Tag Archives: check valve

2014/03/01 (S) Installing The Compressor

John and Marian arrived at 10 AM as I was getting ready to unload all of my tools and materials from their storage locations.  Marian brought her camera and took pictures of us working and I took photos of the details of the work as it progressed.  I have placed the photos in a separate gallery post with today’s date.

We looked at the old compressor and figured out what we had to do to remove it.  The auxiliary air compressor is mounted to the floor of the bay under the driver’s seat.  It is not a large bay, but it is big enough to allow access to the things that are installed there, especially after the plastic 5 gallon windshield washer fluid tank is removed.  (Yes, it holds 5 gallons of washer fluid; it’s a bus and everything on it is super-sized.)

I tried applying AC power to the compressor one last time with zero pressure in the auxiliary air system, but it was still seized.  I shut the circuit breaker off so we could work safely on the electrical aspects of the project.

With the washer fluid tank out of the way we could see that the compressor was mounted on four rubber isolation mounts.  These mounts were ~1″ thick with bolts protruding from either end.  One end was bolted to the air compressor mounting flange.  The other end went through a hole in the floor and was secured with a Nylok nut from under the bus.  The compressor was installed with the length oriented front-to-rear (buswise) so we could get to the interior nuts on the side of the compressor facing us, but not the ones on the other side.  We could hardly see those nuts even with the inspection mirror.  Fortunately the bottom bolts were close enough to both the driver side and front of the bus that I could reach them without having to get under the bus.  With the auxiliary air system bled completely down the suspension was holding, so we did not put the bus up on stands for this work.  I do not get under the bus under those conditions.

We disconnected the air line from the compressor while it was still mounted and then disconnected the other end from the T-fitting and removed it from the bay.  We then unbolted the air compressor and turned it 90 degrees so we could get to the electrical connections on the end of the motor.  With the electrical connections undone we were able to lift the old unit out.  It weighed about 30 pounds.

Butch had alerted me to the possibility that the check valve I bought from Prevost might not be exactly what I need.  He said that air compressors usual have an unloader valve or mechanism in the air line ahead of the check valve.  The purpose of the unloader mechanism is to bleed the pressure off of the air pump when it stops running so the next tine it starts it is initially working against zero pressure.  We examined the old check valve and sure enough, it had an “extra” piece with a small port in the side.  We tested it and verified that the check valve was, in fact, leaking but the pressure relief valve was working.  We also discovered that all of the fittings were compression rather than pipe thread like my new check valve.

After studying the situation for a while John and I agreed that the best course of action was to reuse the old check valve and unloader and put the new check valve in the air line downstream from them.  The new check valve would prevent backflow to the new auxiliary air compressor, and protect it from the higher pressures generated by huge main engine air compressor, while the unloader would relieve the pressure on the auxiliary air pump when it stopped running.

This was the point at which we realized that I did not have all of the necessary fittings to reassemble the air line with the new components.  John got on his phone and found that there was a NAPA auto store not far from the RV Resort.  It’s always something.  This is why jobs that should only take “a few hours” end up taking all day (or longer).  Two trips later and we had everything we needed.

We assembled the air line in two pieces using old and new fittings.  We used PTFE pipe thread compound on all of the threads.  As I do not travel with a vise it was very helpful having four hands to hold things and another pair (Marian) to help as needed.  (Our mechanic would like me to mount a vise to trailer hitch so I can slide it into the receiver on the back of the bus or the car.  That would have been handy for this project.)  We attached one piece of the air line to the compressor and the other piece to the T-fitting.  John had previously attached the two isolation mounts that came out with the old compressor.  We set the new compressor in the compartment with the motor pointing out and reconnected the AC electrical power.  We then turned the compressor 90 degrees and dropped the rear mounting bolts through the two holes in the floor.  John had put the mounts in just the right place and it was a perfect fit!  We put all the nuts on and snugged them up.  The final step was to join the two pieces of the air line together and test it.

I turned on the AC power and it purred like a kitten.  Well, maybe like a really big, loud cat.  We watched the pressure gauge in the auxiliary air manifold and although we could hear air being pumped the pressure was not coming up.  I quickly realized that the primary and secondary tanks had bled down to about 40 PSI and the auxiliary air compressor had to fill them to 70 PSI before the auxiliary air tank/system would fill.  The auxiliary air compressor is not intended to fill the entire chassis system, although it does maintain the pressure at its cut-out setting, so I shut it off.

