Ceiling Fan & Parking Brake

[dave lowry]

Help! I've watched the posts for about 6 months and scanned all the back
issues of Cinnabar's newsletter and haven't seen any discussions on a
couple of problems I'm having.

1) I stopped by Camping World on my last trip to get the old worn out
ceiling fan replaced with a nice new automatic Fantastic Fan. Surprise!
They wouldn't take my money. According to their service (sales) person, the
old unit fits into a rounded 14" X 14" opening and the Fantastic Fan needs
a square opening. I was told that they could not insure either structural
integrity or a water tight installation if they had to cut out the corners.
I'd sure like to improve ventilation. Any suggestions?

2) We have a great deal of difficulty setting the parking brake (which is
marginal at best, even when we do get the *##%* thing set). Who ever
designed this thing either didn't use it or was a lot stronger than either
of us. Has anybody had success substituting some other mechanism which is
easier to activate?

Sure hope someone out there has some good suggestions,

Dave

 

[bartz paul]

Dave:

Regarding your emergency brake . Often times, the cable running from
the emergency brake lever to the rear wheels runs through several places
where it changes directions/goes through the frame to the right side of
the coach to the rear wheels.. At these points, the cable often times
takes a set (i. e. slight kink) which then does not allow for proper
operation in either setting the brake or releasing it. Replacing the
cables should relieve the problem you are experiencing.

I assume you are aware that to set the tension on the emergency brake,
you adjust it by turning the cap on the end of the lever.

Although I haven't touched the roof vent fan, I know many people who
have installed the Fantastic fan in their coach. I haven't heard that
they needed top do anything to the opening, though.

That also brings up a point, if you request literature on the
Kool-O-Matic vent fan (they advertise in the FMCA magazine), they send a
sheet having a data table giving supposed independent lab testing of the
air flow capabilities of their fan, Fantastic and I believe one other
make. If true, the data shows that Fantastic overrates their
ventilation capability quite a bit vs. the Kool-O-Matic.

Anybody else have input on the flow rate differences between the brands
of fans?

Anyone installed the Kool-O-Matic fan? Any alteration of the coach
opening required. I've been considering the Kool-O-Matic to replace the
original fan, which is a puny unit, at best.

Paul Bartz

> From: dlowry [SMTP:dlowry]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 1998 2:56 PM
> Subject: GMC: Ceiling Fan & Parking Brake
>
> Help! I've watched the posts for about 6 months and scanned all the
> back issues of Cinnabar's newsletter and haven't seen any discussions
> on a couple of problems I'm having.
>
> 1) I stopped by Camping World on my last trip to get the old worn out
> ceiling fan replaced with a nice new automatic Fantastic Fan.
> Surprise! They wouldn't take my money. According to their service
> (sales) person, the old unit fits into a rounded 14" X 14" opening and
> the Fantastic Fan needs a square opening. I was told that they could
> not insure either structural integrity or a water tight installation
> if they had to cut out the corners. I'd sure like to improve
> ventilation. Any suggestions?
>
> 2) We have a great deal of difficulty setting the parking brake
> (which is marginal at best, even when we do get the *##%* thing set).
> Who ever designed this thing either didn't use it or was a lot
> stronger than either of us. Has anybody had success substituting some
> other mechanism which is easier to activate?
>
> Sure hope someone out there has some good suggestions,
>
> Dave
>

 

[thomas g. warner]

Replace the parking brake cables.

>Help! I've watched the posts for about 6 months and scanned all the back
>issues of Cinnabar's newsletter and haven't seen any discussions on a
>couple of problems I'm having.
>
>1) I stopped by Camping World on my last trip to get the old worn out
>ceiling fan replaced with a nice new automatic Fantastic Fan. Surprise!
>They wouldn't take my money. According to their service (sales) person, the
>old unit fits into a rounded 14" X 14" opening and the Fantastic Fan needs
>a square opening. I was told that they could not insure either structural
>integrity or a water tight installation if they had to cut out the corners.
>I'd sure like to improve ventilation. Any suggestions?
>
>2) We have a great deal of difficulty setting the parking brake (which is
>marginal at best, even when we do get the *##%* thing set). Who ever
>designed this thing either didn't use it or was a lot stronger than either
>of us. Has anybody had success substituting some other mechanism which is
>easier to activate?
>
>Sure hope someone out there has some good suggestions,
>
>Dave
>
>
>
>

 

[jim bounds1]

Dave,
I have installed many 14x14 square vents by trimming out the hole with
no trouble as other people have attested to. I suspect they did not
want to take the liability of cutting the hole and possibly creating a
water leak.

