tbutler

Since I have no experience in this case I'll simply wish you good luck. I'm sure someone has looked into this conversion.

Thanks for your comments Jackhal. I envy you, Maine is a great place to be in a heat wave. We're going to be hot for at least the next week. Sometimes more than others but it's still hotter than the Maine coast. None of my traps have caught the mouse so I guess it was long gone before I started the clean up. At least no further evidence for now. Thanks for the good wishes for my recovery. Every day brings progress.

What brand of air conditioners do you have? I've never had anything but digital thermostats with our Dometic Duo-Therm air conditioners/heat pumps. If you have a standard household type thermostat I would think they could be replaced with any digital thermostat available at Lowe's, Home Depot or other hardware store. I've done that with every home I've owned in the last 30 years. It is a simple operation, takes less than 30 minutes. I've just never heard of using the home style analog thermostat in modern motor homes.

All of the sites listed on RV Park Reviews are listed as having Big Rig Sites with the exception of Fort Devils Tower. There is no link or phone number given for Ft. Devils Tower so you would have to check another source to find information on that campground. For the other sites, the only way to find out if there are big rig sites available when you want to be there is to call and inquire or make reservations.

I haven't been doing much work around the motor home lately. My left knee replacement is healing well and I'm up to getting out and around more these days. The water filters in the basement needed replacement so I waded into the midsection of our home. As I began removing stored equipment I noticed little chewed bits of the blue shop towels I use. So now my task becomes a project. Sure enough, there are more and more signs of a mouse. We haven't had one for eight years but it has finally happened again. As I dig through the stored materials, more signs emerge. Under the sliding drawer in the forward storage area I find bits of acorns. Somebody had a picnic here. There is only one answer here. Everything has to come out and a good cleaning is in order. One compartment after another is emptied and cleaned. Our son-in-law brings the shop vac which speeds the cleaning tremendously. The trash bag of mouse debris keeps growing. I've grown careless over the years, there are rags that should have been secured that now are waste. A used sponge has been gnawed to a nub. The motor home hasn't been cleaned this well in years. Did I mention that the temperature is 97 degrees on a clear sunny day. I have the large awning out and some shade on the other side of the motor home. I'm pushing hard to get done before the sun gets to the door of each compartment. Our grandchildren are enjoying the swimming pool and our daughter is supervising. We visit during breaks. I have to stand up and sit down occasionally. My new knee doesn't take well to all the bending and kneeling. I'm drinking water like a fish at every break. The mouse or mice have been throughout the basement. We have seen no evidence in the living area but the storage area has evidence in every compartment. It takes me four hours to finish working through the storage areas. I check every access point. The sewer hose has gaps around it so I rearrange my improvised collar to better block the space around the hose. Everything else looks secure, so this must be the access point. I have two old traps from our only other encounter with these critters. These are baited and and placed in the utility compartment. A quick trip to town secures four more new traps. Every compartment has two traps ... now I'm waiting. It's possible that our daughters family cat, Miss Race Car (named by our grandson when he was six years old), a Norwegian Forest Cat, has already caught up with the offending mouse. I had a conversation with Miss Race Car, who sleeps under the motor home regularly. I impressed upon her that I had been counting on her to keep the motor home free of mice. If she hasn't already done so, I'll get the little rascals. The water filters are changed and we have a good flow of water for my well deserved shower. Louise fixes me my favorite libation and sends me out the door to fire up the grill. We'll have steak tonight! We enjoy sitting outside even with the heat. One of the really unusual things about this heat wave is that there has been a light breeze constantly. I lived in Missouri for most of my life and my recollection is that when the weather got really hot the air would be deadly calm. This year we have a breeze and it makes the heat almost bearable. I'm glad to be out and about and back to work. There will be only a few more work days before my right knee replacement on Thursday next week.

You can find both these campgrounds, Fort Devils Tower and the KOA reviewed at RV Park Reviews. It looks to me like Belle Fourche and the KOA have the highest overall ratings but you may be looking for other specifics that will appeal to you.

