Might be buying a Siesta 24SV

[45Kevin]

New to this forum, but not forums in general.

We are looking at a 2017 Siesta 24SV. It ticks a lot of the boxes.
The unit has 49,000KMs (30K miles) and is originally from the Phoenix area.
The current owner imported it into Canada.
I suspect it does not have any type of cold weather measures installed.
But it is in very good condition and the maintenance seems to have been done as required by Mercedes.

We are new to the "RV" world but have been vanners for the past 9 years.
Our current rig is a 2019 Sprinter 170 4x4.
We have travelled around NA 3 times in it, including the length of Baja each time.
Our first van was a 2010 Express AWD which also got to Baja.
We did a lot of out of the way tracks and got to a lot of remote beaches in those vans.
But we have been doing longer and longer trips (8 months last year) and want a bit more room. We are willing to give up the 4x4 capability to get it.

I built out the vans myself and am very familiar with the electrical and water systems. It has a composting toilet and is all electric except for the diesel furnace. Lots of solar and batteries. We are 99% boondockers.

So, a few questions?
Is the fridge likely to be a 3-way?
The instant water heater doesn't work. Easily replaced?
What size inverter is likely in the Siesta? Will it run the M/W oven?
How much water does it take to flush the toilet? Maybe a better question would be how much water does the foot flusher use? Maybe it just opens a valve and turns on the pump like a tape. I dunno.

It currently has 2 new Interstate 6V batteries. They state 750 cranking amps and 160 reserve. How does that translate into Ahs.

Thanks for listening.

 

[16ACE27]

So, a few questions?
Is the fridge likely to be a 3-way? No, likely to be 2-way.
The instant water heater doesn't work. Easily replaced? Instant? Did you mean tankless? They are far from instant. Lotsa info on repairing/replacing them.
What size inverter is likely in the Siesta? Will it run the M/W oven? Unless it has a residential fridge there is likely no inverter. If there is one it will be too small for, and not wired to, the M/W
How much water does it take to flush the toilet? Maybe a better question would be how much water does the foot flusher use? Maybe it just opens a valve and turns on the pump like a tape. I dunno. The pump is operated separately. The foot lever opens the dump valve and the fresh water flushing valve. You determine how much is used.

It currently has 2 new Interstate 6V batteries. They state 750 cranking amps and 160 reserve. How does that translate into Ahs. It doesn't. Normally, 6 VDC batteries are deep cycle and have the AH rating on them. Cranking amps and reserve are ratings for starting batteries.

Thanks for listening.

My answers above. These are based on general info as I do not own the MH you are looking at.

BTW, welcome to this Forum!

 

[DavidEM]

Starting from the bottom and only answering the questions I know something about:

Any battery that doesn’t give an Ah spec is not a true deep cycle battery. Replace it with GC2 batteries of about 225 Ah each, but since they are 6V and you wire them in series to get 12V at 225 Ahs.

But you might want to look into Li batteries. You can double your usable Ah capacity.

If you just tap the flush valve it uses maybe a cupful of water. If you hold it down for 15 minutes, you will drain the tank.

There are a couple of brands of tankless water heaters used on RVs, Girard and Truma being the most prevalent. If it is a Girard is the outside on/off switch on? Don’t know anything about the Truma.

By 3 way, you mean propane, 110V AC and 12V DC? Tosa aren’t very common. Usually propane and 110C AC. FWIW 3 way with 12V DC isn’t very common. It does very little cooling.

David

 

[DavidEM]

Looks like Ted and I overlapped. His answers AFAIK are correct.

David

 

[45Kevin]

I'm totally familiar with LiFePO4 batteries, and am already looking at the latest offerings. Gee, I see a 280Ah battery (62 lbs) for CDN$719. That's way cheaper than the 100Ah batteries I have in my current Sprinter.

Yes, I mean tankless water heater. I've been reading on here about them.
Sounds like they are problematic. Maybe a 120V residential unit might be better with a good electrical system. Our current van has a 2.5gal residential tank with a 300W 12V element installed. Works great, 30 minutes and we have hot water, enough for 2 showers.

I'm thinking I may have to build a separate 12V system in the RV.
Where we camp generator use is kind of frowned upon so we definitely need a robust 12V system.

Good to know about the toilet. So maybe a quart for a #2. I have the composting down to a science, but I am concerned that there is not enough water for flushing and drinking for 10 days of boondocking. The SV has a 36 gal.US tank. We drink/cook with about 30 gal.US now (providing we can bathe in the ocean). Maybe carry another 5 gal in a jug.

@Judge , I read your newbie thread. Thanks.

 

[45Kevin]

OK, we bought it.

I will be ordering a new tankless water heater.
It will be a Kohvee. Since the tankless type seem to be quite problematic I'll not be going for the Furrion at 4 times the price. I may do a conversion to a tank. We'll see how it performs this winter.

It appears the two 6V Interstate batteries will give me 88Ahs. Not enough.

