Oven on/off valve - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

wpmartin55 · 05-03-2011, 10:46 AM

We have a '69 Traveler with stove/oven combo. I don't know why, but the oven on/off valve was located in the area of the stove burners (under the stove top). The valve must have developed a very small leak because we never smelled it, but the valve "exploded" when the stove was on. No one hurt, but my ears rang for a long time! The valve was still in one piece, but we tested it and it leaked. We removed it and bypassed it so now my oven is unusable. The valve, we've been told by HiLo and some other places, is obsolete. Someone "fixed" it for us, but I'm a little fearful of re-installing it because I'm not sure what he did. I supposed I could re-install it and then test for a leak. Does anyone know of a source for these on/off valves? And why, for heaven's sake, did they put them in a location where a leak could be ignited by the burner flames????? The valve should have been in a better location - like under the oven in the empty cabinet below. Any help would be appreciated.

BTW, we're new on this forum but we've previously owned a '65 and now this one since about 1985. We go to vintage rallies with it where people are always interested in how it goes up and down.
Cindy

JackandJanet · 05-03-2011, 10:59 AM

Cindy - If it were me, I'd replace the whole unit (stove and oven). I would not trust that valve either and I'd think you could find a new stove/oven combo that would fit.

- Jack

PopRichie77 · 05-03-2011, 11:36 AM

I am not familiar with that valve in the 69 and I don't understand your on-off description but if it is a reg. type oven control that also adjusts the temperature, and replacing the Stove-Oven is not desirable. There should be a newer oven control that could be fitted to your oven, however these are not cheap either. It would require a handy DIY person or and RV dealer willing to do it.
The modification should only be minor.

vannooch · 05-03-2011, 12:39 PM

Welcome aboard Cindy, Maybe JMDoering can shed some light on it, he has had a 1969 since new, I'll drop him a pm with a link to the thread.

JMDoering · 05-03-2011, 01:38 PM

Hi Cindy,

Wish you'd had this problem 2 months ago. I just replaced the stove in our 1969 Bon Voyage, and you could have had the old oven valve. Unfortunately, its long gone to the county dump.

I am familiar with the valve you're talking about. Never had any problems with it myself, but understand how it could be a danger if it's seal failed and it started to leak. The good news is that the thing lasted WAY longer than its expected service life.

If memory serves, the valve was a little 1/4" spool or ball valve. Honestly, the thing was very generic and its hard to believe they can't be found these days. Home Depot sells 1/4" ball valves for air compressors lines. I bought one for my compressor. They have brass bodies, with a stainless steel ball and are rated for about 250 psi. Its not a "hydro-carbon gas" valve, but is designed for air and would certainly hold back the 15 inch-pounds (or what ever) of propane pressure.

Replacing the stove... after much searching, our repair tech finally found one that was a close fit and required minimum cabinet modification. Price was about $400 plus shipping. Installation was (a lot) extra, although I could have done that myself.

Let me know if you decide to replace the stove and I'll provide the brand/model, etc. of the one we found. Will save you a lot of search hassle. There are used stoves out there and larger RV repair shops may have a few... we found several, but none close to the existing cabinet cutout dimensions. Oh, if you go this route, go by the actual cutout dimensions. I have the original installation instructions for the original stove, showing the required cutout dimensions. Hi-lo apparently ignored the OEM specifications and did there own thing. We ordered one based on the OEM specs. and had to send it back when we discovered it wouldn't fit unless I wanted to give up either the furnace or the refrigerator!

BTW, it was the oven burner regulator/pilot light valve assembly that failed on ours. The stove top worked, but of course the oven was permanently done. I looked for a replacement regulator for several years with out luck. Too old, and nothing modern would even come close to fitting and adapting in without very shaky jerry-rigging.

Hope this helps!
Jim

PopRichie77 · 05-03-2011, 02:40 PM

OK, I now understand what you are looking for. Just do a Google search for (ball valves for propane) there are many and you should be able to find one to fit your needs.

wpmartin55 · 05-04-2011, 03:34 AM

Thanks for the info. I got on this forum because of you, Jim, since I knew you had an almost identical trailer and I downloaded the manual. If you have a manual for the stove or furnace, I'd love to have them as well. Or anything else for that matter.

Actually, this valve went out in about 1988, but in all these years I've never been able to replace it. Oh, if only I'd joined this forum sooner! I desperately want my oven to work. We didn't use the trailer for quite a few years because we live overseas part of the time and it just didn't work out. But now that I'm using the trailer again, the oven would be an asset. If anyone ever hears of one being tossed, let me know! Jim, did you offer yours for sale, by any chance? There's always parts that can be scavanged, I think.

