Gas appliances in an RV - routine maintenance

[lbrodsky]

Anybody have advice on obtaining "How to" literature (or better yet, videos) coverning annual maintenance on LP gas appliances in an Airstream. As you probably know, the 2001 Safari trailers are equipped with Atwood furnaces and water heaters and a Dometic evaporative refrigerator. I'm looking for a consumer-oriented, "step-by-step" guide on how to inspect and clean the flues, burners, vents, orafices, jets, electronic ignition electrodes, etc., as well as info on what tools to use. According to the manufacturer's manuals, these appliances are supposed to be serviced annually. Of course, the consumer is also warned by the operating guides that these things should only be maintained by a professional lp gas technician, but that might be the corporate lawyer talking. The RVIA's web site advertises comprehensive service manuals costing about $40 for each RV appliance...those would probably be overkill for my purposes. Advice, experiences, warnings, etc., are respectfully requested!

Lew Brodsky
WBCCI 2585
Springfield, VA

[thenewkid64]

Lew,


As a do it yourselfer myself I salute your desire to maintain it yourself! Boy that is a brain twister....

On the other hand as a new refer and funace owner who has read th fine print on my warranties I say pay the $40.00/hr. I only mention this due to the newness of your trailer. All of the multi year warranties require you to have had the appliace serviced and checked yearly by a RV tech. This must be documented on the service card if you have any hope of a warranty repair ont the appliance. I fthe warranty repair issue is not your worry, then I would reccomend a book called "RV Repair and Maintenence" by Bob Livingston. It should help and it covers most systems.



Here is a link to amazon and the book.

[Gold Chaser]

Is there any way to clean rust off a stove top. It looks like stainless steel, but the usual cleaners won't touch it. Help?

[lewster]

Originally Posted by lbrodsky

Anybody have advice on obtaining "How to" literature (or better yet, videos) coverning annual maintenance on LP gas appliances in an Airstream. As you probably know, the 2001 Safari trailers are equipped with Atwood furnaces and water heaters and a Dometic evaporative refrigerator. I'm looking for a consumer-oriented, "step-by-step" guide on how to inspect and clean the flues, burners, vents, orafices, jets, electronic ignition electrodes, etc., as well as info on what tools to use. According to the manufacturer's manuals, these appliances are supposed to be serviced annually. Of course, the consumer is also warned by the operating guides that these things should only be maintained by a professional lp gas technician, but that might be the corporate lawyer talking. The RVIA's web site advertises comprehensive service manuals costing about $40 for each RV appliance...those would probably be overkill for my purposes. Advice, experiences, warnings, etc., are respectfully requested!

Lew Brodsky
WBCCI 2585
Springfield, VA

Lew,

As a Certified Master RV Tech and licensed LP service tech, I can tell you that it is not rocket science to service your own LP appliances, but training and experience speak volumes here and I have to say that unless you have been there and done that......you will be taking a chance that you possibly overlook some little item on the service which could cause an LP leak and a disaster!

It's your trailer and your safety........I would pay the $$$$ to a licensed and competant service tech and sleep well at night!

[2airishuman]

i'm with the lewster on this one...

find a competent person and payem 2doit.

consider paying them extra so you can watch, video and ask silly questions...

what's the going rate now lew if the customer wants to help?

cheers
2air'

[jordandvm]

Lew & 2air,

I think Goldchaser posted to an old thread unrelated to the original question.
He simply wants to know what to use to clean the rust off his stovetop.

Please note the dates on the original posts in this thread !

BTW, Goldchaser....welcome to the forums.....another airstream fanatic from Oregon!

[lewster]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

i'm with the lewster on this one...

find a competent person and payem 2doit.

consider paying them extra so you can watch, video and ask silly questions...

what's the going rate now lew if the customer wants to help?

cheers
2air'

LABOR RATES:

Standard.......................$100/hour
If you watch....................125/hour
If you help.......................150/hour
If you worked on it first....200/hour

[safari57]

We had the same issue with our stove top and could not get the rust off. Tried all the stuff including the spray from Eagle that you use on wire wheels to get rid of the rust. My buddy with the same problem had his re-chromed but that was a couple of hundred bucks and within a couple of years it was pitting and rusting again.

My solution was to replace the stove with a new unit, however, afterward in an RV repair shop we stopped at on a camping trip and looking for an adapter to replace the one sitting on the cupboard at home I noticed they had several tops, really decent shape, for sale for $30 ea. Check around with your local RV repair shops and see if they have a good top available. You might get lucky.

Barry

[HowieE]

99% of the problems I have had were spiders making a nest in the burner tube of the ref. or water heater. The cure for this is to take a sealed bag of moth balls and poke 20 or 30 holes in the bag with a straight pin. Place the bag behind the ref. or water heater clear of the burner and the evaporation of the moth balls will keep the little buggers away. Don't just put moth balls back there as they will evaporate in less than a month, overkill.

If you do get a spider cleaning the burner tube is a mechanical matter that does not get involved with the gas side.

[LHall]

Originally Posted by Gold Chaser

Is there any way to clean rust off a stove top. It looks like stainless steel, but the usual cleaners won't touch it. Help?

I have a stainless stove top and was able to remove quite a bit of rust, now there are black stains where the rust was. I used barkeepers friend and some extra fine steel wool.