tbutler

I wouldn't expect the gas to ignite immediately after unplugging the refrigerator. If the refrigerator is cold, the gas won't ignite until there is a signal from the temperature sensor inside the refrigerator indicating the temperature is rising and cooling is needed. Perhaps this is the link that is your problem. If the sensor is the same one that feeds the AC side of the system then the sensor is working. There could be separate sensors. If the sensor is working then the connection to the control board may be corroded or loose. If those possibilities are eliminated then it might be time to have the control board tested. I would call and talk to the technical support staff at Dometic.

You haven't given us much to work on. Do you have a schedule that you must follow? Are you retired and able to spend as much time as you want on this trip? Are you traveling with children? Do you have special interests? Science? History? Car racing? Fishing? Or are you just planning to drive there as fast as you can and return the same? I'll give you several options and share the thngs we consider and look for when we travel. If you have time, take time to do some touring on the way. Plan two routes, one on the way out and a different route on the return. You might take I-40 & I 44 east. Stop in Albuquerque or Pueblo for a few days. In Oklahoma City there is a cowboy museum with great cowboy art among other things. If you have children along, this is a must. There is also the memorial in Oklahoma City for the victims of the domestic terrorist bombing that occurred there. The Will Rogers Museum in Claremore, OK is fun for adults and great also for children. Both the cowboy museum and the Will Rogers museum have dress-up play areas for children. Springfield, MO has the original Bass Pro store. In St. Louis you can visit the Jefferson Expansion Memorial and the Arch. You can also tour the original Busch Brewery, there is a great zoo and science museum, botanical garden and much more. Switching to I-70 east to Indianapolis is easy in St. Louis. Indianapolis has a magnificent children's museum, there are lots of hands-on experiences for children, young and old. Stop in Dayton, OH to tour the Air Force Aviation Museum. You get the idea. I would recommend continuing to the northeast and coming tn to Massachusetts from the west rather than the south. Then you might plan a return trip south along the east coast and back westward on I-20 or I-10. I always plan a different route in each direction when we plan our trips. It doesn't always work out but when possible we'll vary the route. If you have enough time, get off the interstate and make it an all summer and fall trip. There is so much to see, you will never run out of interesting stops along the way any way you go.

OK, I missed that the breaker was the water heater breaker. It sounds like a mis-wiring problem. I'd bet that the air conditioner is wired to the water heater breaker instead of the air conditioner breaker. The air conditioner breaker likely has a momentary delay to allow the compressor to start without tripping the breaker. Wire it to the regular breaker for the water heater and it will trip the breaker. Turn off the air conditioner breaker(s) and see if the water heater works!

We like having the two units serving the entire area. One advantage is that you can have the rear unit work during the day when you are in the front of the coach. We set that unit several degrees cooler than the front. The front will kick on occasionally but the rear unit does most of the work and creates most of the noise when we aren't there. At night we reverse the settings and let the front unit carry most of the load and create most of the noise. It works the same with the heat pump setting. If I were worried about the cost of the electric, this might not make sense. We are keeping the part of the house we aren't using cooler than the area where we are located in order to keep ourselves comfortable. From the energy conservation aspect, having the unit serve the area where you are located makes more sense. I prefer the gentler cooling, less air blowing on me, and the quiet of having the far unit operating most of the time. We live in tiny spaces and our energy use is nothing compared to a regular sticks and bricks home so that is my answer to the energy concerns. A small single family home built today has a 200 amp electric panel and larger ones go to 400A and more. Even on 50A we are set up to use only 1/4 of a small single family home.