I have a couple other issues with the trailer that I should start as separate threads - problems with the 12 volt system, ruptured water tank, and then some minor stuff. Thanks again!

wpmartin55 · 05-04-2011, 03:36 AM

Oh, and Jim, I would like to know about the stove/oven you bought just in case we eventually go that route. Thanks!

JMDoering · 05-04-2011, 09:44 AM

Hi Cindy,

Unfortunately, I didn't even consider the possibility of scavenging parts from the old oven. The only remnants I have are the three burner grates. As far as 1969 Hi-Lo itself, my wife and I were okay with the inconvenience of not having an oven. The inoperative oven became a great bread box! However we are giving the trailer to my son and his young family and want everything to work. Plus, our daughter-in-law likes to bake. The new oven was their Christmas/birthday/anniversary/everything else present for the next two years. They are coming in June to pick it up.

In all our travels, we've only ever seen one vintage Hi-Lo in a scrap pile. In 2006 there was a drooping (one lift cable had failed) late 60's Bon Voyage in a farm yard along the west side of Old Hwy 27 between Gaylord and Vanderbilt, in the northern LP of Michigan. You haven't said where in the country you're located, but if the described area isn't too far you may want to check it out. Several times I thought of that old rig and the possibility of finding the oven regulator I needed for our stove! If only it hadn't been 1800 miles away...

In fact I do have the manuals for all the original appliances, and will scan and post them to the HTF Library. Will need a day or two... this is a busy time of year for our engraving business.

Later this week, the next time I go to our trailer (we keep it at a storage lot), I'll retrieve the manual for the new oven and post the brand/model number.

Jim

wpmartin55 · 05-04-2011, 11:35 AM

I'm looking forward to the info. No rush as I won't be back in the States until May 30 (we're currently in Latvia). We are based in NW Indiana, so Michigan isn't far but we usually don't go north of Grand Rapids. Keep your eyes peeled tho' since we also travel to Flagstaff/Phoenix in January.

If you can send along the links to the manuals when you have entered them, I'd appreciate it so much. I'm looking forward to getting our baby back in shape. Like I said, the 12v system is not working (a friend "helped" us by moving the trailer with his forklift type tractor when it was in the up position and we weren't there - it's been bad ever since), and our water tank burst (where can I get another pressure tank?), but we'll get it all solved eventually. We do have to have the lights working asap as we're moving it June 1st. or so. Not much time to work on it before that, so hopefully it's just a ground or positive wire issue. The front outside harness is a mass of wire and we don't know where they all go once inside - wish there was a wiring diagram somewhere.

Thanks!
Cindy

JMDoering · 05-04-2011, 04:30 PM

Hi Cindy,

Enjoy your travels!

If the 12 VDC system worked until the Hi-Lo was moved by the forklift, I'm guessing the wire issue will be a pretty simple fix. Probably an external wire, or wires, around the tongue, were broken in the move. Unlikely any internal wires were broken. In those years, all the positive DC wires came from the hitch plug, along the inside face of the tongue frame to a junction box, and then they either went straight into the lower half to the battery, or to the upper half via a heavy coiled wire. The owner's manual I've posted in the library does have a rudimentary wiring schematic. In any event, the system on those older Hi-Lo's was pretty simple, and not difficult to figure out. The one odd thing Hi-Lo did was to use the lift cables as the ground for the upper half. Once the zinc coating on those cables starts to built up a heavy oxidation layer, it acts as insulation and the upper half lights (both inside and out) stop working. My solution was to run a separate 10 gage ground wire from the upper half to the frame.

The potable water pressure tank will be a difficult find. Forget it. Trailers don't employ that type of fresh water system anymore. My suggestion is to remove the ruptured steel tank and replace with a plastic tank (they come in all sizes/shapes). You will also need to remove the compressor and replace with a demand water pump; there is plenty of room for this change. Doing it this way will be the cheaper fix and believe me, you'll like it a WHOLE lot better and the water won't taste like its been in an old metal army canteen for the past week! Keeping that old tank pressurized was very inconvenient and inefficient.

Good luck, and I'll help you as I can!
Jim

wpmartin55 · 05-05-2011, 04:24 AM

Thanks, Jim. Our trailer has the curly wiring running to the upper half. We can't see where it goes once inside. We can't see any breaks outside, so maybe the issue is somewhere inside. Our 12v running/tail lights had been acting flaky already, but now the interior lights don't work either, so possibly something in that bundle is affected. We have a grounding wire as you describe, but maybe the gauge is too small so we'll start there.

Yes, our idea about the tank was the same - just replace it with a plastic tank and pump. I don't know if you experienced this, but we tried using just the city water hookup and it fills the tank first. Doesn't make sense to us as it should go direct to the faucet. So we need to have a look at that and maybe plumb it in that way.

