Moved back into my RV two or three weeks ago as it had warmed up sufficiently to make it comfortable. I was able to park it in my regular spot over the winter and then stayed in one of the rooms here in the building at Ice Park Campground. Getting everything up and running was an adventure to say the least.
First problem was minor. The tires had been sitting on the same spot on the ground (well drained aggregate) for months so I had to start up the engine and move it around a bit. Since I’d let the insurance lapse and the registration expire, I only drove around the park. Engine started right up and sounded great. Just a little white smoke during start up. Good sign. I’d put anti-gel and some injector cleaner in it last October and it appears it worked. But diesels are pretty reliable starters anyway. While I was running around the park, I filled up the water tank and brought it back to my spot. Then I used the levers to level up but found a little ATF on one of the pads a couple hours later as the rig settled to one side. Since then I’ve jacked it back up level once, and the leak has stopped. I’ll put some tranni leak stop in the system soon.
Then I reconnected my water pump and turned it on. It started right up but I noticed a leak under the sink right away. And it was draining into my converter cubby hole which is right under the sink area. There’s a small 6″ hole in the side wall of the basement compartment right next to the converter where you can access the 120V plug-in. But I haven’t figured out how they got the converter in there. Built the RV around it? Anyway I found that the leak was spilling water into that compartment and quickly turned off the pump, and unplugged the converter from AC. Let it dry out for 24 hours and since it’s nice and dry here this time of year, it didn’t take long. When I plugged it back into 120V, it worked fine. Whew.
Back to the kitchen leak. First I found that the copper pipe from the $80 faucet I’d installed in ’09 had split. When I took it out, I found out why. There are one way valves in the pipe connectors. I hadn’t considered that when I’d installed it. The tiny amount of water that didn’t drain out when I winterized froze and split the pipe and blew out one of the one way valves. I removed the other one since they’re not really needed in such a small plumbing system.
After squishing the split pipe back together and soldering the crack, turned the water back on and found another leak under the floor of the cabinet. Then it took several hours trying to rip out the carpet and removing the plywood floor under it. Most of the time was in trying to figure out how they had fastened it all down. Beneath the cabinet floor was a long split in the PEX pipe caused by the one way valve not letting the water drain out like I wanted it to. The suction kept the water in the pipe instead of draining out. If I’d realized the valves were there it would have been simple to just loosen the plastic nuts and break the vacuum.
So a run to Lowe’s was in order and there I found they don’t make my kind of PEX pipe anymore because it wasn’t very good. Now they have a replacement pipe that is white instead of grey, can be cut with a pipe cutter instead of having to use a hack saw or a plastic pipe cutter (which I don’t have yet) like with the old type PEX, and can be bent 90° around a plastic radius device that snaps onto it. And it’s resistant to splitting if frozen. Using the new type PEX, and some nice plastic couplers, I didn’t need a copper 90° and those metal band clamps (or the tools to install them). All in all a much better product. After removing and replacing a couple feet of busted pipe, I was back in business. Turned on the water and no more leaks, except the damn faucet drips incessantly. Something else ruined because it had those one way valves. I’ll get to that some other day.
Then I was out and about the other day and stopped into a used stuff store. Found a brand new 800W inverter for $45. Brought that back and tested it on a computer and monitor and it works great. So now I’ll have to wire it in somewhere. Probably in the drivers area under the dash on the passengers side.
Finally got warm enough that I felt like some AC was necessary. Rotated the switch and it blows warm air only. Ran it for a couple hours that day and an hour the next. I was thinking that the really cold winters we get here, like down to -40°F for long periods of time, had shrunk a fitting enough for the freon to bleed off. Wasn’t looking forward to hiring a guy to recharge my AC. But then I noticed the switch position was one click short. I was on fan, not cool. Once I figured that out, I’m getting nice cool air.
Then there was the bottom drawer in the kitchen. Opened it up to find a mouse or vole nest in there. Started to pull it out and there were two large babies in the nest. Dumped them out on the ground outside for any foxes that might be around and they were gone in a few hours. There was quite a bit of fluffy paper in the nest and I didn’t figure out what that was or where it came from (worried that they had pulled apart something important) until later that day when I went into the bedroom and found the tissues in the tissue box had been gnawed on. Had to toss that and then found poop on the bed. No urine stains though. So had to wash all the bedding. Needed it anyway.
Then I figured it was time to register the RV but this time I checked the Alaska web site and found that it was only $100 here instead of the $352 Oregon would have charged me. And you don’t get a pro-rated registration in Oregon either. If I’d renewed through Oregon, the six months I did not drive the rig would have been charged anyway. So I go down to the DMV and sign up the rig here in Alaska and find that they have a one time senior discount. My total registration fee for a two year tag was $15. Not bad. Saved enough to pay for the repairs and more.
Then I decided to work on the genset. It has trouble starting sometimes and the dash ‘Start’ & ‘Stop’ switches had stopped functioning as well. Sometimes when I’d bang on the control box with a rubber mallet it would start right up. So I disconnected the battery cable, pulled out the control board and measured all the passive components like diodes and resistors. Didn’t find anything there but I was able to find a source for the three relays on the board. The symptoms kind of resembled a poor contact and a bum relay can certainly develop those. The relays are on the way so I don’t know if that’s going to solve my problem genset starts yet.
Update: I finally got the new relays and installed them. Same problem of not starting from the dash. Pulled the board again and found that the connector had that particular pin corroded though. Repaired that and all is well. Starts and stops from the dash. It still is a little balky when trying to start when the weather is cool and damp but that should be just a new filter.
Finally, I wanted to test my refer on gas. It was working well on electric, but would go to ‘Check’ after a few seconds on gas. Still haven’t got that figured out yet but it’s beginning to look like a bad thermocouple or something on the control board which I just replaced in Aug. of ’09 (they should last for several years).
Lots of fun working on these things. At least the engine sounds nice, the tires are in good shape, the water is working fine, the levelers work, etc.
I’m probably going to be leaving Fairbanks and heading to Seattle soon for a family reunion and I still have to find someone to drive my car down for me. That’ll be an adventure in itself.