Bus Height

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

I havent given the height of a bus too much thought until now. I had planned to build a garage and in that case would use a 14 or 16 ft. high door. Luck would have it I found a building that would be ideal except the doors are 12 ft. high. I think this is probably too low. I would be interested for some feedback on different bus heights.

Also with bus storage in the frigid north ( we just had our second day of 10" snow fall expecting 14" tomorrow) what must be done when parking a bus in an unheated garage? If the garage was heated and there should be a failure what damage would be done?
If one travels to some destination and parks the bus in some location where there is say 20 deg. temp and wants to leave the bus unatended for a week or two. What does one do? Must you have electric or run some other heaters to keep the plumbing safe? THANKS IN ADVANCE, JIM [I think we better move] :eek:

[Ray Davis]

I think 12 foot is too low. If I remember correctly the my bus comes in around 12'2", but I don't remember if that's too the roofline, or to the top of the satellite dome.

When looking at road clearances, I stay clear of anything under 13'.


Cant offer much of an opinion on winterization. I live in CA. We rarely get to freezing down in the south here.

Ray

[garyde]

12'7" is my clearance with satelite dome in travel mode. It will drop down in low manual mode but you have no air bags so you have to be real careful about moving te Coach.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jim,

A lot of us deal with doors that are too low and the solution is to lower the coach. The question you have to answer is what is the height of the coach, and how much must it be lowered to get it in the door.

I kept my coach in an unheated barn when we lived in western NY. We never had a winter where there weren't spells when it was 10 below, and we had at least one morning each winter when it was 20 below.

The barn had electric so the most efficient way for me to keep the bus from freeze damage was to place a small electric cube heater set on the 500 watt setting in the water bay. I aimed it at the fresh water tank which I kept full since it acted like a heat sink and when it got bitter cold 100 gallons of relatively warm water moderated the temperature in the bay. It never got lower than 50 degrees and usually was around 60 in the bay during the winter.

For the house I used a 500/1000/1500 watt heater that I placed on the kitchen counter. I ordinarily set it on the 500 watt setting, with all cabinet doors and closets open. When it was going to get cold, as in below +20 I stepped it up to the 1000 watt setting and if it got into single digits I went to the 1500 watt setting. The coach never got lower than 45 inside.

Having the coach under cover pays huge dividends because it is out of the wind, which literally sucks the heat off the windows. I could still do work on the coach, even though it meant using a snowmobile suit. The folks in California are laughing at this, but they don't know living in the frozen northeast makes us strong.

[lewpopp]

I stored my coach in a warehouse a couple of cold winters and I believe it never got down to lower than 10 above. Mine was not winterized, the warehouse was not heated, and ver few windows. Nothing ever froze. As long as you are out of the wind is the most important thing.

If you build a barn and it is airtight, chances are ,you'll need very little heat unless you want to work on the coach in your skivvies as long as the temp is above 10 above.

Lew

[truk4u]

Jim,
This morning here in sunny Georgia it was 23 and in my unheated garage the temp was 41. I had the bay heaters on and they didn't get cold enough to activate. Up north where you are, I'm an upstate NY transplant too, if you lost power even in your unheated garage it would be worrisome. The only thing I can think of is maybe a kerosene heater in the garage and that would probably keep the bus from freezing.

I think my Marathon is 12'6"...

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

OK sounds good so far but how low can you go? I mean what is the travel of the level low system? How many inches does the bus go up & down? The specs @ the Thompson site that Jon just brought up indicate their height to be about 13 ft. so with Gary @12' 7",Ray @ 12' 2", and Tom @ 12' 6" do you think a 12' door is tall enough? :confused:

What is higher above the roof, the satelite dome or an airconditioner?

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Forget the 12Ft. door option concidering what stage you are at, 14 is the ticket. Ours is 13.3

Our bus is outside with no power source across the street, we took a piece of hose hooked it up to the water inlet, attatched an air regulater and hose fitting to it, run an air hose from the accessory tank and blow everything out with air. We use R/V antifreeze for the drain traps only.

