Maintenance & Restoration

mszabo · 08-01-2018, 05:17 PM

Bill, just replace the thermostat. It’s not hard to do.
And you won’t have to mess with all that other stuff.

https://smile.amazon.com/Dometic-200...70_&dpSrc=srch

TheWanderers · 08-02-2018, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mszabo

Bill, just replace the thermostat. It’s not hard to do.
And you won’t have to mess with all that other stuff.

https://smile.amazon.com/Dometic-200...70_&dpSrc=srch

Mike,

You're link isn't working for me. Can you PM that information so I can look at that, please?

bill

TheWanderers · 08-03-2018, 06:49 AM

The temperature inside the refrigerator was 37° last night. This plan is working well.

I will investigate Mike's suggestion for a new thermostat from Amazon using part identified as Dometic 2007199009. Thanx Mike!

Blacksheep · 09-02-2018, 06:47 AM

Bill & Laura,
I've just finished reading through your entire thread, and despite some of the recent troubles you've had with the refrigerator it sounds like you've made a great purchase! I too am seriously considering buying one of these as well, although the unit I am looking at was not so fortunate as to have any of the original documentation with it, despite only two owners! I also have not had much luck finding information available anywhere about the unit, (and I only live about 90 minutes from the Bigfoot manufacturing facilities - which is still in operation albeit under different ownership now.) Would it be possible for you to scan in the owner and/or service manual at some point in the off season? This would be a great resource to those like myself who otherwise will have to guess at some of this stuff!

Steve and Rosemary · 09-10-2018, 05:43 PM

We're having the same issue with our fridge in our Bigfoot. The freezer seems to cool down fine but the fridge warms up during the day. The cooling unit was replaced in the last year or two, so is it safe to assume the issue is with the thermostat?

For what it's worth, we've only tested on AC power and are going to do the propane test tonight. On AC, the fridge take a LOOONG time (about 24 hours) to cool down into the 30s and it has gone down to about 29 at night but then during the day, it warms up to the high 40s (80s outside) if it's in the shade.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Steve and Rosemary · 09-10-2018, 09:38 PM

Well, I guess I was a little too nonchalant about the fridge cooling down on AC because now the darn thing won't even LIGHT on propane. It just sits there clicking away and light flickering as Steve asks me how long he's supposed to hold the button in. Is this one of those zero steps forward, one step back kind of situations? :/

Borrego Dave · 09-11-2018, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve and Rosemary

Well, I guess I was a little too nonchalant about the fridge cooling down on AC because now the darn thing won't even LIGHT on propane. It just sits there clicking away and light flickering as Steve asks me how long he's supposed to hold the button in. Is this one of those zero steps forward, one step back kind of situations? :/

Steve, you're not newbies but I have to ask the obvious, LP in the tank & turned on & did you purge the air out of the line by lighting the stove first? I'm sure you did but I've experienced not seeing the forest for the trees a few times....dang. What is the flickering light you mention during the lighting? I don't recall ever seeing that on any RV I've had.

Steve and Rosemary · 09-17-2018, 10:19 AM

Hi Borrego Dave,

Thanks for the tips on the fridge and the battery. We definitely tried getting the air out of the lines buy lighting our stove and our furnace. We had no luck with that. We also made sure we were level. Still no luck! The thing is, we could hear the click-click-click of the auto-ignition trying to light the flame, but it wasn't in the area of the fridge where the flame would be lit.

Long story short, after trouble-shooting things for 2 or 3 days (trying to clean some of the parts around where the flame is on the fridge), we called a professional who had it fixed within about 2.5 minutes. The fridge just needed to have the clicking/spark creator bent a little closer to the flame area -- it was sparking further back up the line where there wasn't any propane.

He also hooked up the new battery which didn't work for us (we had unhooked it) and it worked just fine so he thinks we didn't have the terminals tight enough. He was very thorough and explained several things to us about our systems that were helpful. For what we got -- a fix on the fridge that we would have NEVER found plus a lot of other valuable information -- the cost was reasonable. Personally, I'm more of a DIYer but sometimes, you have to throw in the towel and call in the cavalry.

One last thing about the fridge -- it still struggles as Gladys' does -- in hot weather. The pro we had over said the fridge was probably "tired" so couldn't produce enough cooling to cool the freezer AND the fridge, but I'm not entirely convinced. I think in the future, we'll look at replacing the thermostat but will implement Bill and Laura's ice-block technique for now.