We had a string break in one of our shades several months ago and it could not be disassembled to re-string it. The professional shop we took it to said that it had been glued together and there was no way to get into the bottom rail so it was not repairable. All of our shades were seven years old and I figured if one string breaks, there are going to be lots of other strings breaking soon. Given that information, I decided to go to MCD for their day/night shades. I've had MCD sun screens, wheel covers and other products and always received excellent service from them. Louise was less than enthusiastic about spending the money for these shades. We were en-route through McKinney, TX so I called and scheduled a visit for them to measure the windows for the shades. We stayed one night on their lot and left the next morning. We were on a schedule so I planned to install the shades myself. We had them shipped to a location where we would be staying for an extended time. They arrived in one huge box. Everything was well packed and in excellent condition. I read a post by someone else here on the FMCA Forum who described the install process. It wasn't too difficult. I installed all 9 shade sets in two days of work. Basically you install the clips that hold the two roller assembly and then snap the roller assembly into place. Of course you have to measure carefully to install the clips. I used a template to help me space them properly (as suggested by the MCD employee who did the measuring). The most difficult part was snapping the assembly into the clips. With little space in our 3 inch deep valances, getting the leverage to press the shades into the clips was a challenge. Once installed, these shades are spectacular. The night shades are really dark. The only light we have in the morning is a little leak at the bottom and a slight amount of light that works its way around the valances along the edges. It is so much darker than the old pleated shades. These would even work well in Alaska! The day shades are essentially transparent while providing privacy and reducing the ambient light from full sunlight. The shades are easy up and easy down. I have always despised the two handed pulling to raise and lower the pleated shades. It requires leaning over furniture and tables to get a good even grip. These are the shades we should have had when the coach was new. The shades, as alluded to above, are not cheap. It is a premium product at a premium price. Doing the self-install saved us a nice bit of change and really wasn't that difficult. The bottom line on this is that Louise loves them. She hasn't complained about the money we spent on them since they have been installed. She enjoys sleeping late occasionally and these shades really improved her life! So the original post was about cleaning shades. This is a huge step beyond cleaning the shades. It was even a large step beyond replacing a single shade. If your shades are on their last legs and you would just as soon get a better shade than dealing with cleaning or repairing your shades, these shades are a real improvement for your motor home.

We had a 1994 Dynasty with the fuzzy nap ceiling. We had our carpets cleaned by a local carpet cleaner and asked that they also do the ceiling. After some strange looks, they thought about it and did a fine job. We didn't have specific stains but the fabric was yellowing and they successfully restored it to a nice white ceiling. I would think they would know what to use for water stains.

For comparison, we registered in South Dakota for 10 years as full timers. They have a 3% excise tax on the purchase price of an RV minus the value of the trade-in. After that, there is no property tax on the vehicle and our license plates cost about $300 when our rig was new. The license fees decrease every year for about 7 years. There is no annual inspection required. Licensing was accomplished by mail each year. We registered in Texas this last year and found an annual inspection and a sales tax of $90 for the first time registration on both our 8 year old toad and our 6 year old motor home. Annual plates for the motor home run us about $500 and it is my understanding that will remain the same each year. There is no property tax on the motor home.

When the electric comes on depends entirely on the people running the generators. I've had electricity the day we parked (like you, the afternoon before electric was scheduled). We've also encountered people who switch on the electric just about on schedule. So yes, you should be prepared to use the generator until the electric comes on. Where you disconnect the toad is also hard to say. I've been to conventions where this was handled off site where we checked in to be escorted to the parking area. I've seen it handled efficiently on the grounds as caravan of motor homes arrived. I've also seen very disorganized parking committees for whom toads were a real challenge. I would plan to stop somewhere about 15 or 20 miles away to unhook and drive the remainder of the distance so you can pull onto the grounds and be directed right to your parking spot. If you do this, your parking experience will be greatly enhanced. I don't know the area well enough to recommend a location for this. If you don't get a response from someone local, check walmart.com to see where the nearest Wal-Mart store is located. You could also check Pilot/Flying J or others for truck stops. Picking a spot farther from the convention will keep you out of the crowd.