I had asked John to bring his portable air compressor and he did.  We connected it to the fill connector/valve back by the main engine and used it to fill the primary, secondary, and auxiliary air systems to about 110 PSI.  I then turned the power back on for the auxiliary air compressor and opened the drain valve on the auxiliary air tank.  At 80 PSI the auxiliary air compressor came on.  I shut the drain valve and the pressure came back up to about 104 PSI.  The system was back in operation! I started the stopwatch on my smartphone to time how long it would take to leak down to the cut-in pressure while I cleaned up and put away tools.

The only issue at this point was that the auxiliary air compressor was rated for 100 PSI maximum pressure so the pressure control switch needed to be adjusted.  I turned the power off, removed the cover from the pressure switch, and discovered that it had three spring-loaded adjustments rather than the two I expected to see.  I put the cover back on, restored the power, and suggested that the three of us go out to dinner at Angelina Mia.

At the restaurant I made a special request for pasta in olive oil.  The owner was there and she came to the table to clarify what I wanted.  She said she could do spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, some hot pepper flakes, and spinach.  Winner!  I also found out that Angelina and Mia are her daughter’s names.  We did not get around to working on dashboard wiring issues today, so John and Marian agreed to come back tomorrow.

After dinner I got online to research how to adjust the pressure switch, but everything I found was for a unit with two adjustments, not three.  The key, however, was that the diagram for the unit was probably inside the cover.  I had not thought to look there earlier.  That would be the first task for tomorrow, and then on to wiring issues.

 

2013_09_17 (Tue) To Goshen We Go

We awoke this morning to temperatures in the mid 40’s.  As we had no reason to rush we stayed under the covers a bit longer than usual.  Lazy mornings are always a source of consternation for our cats who, in spite of the obvious presence of food in their bowls, expect us to get up at the first sign we are awake and attend to their perceived need for fresh(er) food.

I turned on the electric toe-kick heater in the bathroom to take the chill out of the air, but then decided to fire up the Aqua-Hot instead to warm up the entire coach and preheat the main engine.  At a seminar in Gillette, Wyoming this past summer we learned that the Aqua-Hot needs to run with some regularity in order to run well, so this was an opportunity to do that and to check my work from yesterday for leaks.  The Aqua-Hot ran quite well, but as I feared there was a small leak at the gasket between the two halves of the check valve.  I will try one more time to get a couple of wrenches on this part and tighten it, but if that is not successful I will have to install the new check valve, which would take another entire day.  Ugh.  I like doing projects, but I don’t care so much for doing them more than once.

We had oatmeal for breakfast, which is always nice on a chilly morning and has a certain staying power for days when lunch is uncertain.  After breakfast we got our coach ready for travel while Butch and Fonda did the same with theirs’.  We departed Twelve Mile, Indiana a little before noon with Butch and Fonda in the lead and headed for Goshen, Indiana to attend the Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (GLAMA) 2013 area rally (GLAMARAMA13).

Our route was IN-16 (Co Rd 700 N) westbound to N Co Rd 600 E northbound to IN-25 northbound to US-31 northbound to US-6 eastbound to IN-15 where we stopped for a stretch break.  We moved into the lead and continued northbound on IN-15 to Goshen with Linda navigating based on directions provided by the rally organizers.  We had been advised by FMCA to follow the directions they provided in order to avoid a bridge that was out on the main road to the fairgrounds from the west.

We tend to travel on Intestate and US highways, but have also found State highways to generally be good for travel.  Even county roads are OK if we know in advance we will not encounter weight, height, or width restrictions.  This is where it is helpful to have local information from folks familiar with the roads.  It also helps that our Rand-McNally RVND7710 GPS is configured to know the parameters of our rig, so we are able to travel with some confidence that we will not encounter unexpected obstructions.  As an added feature it also provides real-time traffic information, especially near larger metropolitan areas.