Thank you all for your generous comments. I was wondering why I was suddenly getting notice of so many comments on this blog entry. This is something new to find a blog entry listed on the current topics on the forum. For those who haven't explored the blogs, this is an example of some of the motor home stories found on the blog. It is a rather long example and I congratulate those who stuck with it to read the entire or most of the story. We have had many who have registered a blog but few who have written consistently over time. I wold encourage anyone who is interested in writing, try your hand at a blog. Share your travels, your experiences, your adventures and your life with others. When I'm on the road I seem to have plenty of things to write about. When we are in our winter retreat, the stories are harder to write. So I take a break during the winter with only an occasional exception. You don't have to write often, or with any schedule in mind. Stories can be a sequence or can be random items like this one. My writings are built around experiences and are less poetic than some of our writers. It is easier to write when you are doing something unfamiliar. This gives it a sense of adventure, you are learning new things and it adds a sense of wonder to your writing. I enjoy writings of those who are just getting into traveling in a motor home. I also enjoy the writings of veterans who have been at this for years. I'm certain there are some good stories to be shared by those who were there in the early days of motor homes. So, join the fray! Tell me a story, start your own blog. Tom

There is a backflow prevention valve in the water heater where the hot water exits the water heater. Ours failed several years ago and the result was exactly what you describe. The broken piece of the valve was stuck in the valve and blocked flow out of the water heater. Ours was intermittent so we would get water sometimes and other times just a trickle. The purpose of the valve is to allow winterizing the plumbing without having to fill the water heater with antifreeze. The tech couldn't get the valve to unscrew from the water heater when we found the problem so he just removed the blocking piece and everything worked fine. We winterize our motor home by spending the winter in Edinburg, TX! No need for antifreeze there! Some time after we had the valve blockage removed, I rinsed the other working piece of the valve from inside the tank. Years later a technician working on a leak removed the old valve shell with an impact wrench and installed a new one. The first had plastic parts. I couldn't believe that was installed in a water heater. I made sure the replacement was all brass, inspected it myself.

You are correct. Any deceleration, service brakes or engine/exhaust brake will trigger the Easy Brake. If you can adjust the sensitivity set it to be less sensitive which will keep it from activating for mild to moderate braking. That may keep it inactive during mild braking but still set it off when the brakes are more forcefully applied. If you have a cockpit indicator of the braking in the toad, that will let you know how everything is working.

Twenty to thirty seconds sounds like the time the unit runs (fan) before the compressor kicks in. It sounds as if the compressor is drawing huge power which indicates a serious failure.

I get an engine warning light if the engine brake is on for an extended time. I've replaced several exhaust manifolds and the last time in the shop I asked if use of the engine brake could be causing this. The answer from the Cummins tech was no. He said the exhaust temperature would be lower when the engine brake is engaged. Our brake functions differently than some others. I can't set the cruise with the engine brake set. When I use the engine brake it cancels the cruise and it must be manually engaged. I've driven behind people who have the cruise and the engine brake set and their brake lights come on on every downgrade. I like to coast downhill until I reach the speed limit (for our toad that is 65 MPH) then if necessary I'll use the engine brake to maintain that speed to the bottom of the hill. If you can drive without using the brake (safely of course), you'll get better fuel mileage. Every use of the brake is taking taking energy (inertia) out of the system that you have used the engine (fuel) to put into the system.

Don, Never considered myself Evel Knievel though I've put many a mile on motorcycles and I have flown small airplanes. We drive California Hwy 88 across the Sierra Nevada one time each way almost every year going to and from Valley Springs to visit our daughter and her family. On our first trip west in our 1994 Dynasty, we drove the Salt River Canyon northeast of Globe, Arizona on US 60. Among other memorable drives is the knife edge ridge of Utah Hwy 12 east of Bryce Canyon National Park and California Hwy 190 west out of Death Valley from Stovepipe Wells to US 395 and then California Hwy 178 on to Bakersfield. That last one we actually encountered open range and had to make a stop for several cows in the middle of the road! And who could forget the drive into and out of Valdez, Alaska or the Over the Top road from Dawson City, Yukon to Chicken, Alaska? The list goes on but you get the idea. So I'd rank myself as an experienced mountain driver. Maybe I should get a "don't follow me" sticker for the back of the motor home! Read the previous discussion that I cited in the post above and you'll find plenty of people who share my opinion. I've added US 550 to my plans for this summer!