I would heed their concern as a sign that they were unfamiliar with
installing a fan! As another post pointed out, after thay drove screws
through the roof the customer said he would fix it himself and asked
them to get away from his coach! Even after chasing them away, he found
a knee dent that caused a leak. I want to have a tech. spend more than
$5 worth of time installing stuff on my coach!

You get what you pay for!!!

As for "Fantastic Fan" quality, I have been very happy up to now with
their units. I said up to now, I went out to a coach on my lot and
found that the inside panel had warped from the heat and allowed the fan
to drag on the sides. I will let you know what they do about the
situation.

As for the park brake, even when they do work properly, I've not seen
many that would keep the coach from moving even on a Florida hill!

So then you decide to throw some money at the brake cables, suspecting
correctly that they have stretched and give under pressure or as Paul
pointed out have kinked. If you replace 1, you should replace them all
and that is not cheap! So you say "Dam the Torpedos" and spring for the
whole set, put them all in including working over the rear brakes and
wheel bearings (since you're already in there). Try the park brake,
does it really work now? It may be terrable to say, but I would carry a
tire block and put the cash in something that is worth the money!

So I'm a bad guy for telling you to ditch the park brake, in Florida
it's not that necessary! Has anyone else had better luck with their
park brake and what did you do? Rollers on the intermediate cable is a
nice idea but I am still not going to give the system a passing grade!

Jim Bounds www.gmccoop,com

>
> Help! I've watched the posts for about 6 months and scanned all the back
> issues of Cinnabar's newsletter and haven't seen any discussions on a
> couple of problems I'm having.
>
> 1) I stopped by Camping World on my last trip to get the old worn out
> ceiling fan replaced with a nice new automatic Fantastic Fan. Surprise!
> They wouldn't take my money. According to their service (sales) person, the
> old unit fits into a rounded 14" X 14" opening and the Fantastic Fan needs
> a square opening. I was told that they could not insure either structural
> integrity or a water tight installation if they had to cut out the corners.
> I'd sure like to improve ventilation. Any suggestions?
>
> 2) We have a great deal of difficulty setting the parking brake (which is
> marginal at best, even when we do get the *##%* thing set). Who ever
> designed this thing either didn't use it or was a lot stronger than either
> of us. Has anybody had success substituting some other mechanism which is
> easier to activate?
>
> Sure hope someone out there has some good suggestions,
>
> Dave

 

[mike finnicum]

My experience and a couple of questions:

Parking Brake:
Mine has always worked fine! It is a little hard to set, sometimes at the end of
the day it takes both hands. It will hold the coach on a slight grade just
fine. BUT! I agree with Jim B. as I also have two chocks and I use them when
parked on any grade for any longer than a few minutes to be extra safe. I might
add that even on a steep grade, the chocks always come out very easily as the
wheels have never rolled up tight against them.

This is my second GMC - I owned one brand new in 1977 - I lived in the mountains
of Colorado and used the parking brake with NO FEAR. Of course I was much
younger then. They really did work when new - now we are both a little older
(wiser?) - so I'm sure they could be fixed to work well - but I still use my
chocks!

Roof Air:
We live in Florida and use our Roof air most of the time we are driving (say 65%
of the time). We also use our dash air as well. I have noticed only about 0.5
mpg difference without dash air and no real difference in power. With one roof
air running I seem to use less than 1 gal/hr, with both it seems to be about 1
gal/hr. Roof air thus seems to cost me mileage - but it sure stays
cooler!

Questions:
Does anyone really know what the 6KW generators are supposed to burn per hour?
(We use a 5KW gen at job sites all the time that runs 8 hrs on 5 gal of gas. But
it is only running hand tools.)

When it's really hot:
We were in Nashville in June, we were parked at the Fair Grounds with 100 plus
temps and no breeze. The gen seemed to be running hotter, so as Alex had
suggested, I slid out the gen. (we parked so to protect the unit) and it
definately ran much - much cooler.