The trip up IN-15 brought us quickly into the outskirts of Goshen with heavy, slow traffic.  This presented a challenge for us as the buses do not accelerate that quickly and the lights do not stay green for that long.  It was important that I not lose Butch at a light as Linda had the detailed directions for getting to the fairgrounds.  As we came to downtown Goshen there was construction with lanes closed and traffic rerouted through barrel lined jiggy-jogs.  We pressed ahead none-the-less as we needed to go east on IN-4, just three short blocks beyond the construction.  We made it through but it was the kind of situation that adds a bit of stress to the usual pleasure of driving the coach.

We continued east on IN-4 looking for Co Rd 29 southbound.  Along the way we spotted an official looking sign that said “RV Rally and Fairgrounds” with an arrow pointing down a nicely paved road to the south.  I slowed down and considered taking this road—even though the turn looked a bit tight—until I noticed the “NO TRUCKS” sign on the adjacent pole.  We are never sure whether or not we are a “truck” so we generally decide one way of the other depending on what is to our advantage.  In this case I took a “pass” and continued on down IN-4 to CR-29.  We headed south on CR-29 until it ended at CR-34 where we turned westbound back towards the fairgrounds.  Our directions said to enter at Gate 3, but as we approached the northeast corner of the fairgrounds an orange-vested parking crew member motioned us to turn in.  I hesitated again, but decided to follow his directions.  The parking procedures are usually well thought out and the crews usually know what they are doing.  The whole arrival/parking experience generally goes much more smoothly if you simply follow their directions.

(It is worth noting, however, that as with a boat or airplane the driver of an RV bears the ultimate responsibility for it’s operation and is the ultimate decision authority with respect to that operation.  If the driver is unclear or uncomfortable with what parking crew are asking them to do, the correct response is to STOP, ask for clarification, and not move until they are certain they understand where they supposed to go and are comfortable (willing and able) going there.  Arguing with parking crew, however, is counterproductive, and ignoring them and moving the RV is potentially dangerous.  Parking crew are there to move large numbers of RVs efficiently and safely to planned parking areas and drivers should always give them their full cooperation but never surrender their ultimate decision authority.)

We arrived at the rally venue a little before 2 PM.  The usual procedure is to unhook a towed vehicle and drive it, separate from the motorhome, to the site or a designated parking area.  And so it was today.  They had changed the entrance gate to channel us into an area where there was more room to unhook our towed vehicles.  With the cars unhooked, we proceeded to the holding area where we queued up and waited to be escorted to our site.  For this rally parking areas had been reserved for chapters so they could park together without having to arrive together (caravaan style).  We were part of the reservation for the Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter (GLCC).  The parking crew was friendly and efficient and we “wheels down” (an aviation term) in our site by 2:30 PM with the coach set up and ready to use by 3:00 PM.

The reserved parking was an unusual feature of this rally, and an attempt by GLAMA to be as accommodating as possible in spite of the added complexity of this arrangement.  If you have not been to an RV rally, you won’t fully appreciate how nice it was to be able to park with “our group” without having to coordinate our arrival with everyone else.  Generally if RVs want to park together at a rally they have to arrive together in a caravaan.  The only aspect of their parking that is usually pre-arranged is the area of the facility they will be in based on the hookups (electricity, water, sewer, generator use) they have paid for as part of their pre-registration.  Even with a small number of RVs caravaning can be a challenge.  Wile some rallies provide an arrival area where RVers can meet up and form their caravan, many rallies do not have the space for this.  In that case, the RVers first have to find a place to rendezvous.  (Walmart is a popular choice, especially if folks are staying overnight there anyway.)  They then have to make their way to the rally site while trying to keep the group together at stop lights (which isn’t possible with more than two rigs).  GLAMA is to be applauded for trying this new approach.

Goshen is the county seat for Elkhart County, Indiana and the home of the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds.  We had been to this facility once before for The Escapees RV Club Escapade in September 2010 and it is a nice facility for an RV rally.  Access to the fairgrounds is good, and the interior roads are more than adequate for large motorhomes (and converted buses).  The campgrounds can provide 30 Amp power and water for a large number of rigs (800+), and there are also some full hookup, 50 A sites.  There are many buildings and covered outdoor areas available for entertainment, vendors, seminars, and meetings.  And yet all of this is neatly contained in a surprisingly compact space that makes the venue very walkable while the paved roads make for good driving of toads and courtesy transportation golf carts.

