OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[WillySwan]

Changing the subject…

Winter is coming in a couple months and I have been thinking about winterizing my D13. My old travel trailer had a 3 way bypass valve with a small hose extending out where I only needed to turn the valve and put the hose in the antifreeze jug.

I’m not seeing anything like that in my Dweller. Any ideas or recommendations on how your winterizing your Dweller?

There is no 3-way bypass in the D13.

Last fall I started winterizing my D13 with antifreeze. Then I read the Truma Combi manual and determined that the hot water tank should not be stored full of antifreeze. So, I drained and flushed all of the antifreeze with fresh water and then drained and blew out the water system. It was pretty straight forward.

Here are the basic steps I took:

• Drain both fresh water tanks.
• Briefly run the pump and alternate the supply valve to ensure the supply lines from both tanks are empty.
• Empty water out of the suction strainer that is located right before the pump.
• Hook an air flush adapter to the city water fitting.
• Attach a regulated air supply. 30 psi may be safe, but 20 psi is more than adequate. You can even use a bicycle pump.
• Blow out all of the hot and cold lines by opening the faucets. Start at the highest fixture and work your way down.
  • Ensuite Shower
  • Ensuite Sink
  • Outdoor Shower
  • Galley Sink
  • Draw-bar Spigot
• Open the pressure-relief/drain-valve on the Truma Combi under the bed to remove any remaining water in hot water tank. See Truma instructions for location.
• Repeat previous 2 steps until you are confident all water is out of the fresh water lines.
• Drain the supply tank for the Thetford cassette toilet.
• Run the flush pump to clear any water remaining water from the toilet flush water system.
• I believe some people add RV antifreeze to the toilet water supply and flush pump. I did not do that.
• Ensure the gray water tank and toilet cassette are empty.

These are the steps I took last winter and I had no issues. If anyone sees any problems with this procedure, let me know.

 

[gendlert]

Changing the subject…

Winter is coming in a couple months and I have been thinking about winterizing my D13. My old travel trailer had a 3 way bypass valve with a small hose extending out where I only needed to turn the valve and put the hose in the antifreeze jug.

I’m not seeing anything like that in my Dweller. Any ideas or recommendations on how your winterizing your Dweller?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What's winter?

I did, indeed, just get home from a week long trip to the Mogollon Rim. Dweller was awesome, but mine won't need to be winterized. I keep camping year-round.

I just hit 5k miles and 50 nights on this trip (53 total now). Still loving this rig. I was able to park in semi-sunshine this week and keep the batteries above 12.5V every day until the last day with cloudy weather, and it went down to 12.2V. I had my fridge set at 40F on one side, and 32F on the other to keep pre-frozen meals frozen until I needed them, and I'd move them over the night before. A couple more cloudy days and I would have had to use the generator. Before next summer, I think I'll upgrade to lithium batteries. I don't know if the SnoMaster is less efficient than the Dometic I've used previously, but in warm weather (highs in the mid 80s and lows around 60, with travel to get there in the 90s or low 100s) the 300Ah Flooded are barely keeping up with 300W of solar for a few hours a day. I don't know if the ICECO is any better, either. I don't really like running the generator, so I think lithium is the best answer. I don't have any support long trips planned for the rest of the year, and it's getting cooler (but still not winter), so I'll wait until spring (or a Black Friday deal?) to pull the trigger.

Also, an update on towing, I'm doubling down that even with the shock upgrade, it still tows better with only the front tank filled. I had both tanks full at the beginning of this trip for the first time in a while, and only a half-full front tank on the way home. While much improved both directions with the shocks, I still liked it better on the way home. So my recommendation is still to only use the front tank if you don't need both. The two of us used about 35 gallons this week with each of us taking a shower daily. That doesn't include drinking water, though.

So if I had a survey to take:
1. Would you buy this product again? YES
2. Would you recommend this product to a friend? YES

2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel

 

[50pentz]

Has anyone posted on attaching the outdoor shower privacy tent? The mounting brackets and bolts were without instructions and I can't wrap by brain around a solution.