Several years ago we had an ATC issue. It turned out to be a sensor that had been knocked slightly out of alignment. I would assume that they have checked your sensors. We took our motor home to Freightliner and they reset the sensor in its proper position. It took 5 minutes and the problem was solved. I don't recall that there was any affect on the engine performance with this issue.

If you are trying to match your current awnings, you should be able to find a sticker on the awning roller (inside the rolled up awning material). Using the number on that sticker you should be able to order exact replacements from Carefree of Colorado. These are custom products that aren't in the catalog. You have to have the original production number on the roller. Your motor home manufacturer may be able to give you those numbers also if you can't find them. I first learned of this from my manufacturer. Carefree is less helpful with this information unless you already have it for them.

In Victoria, the capital of BC are two attractions that we would recommend. The Royal British Columbia Museum is worth a day. The museum has excellent exhibits. It is located right next to the Provincial Capital Building which can be toured if you are interested. Both these buildings are located on the waterfront with many shops, stores and restaurants. You can easily spend a day in this area. A second attraction we enjoyed is Butchart Gardens just outside Victoria. This is a huge botanical garden with some spectacular floral displays. Again, you can easily spend a day here. There are restaurants on the grounds. The rest of Vancouver Island is very scenic and has numerous places to visit. We had a native to take us to many out of the way places. There was a deli/grocery with goats grazing on the roof somewhere on one of the backroads, the Dingy Dock Pub in Nanaimo. The Dingy Dock Pub is a floating bar/restaurant in the harbor. Boats anchor in the harbor and take their dingy to the bar. There is a small ferry that transports you to the bar from the mainland. We also enjoyed buidings with extensive historical murals in Chemainus. Also in Chemainus is a truly unique RV Park that doubles as a sculpture park. Our friends took us to forests, lakes and many other beautiful and scenic places. We spent a week on the island staying in our motor home which we took over on the BC Ferry.

Last October we stopped overnight in Raine, LA on I-10. We stayed at the convention center/RV facilities in Raine. As the evening went on, a number of Wanderlodges arrived for a rally they were having. With a little searching, you should be able to find one or two organizations of Wanderlodge owners that could help you with your query. I'd start by checking the affiliate organizations of FMCA and see if you can find a good contact there to help you. From the FMCA home page, I went to chapters/areas. That comes up with a search tool. I ran a search on the FMCA site for Wanderlodge and came up with one chapter. I searched for Blue Bird and came up with lots of references, I think many were simply keying on Bird but check that search list also. Officer contacts are listed so you can find someone to talk or write to for assistance. Good luck.

Has this always been the case or is this a change in the behavior of the generator? Have you owned the coach since new or is this a used coach you just purchased? If this is always the case, there may have been some mistake in wiring when the coach was manufactured. If it is a recent change then some kind of fault has developed. The generator will shut down for a variety of sub-standard indicators including coolant level and temperature as well as oil level. There could be others I don't know about. You would expect a blink code of some kind for any sensor problem but the code function of the processor my be at fault. It is not unusual to have to prime the generator when it has been idle for weeks. At least that is my experience in the several we have owned.

The way this works is that GMAC is likely now suing Norcold for their responsibility. They will recover as much of the money they paid you from Norcold as they can. You surrendered your ability to sue Norcold when you accepted the payment from GMAC. The opening entry in this discussion: The insurance companies have the upper hand... By the way, our Norcold went to the trash heap in May! We now have a residential refrigerator. I'm sleeping better!