This is the first Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (GLAMA) rally being organized by the officers and volunteers of GLAMA.  For many, many years the Great Lakes Area Spring Spree (GLASS) rally had served this purpose.  Held at the Berrien Springs, Michigan youth fairgrounds, GLASS was a nice rally at a nice venue held over Memorial Day weekend and consistently drew 800+ motorhomes until the last few years.  Unlike most FMCA area rallies, however, the GLASS rally was organized by the Michigan Knights of the Highway, the 4th FMCA chapter ever formed, and the oldest FMCA chapter still in existence.  MKH handled the registration process, and any financial benefit (or loss) went to them, not GLAMA.

GLAMA takes in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario Canada, so obviously it does not include all of the states that border on the Great Lakes.  Even so, it covers a large geographic area with lots of FMCA members.  GLAMARAMA 2014 is also slated for the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen, but the intent is to then rotate it to each state and Ontario for two years each.  That will entail more work for GLAMA organizers, but will open up the chance for more people to attend and build a stronger sense of ownership across the association.

Today was early entry day, so there were no official activities beyond arrival and registration/check-in.  Pat and Vicky Lintner were already parked at the GLCC area as Pat is the GLAMA VP for Indiana and part of the rally organizing committee responsible for all of the rally specific signage.  We pulled in next to Pat and Vicky, followed by Butch and Fonda.  Mike and Laurie Minnick pulled in shortly thereafter in their 1968 MCI MC-7 bus conversion.  Don and Sandy Moyer then arrived in their 1948 Spartan bus conversion.

[Note: The Spartan bus was built for three years, post World War II, in Sturgis, Michigan.  The owner/president of the company was the chief test pilot for the B-25 bomber.  All of the engineers and craftsmen came from the aircraft industry and the bus was designed/built much more like an airplane than a motor vehicle.  Only 57 Spartan buses were built and most of them ended up being used outside the U. S., including some used to make a 12 hour daily run from Damascus, Syria to Baghdad, Iraq and a 12 hour run back, making it the fastest bus line in the world at the time.  The Moyer’s bus was the last one built, a 28 foot model.  It was destined for a bus company in Wisconsin but they never took delivery.  It left the factory as a seated coach, was driven out of the factory, and the front tires came off the ground because it was too heavy in the rear end.  Within two years someone had purchased it, taken out the seats, and had it converted to a motorhome.  Many of the details suggest that it was “professionally” done, but the Moyer’s have not been able to track down who did the conversion.  It was eventually parked and left to rot for 35 years until Don and Sandy rescued it.  Based on their research there are no more than 12 of the original 57 buses still in existence and theirs’ is almost certainly the only motorhome.  Don worked 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 18 months to put it back in usable condition.  It is a truly unique RV.]

GLCC reserved space for eight motorhomes and the other three planned to arrive tomorrow. The chapter will have more members/rigs in attendance than that, but they will be parked elsewhere.  George and Sue Myers are parked within close sight of our group, but are located for their convenience in running the golf cart courtesy transportation service.  Don and Kathy Crawford from Ontario are in the VIP row as Don is a past president of GLAMA, which also entailed being the national vice-president representing the Great Lakes Area.  Ditto for Jon and Sondra Walker, who was the GLASS National Director until he moved on to become GLAMA President.  Jon was elected the FMCA Senior National Vice-President this past summer at the FMCA national convention in Gillette, Wyoming, so the number two national FMCA officer is a GLCC guy.  Ron and Meredith Walker, who just joined our chapter, are also here but are parked with the Frustrated Maestros.  Ron is a retired K-12 music teacher and is the conductor of the FMs.

Linda made something new for dinner: firm tofu slices pan fried with onions and Bar-B-Que sauce.  She served it on a sesame seed bun with a side of sweet corn on the cob and some Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer to wash it down.  Sometimes simple is best.

 

2013_09_16 (Mon) Home Away From Home

Buses at Service Motors in Twelve Mile, Indiana.

Buses at Service Motors in Twelve Mile, Indiana.

