richard5933

Thanks for the extra information - that helps eliminate some of the common outside issues as the cause. If I understand correctly, you've got three a/c units on this coach. Two of them have been fine the whole time but one of the three units on the roof has failed three times. If this is the case, I'd really be suspicious of something specific to that unit's installation which is causing the problem. Could the thermostat be bad and causing a problem (malfunctioning so as to cause the a/c unit to short cycle or run too much, etc?) Has the thermostat for this unit been replaced along with the a/c unit? Perhaps there is a staple or screw somewhere in the wall that is intermittently causing a short in the wiring? The same unit failing over and over really screams that something is wrong specific to that install. However, if you're saying that each of the three different a/c units on the roof have each failed separately (not the same one over and over again), then if this was my coach I'd be shopping for a different brand a/c unit. Most brands/models are interchangeable and mount in a standard 14x14 opening so unless there is something unique about the way they're installed on your model coach I would think that you could try something different.

I can't speak for the laws in Florida, but here's how I would handle it: First thing would be to request a copy of the police report, assuming that the shop reported the accident. Then I'd get copies of the shop's insurance documents. If I could get the name/number of the shop's insurance agent, I'd give them a call and see if you can light a fire under them. Call your insurance company. If you have comprehensive and collision coverage, they should be able to authorize the repairs up to the limits of your policy. This will be the quickest way to get the repairs moving. It will then be up to them to go after the shop and the shop's insurance company through a process called subrogation. You may or may not have to pay your deductible until your company is able to collect from the other party. If they are successful, then you'll get your deductible back. Also, if they are successful in collecting the claim should not count against you. If they don't collect, it will be up to the terms of your policy and state law if this counts against you. Be aware through this process though, you are talking about a 14-15 year old coach. No matter how good the condition and how well it's been maintained, the total cost of the repairs might cross a threshold and cause the vehicle to be declared totaled. The insurance companies place far less value on vehicles of this age than owners typically do, and you might have a fight on your hands to convince them to repair it if that's what you want. Or, they might offer you a buy-out that satisfies you. About the reduced value... In Wisconsin there is case law about this. It's called 'diminished value' and the party at fault can be required to reimburse the injured party for the loss in resale value. It's part of the process of making the injured party 'whole' after the loss event. When my car was rear ended a couple of years ago I was able to collect about $1500 for diminished value. It was, however, quite a challenge since the insurance company wanted proof of the loss of value. I was lucky enough to be able to get a used car sales manager of the dealership to quote a value based on the post-collision value, which I compared against the guaranteed buyback program value. In the case of your coach this may be more difficult. Whatever you can collect for diminished value will also be subject to Florida statutes and case law, as well as the limits of the policy which is paying the claim. Hope this is helpful. Feel free to send a PM if you have specific questions. Welcome to the forum - hopefully you'll have many more joyful things to post about in the future.

Do you have a surge protector & low-voltage protector when you're on shore power? Did these failures all occur while in the same campground? If so, any of your neighbors having a similar problem? Any other problems in the electrical system other than the a/c units that might be an indication that the problem is more global than the a/c systems themselves? Any loose wires/connections on the remote wired thermostat (if you have one?) Just a few scattered thoughts about this.

One of those threads that makes me happy we don't have sensors on our tanks. In this case I think that simple is better. Fresh water and waste water tanks are the same size. I know it's time to dump the holding tank when I run out of water, since we don't use the city water connection except to flush the system at the start of the season. Our tanks are translucent and easy to see in the bay, so every time I'm in the bay for supplies I take a look at the water & waste levels. Having a combined gray/black waste tank makes dumping super easy, and I do add the Calgon & Dawn as added insurance just in case. I've found that helps keeps the sides of the tank a bit cleaner after dumping, but it really doesn't affect much else. I'm not too terribly concerned about the cleanliness of the black tank, being that it is the black tank and will become filthy after the first use.

If you're planning to do this on the duals in the rear, be sure to check the space between the tires. There will be a difference in clearance from the new tires, and the tire manufacturer will have a minimum for this.

Wasn't familiar with Hercules Tires till I read your question. Did a little research and see that they are owned by Cooper Tire. Curious to see if anyone has hard facts on the brand with regard to quality, longevity, safety, etc.

This is the main reason that I'm using the Splash -75 this year. I had some of the stuff with ethanol left over from an older coach, and it's what I plan to use in the black tank to keep the remaining contents from freezing. The Splash -75 is what will be pumped through the fresh water system.