There are several possible answers here. One is to add more energy, hook up a supplemental tank to your current propane tank. There is an adapter kit available from Camping World, Brett got that one while I was composing this. It allows a supplemental tank to be easily connected to your current system. I thought that was pretty much universal but read recently of some models of motor homes where the propane tank is installed in a location where it is inaccessible for this system. If you could use this system then you are faced with refilling the supplemental tank. If you have the means to transport it to a propane dealer, that could work for you. The larger the tank you can handle, the fewer trips to town for refills. Since what you want is more electrical energy, using solar panels to provide your electrical needs when possible would help. The generator is only necessary for loads like the air conditioners, microwave and possibly a washer/dryer if you have one. Your inverter can likely handle the rest. If you can keep the batteries charged with solar panels, then you only need your generator when you run your heavy loads. We have a 2' x 4' panel on our roof and that isn't enough to make a serious dent. It provides about 4 or 5 amps for about 8 hours on a good clear sunny day. It helps but you would likely be looking for a 3 or 4 panel installation. Even a single solar panel will extend the time between running the generator for charging batteries. I've seen some people transport these and set them up adjacent to their camper but a permanent installation would be much more convenient. The other side of the coin is to conserve energy and reduce the need to run the generator by this means. I won't discuss not watching TV or not using your coffee maker. You need to use the appliances you enjoy. Think in terms of keeping lights turned off when possible. Minimize use of air conditioners by using your awnings to limit the heat entering your motor home. Ventilate rather than air conditioning when you can live with the temperature. Adding sun screens to the cockpit area is another aid to reduce temperature in the motor home and reduce the need for air conditioning. We have sun screens for all our windows and it does help to keep the motor home cooler. If you can reduce the number of hours you need the air conditioner by 2 or 3 hours each day, that will stretch the time you can run the generator to 2 or 3 days beyond your current limits. Then you would only run the generator to air condition or to recharge batteries. Combining several of these suggestions might make your generator run time last two or three times as long per stay.

We've been on ferries numerous times. We've gone to and from Vancouver Island, several ferries in Yukon and NW Territories, to and from Grand Manan, NB several times and to Prince Edward Island. Several of these were tiny, most were large. All handled our motor home without any problem. We did get parked-in one time. We couldn't get the door open to exit. They parked us too close to a railing about eight feet off the ground. The loader was looking at the ground and tires and didn't realize that the railing up high blocked opening our door. We've never had to disconnect to load or unload but I did have to fold the mirrors in one time on a small ferry that barely had room to get us through the loading door! I had to trust the loader, I couldn't see what clearance I had behind me as I drove onto the ferry. They took it slow and we got on and off without a scratch. As we drove up the ramp exiting the ferry we got applause from the crowd of onlookers waiting to board the ferry and watching the process!

The cooling unit on RV refrigerators is attached to the back of the refrigerator and runs from the bottom where the heater/evaporator unit is to the top of the refrigerator where the expansion valve is. There is no way it could swivel more than a degree or two if it were on a gimble mount. In the route from bottom to top are a series of switchback turns in the piping which will accumulate solidified solution if the refrigerator isn't leveled properly. These switchbacks run a significant part of the width of the refrigerator. It's an interesting contraption. If you can find a repair shop that has an old one, it will be instructive to take a look at back of one of these refrigerators.

Welcome to the FORUM Bryan, Is this an HWH system? Our HWH system allows us to dump manually then level. Assuming that both sites were level, a good bet in Florida, your coach should go down as the other coach. I would call HWH to discuss your problem with them. My experience with them is that they are quite helpful with problems related to their units. At the very least, you should be able to eliminate their system as the problem and then start working on other possible causes. As an aside, Camping World sells a very nice heavy duty metal single step that you could use as a step up to your step level until you get things working properly. I'm in therapy now and there is step exercise equipment, plastic, that would work well for a step up to the high step on your rig. It was advertised on TV years ago, your wife or mother-in-law may have one in a closet somewhere! I carry the Camping World step with us because we find ourselves in sloping campsites often enough it is just handy to have. Good luck!

The fact that no furnace registers in Zone 1 on the thermostat but does show in Zone 2 suggests that the connection between the furnace and the thermostat may be at fault. If not that it may be a control board problem that prevents the second furnace from registering on the thermostat. A third possibility is that there is no power at all to the second furnace and thus it doesn't register. I would expect the furnace to show up on both Zone 1 and Zone 2 just as our 2 heat pumps and 2 air conditioners do. We have one furnace and it shows on Zone 1, there is no furnace showing on our Zone 2.

