New Guy

[Hurricane95]

Hi all,

I'm Chris from Iowa. New to the toter life. I recently purchased a 94 Topkick with an S&S 12 ft conversion. It's an older unit, but perfect size for what I do with it, which is normally camping at the races and pulling a giant smoker for some good eats!

I'm sure I will have some (dumb?) questions to ask at some point, but will hit the forums first to see if they were addressed already.

Just wanted to say thanks for the add, and hello.

Chris

[bushpilot]

WELCOME....no dumb questions around here (I've got dibs on that space).
Welcome to the fray!

[Bob86ZZ4]

Welcome Chris! I think BlizzardND had S&S build the box on his truck? He did all the other work I think though. Pictures! What kind of race car?

[Hurricane95]

Bob,

If we tow a racecar it'll be a dirt latemodel, but I use it to tow my smoker with most often. Just got tired of never having a place of my own to stay when I do racing vacations and such.

It's amazing how much nicer it is with ones own bed, shower, and restroom facilities!!

[38Chevy454]

Welcome to the T/C forum, from a relative newbie myself. How about some pics of your new toterhome? What drivetrain does it have?

[Hurricane95]

Hello 454,

I'm having issues loading pics here. I'm on my phone and it won't let me access my picture gallery, but I will try and get some later from the home computer.

Mine has the Cat 3116, turned up close to 300hp with an Eaton - Fuller 13 speed. Single axle rear. Nothing too big or fancy, just comfortable and functional.

Do any of you have any recommendations on a 120 volt electric water heater by chance? Mine is all electric and has no LP on board. I do have a 5500w Onan, as well as shore power though.

[bushpilot]

Originally Posted by Hurricane95

Hello 454,

I'm having issues loading pics here. I'm on my phone and it won't let me access my picture gallery, but I will try and get some later from the home computer.

Mine has the Cat 3116, turned up close to 300hp with an Eaton - Fuller 13 speed. Single axle rear. Nothing too big or fancy, just comfortable and functional.

Do any of you have any recommendations on a 120 volt electric water heater by chance? Mine is all electric and has no LP on board. I do have a 5500w Onan, as well as shore power though.

WELCOME!

Pictures:

For posting pictures or imbedding them in your posts/threads - its easier to use a (free) photobucket account. Upload your photos to photobucket & then use the links that photobucket provides to embed your pictures in your post/threads.

Water Heater:

Whats wrong with the water heater you have now? What brand is it? Why change?

Do you have an RV or Residential water heater in your T/C coach now?

Theres really only 2 mfg's for RV water heaters (suburban or atwood) and both manufacture electric (only) or electric & propane gas units. Both manufactures are also manufacturing (gas) on-demand water heaters now too.

Both manufactures offer 6, 10 & 12 gallon tank capacity units.

Of course there are also hydronic (diesel / electric) on-demand water heaters too - but they can be a bit more complicated since they can provide radiant/baseboard heat & engine pre-heat capability. Hydronic Heaters can be pretty large (requiring part or all of a basement bay space for installation).

I just replaced my 10 yr old suburban gas/electric (10 gal) unit (had a pin hole / leak) - the previous owner apparently neglected conventional maintenance (draining, flushing & frequent changes of the anode rod).

Changing the unit out wasn't terribly difficult (i did it myself). I considered upgrading to the 12gal (2 inches deeper) unit - but the added capacity really isn't necessary and space was so tight i would have had to re-plumb.

our 10g unit provides plenty of hot water for multiple (back to back) "boat showers" (wet, turn water off, soap, turn water on/rinse)....in fact it worked well even when my wife & i traveled with our THREE teenagers.

I generally run the heater on gas or pre-heat the water (before we leave on a trip) while parked in our storage unit - sometimes i leave it on, but generally try to turn it off while driving - the 10 gal tank keeps the water warm for many hours.

if we have shorepower we'll run the water heater on electric - and if we need faster recovery / heat we can run both the electric element & gas heat, but we've NEVER found that to be necessary.

[Hurricane95]

Thanks Bush! The issue I had the only time I have used it so far, was 2 cold showers. It's a 6 gallon all electric that plugs into an outlet under the counter. Considering the age of it, and the fact that the previous owners had the shower bypassed, I think it would just be a good idea to start fresh.

The plumbing all looks pretty simple, PVC and flex hose. I haven't really had an opportunity to troubleshoot it yet, as I store it at a friends place across town, since I don't have room at the house.

[bushpilot]

id begin by draining it and checking out the heating element and the thermostatic switch (to make sure it hasn't melted).

[Hurricane95]

I should have some time to look it over this weekend. I'm doing an end of season party and bbq, and taking the toter to defeat the DWI opportunities, lol.

[samcrimm]

Welcome! Great place to learn and ask questions.