Odor from SDS2 cooktop

[Eggscape]

Originally Posted by j3cub

I am thinking I might get a replacement Suburban SDS2 on Warranty until I can figure this out. Do all Suburban cooktops have the flimsy aluminum tubes I wonder.

Definitely get the replacement stove as it could help someone else out in a pinch as I think parts/direct replacement stoves could become a problem this summer.

I would imagine that a lot of stoves use this aluminum style tube to supply the burners. The only way you are going to know for sure is if you are about to purchase another one from a different company and have them personally take a picture of the rear of the stove with the heat shield removed.

Good luck on you purchase and please take a picture of your new tubes and post it.

[j3cub]

Thanks for the info eggscape. I will keep you posted, I am going to have to learn to post pictures. I have done a bunch of mods that you would like!

[j3cub]

Thank you Lord Dickinison AKA Rubicon. I will keep you posted.

[Eggscape]

Originally Posted by j3cub

Thanks for the info eggscape. I will keep you posted, I am going to have to learn to post pictures. I have done a bunch of mods that you would like!

Great...always love to see mods that I can borrow.

[Eggscape]

Looks like Suburban water heaters down under are up for inspection as well.

The picture shows the label stating they were made in the US.

The problem looks to be heaters manufactured after ours was made in April 2018.

Who nows if this will be a problem with North American heaters of the same vintage or if anyone will speak up about it here.
https://www.productsafety.gov.au/rec...ca-and-sw6deca

[j3cub]

Eggscape, I owned a Paint Store or 25 years and you would not believe what we went through dealing with defective products. The best and most prophetic was when we started the paint can openers worked perfect every time. Each year they would come a little more deformed until they would actually not open a paint can any more . I confronted the sales rep about this and he said I cant do any thing about it, shrugged his shoulders and said do you want to order another bucket full or not. We ended up having to grind each one and we would charge a dollar for them. Wa La.

[Eggscape]

Originally Posted by Eggscape

On further inspection...there are threads and nuts on the two control valves to secure it to the stove...who knew. However during assembly the little black plastic beautification shroud was placed under the nut. This tight (to the nut) fitting shroud does not allow for any tool to tighten the nuts. Thus my nuts were so loose that it allowed for all the stuff hanging below to move uninhibited.

So the simple fix is to remove the nuts one at a time by squeezing the black shroud with your fingers, removing the shroud, adding a lock washer if you have one, then the nut, tighten the nut, then add the beauty shroud over the nut. All done without having to removing the stove.

Keep in mind that you will not know how much damage has been done.

I am going to try and pass this information onto Escape so they can make the appropriate adjustment to all new Escapes using this stove.

I did receive a phone call back from Paul and Dave at Escape yesterday. I explained to them my findings and they supplied me with an email address to which I sent 6 pictures that lay out the problem I found. They have acknowledged they have the pictures.

I will pass on if I receive any further info.

The short story is make sure the nuts on the 2 burner valves are tight on your late model Suburban stove.

[Eggscape]

I would just like to bring this thread back so that the person that just posted about smelling propane from their 2 burner cooktop can read the problem.

I read their post and by the time I came back with the link, their thread was gone. As this is an important topic if you are smelling propane I just will give this thread a bump if you have not read it before.

[j3cub]

Rubicon, I tried to order a Dickinson cooktop at the time that we had our discussion and they were back ordered for months and I have not checked on it since. We always cook outside now but thanks for all your help!

[j3cub]

Also, everyone please be aware that your suburban cooktop can and has exploded.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by j3cub

Rubicon, I tried to order a Dickinson cooktop at the time that we had our discussion and they were back ordered for months and I have not checked on it since. We always cook outside now but thanks for all your help!

They appear to be back in stock at Boat Owners World...
https://www.boatownersworld.com/dick...in-cooker.html

[j3cub]

Thanks or checking that out for me. Peter

[j3cub]

I called them and they will not be in stock till June but thanks so much for your effort!

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by j3cub

I called them and they will not be in stock till June but thanks so much for your effort!

Back in 2016, I got mine at Boat Owners World also, for hundreds less than the manufacturer's site price.

[j3cub]

Just got the dickinson cooktop. What an awesome appliance. No wonder you folks love it so much. Worth every penny.

[j3cub]

To install Dickinson all that I am going to have to do is fill in depth with 3/4 on front and back and then put an aluinum angle over that 1/16 x 1" x1" and that will give me about 1/4 overlap each side. On length I will just cut to required.

[viator36]

I installed the Dickinson Marine 2BP in my 21C over the past weekend and want to share some install hightlights here in case some of you especially 21C owners might be interested.


- My countertop cutout for the Suburban SDS2 is about 1/32" to 1/16" deeper along some parts of the edge lines (front and back) than the Dickinson Marine stove front and back depth edge to edge. I wanted those edges to have something to rest on so I added two wood trim pieces about 3/8" wide glued on and screwed in to my countertop. On the wood trims I cut and glued a strip of my countertop formica to make it blend in to the countertop look. The patterns didn't match but remember only about 1/16" of the added trims would show at a couple of spots along the entire edges and a 2mm wide bead of caulk will cover them up, and that is what I ended up doing.