Herman, we were able to use the same outlet that the Norcold was plugged into. Anyone planning to do this should check their power supply to the refrigerator compartment. If you can run that outlet off the inverter, you are set. It would be possible to re-wire but that complicates the operation. Also, I would mention we run the refrigerator overnight when we boondock and the batteries fare much better than when we had the Norcold. By the way, I've added a couple of links to my first post that give info on the specific model of refrigerator and Iron Horse RV.

While repairing or replacing the ice maker would be a solution, Charliem06 did ask if there was a "commercial product available such as Whirlpool that is equal to the Norcold?" I'm reading that to be a question about replacing the refrigerator, not the ice maker. I don't think anyone would look for an ice maker to fit a different companies refrigerator.

We refinanced our coach one year after we bought it. We saved huge on the interest. We went through an outfit called Sterling Associates Inc. with offices across the country. We talked to them at the FMCA Convention in Redmond, OR in 2004. It certainly was worth it in our case. Be careful to read the provisions of the proposed loan when you receive a copy. The first loan offered to us had a clause that allowed the loan company to balloon or demand payment of the loan at their discretion. Given the current economic situation, I'm glad I spotted that and rejected that proposal. The agent secured a different loan company with the same rate, this time it was Wachovia. That loan had no such clause and we still have that loan with Wells Fargo today.

We installed a Whirlpool ED2GVEXVD in our motor home as a replacement for the Norcold 1200. It did require some cabinet modifications. The Whirlpool is about 4" taller than the Norcold 1200. It is also about three inches deeper than the Norcold. Some of that can be accommodated by placing the Whirlpool deeper into the existing cabinet. The Whirlpool doesn't need the clearance behind the refrigerator that the Norcold 1200 does. Finally, the Whirlpool has handles on the doors that stick out about 2" beyond the doors. This all makes the Whirlpool extend about 3" beyond the position of your current Norcold 1200. This is a factor in our case as our refrigerator is located in a hallway passage so the passage is narrowed by about 3". This requires me to turn slightly sideways to pass by the handles of the refrigerator door. I don't mind doing this as I am so happy to have the household refrigerator as a replacement for the Norcold 1200. The techs that did the replacement said that the weight of the Norcold 1200 was greater than the weight of the Whirlpool. They lifted it, I didn't! Herman, to answer your questions about the Whirlpool when moving, our experience is that we leave the ice maker on, haven't had a problem. It makes lots of ice so you could shut it down when traveling and not run yourself short on ice. In fact, it produced the first ice just 2 hours after we plugged it in, I was grinning when I heard the ice fall! The refrigerator travels well. It has several drawers for small items, vegetables, etc. and large shelves in the door. There are also slide out glass shelves. All is working well for us so far. Because the Whirlpool is run with a compressor, it is not sensitive to being kept level as the Norcold 1200 was. We run ours when traveling. We have a 3000 W inverter and 4 x 6V household batteries. It seems to me to use much less electric than when we had the Norcold 1200 running on gas though I can't be sure of that. My electricity gauges indicate it draws about 1 amp when running on the cooling cycle! When it cycles off, the usage level seems to drop to zero. I suspect it is near but not really zero. The Whirlpool is automatic defrost and the defrost cycle is demand driven, not a scheduled every day thing if not needed. As an added bonus, you have ice and water dispensers in the door. It is an energy star appliance so is designed to minimize energy use. It runs quiet but not as quiet as the Norcold 1200. If the motor home is quiet, I can pick up the hum of the compressor but it doesn't keep me awake at night! In fact I sleep better since I don't have to worry about the Norcold 1200. We purchased the Whirlpool at Lowe's and had it delivered directly to Iron Horse RV in San Antonio where we had the cabinet modified and the installation done. I have a set of pictures that shows what the job looks like.