 

[calicamper]

Curious if any reason for the choice of the 1200W setting? Or if you've played around with settings to see any difference in AH used to get to a full boil at higher settings? Either way, the portable induction cooktops are an awesome add to any camper with a halfway decent battery bank and inverter!

With induction I have this same burner. Full blast is burn water mode. I use it in our house during power outages to cook dinners. 6-7 is about max for cooking or you end up with charcoal. My 3500 runs about 90% of our 2700sqft 120v house system. My kitchen induction cook top is 240v on a 50 amp its the same way. 6-7 is cooking settings. 9 is burn water.

 

[gendlert]

Has anyone posted on attaching the outdoor shower privacy tent? The mounting brackets and bolts were without instructions and I can't wrap by brain around a solution.

 

[50pentz]

Thanks!

 

[Treefarmer]

With induction I have this same burner. Full blast is burn water mode. I use it in our house during power outages to cook dinners. 6-7 is about max for cooking or you end up with charcoal. My 3500 runs about 90% of our 2700sqft 120v house system. My kitchen induction cook top is 240v on a 50 amp its the same way. 6-7 is cooking settings. 9 is burn water.

Are there any specific brands of portable two burner induction cooktops you would recommend? We're looking at going that direction with our next trailer rather than having a fixed, built in cooktop (portable is much more flexible on space and replacement is easier when they fail). Thanks!

 

[calicamper]

Are there any specific brands of portable two burner induction cooktops you would recommend? We're looking at going that direction with our next trailer rather than having a fixed, built in cooktop (portable is much more flexible on space and replacement is easier when they fail). Thanks!

They are all made the same and not very complicated. My $80 Amazon one has been great for several years. You don’t need to spend crazy money on it.
Yep if I upgrade my camp trailer. First thing will be ripping out the stupid gas cook top and fitting a nice cutting block into the space to add functional counter space. 2500 watt generators are cheap. The few times we would need to cook inside running a generator for a bit to power the hot plate and top up batteries would be no big deal.

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

They are all made the same and not very complicated. My $80 Amazon one has been great for several years. You don’t need to spend crazy money on it.
Yep if I upgrade my camp trailer. First thing will be ripping out the stupid gas cook top and fitting a nice cutting block into the space to add functional counter space. 2500 watt generators are cheap. The few times we would need to cook inside running a generator for a bit to power the hot plate and top up batteries would be no big deal.

Rolling with a generator for a cook top and what not is nor what I would do but Cali you are one of kind ! Don't they make 12v cook tops?

 

[calicamper]

Rolling with a generator for a cook top and what not is nor what I would do but Cali you are one of kind ! Don't they make 12v cook tops?

$80 induction or $500 12v? Pretty easy choice

 

[calicamper]

Rolling with a generator for a cook top and what not is nor what I would do but Cali you are one of kind ! Don't they make 12v cook tops?

I would have a generator either way as backup power. My trailer doubles as an evacuation crash pad. Trailer and no generator ability would be pointless in my case.
Solar and fancy electric system? Maybe If we used the trailer a bunch.

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

I would have a generator either way as backup power. My trailer doubles as an evacuation crash pad. Trailer and no generator ability would be pointless in my case.
Solar and fancy electric system? Maybe If we used the trailer a bunch.

Gotcha. That makes sense. For me the sound of a generator is not something I would ever deal with. I don't judge as full timers and folks like you have thier reasons.

 

[calicamper]

Gotcha. That makes sense. For me the sound of a generator is not something I would ever deal with. I don't judge as full timers and folks like you have thier reasons.

Running a modern inverter generator for 30 minutes while making dinner (inside) due to weather/ bugs etc isn’t going to bother anyone. I’m all about solar and EVs have them here at home. But spending $1000’s on tthe ability to power a hot plate for 15-30 minutes 4x a yr (lithium batteries and associated systems) makes no sense. $800 baby generator that might see other uses besides 4x yr trailer power makes more sense.

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

Yes like I said in your situation that totally makes sense. It would bother me but not enough to say anything to you.

 

[Treefarmer]

We're the same way. We pride ourselves on never running a generator and never plugging into the grid. But we pay dearly for it in our electrical/solar system!