Dont forget to trick the ice maker through a couple of cycles to dewater them also.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Coach heights vary all over the place. On my old coach when it had one of those 5 foot Motostat dishes on it the height was 12' 5". With the in-motion dishes the normal road height would be more than that.

The in-motion satellite housings are higher than roof air units.

Newer coaches and H3 shells are taller than rivet coaches, and if you have a rear spoiler or the new style awning housings they are taller yet.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Let me reword the question.:) Jon how much does your bus go up and down when regulated with the manual air suspension control and can you drive it when it is at its lowest setting. If the concrete is level and smoothe on both sides of the door do you think you would be able to enter the building through a 12' door? :confused:

[dalej]

Jim, when we bought our bus in 1998 we put up a pole barn by Cleary. We went with a 30 X 50 X 14.
It has a 13H X 15W sliding door. We have no heat in the building.

The Bus's wabasto is left on and the exhaust is ran out the building by a 5' piece of 1 1/2" steel flex tube.
My thermostats (2) are set at 35 degrees in the water bay.

I have thought of using electric heat for the water bay, but if our electricity go off, which it does, (we live out in the country. I would
have to remember to turn the wabasto on.

PS... Our bus says 12' 7" on the dash.

[win42]

Jim: Is the building with the 12 ft. door an existing building or one that you are buying to erect on your property? If it's one to be erected, you can easily raise the perimeter foundation walls and add sections and track to the door.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Harry, It is an existing insulated building with three bay doors an office,workshop and bathrooms. The doors are 12'X12'. It was an auto or truck repair or tire store, etc.. Heavy concrete floor and all. Three acre packed gravel parking lot. It is in a farm-country,village way out in the country and is now used to park semi tractors and trailers outdoors. I think security would be OK there as opposed to buying land in the rural open countryside. I have been pricing steel building kits and wooden pole barns. This property is way cheaper than buying land and putting up a bldg. with all utilities. The roof is a gable type and the doors are on the long wall up to just below the eaves. This is not an easy area to reconfigure and if these doors won't work I will probably pass on this one. The right one is out there. I'm not in a hurry. :)

[rfoster]

FYI I have a 12 x 12 door and it works as long as I drop the front air bags down to zip went I go in and out. It has been a relatively exspensive learning process to remeber to lower, but I think I have got it memorized now. I am on my second satellite dome and and dish, and the trim on the door has been replaced twice. (You know the old cliche': education cost!) No big deal, just hit the button the right way and no turning!:cool:

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Roger, Roger. :D I like that info! :D

[MangoMike]

?

The Bus's wabasto is left on and the exhaust is ran out the building by a 5' piece of 1 1/2" steel flex tube.
My thermostats (2) are set at 35 degrees in the water bay.


PS... Our bus says 12' 7" on the dash.

Dale, Do you leave the Webasto on all winter?

Mike

[dalej]

Mike, The wabasto stays on all winter, we try to take a trip south but otherwise its on. I would say it runs once a day when it really cold (high 30, low 10)

I have done it this way since we have owned the bus and seems to work great.

[MangoMike]

Dale,

The burner cycles but doesn't the circulation pump stay on 24/7. How many times have you replaced this pump?

Mike

[dalej]

No, my pumps shut down with the wabasto. The pumps and wabasto motor kick on then burner starts then the burner stops and wabasto motor and water pumps shut off, when the heat requirement has been met.

[truk4u]

Dale,
That's a great setup.. I posted on this months ago, mine runs the pump 24/7 when the Webasco is in the on position. There is a way to change that, but not worth all the work. My Aqua Hot in the plastic CC operated like yours, when the temps were met, everything shut down including the pump.

Jim - If you build, make sure your doors are 12 X 14 so you will have plenty of room when your Lew buck ship comes in and that H model is 13'4".:D

[Loc]

deleted message

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Tom, My" LEW BUCK SHIP "if it comes in will be a" Row Boat":( and besides I am for the classic rivits and polished steel:) right now gathering information and sorting out all the posibilities. We plan to live in, as my wife calls it ( that camper thing ) so I need something to do when she kicks me outside ( polishing and waxing :D). The H3 though would be nice. I could put a bed or a real nice den in one of the bays. ;) JIM