Community Forums

dsbear · 04-08-2013, 02:41 PM

Welcome kedanie. I will be through your part of the world mid-June.

Jim Estes · 04-09-2013, 08:06 PM

Wow...just shocked my fresh water tank with bleach...new coach...to say I had problems getting the pump to prime is an understatement! Anyway...what finally worked was bleeding both low point drains...bleeding the air out...I tried various faucets in the coach...no joy...on a side note: there is a valve near the water pump on top of the tank...you can see it but you can not access it unless you remove a panel in the adjacent compartment overhead that was closed...so after numerous attempts and talking to Thor I decided to open it...wrong answer...It needs to stay closed...I can say our water-pumps are well made though...I ran the fire out of it ;-) the Thor help line works and they tried their best...I wonder if any body else has been through this nightmare! Anyway...just venting!

dsbear · 04-09-2013, 08:14 PM

Wow, Jim that sounds like a real pain. Fortunately we don't have to winterize and ours was primed predelivery.

On a different note our power steps have started popping on fully retraction and full extension. They still work just pop really loudly at both ends of their cycle.

Jim Estes · 04-09-2013, 08:42 PM

Hmmm...I assume you have tried lubricating...I think in the grand scheme of life...all steps do it sooner or later...I have seen many threads on here about steps...but have not encountered that problem yet...but I know its coming :-( Please let us know how you figured it out... :-)

Jim Estes · 04-09-2013, 08:49 PM

A friend of mine that has a Beaver Patriot...that helped me prime the pump...replaced his steps THREE different times...finally...he took them off! Got tired of messing with them... He is no rookie either...but the DW would never let me get away with that...I hope you figure it out...

powerboatr · 04-09-2013, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Estes

Wow...just shocked my fresh water tank with bleach...new coach...to say I had problems getting the pump to prime is an understatement! Anyway...what finally worked was bleeding both low point drains...bleeding the air out...I tried various faucets in the coach...no joy...on a side note: there is a valve near the water pump on top of the tank...you can see it but you can not access it unless you remove a panel in the adjacent compartment overhead that was closed...so after numerous attempts and talking to Thor I decided to open it...wrong answer...It needs to stay closed...I can say our water-pumps are well made though...I ran the fire out of it ;-) the Thor help line works and they tried their best...I wonder if any body else has been through this nightmare! Anyway...just venting!

your picture is misleading to me....then i saw

on ours the panel unscrews and i can reach in pretty well. the valve shouldn't have been turned. unless you were putting in the pink stuff
I had a weird rattle pulse sound in the same area and swapped out the rubber feed line with a ss hose and clamped it up, now the pump is sooooooo quiet

i will tell you from exp. if you remove the BIG black panel at eh water fill side....the fresh tank is a piece of cake to remove....
makes for fixing the holding tanks a piece of cake if it happens in the future

Jim Estes · 04-10-2013, 04:42 AM

Great pictures! I have a slightly different tank configuration...I was wondering how you would change the water pump out...take the fresh water tank out...I have read all my manuals many times...that valve is never discussed nor shone...but now I know!

powerboatr · 04-11-2013, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Estes

Great pictures! I have a slightly different tank configuration...I was wondering how you would change the water pump out...take the fresh water tank out...I have read all my manuals many times...that valve is never discussed nor shone...but now I know!

i know what you mean, i have a blub about winterizing and using the added valve and hose for easy pumping in of the anti freeze...but nowhere did it say where the valve was or how to access it

I decided one day after about a month of ownership to open up every panel with a screw on it, and take a look see.
some scarred me with 120 volt wiring not in conduit laying on a metal strap. lots of loose water lines, hence the wierd vibration noises when using the water pump.
best one is the loose screws, nuts and fittings we found

SteveOGilroy · 04-11-2013, 11:20 PM

Yep, I've kept my "extra" screws and fittings for future work. I'd think they should have just given us the extra in a bag instead of having us look everywhere for them!

The joys on ownership!

SteveOGilroy · 04-11-2013, 11:25 PM

We had the problem with the step either staying down or staying retracted. I talked to a tech that was willing to charge for his time but he said I might want to reroute the step's ground to the a solid ground on the chassis. I added extra wire and grounded it to a bolt in the chassis, three years ago. Fixed, no problem. You may want to try it.

SteveOGilroy · 04-11-2013, 11:35 PM

I'm sure you have all heard about Quartzite AZ. Now is the time to visit, the one million people are gone and the BLM camping areas have lots of room. The sunsets are beautiful.

Spring is the best time for the AZ area, school's not out and the offseason rates are reasonable.

Now just if I could figure out how to make the time and date on my chassis' panel not stop. It stops counting every time I turn off the engine. Daily reset is required. With just over 34k miles in five years, that and my seat covers are the only problem we our Astoria.

SteveOGilroy · 04-11-2013, 11:46 PM

Have any of the Astoria / Tuscany owners made internal mods? We're think of pulling out one of the two sofas and put in a desk/work station. I haven't seen any ready made that look good. Does anyone know of a good source for help on internal mods?

Other mods considering:
Replacing the "day night" blinds with something better.
Somehow take our little 34"x34" shower and make it a few inches larger.
Vent the kitchen microwave oven external instead venting into the living area.
Replace all lights with LEDs.
Solar panels on the roof and a larger inverter + better 6v batteries.

What mods are you thinking about?

Jim Estes · 04-12-2013, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerboatr

i know what you mean, i have a blub about winterizing and using the added valve and hose for easy pumping in of the anti freeze...but nowhere did it say where the valve was or how to access it

I decided one day after about a month of ownership to open up every panel with a screw on it, and take a look see.
some scarred me with 120 volt wiring not in conduit laying on a metal strap. lots of loose water lines, hence the wierd vibration noises when using the water pump.
best one is the loose screws, nuts and fittings we found

I will take some pics of mine and post...quite a bit different than yours...anyway I guess when I want to winterize I will turn that valve on near the waterpump so I can use the winterize suction fitting in the wet bay and take suction from the jug of the pink stuff...sounds pretty straight forward...but how in the heck do you get the pink stuff in the icemaker lines? When I disconnected the waterline coming sown from fridge...it said approx 1 qt of water should trickle out...noway that much came out! The good news is I have all summer to figure it out ;-) I have found a few screws so far...have yet to start taking stuff apart like you did though...

Jim Estes · 04-12-2013, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveOGilroy

We had the problem with the step either staying down or staying retracted. I talked to a tech that was willing to charge for his time but he said I might want to reroute the step's ground to the a solid ground on the chassis. I added extra wire and grounded it to a bolt in the chassis, three years ago. Fixed, no problem. You may want to try it.

I will check my 2011 grounding and see if they fixed that problem! I am betting they did...sort of!