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Excessive Heat!
Until this last Friday we had only been moving 60-100 miles each week since the end of December. We have been short hopping to churches in the Tulsa area and into Kansas and Missouri. A couple of weeks ago my wife told me the electrical panel felt warmer than it usually is after we finished about an 80 mile trip.
The AC panel is on top and the bottom panel has the remotes for both inverters, generator controls and gauges, Aqua Hot buttons, waterpump buttons and such as that. I opened both panels during the last week to make sure that nothing was burning or had burned and to check for loose connections. Everything checked out.
Since it only warmed up while we were on the road I assumed it might be an electrical issue that only manifested itself while running off the inverters with no shore power. We left OKC Friday with a plan. After 90 miles we stopped and both panels were very warm. I turned on the generator and let it run 100 miles or so to see if that made any differnece. Nope, still very warm.
Then I opened the panels while they were still warm and the problem hit me right square in the face, literally.
A blast of extremely hot air blew into my face like a furnace on full throttle. Those panels are next to the fridge on the driver’s side and they are directly over the bus heat in the bay below. I went outside and opened that bay and it was very warm in there as well.
It was a perfect day for driving and we did not need the bus heat or air at all. I made sure the switch for the heat was off and the temp control was all the way on the cool position and it was still cooking in the compartment behind the panel. It did seem to cool down while the engine was idling but would cook while we were going down the road.
We have owned the bus for one month short of six years and we have had absolutely no trouble with the bus heat and air. That is a pretty good run. I am hoping this is not much of a problem. In my mind something is calling for heat and the bus heat is providing it. Since we are not running the heat and blowing it out of the many vents in the windows, the heat is billowing up through the cabinet above.
I have no idea what would cause that. I am in place until Saturday. Any ideas on things I could check? I know I could close the valves in the back but that does not fix the real problem.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Davy
Oh, I almost forgot. This may be totally unrelated but the remote for one of my inverters was a little wacky as well. The text on the display was really dim but after we stopped for the night it brightened up and is normal now. The second remote was fine all day.
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8 Replies
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Do you happen to have a heat exchanger in that area that is circulating engine coolant? Just a thought.
As for the LCD display, it’s not uncommon for these to fade when they get warm.
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There is a flexible ducting going up through that compartment and the bus heat conglomeration is in the bay below. We have never noticed those panels warming up when we run the bus heat and we do that quite a bit since we are mostly in winter weather December through the last of February.
Davy
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should be a large 2 inch selonoid in the roof of that compartment that controls bus heat coolant flow to the main bus heat exchanger. The switch on the dash controls it. could be stuck open. With switch off (be careful) see if it is hot on both sides. There should actually be a smaller by pass line that goes to your defroster… If you shut off in rear you will loose your heat to your defroster also. FWIW..
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I will crank it up and check that out, Bob. Thanks
Davy
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This assumes you have OTR which Bob’s response also presumes. My concern is that if your coach has OTR something is wrong with the ducting that is allowing heat from the heat exchanger in the evaporator compartment to escape into the area behind your electric panel.
All coaches with OTR should have the air flow ducted so it is distributed to the various supply and returns and is not needlessly heating or cooling areas outside of the living space.
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Where hvac fans are in that compartment there are flex conectors on them to the crossover duct work to curb side..It could be torn or displaced. The pic you show pannel is right behind your daughters bunk(rite) . Also isn’t your cold air return in same space for hvac–make sure the connection did not come off grill for it.(could be back feeding a little into a closed space. Just thoughts without being there.
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I will check those things Jon and Bob. Yes, when I said bus heat I mean OTR heat.
This was the only electical gismo toward the top of the bay.
The coolant line flowing into this valve from the right is coming from a pump that seems to be controlled by this valve. The wires are going to the pump. With the bus running I can hear the valve making up when the heat and air is turned on and off.
My meter read 24 volts from the valve to ground when the AC was on and the temperature control was turned toward the cool setting. When my wife turned the heat on or the temperature control toward warm the voltage was 0.
I only idled the bus for 20 munutes so I do not know if the original problem persists. I plan to travel a couple of hours Saturday so I will know more then.
Davy
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As far as I can see all the ducting is in place and nothing appears lose or misdirected.
We traveled about 120 miles today plus idled for an hour or so while we ate en route. The panel stayed as cool as a cucumber. The switch or solenoid must have been stuck in the heat position. I will keep an eye on it.
Davy
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