Feedback for Redwood at the 2014 rally

[travelin' texans]

Rick & Mindy
I run off one propane bottle at a time, just my process, don't want to get some remote place & run out of propane on both bottles again.

[S&K]

How do you know when one tank is getting low?

And, if you use one tank at a time and FORGET to fill the other one right away... how long do you have using one tank, based on just using it for cooking on stove top and occasional oven (and maybe to start water heater)?

[rcflame]

I have talked to several people that don't use the automatic changeover and I don't know why. Some of them aren't familiar with the way they work, but some say I don't want to totally run out of propane. I find that if I am using a fare amount of propane I will just check more often to see the if the flag is up. I would rather do this than have to get up in the middle of the night and open the other tank because the on that I was on ran dry.

[sinder]

I have the following gauges on our 40lb tanks: http://www.amazon.com/GasWatch-TVL21.../dp/B000S5S3M4

[ksaltman]

AWESOME! You'all are doing great. Keep up the feedback and I'll make sure to pull it all together and get the survey out.

Thanks!!

[travelin' texans]

I have the 30# bottles & can go several months on one bottle unless it is super cold then one only last 5-7 days with furnace running. That's what I do Roger, when 1 bottle gets low I open both, got caught 1 time having to go out in the middle of the night.

[Rick and Mindy]

My wife and I workkamped for 4 years at a resort in Minnesota and I can't tell you how many times I had to explain to patrons how their propane auto-changeover worked so they would not run out of propane in the middle of the night. For the sake of someone not understanding how it works I will try to verbalize it. I hope this makes sense. The valve has a lever on it that will rotate from left to right. With both tanks open, turn the lever to the tank you wish to use(left or right) You should be able to see green in the glass portion of the valve.(this indicates propane in that tank) As long as both tanks are OPEN the system will draw from the one you have indicated until that tank is empty. At that time the system will switch to the other tank automatically and red will be displayed in the glass indicating that the tank you had initially chosen is now empty. This is when you flip the lever to the other tank and the green should then appear in the glass indicating fuel in that tank. At that time, you should disconnect the original tank and get it filled, reinstall it and open the tank so that when the second tank is empty, the system will draw from the newly filled tank at which time you change the lever over and continue the process. You should not be running out of fuel unless you ignore the color shown in the glass indicator. So, as long as you have both tanks open, the valve lever is just to indicate which tank you are using and whether it has fuel in it or not. I hope I have explained the system and not caused more confusion. It is a very good system and designed for you to have continuous fuel without running out.

[0nTheRoad]

Great explanation...well stated and simple to understand!!!

[Gegallant]

Great explanation on the valve operation...thanks!
I guess I'm partly overly compulsive, so I purchased an ultrasonic unit that sends a soundwave into a tank and will indicate how much liquid is actually left in the tank.
I have the 40# tanks and when they are filled, the level is about 80% of maximum. When empty, it appears to have less than 10% liquid in the tanks. I found the little meter to be very accurate and dependable. I've even been able to help out some of he folks we've met, in diagnosing their one-tank systems when they thought the tanks were full.
A handy tool that should rarely be needed if the changeover valve is functioning as designed but being a tool junkie, I thought I should add it to the collection.

[johnboytoo]

ok - someone mentioned a sightglass ?!?

On my old 5er had one, but not seeing on the new ACR-2 regulator...

pulled the cute little white cover to see what I could find... but not much:

edu-ma-cate me !

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

ok - someone mentioned a sightglass ?!?

On my old 5er had one, but not seeing on the new ACR-2 regulator...

pulled the cute little white cover to see what I could find... but not much:

edu-ma-cate me !

I will have to look at mine tomorrow. It's in storage. I do remember that it was hard to see and I had to stick my head into the compartment to see it. I'm not sure it is the same as yours. I will let you know tomorrow.

[Dave&Ginny]

In this picture your black plastic handle is covering it up.

[0nTheRoad]

johnboytoo,

Your switchover is different than the one on our coach with the indicator window.

Ours looks like this...

[collindo]

Move the lever with the arrow on it to point to the bottle you are using under the lever is a small plastic window which you can now see because the lever is no longer covering it on mine it will appear empty if you have propane but when the bottle it is pointing to is empty it will be red. By leaving the lever down in the middle you are drawing from both bottles and the red flag will only show when both bottles are empty. Hope this helps

[johnboytoo]

Thanks !
That's the problem - I can't see the window because of the mounting ---
It's mounted within 2 inches of the 40 lb bottle on the right SIDE of the enclosure...
can't get enough of an angle to see it...
had to do gyrations with 10 or so pics just to be able to get the 1 or 2 good pics above

Tmo, I will close both bottles to see if I can tell if the sight glass turns red.......

ontheroad,
mine actually has the little white cover like yours,
but the cover has been trimmed so you can take it off when the dial is pointed straight down- I took your picture and painted the 'slot' in red below:

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

Thanks !
That's the problem - I can't see the window because of the mounting ---
It's mounted with 2 inches of the 40 lb bottle on the right SIDE of the enclosure...
can't get enough of an angle to see it...
had to do gyrations with 10 or so pics just to be able to get 1 or 2 good pics

I will close both bottles to see if I can tell if the sight glass turns red.......

You should be able to tell if a bottle is empty by leaving it open and turning the valve to the side for that bottle and see if you see green or red through the siteglass (red would indicate that bottle is empty)

[PDAY1213]

Have to say for me the Power Cord reel option and having LED lights inside and outside the coach for all lights would be two fine additions to the Redwood line up of features. Now a days LED's just make common sense for replacement and battery draw.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

For safety reasons.....I'd like to see "mid-ship" turn signals. I have clearance lights mid-ship but they aren't turn signals.

X2
I installed them on my last one - may have to on this one.

[lwg]

One of my biggest request would be to put a low profile AC on the front of the coach. This would likely give us back a couple inches of clearance and some additional peace of mind. Mine might be a warranty item soon, considering asking if they'll replace it with the Mach 8 low profile unit if I pay the difference...

[atom ant]

I had a Dometic Penguin low profile on a prior rig, and it was junk.