Does anyone know if the gen runs hotter or cooler when traveling down the road
vs stationary? I have added the "Side Heat Exhaust" vent to direct the hot air
sideways vs down. Has anyone added a "scoop" for forcing fresh air in?

Mike Finnicum
78 GMC Eleganza II
Naples, FL
Songtek Publishing (bmi)
Songtrek Publishing (ascap)
Nashville, TN

http://www.songtek.com/

 

[les & des]

> Don't buy a SolarMaxx from MaxxAir - another of my expensive mistakes -
> doesn't move any air.
>
> Lanier

We have one too. A friend ordered what we thought was going to be
the Turbo MaxxAir for us and installed it. Since he had done this we
thought we would at least give it a try. The warranty said
satisfaction guaranteed, so we thought that if we didn't like it they
would at least trade it.

We wrote several letters, but NEVER received a reply. Now we would
think twice about buying anything from MaxxAir beside the vent
covers.
Les & Des
Living Praise Ministries

mailto:lesndes
Visit us at: http://www.livingpraise.org

 

[jim bounds1]

LNelson,
To my knowledge, there are no new vents with the radius corners
available. If you replace the top on the old one now, some day the
motor will go out and you will be forced to modify it then. The new
fans work much better than the origional so you might as well put them
in now!

Tes, use an air saw, cut off wheel, or some other empliment of
destructruction and cut out the curve in the corners. It's really not a
big deal. Call if I can lend moral support. 1-407-857-5777

Jim Bounds www.gmccoop.com

>
> I , too, have a Fantastic sitting in a box ready for my installation. I didn't
> even think of the corner radius geometry as I simply measured across the flats
> and determined in my simple minded way that the installation would be a no-
> brainer. I would like to see more comments on this. What do I have to do,
> saws-all out the corners? Maybe I should take the fan back and just replace
> the plastic dome which is cracked? Any help would be appreciated. BTW, just
> got my new Ken Thoma bearing puller in the mail today. Larry Nelson, Palm
> Beach 75

 

[bartz paul]

Found the test data (done at the Energy Systems Laboratory, Texas
Engineering Experiment Station, College Station TX) I received from
Kool-O-Matic a few years ago, for your edification:

Manufacturer/Model: 1 2 3 4
(see below for details)

Speed Advertised: CFM/AMP/RPM:

High 826/7.0/NA 920/3.0/NA 1076/5.0/NA NA/NA/NA

Med 724/5.7/NA 653/2.3/NA 957/3.8/NA NA/NA/NA
Low 395/2.8/NA 478/1.9/NA 800/2.5/NA NA/NA/NA

Test Lab Results: CFM/AMP/RPM:

High 826/6.6/1087 544/3.3/1508 491/5.1/1297
296/1.8/2149
Med 724/5.4/ 945 449/2.4/1281 388/3.3/1058 NA/NA/NA
Low 517/2.7/ 679 362/2.1/1056 338/2.7/ 907 NA/NA/NA

Sound Level (decibels (DBA)) # 5':
High 70 71 79
62
Med 66 70 73
NA
Low 59 64 68
NA

1 - Kool-O-Matic, Model RV12

2 - Fantastic Vent, Model 6000

3 - Maxx Air Vent, Turbo Maxx Model 1200

4 - Standard 14" x 14" crank open vent - 6" fan

Paul Bartz

> From: Bartz, Paul [SMTP:s9d3452]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 1998 3:19 PM
> Subject: RE: GMC: Ceiling Fan & Parking Brake
>
> Dave:
>


