on that one I had to remove the drain plug on the water heater every year...that quick drain makes it nice.
Just don't do like I did this year and forget to turn the pump off...you get kind of wet if you do!
__________________
2006 30' Safari - "Changes in Latitudes"
2008 F-250 Lariat Power Stroke Diesel Crew Cab SWB
Family of Disney Fanatics
WBCCI# 4821
Isn't there a master diconnect switch on the wall right by the door next to the light switches? That's where mine is and it prvents the slow discharge you spoke of...Maybe they only put that as part of the solar charger setup...
captdady,
there is a rocker switch at the door that places the trailer in a store mode. I have found that after about 30 days, the batteries drain about 60%. I've been told that is in part due to items such as the LP detector, electric jack, and other misc.
As I was cleaning and sealing the battery terminals, I installed this disconnect. I will see how the battery supply looks after a coupl of weeks. If it doesn't work, well, I just spent about 6 bucks on a study.
__________________ FishByFly because I catch fish on a fly...
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