Maiden Voyage this weekend!

dkasten39828 · 09-11-2008, 11:09 PM

Here we go! This weekend will be our 1st trip in the 2499.

Our North Florida camping group is meeting at Suwannee River State Park near Live Oak, Florida. They rebuilt the campground a year or so ago and they added sewer connections, which I can now use!

Here is a picture of our Sunline in the side yard, ready to load up:

kanyonkitty · 09-12-2008, 05:42 AM

Have a wonderful time, be carefull. I love the minimal graphics on your Sunline. It's a looking rig.

OK, NOW, WE REALLY REALY like Sunline pictures, so take a lot so we can see more of your Sunline

Kitty

partimcmpr · 09-12-2008, 07:11 AM

Nice looking trailer! Have a great time. Let us know how that first trip goes. Like Kitty said - take pictures!

kanyonkitty · 09-12-2008, 03:29 PM

GEESH, my spelling in the first post really leaves a lot to be desires. But, I have an excuse, I wrote it at 5:42AM

dkasten39828 · 09-14-2008, 03:58 PM

We have returned from our 1st trip with only one bad experience.

A flat tire on the camper... I nicked a curb on the right side on the way out of town and upon visual inspection it looked OK. The rim had a little dent, but no more than that.

About 8 miles down the two lane road @ 55 mph, the front right tire on the camper let go. The Hensley kept doing it's job. The trailer never budged. It stayed straight and I easily stopped the rig on a side road. Had to change the tire in 100 degree temps. YUCK. Thank God for a power tongue jack and Mr. Hensley.

Checking the tire codes, it seems that these MAXXIS radials are the originals from 2004. They've had some tire dressing put on them which kinda masks any checking, which appears only minimal. But they are 4+ year old tires.

They are getting replaced. ALL OF THEM... before our next trip.

The rest of the trip went well. Everyone in our camping group got the guided tour. They all approved the new camper.

Everything in the camper worked. We do have a small water leak in the shower at the hose connection for the shower wand and one in the kitchen. The GFCI outlet by the kitchen sink worketh NOT. Can't get it to reset. Easy fix. The fridge works on electric but not gas. More experienced members of our group said the burner probably needs a good cleaning as it appears to have been run ONLY on electric for "some time".

All in all a good trip. We made a list of things to do to the camper. We also made a list of things we forgot to pack.

Looking forward to our next trip in October.

**JohnB** · 09-15-2008, 10:33 PM

Dave and Cindy

Nice looking camper and truck! Glad things worked out.

On the fridge, did not work on propane, h'mm

Fist off did the dealer do the Dometic recall on it? Yours would have been affected. If he did not then it needs to be done soon. It is free by any Dometic dealer.

Now why I ask about the recall, some times they have goofed up the gas cooling when doing it. I have heard of some having this problem as the new recall shield where not installed right. But this was more of not cooling right not that it did not light correctly.

Is your not lighting or not cooling on gas?

When you turn yours on gas mode, do you hear click click click going on outside by the fridge cover? This is troubleshooting step 1. No click click click means no igniter operation. Before I tyupe a lot of what else it might be, need to know more of the problem.

Again glad things worked out and welcome to the club with that nice camper.

John

Hematite · 09-16-2008, 07:37 AM

If the gas system has been apart, for any reason, it may be a case of air being trapped in the system. My system was apart and I had to run the furnace and the stove top burners for a while, after the gas came through again, to "burp" the system before the refrigerator would finally work. I don't know if this is your problem but it could be.

dkasten39828 · 09-16-2008, 09:08 AM

Quote:

... did the dealer do the Dometic recall on it?

That I don't know. Since I'm planning to take it into my local (sort of) dealer, I'll make a note to have that checked.

The igniter is trying to light the fridge burner. You can hear it clicking away. It just won't light. The fridge cools really well on electric.

We used the gas stove top and oven over the weekend. No issues there. My old popup had the stove top LAST in the gas line, so to use the water heater or fridge, you had to purge the lines by lighting the stove FIRST. I am guessing this camper is the same way, but I am not certain.

We used the water heater on electric over the weekend (again, worked REALLY well), so we did not check the GAS operation. I think I'm going to ask the tech do a complete gas system check just to cover all the possibilities.

We were SO used to going thru all these motions to get the popup fridge to light and then light the water heater... and on this camper, you just PUSH A BUTTON. God, what luxury!

Hematite · 09-16-2008, 10:52 AM

I think that on the 2499 all the gas accessories are on one side except the refrigerator. Once the main side is purged, it does sometimes take a number of tries to get the refrigerator branch line cleared of air. I was getting discouraged trying to get mine to light and I thought "OK, one last time and that's going to be it, I'll just use the electric" and it lit!

It is possible that it might need a cleaning and adjustment so that idea is a good one. I don't have a picture but I think there is one on this site somewhere about the Dometic recall. After you open the refrigerator access door on the outside of the coach you will see a large galvanized sheet steel cover over the right hand side of the unit (burner and chimney area). That is the recall piece. There is also a sensor installed behind it as well, I think. If you see the burner assembly and the chimney then you need to contact a local dealer to get the recall done.

**JohnB** · 09-16-2008, 11:29 PM

Dave

Rick (Hematite) hit the nail on the head. The T2499 of yours and mine and his vintage takes at least 3 full cycles to purge the air out to get the fridge to light if the system has not been used in a long time. the gas burner is a really small gas draw and takes that long to purge out the air.

The click click click will cycle 3 sets of time then go out on safety. Just turn off the fridge and turn back on it will give another 3 sets of safety tires and so on.

Also one thought. In this pic of mine there is a small gas shut off valve right after the gas valve. It is a screwdriver slot. The slot should be in the flow direction of the pipe to be on. If it is 90 deg, it is off. PS. this pic is pre Recall shielding that Rick is referring to.

Your tech checking the entire system and a good gas pressure drop test to check for leak will uncover all of this and give you a clean bill of health or what the issues are.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

John