I'm sure we'll have more questions along the way. We love our old HiLo and have lots of good memories of taking our kids around in it. Three are now grown and we have only a 15 year old at home. We're taking her to the vintage rallies in it. We own a '99 Terry we live in when we're in the States, but it's so cheaply made in comparison to the old HiLo. I only wish the HiLo had a nicer interior - I hate the paneling and would love to change it out for some wainscot and wood.

JMDoering · 05-05-2011, 10:54 AM

Cindy,

Our 1969 Bon Voyage actually has a separate city water connection. Its on the "driver" side towards the front. It actually enters the trailer under the bench seat on that side. Furthermore, next to the tank (we still have the original, now with a pump added) there is a valve to isolate the water tank from the rest of the system. The original piping was all CPVC, and if yours is still the same, adding a shore water hook-up would be very easy. When installing the new tank, you'll no doubt also add a cut-out valve, or check valve, to prevent city water back flow.

Now that my son and daughter-in-law are taking over the 1969, and camping with with our little grandson, this vintage rig will have served four generations of my family. In fact, this trailer is integral to so many of our travel memories, we speak of it as if it is a member of our family! Wish we had kept a record of the hundreds of places this trailer has been and the tens of thousands of miles its traveled... Quite a testimony to the quality of Hi-Lo trailers made in that era.

If you really want to remodel and replace interior paneling, contact J & R Repair in Butler, OH. If you've looked around this forum very much, you've probably seen the name. They are Hi-Lo specialists and are pretty much the go-to folks for these kinds of repairs. I'm sure its expensive, although much cheaper than a new trailer!

Be sure to inspect your lift cables for fraying, especially at the connection points where they are looped. Loops are very high stress points for cable. I replaced one of the two main cables this spring that looked ready to fail and had me worried. A local rigging shop make the new cable (for about $60) using the original as an example.

Jim

JMDoering · 05-05-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMDoering

Replacing the stove... after much searching, our repair tech finally found one that was a close fit and required minimum cabinet modification. Price was about $400 plus shipping. Installation was (a lot) extra, although I could have done that myself.

Cindy,

Here is the information for the new stove: Magic Chef Model # CLY2260BD12

We didn't ask for it, but this model has a piezo burner ignition system, which is very convenient. The oven pilot flame still needs to be lit the old fashioned way!

It wasn't a perfect fit, just the closest that could be found for our cutout. We had to cut out an additional inch on the cabinet face below the oven, and we added a bit of decorative flashing to cover a small gap in the counter top behind the stove top. The unit's width was perfect! All in all, the finished job looks very good.

Jim

wpmartin55 · 05-06-2011, 04:11 AM

Thanks for the info on the valve. We never needed one until the tank ruptured. When I get back I'll look by the tank itself for a shut-off. We think there has to be one somewhere. I can't figure out why they had the city water go through the tank in the first place since the outside filler is for that purpose. Maybe it was because that contained the pressure gauge as well. At any rate, if I can at least use the city water hookup, that would be super!

The waste hose wasn't in the trailer when we got it so we bought some sump hose and made our own set up. When we bought the trailer someone had removed the brakes, so the dealer we bought it from had to replace them. Later there was a slow brake fluid leak but when we replaced the brake lines about 8 years ago it seemed to make a difference. We check the reservoir regularly and have only had to add a little fluid now and then.

We had to replace some cables a few years back. My father used some kind of graphite lubricant which is supposed to be permanent, but we keep a watch on them from underneath the trailer.

One big project would be replacing the insulation between the top and bottom. It's in pretty bad shape. Sounds like that's a job for the boys at the new shop. For now we use pool noodles once to keep the critters out once we're parked.

We went to a camp out last summer in early June, but it was so hot we were just sick. So we bought a counter top model portable AC unit that works well in keeping it cool. It uses up the little counter space there is, but it doesn't affect us much because we also have a camp box with a fold down lid that serves as counter space. Where your sofa was we have a counter and the box sits on that. Our trailer has no bathroom so we have the dinette end and a gaucho end, both with double bunks over them. We can sleep 8, but I wouldn't want to try!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the manuals you have. Thanks for the fridge info - I'll look up the model. Hope your kids and grandkids will enjoy the Bon Voyage as much as you did!
Cindy

wpmartin55 · 05-14-2011, 06:20 AM

Hi Jim,
Did you happen to get the furnace manual uploaded yet?
Don't want to rush you, just asking. If you can post any links, that would be super!
Thanks!
Cindy

JMDoering · 05-14-2011, 10:41 AM

Cindy,

Yup, I had planned to have them scanned in by now also. Unfortunately, our flat bed scanner had other plans and decided to retire... just haven't had a chance to replace it yet!

Jim