Service Motors in Twelve Mile, Indiana has become something of a home away from home for our motorcoach, having spent quite a bit of time there since we bought it.  As I have mentioned previously, Butch is very handy and has lots of tools, including a machine shop where he can custom fabricate things if needed.  He has been very generous with his time, talent, and facilities, giving me a good place to work on our bus and helping me with it when I need it (which is most of the time).  We often stop there enroute to other places, especially rallies that Butch and Fonda are also attending.  Once again, we spent the day camped there.

Service Motors is Butch and Fonda Williams’ Crosley automobile parts business.  They are the only full-line parts supplier for these wonderful little cars, last made in the early 1950’s, and have an active customer base.  They rarely close their business, but decided they would for the week while we attended the FMCA GLAMARAMA13 rally in Goshen, Indiana.  (Butch and Fonda are basically the same ages as us and were married one day before we were.  They have run Service Motors for 20 years and would like to retire and move in to their 1989 MCI MC-9 NJT bus conversion, which they have done themselves from scratch.  The business and facility are for sale.)

Linda worked with Fonda on some accounting issues while Butch attended to various bus and business tasks.  I spent the day repairing a leaky fitting on the fuel return line from the Aqua-Hot to the fuel tank.  This fitting had been leaking since I installed it as part of the fuel polishing pump project.  It looked like a simple enough project, which meant it would take me most of the day; and so it did.

The fitting in question was on the lower end of a check valve (back flow preventer) at the back of a small compartment, which made access difficult.  (I mentioned this project in a blog post in early June 2013, and have an article about the Parker Fuel Polishing Module queued up to run in some future issue of Bus Conversions Magazine.)  The compartment was covered by a beauty panel with a door, so the actual access opening was even smaller.  “Luxury” motorcoaches often conceal functional systems behind “beauty” panels so that the bays look impressively sleek and shiny when the doors are opened.  What I see, however, is something that blocks my access to systems that I need to work on so I decided to remove the panel, permanently.  This is why simply projects take all day.

The panel was held in place by four “L” brackets concealed on the inside (of course).  I borrowed an angle drive from Butch which allowed me to remove the screws fairly easily.  However, when I installed the electrical feed and switch for the fuel polishing pump back in June, I drilled a hole through this panel, ran a wire through it to the pump, and mounted the switch on the outside of it.  I dismounted the switch and removed the ring terminal from one of the wires as it would not fit through the hole otherwise.  With the switch and wires out of the way I was able to remove the panel after cutting loose some old rubber caulk along the bottom edge.  This is why simple projects take all day.

The “compartment” in question is just the extra bay space at the business end of the Aqua-Hot.  In addition to the fuel polishing pump it houses the coolant expansion reservoir and fuel filter / water separator for the Aqua-Hot as well as the fresh water pump for the domestic water system.  Fortunately the cover on that end of the Aqua-Hot slides off easily after removing only three easily accessible screws (it happens occasionally).  This made access to the leaky fitting much better.

The fitting was NPT male on one end, for threading into the bottom of the check valve, and barbed on the other end for attaching the fuel return line from the Aqua-Hot.  Barbed fittings are designed for a one time, press on installation of a rubber line, i.e., once the line is pushed on it does not leak and it does not pull off.  To remove it I had to cut it just below the fitting.  I was then able to unscrew the fitting from the check valve.  I was fairly certain that this junction was the major source of the leak.  The threads still showed remnants of Teflon thread tape, but not much.

The other potential leakage point was the seal between the two halves of the check valve itself.  The check valve is a two-piece body with internal parts, and there is a gasket between the two pieces of the body.  I had inadvertently loosened this joint when installing the fuel polishing pump and had not been able to re-tighten it in place because of the limited access.  Although I had a spare check valve, I decided to try and tighten the one that was already installed as replacing it meant cutting additional tubing and un-threading/re-threading additional joints.

Butch’s brother John came over in the morning to help Butch (and me) with anything that needed to be done.  Butch had him change out the element on his main engine fuel filter / water separator while he worked on other bus and business issues.  Fonda split her time between business things and loading their stuff on their bus.  Even when they are closed, there is business to attend to.  By the time I finished my little project it was well into the afternoon.  Butch and Fonda worked a while longer and then we headed off to Rochester for dinner at Alejandra’s Mexican-American restaurant.  It was 9 PM by the time we got back to the coach and we headed off to bed.