I need some help - lots of questions

[brycesteiner]

I have a 2001 Montana. i just replaced the slideout floor and posted that in a previous thread.

For all of you with experience these are probably really simple questions:
I am now working on more stuff. Today I turned the gas on and found that something work without problem:
Furnace (very warm) Are there furnace filters that need changed?
water pump - I need to figure out how to test the water lines and put antifreeze in.
Oven/Stove - lit up just fine and we baked brownies!

What didn't seem to work is the water heater, however I'm not exactly sure what to do. There is a switch "off/on" in the outside water heater panel. There is also this inside the camper:

Is the HTR for tanks for is that another water heater switch?

My dad was telling me there is some valves that might be bypassing the water heater that I need to look for.

Also, The refrigerator works on electricity. How do I know if it's working on gas? Right now it has the check light on all the time:

Also, what is this switch on the refrigerator:

I've had it off all summer and the refrigerator worked well. I'm not sure though.

The furnace works really well. Here is the thermostat.

The four toggle settings that I can get it to switch to are Off, Cool, Heat, fan only. I can also change the temperature. When I first turned it on it was in celsius (not labeled but the temps were so low that I knew it wasn't F). I took the panel off and back on and then it switched itself to F.
How can I change the fan to "auto" and "lo"?

One last one for this message. How does the dial work for the propane:

The dial can easily rotate 180 degrees over the top radius. Does it switch tanks if it's one side or the other?
My dad said something about using one tank at a time, so you are never completely out.
I sure appreciate any help you can give me and I apologize if this is too long.
Thanks!!

[Carl n Susan]

Originally Posted by brycesteiner

....today i turned the gas on and found that something work without problem:
Furnace (very warm) are there furnace filters that need changed?....

There are no filters in the heating system. It draws air from the RV through the stair vents (in most models) heats it up and blows it out through the under floor ducts.

...water pump - i need to figure out how to test the water lines and put antifreeze in.

I guess you first need to put water in the tank and turn on the pump. The pump will pressurize the lines (you will hear it run) and then, once the lines are full, it should stop. If the pump runs without opening a faucet or valve, that is an indicator of leak. You need to find and correct those first.

There are two ways to winterize. Some use air to blow out the lines and some pump RV antifreeze through the lines. There are lots of Threads here on doing that. I don't remember if a 2001 model has a winterize port. I suspect it does but who knows.

...oven/stove - lit ...up just fine and we baked brownies!...

Some good news at least.

...what didn't seem to work is the water heater, however i'm not exactly sure what to do. There is a switch "off/on" in the outside water heater panel. There is also this inside the camper:

is the htr for tanks for is that another water heater switch?
My dad was telling me there is some valves that might be bypassing the water heater that i need to look for....

The water heater runs on either propane or electric (or both if you want). The "HTR" switch in the picture turns on the propane side of the hot water heater. There is a black rocker switch inside the outer cover of the water heater in the lower left corner. That switch turns on the electric side of the hot water heater. Do not turn the electric side on if the water tank is empty. The electric heater element will fry itself in second. The good news is you can buy them almost anywhere. There are lots of manuals on the Suburban water heater in the Files Section here on the MOC.

Once again, I don't recall the configuration on a 2001 model. There should be a water heater bypass switch somewhere. IT is used when winterizing to avoid filling the tank with antifreeze.

...also, the refrigerator works on electricity. How do i know if it's working on gas? Right now it has the check light on all the time:
Also, what is this switch on the refrigerator:

I've had it off all summer and the refrigerator worked well. I'm not sure though.......

The Check light is most likely telling you the propane side isn't working. There should be manuals for the refrigerator (probably Dometic, but maybe Norcold) in the Files Section that help you understand the refer.

That Climate switch is for use in high humidity locals as I recall. Not something I have ever used.

...the furnace works really well. Here is the thermostat.

The four toggle settings that i can get it to switch to are off, cool, heat, fan only. I can also change the temperature. When i first turned it on it was in celsius (not labeled but the temps were so low that i knew it wasn't f). I took the panel off and back on and then it switched itself to f.
How can i change the fan to "auto" and "lo"?...

I believe pressing the Mode button gets you into the setup for each type of heat/cool where you can adjust the fan settings. As I recall, a 2001 had a pretty simple thermostat.

...one last one for this message. How does the dial work for the propane:

The dial can easily rotate 180 degrees over the top radius. Does it switch tanks if it's one side or the other?
My dad said something about using one tank at a time, so you are never completely out....

The valve handle points to that propane tank you are currently using. As long as there is propane in the tank, the display is green. When a tank is depleted, the internal valving automatically switches to the other tank and begins drawing propane from it along with changing the display to red. You then should move the lever to point to the "new" tank, which will cause the display to go back to green, turn off the empty tank and get it refilled. There is a school of thought to leave the reserve tank turned off until the current tank goes empty. That ensures you always have propane. It also ensure you will run out of propane at the most inopportune time (picture going out in your skivvies at o'dark thirty to switch tanks so the furnace will run in freezing cold weather). Many of us just check the display every few days, depending on your usage, to see if the automatic switch has occurred and it is time to fill a tank.