> That also brings up a point, if you request literature on the
> Kool-O-Matic vent fan (they advertise in the FMCA magazine), they send
> a sheet having a data table giving supposed independent lab testing of
> the air flow capabilities of their fan, Fantastic and I believe one
> other make. If true, the data shows that Fantastic overrates their
> ventilation capability quite a bit vs. the Kool-O-Matic.
>
> Anybody else have input on the flow rate differences between the
> brands of fans?
>
> Anyone installed the Kool-O-Matic fan? Any alteration of the coach
> opening required. I've been considering the Kool-O-Matic to replace
> the original fan, which is a puny unit, at best.
>
> Paul Bartz
>
> From: dlowry [SMTP:dlowry]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 1998 2:56 PM
> Subject: GMC: Ceiling Fan & Parking Brake
>
> Help! I've watched the posts for about 6 months and scanned all the
> back issues of Cinnabar's newsletter and haven't seen any discussions
> on a couple of problems I'm having.
>
> 1) I stopped by Camping World on my last trip to get the old worn
> out ceiling fan replaced with a nice new automatic Fantastic Fan.
> Surprise! They wouldn't take my money. According to their service
> (sales) person, the old unit fits into a rounded 14" X 14" opening and
> the Fantastic Fan needs a square opening. I was told that they could
> not insure either structural integrity or a water tight installation
> if they had to cut out the corners. I'd sure like to improve
> ventilation. Any suggestions?
>
> 2) We have a great deal of difficulty setting the parking brake
> (which is marginal at best, even when we do get the *##%* thing set).
> Who ever designed this thing either didn't use it or was a lot
> stronger than either of us. Has anybody had success substituting some
> other mechanism which is easier to activate?
>
> Sure hope someone out there has some good suggestions,

 

[ritch hwang]

Hah, here I spent 3 or 4 days freeing up the primary parking brake cable &
the consensus is that the design doesn't work? Well it *is* very mickey
mouse, but.... ;=(

There is a rechargeable solar fan advertised in $$CW$$. (planning on
traveling with indoor only kitty/snowbirding next year if I can get the
coach prepped adequately) Opinions?

Any other side bath Birchaven owners out here? We have the rear gaucho
with spring-loaded drop down bunk. Trying to figure out best way to run
hot wire to rear vent area for powered vent.

Cheers!

As always, best regards.

~ Ritch & Betty Hwang ~ mailto:rhwang
~ =^..^= Trinket ~ the shy Persian kitty
~ 76 GMC Birchaven ~ RVClub 00930 ICQ# 6408591
(B}>

 

[patrick flowers]

>
> I just put one in mine. First dont buy it at Camping World. Campers
> Choice is several $$$s cheaper.

Arch,

I never heard of Campers Choice. Do they have a catalog, web page,
etc.? C'mon now, fess up. I'm always looking for another wish book.

Patrick
- --
Patrick Flowers
Mailtoatri63

The GMC Motorhome Page
http://www.gmcmotorhome.com

 

[hdavis]

>
>In a message dated 98-07-09 23:11:25 EDT, you write:
>
> There is a rechargeable solar fan advertised in $$CW$$. (planning on
> traveling with indoor only kitty/snowbirding next year if I can get the
> coach prepped adequately) Opinions?
>
> Any other side bath Birchaven owners out here? We have the rear gaucho
> with spring-loaded drop down bunk. Trying to figure out best way to run
> hot wire to rear vent area for powered vent.
>
> Cheers! >>
>
>I may be out of my limits here but when I took down the celing
>on my GMC there was a wire laying in there for a vent fan. If
>you look at the wiring guide you will see there. I dont know if
>they were put in all of them but mine sure had one and it is hot.
>
>Take Care
>Arch
>
>

The coaches I've looked at all have the wiring in place. According to to the
folks at Nor-cal GMC, there's a hot wire tucked up into the ceiling on all
of the GMC finished units.

Henry

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (408) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (408) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com

 

[hdavis]

>
>In a message dated 98-07-15 23:58:54 EDT, you write:
>
> The coaches I've looked at all have the wiring in place. According to to
the
> folks at Nor-cal GMC, there's a hot wire tucked up into the ceiling on all
> of the GMC finished units.
>
> Henry
>
>Thanks. I feel a little out of place answering questions like this when
>I am such a newbie at this game.
>
>Take Care
>Arch
>
>

Join the club! We've owned our coach since March of this year. Very little
needed to be done to it to make it just run. But, I've been rebuilding a lot
of things "just in case."

I'm getting to know the electrical system better than I'd like right now.
The wiring was cut and spliced a few times under the dash by someone who
didn't bother to read the schematics, or was just plain incompetent. The
latest wiring fiasco for me - someone had cut the windshield washer power
and used it to power the radio. I ran a new line from the house battery to
the radio and installed a master switch so I don't drain the battery with
the radio "keep alive" draw. Then I found out why they cut the washer power
line - the pump was weak at best. Replaced the pump and now I have both a
radio and washers.

Henry

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (408) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (408) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com