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phantom_bree · 11-25-2010, 07:10 PM

Hello! My name is Bree and I'm 23. I am also the very anxious owner of a 1985 Ford Jamboree by Fleetwood. I've lovingly dubbed her Veruca and she was originally purchased to be used as a touring vehicle for my boyfriend's band. She was more or less....bestowed upon me by my mother, who, bless her heart, only wanted us to go on tour in a bit more comfort than our bright yellow '96 Dodge RAM Cargo Van.(by the way, there were 7 of us all together for the tour.)
Well, my mom bought Veruca literally 2 days before we were scheduled to leave for tour... I was lucky enough to have time to change the title and registration; I was unable to get her examined by a mechanic...
We didn't even make it 50 miles out of Seattle before Veruca's trans quite literally exploded.... so.... we ended up continuing our 4 week tour in Steve....our yellow cargo van.(yeah...we have a bit of a habit of naming our cars.)

Roughly $9,000 and a couple months later... my boyfriend and I have Veruca back. She has a new trans, new fridge, new water tank, new water heater, and a really long expensive list of things that are way out of my league.
Please keep in mind that my personal vehicle is a 2006 scion Xb... a car this old is really challenging.
Not to mention, I'm just kind of terrified of her ever since she broke down. I also live in her, I forgot to mention... I lost my job and a house full of friends and band mates have let us park in their driveway and use their water and electricity.(and kitchen, bathroom, xbox360...)
I guess this is my concern.... its cold. Like.....really freaking cold. I've got a ceramic heater but it blows the fuses when turned up too high. We sleep in our coats because our 4 blankets just aren't enough. The rv has a furnace that runs off propane... but my over active imagination seems to believe that this is dangerous.... I'm probably being paranoid but seriously, would the furnace in an rv this old be safe? What are the odds that I will blow up; I guess that's what I'm trying to get at. Hahaha!

I have a million questions to be honest but trying to be warmer is top priority.

phantom_bree · 11-25-2010, 07:32 PM

I'm sorry for such a novel of a first post, a bit excited I think. Haha!

Jack R · 11-25-2010, 08:21 PM

Bree

I live in olympia/Lacey so I know how cold it has been the last few days. Use your heater. However, if you use 24/7 the propane won't last long. So might want to consider only using it for sleep and turn down low during the day. Look on the bright side. Suspose to start warming up tonight.

jack

Superslif · 11-25-2010, 08:57 PM

Quote:

I've got a ceramic heater but it blows the fuses when turned up too high.

I run into the same problem if the campground has poor power supply. I would run a extension cord directly from the ceramic heater to the power source inside of your friends home. Try plugging it into a different outlet than what your cord to the RV is plugged into if possible. Make sure it is at least a 15 amp extension cord. I use a 20 amp cord. The cord supplying my RV is a 30 amp. On any extension cord there should be a tag that will list what your cord amperage is. Ceramic heaters at there high settings use 1500 watts of power...Also don't run a mircowave and heater at the same time, you will blow the breaker inside of the home.

With our hybrid with it's tent ends, I loose more heat than your RV. If the nights are below 32 -35 range I'll set the trailers propane heater on a low setting to help the ceramic heater.

One other point. We have gone thru a number of different ceramic heaters over the years. The one we have now has a fan built in that doubles the amount of heat. The first ones we had were just plain heaters without a fan.

historyljc · 11-27-2010, 04:37 PM

Welcome Bree,
As you can see, these things can be money monsters. Use the suggestions above and you should be quite a bit more comfortable. Much better living than in a tent. (That' not a bash at tent campers who enjoy that sort of camping) Good luck with your band.

"007" · 11-27-2010, 05:07 PM

Bree, there are safe guards built in your furnace that if detected will shut down the furnace.
So keep warm. You may want to looking into Extend-A Stay where you can get a larger LP propane tank for use if you have continued cold weather.
Welcome to the world of RVing.

travelgirl · 11-28-2010, 11:12 AM

Howdy Bree.

Welcome to our irv2.com family. Wish I had some other words to say for the expect that i'm sorry for has happened to you and your family. But as a member to this site. Welcome aboard irv2.com and many trouble free miles as possible. Best of luck