Our "New" Home

[Steve N Sal]

Great looking rig, hope you enjoy many funfilled miles. Glad your surgery went well. Been ther done that. (twice) Outcome for mine not as favorable but then the damage was much more severe. Be safe and Happy Motoring!!!

[RVNeophytes2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cougarkid Guess I will take a break for a while. Mike

Way to go, Mike. You sound like me, those joints are dues we pay for being so darned active.

We're pulling up anchor and joining Overland friends at the balloon fiesta, in a few hours. They love their coach, and I'm sure yours will be just as enjoyable.

[John H...]

Congrats on the coach and the surgery...

[Ann n Gene]

I especially like the bottom picture, size just fits and it looks perfect. LOL , Seriously, congratulations on both the new motorhome, sounds fantastic, and the surgery, sounds like you are about as good as new and ready to go. Enjoy both.

[nwfiver]

Nice looking rig. Enjoy the travels.

[akcampr]

Nice rig, and nice work on the mods.

[w6pea]

Nice looking rig.




If we can't haul it......You Don't need it! Motor-T

[Cougarkid]

So, I went home Friday and decided to drain and clean out the water heater. Suburban 10 gallon gas/electric pilotless. Got a few big sockets (1" - 1 1/6" - 1 1/8") and went out.

Shut the water off, turned the water heater off and got to work. 1 1/8" socket wins, so extension and 2' breaker bar and out comes the plug. Burst of water and then glug glug glug as lots of crap and sediment comes out. The anode is the size of a wire hanger.

Went in and got a 3' long bottle brush (actually for cleaning frig coils) and used it to scrub and pull crap out of the tank. Water on and off several times to get crud out. Finally got clear water and couldn't feel crap in tank with my finger.

Snapped the anode tube off of the plug, cleaned the threads, added Teflon tape and put the plug back in. Water on and no leaks. Swept up the crud from the concrete and it filled a dust pan.

Fired up the water heater and let it cycle. Nice hot water, but showers will tell. Still not as hot as our old Atwood 6-gallon one.

Shower Saturday morning and good hot water. Headed into town and got a new anode rod/plug. Back home, water off, heater off and pulled the old plug. Another burst of water and glug glug. Opened the pressure relief valve and the tank drained quickly. No crud this time. Teflon tape and new anode/plug in. Water on and no leak.

Seems better than before, but we will see. May need to replace the thermostat for higher temps.

While I was replacing the plug a d had the water off, I replaced the bathroom faucet. Looks a lot better than the old one!

[Cougarkid]

Well, there's always something else.

Did some dishes after the water heater was done. Went to drain the sink and it went out really slow. Hit the "test" switch on the control panel and it says both tanks ate full. No way. Did I close the valves?

Outside and the valves are open. Hum, sensors must be messed up - one more thing to fix. Back in the rv and wife went to the bathroom, came out and said. "my foot just got wet".

Looked and there is water on the file floor. Lifted the lid on the stool and stepped on the valve.

WATER HALF WAY UP THE BOWL AND NOT GOING DOWN.

Outside and to the dump bay. Water is running/dripping out from the tank bay. Shut both valves and waited a few seconds. Spun the bayonet connector loose and a small gush of "water".

I was using a "Sewer Solution" for my connection. There is a 1" hose that runs from it to an inside to a drain. That is my permanent sewer connection. We have a real toilet in the garage we are parked next to, so rv is only used for #1. It's connector (clear plastic) cracked a week ago and I replaced it with a Camco black plastic 3" to garden hose cap - same principal.

There was some crud (not sure what it was) blocking the drain hole to the hose. Since it was solid black plastic, I couldn't look and see if everything was okay. Rinsed it out and used the garden hose to force water thru the drain hose.

I took a clear "tank cleaner" connector I had and put it on between the dump pipe and the adapter. Opened the valves and water started flowing. It took several hours to get the tanks emptied, but I could "see" that they were flowing.

All is good in my world again!

[Cougarkid]

I think I'll rent my wife out as a leak detector.

After our adventure with the clogged dump pipe I thought all was well. I was wrong!

Carla goes in and gets some cleaner out from under the bathroom sink and come to tell me "it's wet under the sink. Is that from the tank issue yesterday?" Well, no, the base is too high for that. I go and reach up under the sink and sure enough, the cold water connection to the new faucet is dripping.

Water shut off, cabinet cleared out and back to work. Spun the finger nut loose and pulled the pipe (plastic) out to look at the end. Rubber seat gasket looks bad. Popped it out and it is deformed. Headed for the garage. Found a piece of plastic pipe with a sink connection on it that has a new gasket in it. Pulled the gasket out and took it in the rv. In the connector and spun back onto faucet. Tightened it down and water is back on.

No leak detected. Sat a fan blowing into the cabinet to dry it out well. Kept checking over the next several hours and it is staying dry. Leak fixed.

[Cougarkid]

Cleaning the water heater tank helped some, but not enough.

So, I went on line last Sunday (10-31-11) and ordered new 140 degree thermostats (12v and 120v) for the Suburban SW10DE water heater. Got both shipped to us for just under the price the local RV place wanted for one thermostat. They showed up Wednesday.

Thursday after work, I got screwdrivers, sockets, the drill with a wire brush and the new water heater thermostats. Turned off the water heater and went out.

Took the cover off and removed the screws holding the thermostat cover on. Of course, I dropped one in behind the gas valve. Took the thermostat cover off and removed the nuts holding the thermostats on. Wiggled the wires off the connectors and sat the old thermostats to the side.

Took the drill and wire brushed the areas behind where the thermostats mount. Plugged the wires onto to the new 12v thermostat, put in place over the stud and put the nut on finger tight. Connected the wires to the new 120v thermostat and put it in place on its stud and put the nut on. Aligned both new thermostats and tightened the nuts down.

Took the reset button extension off of the old 120v thermostat and put it on the new thermostat. The 12v one already had the button. Put the cover back over the thermostats and put the one screw I had in.

I spent the next 30 minutes getting the other screw out from behind the gas valve. Tried using a screw driver, a piece of wire, a magnetic tip and a gripper, but none worked. Ended up using a piece of wire with masking tape wrapped stickey side out around the end.

Got the 2nd screw in. Put the old thermostats in the new bags, collected the tools and put everything in the garage. Into the rv and turned the water heater back on. Heard it start and went out to check. Burning well, so I put the cover back on.

Waited about 30 minutes, checked the water and the hot is REALLY hot now, to the point of putting off steam. Successfull fix.

We both showered this morning and had plenty of hot water. I was 2nd in line and when I was done, there was still hot water left. Woo-Hoo!