New owner with lots of questions...

[Barry]

First of all HI EVERYBODY!!! :D
We just bought a 2011 Keystone Hideout 38 BHDS. So far we are very pleased with it, but its still at the dealers lot! It does have the "fully enclosed underbelly with heated tanks". And we are having the dealer install a gas line to about the middle of the camper for an outside grill. This is also our very first camper, so we dont really know that much about them. We looked at this one about six months ago and really liked it. But we wanted to shop around a little and learn about them, so we passed on it. We went back about a month and a half ago to buy it, and the lot sold it two weeks before. :banghead: But then about a week ago we got a call from the dealer saying it was back! So we jumped on it and now its ours!!!

I do know that it is a 30 amp camper, and from what I have read on here, we will have to keep an eye on the amp usage. I have a friend that is a master electrician, thinking maybe upgrade to a 50 amp servise down the road.

We will be putting this on a lake lot as a weekend place for us, no plans on pulling it anywhere. We will have a 200 amp service pole on our lot. And plans for a underground holding tank.

My main questions are all pretty basic. Is there any known problems that we should be looking for? Anything we need to keep an eye out for? Any tips for making a smooth transition into the camper lifestyle?

[Ken / Claudia]

We purchased a park model 40ft. trailer that was 4 years old, had it for 7 years on our lot at the WA. coast. It had a 50 gal propane tank that was serviced by a propane co. We had 30 amp service that worked fine, we did not have A/C. The water was from a above ground connection that I ran a garden hose from to the trailer and put a foam tube around and buried it. Other than that the water was always turned off unless we were there. Kept the refer on 110v always on. I also turned off the water heater. The heating system was propane and I would leave it on during the winter at the lowest setting. Good Luck and enjoy the trailer and time spend with it. We had a 1000 gal septic tank that never needed emptied.

[mazboy123]

regarding you gas line. I assume it will go through your trailer regulator...if so, when you connect to a grill that already has it's own regulator it may not produce a lot of heat.

as for trailer problems, they are always out there sorry to say. but the most important is probably to keep checking on your seals so water can't get into the walls.....do this once or twice a year. caulking does separate.:wlcm:

[mowin]

Congrats....DW and I just picked up our 38BHDS 2 weeks ago. Its sitting in our driveway now, but I'll be towing it to our seasonal site on Friday. I checked every nut, bolt, fitting I could find. Several lug nuts were loose as well as some nuts on the u-bolts. Also the drain trap under the shower was leaking...simple twist on the threaded ring fixed that.

When hooking up to your water, DO NOT turn your water heater on untill full.

Run both the cold and hot untill there is no more air in the lines. Make sure the WH is full by slowly opening the pressure relief valve. If water comes out, its safe to fire up the WH.

I would turn the water supply off when you leave, you never can tell when a water line splits or clamp fails.

I did some simple mods...I didnt need hanging storeage in the master, so I added shelves. I also put up a ceiling fan in the master to keep the air moving.

Good luck...and enjoy....

[Bugle Boy]

I would think it advisable to remove the wheels and tires and store them indoors. Leaks happen and over time are costly. Check often.

[Barry]

Cool. I didn't think about removing the tires. So I'm guessing, put blocks under the axles, then take the tires off?

The holding tank we are getting will be at least 1000 gallons. The guy said if anybody has a 1500 gallon tank on install day, then that's what we will get. But we get at least a 1000 gallon.

On the gas line, I'm not real sure, but your probably right. I wonder if I could just remove the regulator from the grill?

[mowin]

Dont put blocks under the axles...Block it like they do with mobile homes..Block up the frame only so the tires/axles are off the ground.

Theres a gas line running along the frame(awning side) going to the rear of the trailer for the HW, so I bet the dealer will tap into that line, requiring you to remove the grills reg. Easy to do, but you will most likely have to have a hose made up going from the new line to the grill.

Check the dealers work by checking all gas joints for leaks with soapy water.

[Barry]

OK, time for what I'm sure you folks will think are silly questions. I know the camper can run off of 12 volts DC. But it also has 120 AC. So, is it converting the 12 DC to 120AC, or the other way around?
Also, I saw a mod on here with the sprayer mounted beside the toilet. Said it was great for washing down anything that got stuck to the sides of the toilet. Which sounds great. But, isn't there water that comes out of the toilet for that? Like a house toilet?? Or is that a water saving thing?

