Maintenance & Restoration

Gerry · 10-19-2006, 03:23 PM

My wife and I were all exited about going on our first week long camping trip in our Boler 13'.
We had been on a few weekend trips, with our grand kids, to a local state park over the summer and not having any electricity hook-up, I was always concerned about running the furnace after reading that the drain on the battery may leave us without other more important things like the lights for the pre-teen kids.
I have had the furnace running at home on AC and when I first installed my Battery system into the trailer the furnace wouldn't light.
The fan would run, although a bit noisy, but the gas valve wouldn't turn on to ignite.
After the great help I got from the people on FGRV I learned that a battery had to be almost 100% to get the furnace to run properly and even though I had a new battery I should charge it for 2 days.
That seemed to solve the problem but I was still concerned about the use of power with the kids along.
Anyway before our week long trip to a private campground near the ocean, that would have electric and water hook-up (all the anemities of home) I figured that it now being late September we could indeed run the furnace if it was cool at night.
I started the furnace at home to make sure it was working and the fan came on and again a bit noisy, but it turned on and ignited no problem so I shut it down.
Thinking and looking down into the triangular tunnel, where the fan sits, I could see what may be a bearing on the shaft but there was no way to get an oil can in there and oil it.
Me in my wisdom, get out a can of PB Blaster, a real great penetrateing oil in a spray can and I spray as best I can down in the space.
Thinking, OH OH, the wife will not like this smell so I left a few widows open on our journey to the campground and when we got there, there was almost no odor left.
All was well until......the first night when the temps went down to the 40's with ocean breezes so I wake up around 3 am and decide to start the furnace and surprise the wife with a nice toasty, cozy trailer.
Well....now the OOOPS.

In about 2 minutes, my smoke alarm goes off and I wake up to a dense blue cloud of smelly oily smoke all though the trailer.
First re-action is to stop furnace and stop the screaching smoke alarm.
I hit the thermostate and that puts furnace off, open windows and pot exhaust fan on, and by now wife

is SURPRIZED all right, with her head under the covers trying not to choke and I take the smoke alarm, still shreaking out side and blow on it to shut it up, After several attemps at this, it fanally shuts down but it's too late.
Other campers are comming around some with buckets of water but thank good nobody did call the fire department as they wanted to make sure it wasn't a false alarm but with all the smoke I am surprized nobody did.
I suppose see me doing the smoke alarm dance outside told them it was a false alarm.
Needless to say I got a few digs

about this the rest of the week with other campers asking if they could bring over some hams so they could smoke them in my (smoker)trailer.
The next day, with smoke alarm sitting on front seat of truck I ran the furnace for about 15 minutes and all the PB Blaster residue was burned off and the fan makes no more noise.
Gerry