I've never traveled this route. I ran a profile, there are three passes near 11,000 feet. It is a US Highway so the road should be good enough. I'm certain your coach can do it, you'll have to make the decision whether you want to tackle this. If you and your passenger(s) are OK, the scenery should be great. I'm certain someone who has made the trip will respond sooner or later. This website has detailed information on attractions and points of interest on this route. Here is another website which has more detailed information about the driving conditions on the route. This link takes you to a previous discussion on this route. Personally, given the above, I'd love to drive the route and wouldn't hesitate to take it on.

I use economy mode all the time. We tow a GMC Acadia now and for years before that a Chevrolet Trailblazer. Economy mode simply changes the shift point slightly. In 6th gear with our coach the normal shift for 6th down to 5th occurs at 60 MPH. In economy mode the transmission will stay in 6th gear until the speed drops to 57 miles per hour. At any time if the turbocharger hits 100% the transmission will downshift. Towing a vehicle would affect the turbocharger level as it would reach 100% a little faster than if the load being towed were not there. My understanding is that the shift level for other gears is also slightly lowered but I haven't tried to determine that. The indicator on the Allison 3000 that we have simply indicates the selected gear, not the actual gear we are using at any particular time. We have a computer system that was used by Monaco for a number of years. The Aladdin system displays details of the engine and transmission performance in real time. I can watch the speed, gear, turbocharger level, instant fuel mileage statistics, temperatures and other data all on the display screen on the dash. I would guess that the display that ShortBus questions is a display showing the selected gear. Shift down manually (up and down arrows for manual shift - if you have them) and see if the display changes. When you select D, you are setting the transmission for 6th gear. If you manually shift down you would be selecting 5th gear and the display should show 5x, x being another number. Gear displays on the Aladdin system are two numbers, 12 being first gear mid range, 23 being second gear high range. So 61 would be sixth gear, low range. I may have the high and low range numbers reversed, 1 may be high range and 3 may represent low range. I believe these are pre-programmed into the transmission per motor home manufacturer data on the application and weight of the vehicle. Basically the transmission can be used in a number of different applications and Allison programs it for optimum performance for each application. Economy mode is an alternate to the set programming that emphasizes economy over high performance by altering the shift patterns. Allison transmissions are intelligent transmissions, they learn drivers habits and work to adjust to the way different people drive. If you have two drivers this may cause some confusion for the transmission computer. That may account for hard shifting. We had that condition with a coach that we bought used. We took it to an Allison shop and they cleared the transmission memory so it could learn our driving habits. I believe most of this information is related to how aggressive you are with acceleration when starting out or when climbing hills and long grades.

D*** What you are facing is censorship, not political correctness. It is legal for FMCA to regulate the language used on its web site, this is not a public forum, it is a private forum hosted by FMCA for FMCA members. You have the unfortunate circumstance of having a name which is associated with a slang term for the male sexual organ. If the computer program were "intelligent" enough, it could distinguish between D*** and d*** by analyzing how it is used in any given circumstance. Unfortunately, computers or at least this computer program isn't that "smart." So you are a victim of circumstance and the limited capabilities of the computer program. The question of calling RV's a class or type is certainly what people are describing as political correctness. I dislike the term political correctness. It is a demeaning term for what are efforts to make our use of language less offensive, more respectful. Like it or not, we live in a very open, multi-cultural society. Such a society has many potential conflicts. We manage to make it work because we can be different and still respect one another. When that respect breaks down conflict erupts. Language does convey a whole range of ideas, emotions and feelings. Words can convey love, respect, tolerance, intolerance or hate. I'm for choosing words that help us get along peacefully. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate. All that said, the first amendment of the US Constitution guarantees free speech. Everyone is free to speak in any way they want in the public forum. I along with a succession of our ancestors, politicians, lawyers, citizens and soldiers have fought to preserve that right.

