No More Thermostats For My Rig

[Yukon]

I gave up on thermostats (despite reading all of the varying posts on this topic. Especially on how to get it to operate at low temps.

Last year I had many & varied problems with the 8-year-old Atwood furnace. I finally solved them all by replacing the entire furnace. In addition to heater failures, I also often had problems where the batteries in the digital thermostat would get so cold (while not in the camper) that the thermostat stopped working properly. So, I put the original non-digital, manual thermostat back in the camper. That was better. Unfortunately, the first time I went out this year the old manual thermostat failed to work also!

Undoubtedly I have bad Karma when it comes to my heating system (LOL). Having a philosophy of "simpler is better", I finally gave up on the high tech and replaced the thermostat with a simple switch and on/off LED. Since I only operate the heater when inside, and not after going to sleep, all I needed was a switch. Flip the switch to turn heater on; when warm, turn it off. See photo with arrows below.

Photo also shows other items I have built myself (my vehicle is self-built Eagle shell). Notice I use a very high-tech mercury thermometer. On left is an AC volt meter, and a DC meter showing my battery voltage. Also in photo is a handy high lumen LED flashlight.

Just sharing some past experiences and responses.
Chris

 

[Edgewood]

I like it. Simple.

 

[Ramblinman]

Luv it - less gadgets the better - probably because I am an moron when it comes to circuitry and similar things

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Nice. Really if you only use the heater while awake and in the camper who needs a automatic gadget to operate the heater.
Had similar problems with my heater while on our Alaskan trip it seems to work OK now.
Frank

 

[rando]

I would suggest lithium AA batteries for those who do want to keep their digital thermostat and have it work reliably while very cold.

 

[Alley-Kat]

Good thinking, and I like your recycled "Switch Guard".

BTW, your thermometer is not really mercury, it's red dye to color clear alcohol, so that it is easy to read the thermometer.

 

[Squatch]

Nice idea. I've thought about that also. Thermostat location in my Eagle shell is dumb. Hard to get to and on an exterior wall. Conduction through the wall affects it more than room temps. Much worse when it gets below 30*. 1st step for me is to remount it on an interior cabinet and isolate it with some foam insulation.

 

[Wallowa]

At least in our '16 Hawk simply turning the heater off when going to bed would not work...Why? Because after falling asleep the temperature inside and outside the Hawk continues to drop rapidly [campers are not insulated enough to hold the heat all night] and sometime during the night the plumbing could freeze while I slept [yes, in down bags]..

Options? Wake up regularly to boast the heat inside the camper to protect the plumbing. Judging from how often the furnace comes on and off during a cold night, I could forget about getting any sleep if I needed to manually turn the heat on and then off.

Again, just my take but our thermostat works great and the batteries are very easy to change. Not a big deal at all.

Neat to go retro, but like the cars I drove in the '50s, simpler is not always better...

Phil

 

[Bill D]

Good job on the switch, but a mechanical thermostat isn't much more complicated than an on/off switch in addition to a bimetallic strip and a bulb of mercury to complete a circuit.


==================
imagine this is 2 dissimilar metals. As we know dissimilar metal expand and contract at different rates.
In a thermostat these metals are shaped in a coil. As the temperature fluctuates the coil moves, moving the mercury and opening or closing the circuit similar to your on/off switch.

It's an extremely simple and extremely reliable design. If it fails you can always remove the thermostat and touch the 2 wires together to complete the circuit or use a switch similar to yours to bypass the thermostat.

 

[Yukon]

I hope everyone is not thinking that I was suggesting that my approach was "better" than what others do. I was just sharing an experience with no value judgments on other approaches. I don't disagree with anything previous folks have said. In fact, Bill D gave me an idea. I might put the mechanical thermostat back in, and wire it such that I can flip the switch if I want to bypass the thermostat, thus having a fail safe. Chris

 

[Bill D]

I hope everyone is not thinking that I was suggesting that my approach was "better" than what others do. I was just sharing an experience with no value judgments on other approaches.

That's one of the nice things about this forum, very respectful people, very respectful of one another's differences. This is why we go to rally's and visit the forum. It would be boring if everyone had the exact same ideas and setup.
I think we can all agree on one thing though. We love the great outdoors!

 

[Edgewood]

Oh sure. Now you get all techno again!