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I have two furnaces in my RV--one up front and one smaller one under my bed that heats the back part of the unit. Last week, I left the vehicle parked for four days while visiting my aunt and uncle in Georgia. I had no hookups so was entirely on battery. Because it was below freezing a couple of nights, I left both furnaces on low.

I did not notice anything, but early one morning drove to my next stop. That night, I noticed that there was a hum from some kind of electric motor coming from under my bed, even though the furnace was shut off by then. (The furnace does work when I turn it on, however.) I was worried about burning something up, so I shut off the fuse that controls that motor and furnace. Whatever this motor is, it does NOT sound like the furnace blower because it is a lot quieter. It has been fairly warm here so I have not needed the heat.

I keep forgetting to call the factory customer service, but this afternoon, I experienced a brownout--meaning that my refrigerator light was off andmy ceiling lights were dim, even though I am now connected to outside power. I went across the street to ask some people if they also were having a brownout. The answer was no, but the guy came over and looked at my panel. He said it was probably a sine wave inverter (or something) and said it was charging my batteries so to turn the circuit breaker back on. As soon as I did, the lights brightened and the refrigerator light worked.

So it has been several hours and I can still hear that mystery motor running. I cannot get into the area because there is a plywood panel covering it all up.

I am going to call first thing in the morning, but does anyone have any idea what this motor is and why it is still running??? Does what he said make sense?? (He is apparently a retired mechanical engineer, not an electrical one, but seemed to know what he was talking about.)

To make things more fun, I also had a leak under my sink tonight, whihc I think I fixed. The drain pipe from one side came loose and was dumping water under my sink, which of course is lined with some sort of carpeting!!! I have screwed the pipes together and taken everything out so it can dry. Why would anyone put carpeting under a sink, by the way????

Could it be your inverter or converter that you hear?

I was thinking maybe the converter too. They do go out. Carolyn's broke on one of our trips and her 5th wheel probably wasn't a year old.

I can tell you why there is carpet under the sink cabinet, they put the carpet down first. If a rig has carpet all over it will be under everything except the bathroom. I would assume it's the same with carpeted slides.

The next time you are near an RV store you need to buy one of the little inexpensive electric meters. You can plug it into an outlet you can see and always tell if you are getting enough electricity. There are times you won't be getting enough electricity and you should turn your air conditioner off.

Martha

What does the converter do? And why would it still be running? Does it run when it fails? And does it run when you are hooked up to electric power, like I am right now? Should I let it run all night or turn off the breaker? I think it would drive me nuts listening to it all night.

I have linoleum under everything, but not carpeting. This carpeting is in the cabinet which is on top of the furnace duct. It is a sort of outdoor stuff, also. Now it smells like dirty dishwater, so I just sprayed it with some lysol cleaner I have that says it contains hydrogen peroxide. Hopefully they will get rid of the food smell.

Thanks

The converter takes shore power and converts it to 12 volt and also will charge the house battery. Think of a converter being the opposite of an inverter - an inverter takes 12 volt DC and converts it to 120 volt AC.

Sorry to sound so dumb, but why would I not have heard this running before? And why would it still be running if the batteries show that they are fully charged?

Another think I need to understand about operating this home on wheels!!

IF you have an invertor, you should NOT have it on when you are plugged into power. That could be what's running if it's on - and if it is, you're going to burn it out. It should only be on when it's in use.

I've never heard any noise from my converter, but wouldn't rule that out.

Another would be your water pump. Do you leave that "on" for when you need water. Can you recognize the sound as how that sounds when you use it? All it takes is water somewhere to not be completely turned off, and that pump will run.

I don't know what kind of noise a converter would be making unless it maybe has a fan to cool it. I don't think there is any way to turn the converter off unless you turned the main breaker off and then you would have no power. Maybe you could try unplugging from the electricity and just use battery power and see if it still makes that noise.

I doubt that you have an inverter. You would have had to special order it and they aren't cheap so I think you would know if you have one.

Martha

I can hear the converter in the RV when it kicks on sometimes. When the RV is quiet at night (meaning Ronnie doesn't have the tv blaring ) & I turn the light over the sink off, I can hear it shut off.

Water pump is off, and I have no way of turning converter (if that is what it is) off or on. Don't think I have an inverter, or if I did where it would be. I am also connected to water, and always leave the water pump off unless i need it. I know at least where that is and it is not there.

I am going to turn the circuit breaker off tonight before I go to sleep. It sounds like a fan motor, so maybe it is a fan of some sort that cools the converter, if that is what it is.

It is very dark now, but I will try disconnecting from shore power tomorrow to see what that does to the sound.

I will call factory tomorrow. I did check and there is a dealer within 30 miles from here, but I hate to go there.

Thanks, ladies!

I googled "do rv converters make noise" and one of the sites that came up says that converters do have a fan. Hope that's all it is.

Martha

Maybe it is stuck on??? Will let you know what factory customer service says tomorrow. I am getting tired of taking this thing to get things fixed.

Acadianmom wrote:I googled "do rv converters make noise" and one of the sites that came up says that converters do have a fan. Hope that's all it is.

Martha

That's probably the fan that I hear, thanks Martha!
Now IF that's what Judy is hearing, it's gonna be her choice of the lesser of the two evils. For some reason the fan isn't shutting off when it should & letting it run continually could burn the fan motor up. By shutting it off by the breaker or pulling the fuse, the converter could overheat without having the fan to cool it. Judy, do you have CoachNet? If you do, you could call and ask for their tech help. But then again, this is all just guessing if that is indeed what you hear.

I do have Coach Net! great idea!!

JudyJB wrote:I do have Coach Net! great idea!!

Cool! Let us know how it goes.