TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Hey all, just wanted to tell about our adventure this weekend, taking the underbelly apart and looking at the "guts" of the ElkRidge. We had to do this to discover where our tanks are located, and what type of remedy we need for freezing pipes during the winter. (We like to take the ElkRidge skiing!)
It took DH and I about 2 hours to remove the bolts that hold up the underbelly, gas line, etc. We decided not to remove the entire underbelly, as we would have had to remove a lot more items that were added after the underbelly was installed. We ended up making two cuts in it, which we will reseal with Eternabond, once the work is done. The ElkRidge has a metallic bubble-wrap type layer of insulation between the chloroplast and the rest of the underbelly. We cut that and rolled it back to the front and rear of the trailer to see the wires and pipes. Wow, what a lot of spaghetti! I'm glad they know what goes where.
Everything seemed to be in order, except we did find that our kitchen pipes do run along -- in contact -- with the metal frame... probably why they froze first. Our tanks/valves etc. looked in very good condition. The fresh water and kitchen grey tanks are further away than I expected. They are over the axles and slightly behind the axles. This makes for a long run to the basement/UDC area. We'll be adding a tank heater to the freshwater tank, and probably the heat wrap for the freshwater supply to the pump. Also the lines to the kitchen since they are the most vulnerable. We aren't full-timing in a cold location, so more heating pads, etc. aren't really needed... and we don't have enough free fuse connections to do it all, so we are only adding heat to the areas that are most problematic.
We found the parts we need from Ultra-heat online, and ordered. Hope to have them soon to get them installed before it turns cold. We then took another 2 hours to reinstall the underbelly. What a beating, crawling around on our backs trying to hold that thing up to attach it. We didn't attach it everywhere, as we will have to take it all down again to install the heating parts.
The only real surprise was that we could not immediately locate the duct for the "heated underbelly" that Heartland says all units have. We finally discovered a foot-long slit in the underpinning of the (subfloor) insulation, and lo-and-behold, when we ran the furnace, hot air came from that slit! I don't know if this is supposed to be our "vent", but we are going to have to make some modifications to get more air down to the underbelly.
I am sore from head to toe after crawling around under there for two days, and we haven't even DONE anything yet! Ah, the "joys" of owning an RV! LOL!
E
It took DH and I about 2 hours to remove the bolts that hold up the underbelly, gas line, etc. We decided not to remove the entire underbelly, as we would have had to remove a lot more items that were added after the underbelly was installed. We ended up making two cuts in it, which we will reseal with Eternabond, once the work is done. The ElkRidge has a metallic bubble-wrap type layer of insulation between the chloroplast and the rest of the underbelly. We cut that and rolled it back to the front and rear of the trailer to see the wires and pipes. Wow, what a lot of spaghetti! I'm glad they know what goes where.
Everything seemed to be in order, except we did find that our kitchen pipes do run along -- in contact -- with the metal frame... probably why they froze first. Our tanks/valves etc. looked in very good condition. The fresh water and kitchen grey tanks are further away than I expected. They are over the axles and slightly behind the axles. This makes for a long run to the basement/UDC area. We'll be adding a tank heater to the freshwater tank, and probably the heat wrap for the freshwater supply to the pump. Also the lines to the kitchen since they are the most vulnerable. We aren't full-timing in a cold location, so more heating pads, etc. aren't really needed... and we don't have enough free fuse connections to do it all, so we are only adding heat to the areas that are most problematic.
We found the parts we need from Ultra-heat online, and ordered. Hope to have them soon to get them installed before it turns cold. We then took another 2 hours to reinstall the underbelly. What a beating, crawling around on our backs trying to hold that thing up to attach it. We didn't attach it everywhere, as we will have to take it all down again to install the heating parts.
The only real surprise was that we could not immediately locate the duct for the "heated underbelly" that Heartland says all units have. We finally discovered a foot-long slit in the underpinning of the (subfloor) insulation, and lo-and-behold, when we ran the furnace, hot air came from that slit! I don't know if this is supposed to be our "vent", but we are going to have to make some modifications to get more air down to the underbelly.
I am sore from head to toe after crawling around under there for two days, and we haven't even DONE anything yet! Ah, the "joys" of owning an RV! LOL!
E