Otherwise, we're really looking forward to the first two weeks of October on the road!

TheWanderers · 07-07-2019, 12:43 PM

I've been resealing windows on Gladys and I completed the third one today in less than two hours. This window is in the dining area as well as the mate to the first one located across the dining area that I did that took me almost four hours. It wasn't any more difficult be because I'm taking my time and I don't care how long it takes; it takes what it takes and it is what it is. (Laura will be mad about my saying that, but that's another story.)

Laura is helping me by holding the reset window in the hole until I get a few screws back into the interior frame so it won't fall out in the driveway and shatter.

This last one was easier than the monster back window simply because of the size as well as the fact that someone had reset the third one before. The butyl was newish and still pretty soft. That made it a lot easier to clean off the window frame as well as the window opening. I'm still using carburetor cleaner to remove the old butyl sealant and it isn't affecting the finish of the gelcoat or the fiberglass itself. The carb cleaner is the only thing I've ever found to get the last bit of the old window sealer off the frame or the opening.

After applying the new butyl strip to the window frame, I tip the window back into the opening and re-set the metal frame using the original screws. Easy peazy lemon squeezy.

Except that it's 95° in the shade.

I figure on resealing all six windows but so far I've limited myself to doing one per day; let's see if'n I get crazy and finish the two the bedroom on the same day because they're smaller?! Who can tell...?

ZachO · 07-08-2019, 06:18 PM

That's great.

Hey, if you have time to take your time, do it! I definitely don't prefer rushing through projects to get done and get on to something else. Enjoy what you're doing, while you're doing it.

Steve and Rosemary · 07-09-2019, 11:27 AM

Hey Bill & Laura! Happy camping season! So glad to see you working on Gladys again and the windows are a great idea.

Say, we're looking at finding the smallest A/C we can to fit in the window and I (Rosemary, not Steve) am wondering if you have any other pictures of it installed (from the inside). Also, any more details about the brand and model would be a huge help. Finding these little A/C units seems to be a bit of challenge and I've only found them at around the $200 price point.

Thanks and happy camping!

TheWanderers · 12-01-2019, 07:28 PM

Steve & Rosemary:

Here's a shot of the label from our a/c unit. This unit slides right through the stock window frame of the "master bedroom" and we use the foam blocks to close off the opening around the a/c case and the sliding window frame.

Sorry this took so long but we haven't been following on here like we used to so I just happened to be looking for information about a co2 monitoring system and saw your question.

TheWanderers · 02-04-2021, 11:59 AM

This last fall, we discovered that the escape hatch has a leak in the worn out fiberglass hatch lid. This spring, after we pull off the 5th wheel cover, we'll need get up there and replace the entire hatch lid and seal.

We're looking forward to getting back out there, after the pandemic stabilizes somewhat. We're waiting for our turn at the vaccine and hope that this impossible situation disappears soon.

Let's get out there and make it a great adventure. Stay positive, test negative!

mszabo · 02-04-2021, 12:54 PM

https://smile.amazon.com/Hengs-66621...2463896&sr=8-3

TheWanderers · 03-04-2021, 02:27 PM

Mszabo, thanx for the link. I'ma go measure that whole right now and make sure it's a fit.

TheWanderers · 05-26-2021, 09:49 AM

Just ordered the flush valve for the dometic toilet valve. This is located on the back of the toilet and is operated by the foot flush pedal. It started leaking last fall and it seems that these valves are notorious for cracking/failing. It's a pretty quick fix as noted in the youtube video I just watched. We're looking forward to getting Gladys ready for this season. I've flushed all the lines and checked the rest of the systems. This repair should only take five minutes (famous last words).

TheWanderers · 05-26-2021, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mszabo

https://smile.amazon.com/Hengs-66621...2463896&sr=8-3

Mszabo, that bad boys went right on and seems to have healed the vent leak. We'll be watching this issue very closely but I think we've sealed it up. Thanx again!

TheWanderers · 06-02-2021, 06:20 PM

The new flush valve for the toilet has tested successfully.

TheWanderers · 06-19-2021, 12:16 PM

Ordered a pair of standard vent covers from Amazon and installed them on Gladys. One looked a little "sketchy" and since I couldn't know if either of them were OEM I simply replaced them both. Good plan since when I took the main cover off it crumbled in my hand from UV degradation. It's all good now.