So I will order a 2000W invertor and a 300Ah LiPo battery. There are 2 solar panels on the roof but I don't know how many watts they are. If they are only 100W panels I'll order a couple or 3 more depending on how much available space I have.

The fridge has a rating of 4.3A @ 12V so I may have lucked out and have a 3-way fridge. I have read the multisource-powered fridges are not as efficient as single source source units. But a new fridge isn't in the budget and it may fine.

Going to do a complete inspection tomorrow as the final condition of the sale.

 

[16ACE27]

OK, we bought it.

I will be ordering a new tankless water heater.
It will be a Kohvee. Since the tankless type seem to be quite problematic I'll not be going for the Furrion at 4 times the price. I may do a conversion to a tank. We'll see how it performs this winter.

It appears the two 6V Interstate batteries will give me 88Ahs. Not enough.

So I will order a 2000W invertor and a 300Ah LiPo battery. There are 2 solar panels on the roof but I don't know how many watts they are. If they are only 100W panels I'll order a couple or 3 more depending on how much available space I have.

The fridge has a rating of 4.3A @ 12V so I may have lucked out and have a 3-way fridge. I have read the multisource-powered fridges are not as efficient as single source source units. But a new fridge isn't in the budget and it may fine.

Going to do a complete inspection tomorrow as the final condition of the sale.

You better look closer at that spec. Absorption fridges use about 300 - 400 watts when on electric so that is either 43 amps at 12 VDC or 4.3 amps at 120 VAC (both seem high, but 4.3 amps at 12 VDC is way low).

Now if it is a compressor DC fridge 4.3 amps seems about right.

The brochure shows a standard N611 2-way fridge.

 

[45Kevin]

You better look closer at that spec. Absorption fridges use about 300 - 400 watts when on electric so that is either 43 amps at 12 VDC or 4.3 amps at 120 VAC (both seem high, but 4.3 amps at 12 VDC is way low).

Now if it is a compressor DC fridge 4.3 amps seems about right.

The brochure shows a standard N611 2-way fridge.

I couldn't read the specs on the fridge very well, dim lighting so I may not have it right. I'll know for sure tomorrow.

My current van has a 12V compressor fridge and consumes about 4-5A IIRC.

I'm OK with running it on propane but have no idea how much propane it uses.

 

[paulwadley]

I owned a 2018 Thor Siesta 24SS for 3 years(bought it brand new). There is no inverter on it. You will need city power or generator to operate the mw oven. It has a tankless hot water heater(girard). Make sure your water pressure is at 55psi for the water heater to operate and heat up the water. I had The Equalizer Hydraulic Levelling System installed on my Siesta and stopped using the electric rear stabilizer legs. I loved it and traded it in 2022 for a brand new Thor Miramar 37.1 Class A.

Paul

Paul

 

[45Kevin]

You better look closer at that spec. Absorption fridges use about 300 - 400 watts when on electric so that is either 43 amps at 12 VDC or 4.3 amps at 120 VAC (both seem high, but 4.3 amps at 12 VDC is way low).

Now if it is a compressor DC fridge 4.3 amps seems about right.

The brochure shows a standard N611 2-way fridge.

Yes, it is an N611F.
I read almost correctly but it must refer to the light bulb maybe, control panel?

And what the heck are all the bolts through the back of the freezer?
Is that how they fix it to the wall? Crazy.

Bonus, the solar panels are 180W x 2 with Victron controller. I have a 100W suitcase panel so I may leave it as is. I won't be bringing it home for a week so I'll do a bunch more research.

Oh yeah, build quality is crap, but nothing I can't deal with.

 

[16ACE27]

Yes, it is an N611F.
I read almost correctly but it must refer to the light bulb maybe, control panel?

And what the heck are all the bolts through the back of the freezer?
Is that how they fix it to the wall? Crazy.

Bonus, the solar panels are 180W x 2 with Victron controller. I have a 100W suitcase panel so I may leave it as is. I won't be bringing it home for a week so I'll do a bunch more research.

Oh yeah, build quality is crap, but nothing I can't deal with.

1.2 amps is not 4.3 amps. Yes, that is the control power and light bulb load.

Have you never owned an absorption fridge before? That is how the cooling usit is bolted to the heat sink to remove heat from the interior.

 

[45Kevin]

1.2 amps is not 4.3 amps. Yes, that is the control power and light bulb load.

Have you never owned an absorption fridge before? That is how the cooling unit is bolted to the heat sink to remove heat from the interior.

This is our first store bought RV. We have had a couple of DIY van conversions, both with the Danfoss compressor 12V fridges.

It's going to be a steep learning curve.

 

[16ACE27]

This is our first store bought RV. We have had a couple of DIY van conversions, both with the Danfoss compressor 12V fridges.

It's going to be a steep learning curve.

Probably not as steep as you fear. And you do have a good knowledge bank here to draw on.