New owner of Vintage Bus 1980

[freds]

The air purge valve is for removing air from the coolant. Using water right now until I am confident that the system is functioning correctly and then will make 50/50 with food grade glycol for freeze protection.

[freds]

The last day and half have been a big wiring project for the DIY hydronic heating system that I have been working on.

Anyway, here’s the layout that I came up with, bit more of a rat’s nest then I originally planned, but hey working on getting it wrapped up and done!!!



Also, I am running out of bay wall space. So, I pre-wired everything up on a one-foot square board with extra-long wiring leads and mounted it to the ceiling of the plumbing/electrical bay.

Your basic Raspberry Pi driving two eight channel relay boards. I went with a left over SSD drive for long term reliability; as the typical SDCard can wear out in 2-3 years or sooner depending on the write cycle frequency. Plus the SSD drive is faster...

The functions that it is currently controlling is:

• Bedroom heater zone pump.
• Bathroom heater zone pump.
• Kitchen heater zone pump.
• Living room heater zone pump.
• Front bays freeze protection pump.
• Rear bays freeze protection pump.
• Stir/circulation pump.
• Pump for Engine preheating and thermosiphon heat recovery.
• Pump for Generator preheating and thermosiphon heat recovery.
• Diesel Boiler remote on/off.
• Electric ball valve to force flow through the diesel boiler when it is on, bypass when off.
• Temperature sensor for hydronic tank output.
• Temperature sensor for Engine coolant, thermosiphon heat recovery monitoring.
• Temperature sensor for generator coolant, thermosiphon heat recovery monitoring.

I still have four relays left over and could add another eight-channel relay board for $10.00 before I max out the Raspberry Pi. All told this could be duplicated for around $120.00

Once all the hardware is installed then it’s software time!!! Something I do everyday in my day job.

Starting with a simple manual over-ride web page with simple touch buttons for each relay function.

Software wise in the long term will be smart scheduling and Alexa voice control integration. Which is easy to do with Internet of Things Node Red software.

[Gil_J]

Nice work!

[Chad Speer]

That looks like a fun project. What diesel-fired heater are you using for your system?

[JCarrollJr]

Hey Fred,
For some reason, I was just rereading your very first post and something jumped out at me that I didn't notice the first time that I read it. You mentioned waiting for your AAA RV add on to become effective. You might want to check on that RV add on. For years I've had AAA and wouldn't be without it and for years I had the RV Plus addition and felt very secure. At some point in time in a conversation with them they made me aware that the RV Plus option didn't apply to a bus. Only a camper. I don't remember the exact limitations on the RV Plus, but it didn't cover a Prevost based motor coach. I dropped the RV Plus option and went elsewhere for roadside breakdown towing coverage. Again, don't remember all of the details but you might want to check on it.

[freds]

Hey Fred,
For some reason, I was just rereading your very first post and something jumped out at me that I didn't notice the first time that I read it. You mentioned waiting for your AAA RV add on to become effective. You might want to check on that RV add on. For years I've had AAA and wouldn't be without it and for years I had the RV Plus addition and felt very secure. At some point in time in a conversation with them they made me aware that the RV Plus option didn't apply to a bus. Only a camper. I don't remember the exact limitations on the RV Plus, but it didn't cover a Prevost based motor coach. I dropped the RV Plus option and went elsewhere for roadside breakdown towing coverage. Again, don't remember all of the details but you might want to check on it.

Thanks for that heads up!!! I will contact them and cancel the add on if they are not covering me.

[JCarrollJr]

How about posting what you find out. Thanks.

[freds]

Hey Fred,
For some reason, I was just rereading your very first post and something jumped out at me that I didn't notice the first time that I read it. You mentioned waiting for your AAA RV add on to become effective. You might want to check on that RV add on. For years I've had AAA and wouldn't be without it and for years I had the RV Plus addition and felt very secure. At some point in time in a conversation with them they made me aware that the RV Plus option didn't apply to a bus. Only a camper. I don't remember the exact limitations on the RV Plus, but it didn't cover a Prevost based motor coach. I dropped the RV Plus option and went elsewhere for roadside breakdown towing coverage. Again, don't remember all of the details but you might want to check on it.

OK their response was kind of iffy, but after going through a few layers of supervisors the final ruling was that I am covered.

The key point is that the factory considers it a motor home and that it never went into service as a commercial vehicle. Plus it doesn't have transit style folding doors.

However they did clarify that the towing services that they contract with; might and might not be able to handle my size vehicle and they would have to bring someone in from out of the area. So they would not be able to guarantee quick service.

Also if no one was available I would have to make my own arrangement, pay out of pocket and submit a claim for reimbursement.

Given all the above I will not be renewing with them.

So any recommendations for coverage?

Thanks

[Pete]

Give Coach Net a call, I have had them for years, used them on several occasions for various reasons, blowouts, towbacks from mud, ect. They are well worth the annual fee.