Control knob on Carver

[Gagakev]

Hi Folks,
Have in the van a Carver 3000s gas fire and rarely use it due to the control knob jumping out of its location everytime we travel and its a right pain to see/get it back in so dont bother.
Is there a way to stop this, if so how do you remove the front cover to access the hole it sits in, there are no obvious screw fixings to enable the removal of the cover .
Thanks for any help
Kev

 

[Guest]

Given the problem you have with the rod, it's possible the front is held at floor level by two screws, you will need to get your nose to the carpet to see them!
Other than that, the front should be held by two spring clips and you simply pull the bottom of the fire front towards you and then up and off.
I would add especially if the front is screwed but given the control rod problem, I'd suggest you get the vans wheels balanced.

I'm assuming the rod complete with the manual piezo igniter, is jumping off the valves control stem?, in this case there are two ways I've found you can secure the rod. you can drill a hole though the thickest part of the plastic female, (through the 'V'), and then use a small self tapping screw to lock it in place on the male valve stem.
You have to use a short screw that's just long enough or the screw head fouls when you press down to ignite the fire, so check there is clearance when you finish

The other Idea is how I generally do it, that is to pull the stem out of the valve and crimp the very tip of it in the vice, about 1mm or a bit more, the plan is to crimp it as though you are opening the 'v' slot, albeit you won't need to go that far!
All you need to do is flare the corners of the V a little and these corners will grip and hold the igniter rod, crimp it a bit and try it until you get a nice firm fit without being too stiff

I would advise you don't go the way of some and glue it? It can work but if for no other reason I hate it when they come to me in that state!

 

[kennygee]

I have the same trouble with the rod jumping out. The way I got over this problem was to use Blu Tack over the top of the switch. Works a treat.

 

[Gagakev]

Thanks for the response Guys,
Interesting point about balancing wheel's, got to admit its the first time I've heard about balancing caravan wheels, Is it normal practice?
Will look at removing the front cover and see if I can do one of the more permenant fix's, but if all else fails might do the blue tac thing!!!

Kev

 

[Damian]

Quote "its the first time I've heard about balancing caravan wheels, Is it normal practice?"

If you want to stop your van shaking itself to bits, it is very worthwhile.
If you ever follow a van with unbalanced wheels, just note how much it bounces along,,it can look quite alarming!!
Manufacturers do not balance the wheels, but rely on the suspension taking out the worst bumps.

Try driving a car with unbalanced wheels and see how bad it is.

 

[Gagakev]

It's amazing what you learn when you ask a question about a gas fire.
Ok I can now see the advantages of balancing the wheels, but interesting point about the manufactuers not doing it.
If the truth was known I wonder how many people actually do there caravan.

 

[Guest]

I see lots of 'damaged' gas fires, the cause of which can only be vibration and to my mind only from out of balance wheels. I was reading something on the subject yesterday that seems to me is my final understanding of the issues surrounding this?
Anyone driving a car with out of balance front wheels will know vibration builds to become very bad at a certain speed, if you increase the speed, the vibration dies away
Well the answer to why that happens I read, is the frequency of the wheel vibrating changes as speed increases, in the case of a car, the actual speed the vibration reaches it's peak is, when it matches the 'natural frequency' the car vibrates at.
All things have this natural frequency which varies in amplitude depending on just what it is, such as a singer hitting a high note that breaks a glass, so the gas fire is just as prone as the glass and the van as a whole has it's own frequency.

Alright, in short, a spinning out of of balance wheel will vibrate at different frequency's depending on speed, if you pick a speed to tow at that cause the vibration to match the gas fire, the battery charger, even Truma's blown air 12v fan motor! or indeed wheels nuts.... it drops to bits or off!

Never then any excuse for not balancing wheels.