In the first picture below if you look closely you may see the wood seams very close along the blue masking tape's top and bottom inside edges. And the taped rectangle is my MD stove cutout area. After the stove is in the stove's left side is very close (left and right wise) to the right side of the top drawer about 1/4" apart, however the stove bottom is higher than the drawer top by about 1 3/4". That gap should be safe enough and I don't intend to stuff the top drawer full.


- I bought a 3' propane rubber hose, a flare union connector and an elbow to hook up the propane from ETI's stock front left hose location to the MD 2BP's inlet at back right. Routed the hose along the front to right hand counter/partition corner and then back and fastened it using plastic cable clamps. I used a sniffer at the joints and found slight leak at both places. Added a bit of oil to the threads and the flare surfaces and the leak stopped.


- For appearance/finishing I cut a piece of countertop formica and glued onto the wood cutting board that came with the stove. I may use it with the formica side facing forward as backsplash guard when cooking since it's waterproof. And I applied a thin bead of clear silicone caulk (about 2mm wide) around the edges and the showing seam sections are covered over.


- We towed our 21C for a total of about 25k miles and we cooked on the SDS2 stove almost every night and didn't have a problem. The SDS2's max 5,800 btu has always been underwhelming and I did want to upgrade to a more powerful stove from early on after we got the trailer but didn't do it sooner because of the price. Now with the few reported explosion incidents on the forum the risk factor finally pushed me into action.


- Oh one last thing, it's minor but it's annoying, it's about the DM 2BP's redesigned spark electronic ignition. For anyone buying this stove now or maybe even a few weeks before I did (order placed 5/17) you may be getting the redesigned ignition. With the older design you simply unscrew the two small screws in the right hand section where the stove control knobs are, lift the steel plate and you can easily unscrew a big black knob which is readily accessible to replace the 9V battery. With the new design the black knob is not on the accessible right hand side anymore, it is switched 180 degrees to the left which is under the stove's top plate. To access it you have to remove the cooking rack first and then remove the stove top to get to it. And the new design replaced the old 9V battery with a single AA battery so power will run out sooner. The woman from Dickinson Marine I talked to today on the phone apologized for not having the user manual that came with the stove updated but confirmed about the recent change described above. A minor change but really annoying when you need to change the battery.


Hope this is helpful. Be safe and happy traveling!

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by viator36

- For appearance/finishing I cut a piece of countertop formica and glued onto the wood cutting board that came with the stove. I may use it with the formica side facing forward as backsplash guard when cooking since it's waterproof. And I applied a thin bead of clear silicone caulk (about 2mm wide) around the edges and the showing seam sections are covered over.

- We towed our 21C for a total of about 25k miles and we cooked on the SDS2 stove almost every night and didn't have a problem. The SDS2's max 5,800 btu has always been underwhelming and I did want to upgrade to a more powerful stove from early on after we got the trailer but didn't do it sooner because of the price. Now with the few reported explosion incidents on the forum the risk factor finally pushed me into action.

- Oh one last thing, it's minor but it's annoying, it's about the DM 2BP's redesigned spark electronic ignition. For anyone buying this stove now or maybe even a few weeks before I did (order placed 5/17) you may be getting the redesigned ignition. With the older design you simply unscrew the two small screws in the right hand section where the stove control knobs are, lift the steel plate and you can easily unscrew a big black knob which is readily accessible to replace the 9V battery. With the new design the black knob is not on the accessible right hand side anymore, it is switched 180 degrees to the left which is under the stove's top plate. To access it you have to remove the cooking rack first and then remove the stove top to get to it. And the new design replaced the old 9V battery with a single AA battery so power will run out sooner. The woman from Dickinson Marine I talked to today on the phone apologized for not having the user manual that came with the stove updated but confirmed about the recent change described above. A minor change but really annoying when you need to change the battery.

Jake: Beautiful work. I’m sure this will inspire others to follow your lead. The matching Formica on the cutting board is brilliant. That board is the only thing with the Dickinson that has something to be desired. Ours came with just a light stain. I put a couple coats of poly on it and it’s fine now. Looks better and more resistant to wear and tear.

You’ll love the high power burner. I was boiling some water this weekend and the 11,000 BTU burner made quick work of it. Do not fear as the turndown on these calibrated gas valves is very precise when you also want to simmer.

Bummer on the battery. I just happened to replace ours this past Saturday after almost 4.5 years and it was very easy to replace the 9V just as you describe under the small plate on the right under the knobs. I wonder what necessitated the design change?

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by viator36

After the stove is in the stove's left side is very close (left and right wise) to the right side of the top drawer about 1/4" apart, however the stove bottom is higher than the drawer top by about 1 3/4". That gap should be safe enough and I don't intend to stuff the top drawer full.

Jake: No worries about clearance to the bottom. The cooktop has the full lower compartment with all the guts of the stove including all the flame-out safety wiring between the burners and the lower enclosure. The bottom doesn’t even get warm let alone hot.

[Eggscape]

That is a real nice looking stove. With the controls by the wall as well as the small burner, it is just like it is made for a 21 or 19.

I think I would be buying a single AA battery holder and placing it in a convenient location and extending the wires to the inconvenient one.