Mystery solved. Thanks Todd!

Beaver and Safari were bought out by Monaco in the mid-00's. They manufactured select models up until the '08 RV crash. They have all the records that existed at the time the company was purchased by Monaco and have provided support for all Safari, Beaver, Holiday Rambler and Monaco coaches through the Navistar years and I believe this continues today. After Navistar sold Monaco to ASV, they restructured and are resuming manufacturing of Monaco coaches. There are currently two models of the Monaco line being manufactured, Dynasty and Diplomat. At the time of the ASV takeover the management of Monaco planned to bring back models slowly as the market recovered. They expressed plans to bring back some Holiday Rambler models. Now ASV has restructured and Monaco is under a division known as REV International. They manufacture a wide variety of specialty vehicles. Through it all, the phone number in my owners manual remains the contact number for Monaco and the Monaco line of products including Beaver, Safari and Holiday Rambler. If you need support, technical, service, parts, factory service centers call 877-466-6226 (they are now also listing 800-509-3417) for customer service. There are factory service centers in Oregon and Indiana and there may be several more in the works. REV also owns Fleetwood and American Coach (they also list Holiday Rambler as a separate line from Monaco but there is no mention of Beaver or Safari) lines of motor homes. Their manufacturing center is in Decatur, IN where all their coaches are manufactured along with many of their other vehicles. We spent four days at the factory service center in Oregon several years ago and the service was the best I've ever had. I had a laundry list of items that needed attention and they worked through the entire list, consulting me as they went. When I left, there was a hefty bill but I was delighted to get all those things fixed and given what was done, I was surprised the bill wasn't higher.

So now I've learned something new. It's a good day!

I have encountered several single status updates. Right now on the current forum topics on the home page there is one that shows up and when I select that topic it is a single status update between two other forum members. What is the exact function of the single status update? How is it generated? Is it appropriate to comment on a single status update between two other members? If not, why does it show up on the recent forum topics?

Wandas1, welcome to the FMCA forum! There is no reason that I know for the difference. People are type A or type B. Motor homes are class A, class B or class C. I've never noticed that it is always type A on FMCA. I'm certain you will find variations as you read more posts. The forum is informal communication and some people are not as precise as others. Be tolerant of others, be friendly and you'll find friends and some knowledgeable people willing to share their experience and expertise with you.

We've driven Highway 101 in Washington and Oregon and enjoyed it. It isn't too bad, definitely the slow route, take your time and enjoy. I've never driven the northern California section and the map makes it like a real challenge, probably not the road you want to be on from the California border to where 101 splits into CA 1 and 101. From there south we've driven it and again, great scenery and slower travel. It becomes 4 lane well north of San Francisco. Oregon Hwy 38 is my best guess where to shift from 101 over to I-5. We've driven Oregon 38 in our motor home, slow but safe. Hwy 101 in southern Oregon doesn't look too bad but there isn't a good way over to I-5 south of Reedsport, OR.

You should start a blog. Stories like this are what blogs are all about. This is the kind of story you hear in aviation safety seminars. Almost every aviation accident has a chain of events that happen leading to the eventual accident. The decisions made in that chain are analyzed and lessons learned by all. I'm going to guess that you would now make a different decision when encountering the situation you did with snow on the road as you ascended a steep hill. When I was just starting to drive I would find parking lots covered with snow and just fool around spinning the wheels or hitting the brakes hard in a turn and then applying the recovery from skids techniques that were in the textbook for drivers education. It is one thing to read about how to do it, quite another to experience it. I developed a feel for a skidding vehicle and confidence in the recovery technique properly applied stopping the skid and gaining control. Experience is the best teacher! Years later I did the same with airplanes. I took a course in recovery from unusual attitudes. After an intense review of flying techniques with fighter plane instructors, I flew two different days as part of that course. They had me put the plane in every kind of unusual position, upside down, skids, spirals, stalls, spins, inverted stalls, inverted spins and each time using techniques discussed in the classroom I was able to bring the plane upright and recover controlled flight. You just never know when you are going to experience a loss of control in a vehicle or airplane. Being prepared is the first step in a safe recovery.. In 2004 at an FMCA National Convention I took a safety course (RVSEF) for driving motor homes. Two days of instruction and I had a certificate for my insurance company. I also learned many useful attitudes and techniques for driving a large vehicle like a motor home. One of the things I remembered was what to do and what not to do to control a motor home when a front tire blows out. Two years later, after making the trip to and from Alaska in 2006, a front tire blew out. I was on the Interstate in northwest Missouri. The techniques I learned in that safety course worked perfectly, I was able to maintain control and safely get the motor home off the road and onto the shoulder. Every kind of vehicle has it's own set of rules for safe operation and best techniques for surviving emergencies. If you drive it or fly it, you should learn all you can about how to control it.

