brunnhilde's bilge ventilation

 

When making modification or alteration to most thing, I developed a habit of not overlooking the utilities what being removed that may seem obsolete or no longer needed. Often when one making altering something the focus is the incoming new, and the outgoing old is regarded as something to be disposed.

The case in point is a part of the Kerstner air condition that is the AC to DC switch mode power supply. While there is nothing worth keeping I had to think of what to do with the now defunct forced air cooling for it. The most obvious is the light weight air hose connecting the water boiler compartment and the underbody of the van.

Striping out the air hose is a bad idea as that would leave two unsightly big holes. I couldn't come up with any good idea of how to repurpose the holes, but I then realize even though the fan moves very little air, it is free and already there and I would use it as a bilge ventilation. It is basically a 70mm fan used in computer typically to cool power supplies or CPU, and draws around 80mA.

the black hose connects the water boiler cabinet to the underside of the van

I decided to keep the power supply's "extractor hood" as it provides the means of mounting the fan to the hose, and also keep it out of the usable storage space below. What about the 12Vdc power that it needs. I ran a pair of wire from the closet down to the fan with a discrete rocker switch that shares the faceplate with two 12Vdc outlet where the Onan generator controls used to reside. All these solved the difficult cosmetic problem of the ruins left from these two major renovations - removal of the Kerstner AC and the Onan generator.

the discrete rocker switch shares the faceplate with the two 12Vdc outlets; the control above them is for the DSI water boiler where the cable TV and antenna used to reside

the black plastic thing houses the repurposed fan acting as low power extractor fan for the bilge

I initially set it up to pull air out of the bilge, but I decided to reverse the fan to pull cooler air from the under side of the Sprinter

I initially set it up to pull air out of the bilge, but I decided to reverse the fan to pull cooler air from the under side of the Sprinter. I would later realize what I had before was better as I always have to deal with a stretch of gravel road at the ranch. blowing out to the underbody avoid the dust ingestion. I will reverse the fan direct back to what I had before.

While I have this ventilation fan many years now, only recently I realize the significance. With the fan left on when the camper in use or not in use significantly reduce the foul odor, which I now convinced with much from the plumbing including the waste water ventilation valves when air pressure differential often forces them open. Because of these I regard it as the bilge ventilator.

One less obvious benefit of this fan is it keep the camper cooler when the water boiler is switched on. Someone on the forum dismissed the benefits of the DSI boiler that the pilot light version has the benefit of only needing the pilot light to keep the water hot. Little does the self-proclaimed "engineer" recognize the pilot light being constantly on meaning it is using no less fuel as if set it to run automatically. The DSI ability to allow you to switch on or off at will is the whole point when camping in hot weather. I had used the pilot light version of the water boiler and I know all the drawbacks and tradeoffs, before I found out that the DSI version of the 4 gallons size is available if you search hard enough.

These good little things contribute to a great overall whole that is this versatile camper.