[JRTJH]

To answer your questions, the electrical system operates from either 12VDC or 120VAC. All the lights are 12V, all the plugs are 120V, so when operating on battery, the lights, refrigerator, heat, water pump, roof vent fans, etc will all work. The TV and microwave will not work.

When plugged into 120VAC power, everything will work, there is a converter/battery charger to provide 12VDC for the above listed items, and the wall outlets will be supplied 120V from the shore power cord.

Note: There is no 120VAC power produced from the batteries when operating without shore power. So the wall outlets, TV and microwave will not function. You can install an inverter to provide 120VAC from the battery, but it is expensive and very limited in the amount of power you can produce. Most people do not require 120VAC when "dry camping" and have learned to do quite well without it.

Your slides will operate from the battery (they have 12 volt motors) but will quickly discharge a single 12volt battery. It's best to have shore power or the tow vehicle hooked up and running when deploying the slides.

[CincyGus]

Just another thought. I would take my time in removing the tires/wheels. Maybe wait till next season once your warranty is up, just in case you have something come up that you want to tow it back to the dealer to get corrected.

[mowin]

If yours came with a residential refrig like ours, that also will only work when plugged into 120v 30amp power source.

[Barry]

OK. So as long as I'm plugged in to shore power, everything works. And since this will be parked and not moved, if I add anything electrical, it needs to be for the 120 service, such as a light or something. Right?? And yes, I do have the full sized residential fridge.

And good point on not taking the tires off yet!!!

[mowin]

OK. So as long as I'm plugged in to shore power, everything works. And since this will be parked and not moved, if I add anything electrical, it needs to be for the 120 service, such as a light or something. Right?? And yes, I do have the full sized residential fridge.

And good point on not taking the tires off yet!!!

You can add 12vDC , or 120vAC. Which ever is easer for ya....

I chose a 120v ceiling fan for the master over a 12v ...Was alot cheaper too.....



Just remember, You most likely will have to turn the AC off when running the micro. If not the main breaker may trip.

[Barry]

OK, cool. I understand the electrical system, at least more than I did anyway!

I also saw that some people have ran the ac off of a separate line. Kinda like its own dedicated electrical supply. Since I will always be plugged up to shore power, thinking I may check into that. I wonder if it would be cheaper/better to run a separate power supply for the ac, or upgrade the whole camper to 50 amp???

[theeyres]

Don't jump too quickly for 50 amps. I'd wait until you use it for awhile. You will likely find very few instances where you need 50 as the trailer is designed for 30. The only times we have ever had a problem are when the a/c is running, you turn the microwave on, and then try the toaster! Or the a/c and vacuum cleaner will trip the breaker. Those things are very easy to deal with and no big deal.

[mowin]

I'm thinking it would be cheaper to run a dedicated line to the AC than to change the TT over to 50amp...

Use it for a season, then you will have a better idea of what mod's, if any, you will need.

[Barry]

Good idea. Thanks!

[GMcKenzie]

I'm thinking it would be cheaper to run a dedicated line to the AC than to change the TT over to 50amp...

Use it for a season, then you will have a better idea of what mod's, if any, you will need.

I'd agree as 50 amp is 240v service and you would have to do a major re-wiring of the trailer.

[ohiohideout]

We have the exact same camper and we have ours permanent parked along Lake Erie. This camper is long-ish and leveling can be challenging if the lot is sandy. After 2 years ours had settled to the point where I finally had our campground manager come out and re-level it for me. One thing is for sure, if you have the manual leveling jacks they are junk and the tool that comes with it also junk. I fooled with it for about 2 hours myself. The campground people came out with a bottle jack and leveled it in about 10 minutes.

Note, the sliding glass doors have screw adjusters in the top and bottom and raise/lower the door on the track. Once my camper was level, the slider would not close all the way. I had to adjust the lower the screw to raise the door in the track.

FWIW...I still have my wheels/tires on the camper. I also turn off the water when I leave every weekend but I leave the power on. The 30A service is too low IMO. We pop the breaker at least once every weekend. During the colder months, the plug-in heater we use draws alot of amps. With it plugged in, as soon as you turn on the micro.....pop. During the warm summer months, the window AC unit we added does the same. That said, I don't think I would go through the hassle of upgrading to 50A. Just reset the breaker and get on with it...

[Barry]

Good info there, thanks. So far we really like our camper. Haven't had any problems so far, but is only been a week! Ours leveled up really easily. Seems to be pretty stable. But we are already talking about moving it a little further back on our lot. Gotta put down some gravel first.