I'm curious about the shim, where was the shim inserted? If this moved the cracking from one side of the coach to the other, they may be on to something but maybe overdid it. Maybe if this occurs with all air released you should keep the coach aired up rather than releasing all the air. It will slowly deflate but can be aired up periodically by running the engine or with an external air pump using the input that a towing company uses to tow the coach. When you park the coach, is the windshield exposed to the heat of direct sunlight? Perhaps minimizing the heat of direct sunlight might help. When you say "almost all of the cracking happens ... sitting at home," where else does cracking occur? If what you have is a small crack from a rock impact or cracking that has occurred while on the road, that crack will grow larger due to stress or heat.

Welcome to the forum! Three months storage with water in the tank is an invitation for algae and bacteria growth. Empty the tank, drain all the lines and the water heater in the coach. When you get ready to hit the road again, fill the tank, add chlorine, then run the chlorinated water through all the water lines and water heater, let it sit for an hour. Drain everything and fill with fresh water. You should be ready to go!

Welcome to the forum Jamie. I read your post and can't offer any real suggestions for you but there are several people on the forum who should have some suggestions for you. One question that may come up is whether you have individual wheel position weights, that is how many pounds each wheel is supporting. Your 7800 pounds may not be distributed equally on the four wheels. This is common in RV's. I don't know how much size of vehicles affects this but things like location of holding tanks, personal goods, passengers, a slide out, other equipment may make one wheel or several wheels carry more weight while others are underweight. That can affect the desired tire pressure which can affect ride. If you haven't changed any of these kind of factors, and assuming that the tire size and the rating of the new shocks is correct for your vehicle, I wouldn't expect any significant change in the ride and handling.

Rust-Oleum makes a paint and primer combo which is described as corrosion reistant. You can order on-line, you may not be able to find it in stores. You can also get Rust-Oleum primer and use that and then overcoat with a Rust-Oleum protective enamel. These should be available at Home Depot or Lowe's. Rich has listed some that may work better. The AGM batteries are becoming more widely available. I got mine at an RV service shop, any RV dealer should be able to order them for you. Lifeline batteries are the earliest manufacturer of these batteries and they are premium quality. I'm seeing others that are sealed batteries but are still lead acid, not AGM.

This looks like corrosion caused by acid, not acid itself. Sulfuric acid which is a normal release in gaseous form from wet cell batteries, reacts with metals leaving this kind of corrosion. A little thorough cleaning with baking soda solution should remove all traces of this corrosion. Then dry the area thoroughly and either use a corrosion resistant paint to protect the metal or use a corrosion preventing battery spray. The battery spray won't last as long, you'll have to restore it occasionally. This same process is responsible for rust stains on concrete below the battery box when you park for any period of time. The battery box is ventilated to reduce this process. If the ventilation is restricted in any way, it may be causing the gasses to hang around longer in the area you show. I recently replaced our wet cell batteries with absorbed glass mat (AGM) batteries which have only very minor outgassing which eliminates almost all of this but it's a high price to pay if this is your only concern.