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Regular
Posts: 57
Location: Red Wing, MN | So we bought a new bison with living quarters. Unfortunately the Yamaha generator hasn't arrived yet. We'd like to take the trailer to an orienteering ride this weekend (saturday, sat night, sunday). The trailer has 2 batteries and 2 tanks of propane. There's no electric hookups where were going. I assume the batteries (both brand new) will be ok for lights over that time period?
Does the refrigerator use propane or batteries if the trailers not plugged in?
Any thoughts/suggestions you have would be great. |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
  
Location: western PA | Originally written by ArabHorseLover on 2011-05-27 11:11 AM
The trailer has 2 batteries and 2 tanks of propane. There's no electric hookups where were going. I assume the batteries (both brand new) will be ok for lights over that time period? Does the refrigerator use propane or batteries if the trailers not plugged in? Any thoughts/suggestions you have would be great. Make sure the batteries are charged before you leave. You should have no probems with lighting in that duration. The fridge uses both a battery voltage and the propane to run. If you have a furnace, which hopefully you will not now need, the blower motor is one of the highest consumption of current you have in your LQ. With continuous opperation, it can drain two batteries in a weekend. If you are away from your trailer for hours at a time, turn off all your electrical drains, lighting, water pump etc. Leave your fridge and water heater running. |
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Veteran
Posts: 229
| AHL, you should be fine over the weekend if you have a propane heater. Get a full charge on your batteries, like plug them in Friday night/afternoon and leave them overnight, like 12 hours. Remember to pull out your inverter master switch. Otherwise your batteries won't charge. Also, pre-cool your fridge by starting it to run on Friday night, either run on propane or electricity for the pre-cool. I choose propane, just because I don't trust my electricity out at the barn, also, I don't have to do a changeover to propane when I unplug the trailer. If you want to preheat the LQ, then run the heater as well. Your fridge will run on both propane or electricity. When you are not plugged in, select the propane. If your fridge has an auto select, it will automatically select the propane when you are not plugged in. Note: Starting your fridge on propane will probably require a couple of tries. My procedure is to first pull propane through the lines by lighting the stove top. Then I start the fridge. The first time I'll get a fault code, as the fridge senses no propane. The second time, the fridge will stay lit. If you don't know if your propane tanks have been filled up, then make sure to fill them up. Happy Camping! |
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Regular
Posts: 57
Location: Red Wing, MN | thank you both!! I've never even stayed in an RV so I need to go back and re-read the owners manual before we go. The salesman did a complete walk-thru but until I start to use it, it doesn't really come together. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 781
Location: La Cygne, KS | If you have a hot water tank, make sure your hot water tank has water in it prior to turning it on. I usually just turn on the hot water faucet and then wait for the hot water tank to fill from either my fresh water tank or by having the trailer connected to the faucet. Having the hot water faucet on also helps take air bubbles out of the line and tank. Also, if you are using your fresh water tank for the first time, it would be go idea to sanitize it prior to your trip too. There are many articles on how to do this. Here is site that I used for mine: http://www.ehow.com/way_5185095_rv-water-tank-treatment.html |
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Regular
Posts: 57
Location: Red Wing, MN | OK, I've been out with the trailer and the owners manual familiarizing myself. Everything is going well except when it comes to water. I filled the water tank. Monitor shows it full. Then the manual says to turn on all the water faucets and flip the switch for the water pump. Done. I hear the pump come on, but no water. I let it run for a few minutes but then chickened out and turned it off; afraid that maybe it was getting water and I'd burn it out? Anyone know if Bisons have a main water valve somewhere that I need to turn on to let water go from the tank to the pump?How long would it normally take on a new trailer to get the water moving/pressurized to the point of getting water out the faucets the first time its used? |
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Veteran
Posts: 201
| Can't believe you bought a new LQ trailer and the dealer hasn't taken time to make sure everything is full and working?? It's probably still winterized and the morons don't know how to change it over or don't care. Anyway, turn all water line valves to on, including at water heater, start pump and see if water heater is filling up and nothing is draining under trailer. I seriously doubt that your batteries are going to last a whole weekend, so don't be shocked when they run out. It's hard to screw these up, so don't be afraid of doing something. |
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Veteran
Posts: 149
Location: Harrisburg, OR | If you'd like you can give us a call and we'll walk you through how to get your fresh water working. Your dealer should have un-winterized the trailer as part of the PDI. I would NOT open your hot water heater valves until you have made sure there is not any antifreeze in the lines. Normally they come with just a little bit in the pea traps. You can hook up a hose to your city water connection to blow it out. There can be quite a bit of air in the lines if this is the first time water has been ran thru the trailer. I would ask your dealer if they PDI'd the trailer prior to delivery. If not then I would advise taking it back and having them do that. If they skipped the water than there is a good chance they also didn't do any checks on the propane, furnace, cooktop etc. As for your batteries if you are conservative they should last you just fine. You can also plug the trailer into your truck to charge should the need arise. |
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Can you help a newbie to Living Quarters
