1988 345... The adventure begins!

[Roby466]

Great! Thanks for this. I know better where to look. It appears the leaks are only in the bedroom area from what I can see and floor replacement will also be in my future in that area. Oh well, that will be an opportunity to refresh that carpet. It looks like the floor damage is only near the outer shell though.

[Roby466]

Another day another problem... while I’m monitoring the water ingress I decided to tackle the next thing to get us ready for next camping season... both furnaces were “singing” loudly when in operation... not exactly nice when staying in a campground with other people so I’ll see if I can simply replace the fans bearings...
Not too hard getting them out, let’s hope they will still work when ai put them back in

[bobmiller1]

If they are Surburban furnaces you should be able to oil the bearings on the blower motor. If they are the original Hydro-Flame furnaces I recommend you throw them in the garbage. They are a silent killer and have been known to have cracked heat exchanger issues......might be why they are no longer in business. In any event you can bench test the furnace for noise with a 12 volt battery or power probe before you waste your time reinstalling them, Regards, Bob

[Roby466]

Here they are! Thanks

[Roby466]

It says Dometic Duo Therm on the panel.

[bobmiller1]

Show me a picture of the exhaust/air intake side, Dometic bought out Hydro-Flame as they were going out of business, so you may have the bad heat exchangers......Regards, Bob

[bobmiller1]

Note.....if the air intake / exhaust is horizontal, they’re junk, don’t waste your time. They are known to be silent killers (Carbon Monoxide) . Regards, Bob

[Roby466]

The two stacked up.

[Roby466]

And the front cover removed. Thanks for the advice Bob!!

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Roby466

Another day another problem... while I’m monitoring the water ingress....
Attachment 386414

Did the left rear trim sealing stop the water from coming ?

[Roby466]

I’m not sure. It is still wet but it does not seem more. All sorts of holes under that rubber strip!!! I’ll see if it dries out but given it has been hovering around freezing and quite wet lately that may just be it. I also found the vent caps for the furnaces were not sealed. The actual vent pipe is angled so water does not go in but the vent plate itself was just sitting there.
I could see sealant had been used in the past but it had been cleaned out and removed. I will use Dom-dom for that (3M product, quite handy to seal things that can be removed later)

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Roby466

I’m not sure. It is still wet but it does not seem more. All sorts of holes under that rubber strip!!! I’ll see if it dries out but given it has been hovering around freezing and quite wet lately that may just be it. I also found the vent caps for the furnaces were not sealed. The actual vent pipe is angled so water does not go in but the vent plate itself was just sitting there.
I could see sealant had been used in the past but it had been cleaned out and removed. I will use Dom-dom for that (3M product, quite handy to seal things that can be removed later)

I had big openings under the metal molding, not the rubber. Best to run a bead on top of the molding until you can remove it and seal all the opening.

It can take weeks for that wood to dry out and thats in a warm climate

[Magnet18]

For sealing around furnace vents I think butyl tape is supposed to be the way to go. Not many products can take the heat. The sealant I initially tried burned promptly

[Roby466]

Thanks for that. I’ll research brands of butyl tape and see what’s available locally.
Cheers
David

[Steve Dutt]

Congrats!
You are gonna love it.
I’ve had mine for a few years.
And I’ve been Renovating and modifying it.
If you have any questions about anything just message me. I’ve had this thing apart down to bare bones. I’m going to start a post soon about my build. You can see most of it on my Instagram page. R2dutt2 is the name of my page. Keep us up dated on your progress

[Roby466]

I took a look! Very impressive build!!! The LS2 must be nice!

[Voltair]

Hi David,
Regarding leakes! My 87 345 I would always find water somewhere after light or heavy rain sometimes seemed to depend on which way the wind had been blowing and some leakes could have travelled along alloy stringers inside walls so hard or impossible to determin its start entry.
After removing my failing clear coat the leaks became so much worse.
Tried every sealler recomended on this forum in short I could see their aplications would be time consuming and ugly. Then I tried Captain Tollies and it was so quike and effective its a milky watery substance that you run around or along every join when it dosnt stay on the surface ie has found a crack you straight away dob it again till it forms that tiny pool off liquid that sets in a clear firm flexable way 30 sec. Two years have gone by no leaks no more an no deterioration in the tuff little CT beads!
You zoom along all windows, frames ,every rivit head, around tail lights definitely along top off thoes long side rub rail mouldings, don't take them off just run C T a number off times to create a bead that wicks through osmosis up the alloy bit aswell
All above is done at speed with no skills just use a rag for any runs as you go, remember it hard to see when done and looks very neet n tidy 1sec per rivit head. You'll notice that each rivit head has pulled in to form a bowl allowing a lot off water flow inside !
All the best
Rus

[Roby466]

Thanks Rus! It looks like a few days of work but it makes sense!

[Roby466]

Alright. Took the motor out of the furnace (had to cut the wires but I’ll solder and seal them). No bearings in the motor. Just bushings. They were dry so I oiled them with 3 in 1 oil.
I damaged the fibrous gasket between the combustion air fan housing and the combustion/mixing chamber so I’ll have to find something that I can cut to spec I suppose.

[Voltair]

Both of my heaters are about to have the same treatment, so pleased your documenting the procedures, cause I'm abit hesitant.
I'd mix dry graphite powder onto thoes motor bushings n shafts, just ever so little as graphite is conductive or a suitable heat proof grease white lithium grease ect. Graphite comes in small puffer bottles for dry lubeing locks hot rotating parts ect, dosnt go hard or evaperate in heat. Locksmiths sell it.

Regarding Captain Tollies to do a 345 about 3 hours , went back over a few places a few times 15min each time.. a very pleasant and undramatic job so long as your alloy skins are clean to start with.
Anyway in the meantime I'm watching your furnace job.