It's a GMC 4108, often referred to as a Buffalo bus due to the hump in the roof. There were a few similar coach models made by GM with the humped roof (4107, 4903, 4905). These models had a few seats on the lower deck up front, and all the rest were up a couple of steps. Restroom was in the rear. Almost all of these buses which were in commercial service were bought by Trailways, with the rest going to smaller charter companies. By the time these buses were produced by GM, Greyhound already was working with MCI for their fleet needs. The Scenic Cruiser was an earlier bus, made from 1954-56 and in use through the 70s. They were made exclusively for Greyhound. The Scenic Cruiser had 10 seats on the lower deck. The rest room was located at the rear of the lower deck. The floor height on the Scenic Cruiser's lower deck was lower than the Buffalo buses, and the upper deck on the Scenic Cruiser had much taller windshields than the Buffalo buses since it was a few more steps above its lower deck. Our GMC came from the last run of the parlor coaches made by GM, which ended production in 1980. They made a few transit models after that, but no more parlor coaches. Our particular bus never saw commercial service, being sold to the owner of a charter bus company with the intention of being made his family's private motor home immediately. It was ordered from GM without seats or factory rest room, and was sent directly to Custom Coach for conversion. Flxible did make models that competed with the GM buses. They had a model to compete directly against the Scenic Cruiser and another against the Buffalo buses.

Seems like that is something we see everywhere we go, not just TT. All the good spots are held by seasonal renters, and only a few sites up front are available to weekend or short-term campers. The TT campground we recently visited in Lancaster PA had electric meters on nearly all of their filled sites, which we took to indicate that these were seasonal renters. Since then, we've looked in other campgrounds where we've stayed and noticed the same thing. The only sites without meters are up front towards the office and certainly not the best sites. I don't blame the campgrounds though, as I'd be happier with a seasonal payment for a site rather than having to hope that it gets filled on a week-to-week or day-to-day basis.

Well, the FMCA handmade pillow is now safely at the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart. We dropped it off last month as we passed through on our way to the east coast. Hope they can find a place for it in one of their display vehicles.

We saw that last month during our visit - couldn't figure out what they intended to use it for. No bedroom and no cooktop, but a really nice bathroom and a washer/dryer. Gorgeous fit and finish though, as nice as anything I've seen new or used.

Ditto for the payment part. I never expect others to underwrite our travels, and having a septic system at home I am fully aware that there are costs associated with removing waste. I believe that Flying J is only $10 or $11, not too much for a once a week expense on our coach.

We have a watering system on our house batteries. Trojan Hydrolink, and it works really well. For the generator and coach batteries it's still the old-fashioned method of checking. I've found that an LED headlamp does help a great deal to see in the batteries, and I use a clear (translucent) squeeze bottle with a long thin nozzle (like the ketchup dispensers used in restaurants) to actually put the water in the batteries. Makes it very easy to control the flow and to aim well.

You'd have to search state by state. I just did a quick Google search using 'Interstate rv dump station' as the search term and found quite a bit of information. Apparently Washington State has at least a couple of dump stations at the rest areas. Louisiana has some rest stops with dump stations as well. Probably best to visit the DOT sites for the states you'll be traveling through and see which stops offer which services. I didn't realize how much the states post about their stations, but apparently there's a wealth of information, including which stops are closed for repairs, etc.

There are several travel plazas on the Ohio Turnpike with RV services, including hookups and dump station. There is a fee to use and the hours for overnight are restricted. I believe that the Ohio sites are listed on their Turnpike website.

We're using the TireMinder system Got it in Gillette and have been very happy with it. Simple to use and other than one false positive (showed a tire low when it wasn't) we've had no problems. We went with the dedicated monitor instead of the Bluetooth/smartphone option since I wanted to keep our smartphone available for Sirius and other uses while traveling. This week I added an extra sensor for the spare tire so that I no longer have to do gymnastics to check the pressure on the spare.

Actually, I don't think I have any ball valves other than the two brass ones I added to fill the fresh tank. All the rest are gate valves or faucet type shut offs. All plumbing is copper, other than the under sink water filter. Remember, this is a 45-year-old coach.

If your system is not setup to provide a trickle charge to the start batteries, it's pretty simple to fix. We use a Xantrex Echo Charger which can send up to 15 amps to the start batteries from the house battery charger. There are others out there that do the same, some with less output.

I spent 20+ years in Texas and other southern locales. Couldn't wait to escape to somewhere with actual seasons and where the weather report didn't include some variant of 'heat' or 'hot' 3/4 of the year. Other than a few months (Dec - Feb) we generally have decent weather, and even in the coldest of the cold it doesn't stop us from going about our daily activities. Granted, we wear warm clothes, but we are active indoors AND outdoors all year round. Now I just have to figure out how to best protect our coach for those pesky few winter months... Fresh water is pretty simple. It's just that this is the first time I've seen a black tank that couldn't be fully emptied. It's the original tank from 1974, and it's in great condition. Guess they didn't have a wide selection of pre-fab tanks to choose from so they built these custom for our coach. In doing so, they mounted the discharge port on the side, and the flange causes the actual opening to be about 1" above the bottom. Even with the coach parked on a decent sideways slope, there is still a gallon or so of waste in there. Drats. Anyone know of a chart to calculate the correct ratio of pink antifreeze to black tank waste to keep it from freezing? 😕 The stuff I'm using (Splash brand, from Menards) says it's good to -70F. Other brands claim to be good to -50F. Since the record low in our area was only -29F, I think I'm good with either one in the proper ratios.

And miss all the fun up here in the winter?

Any tips on winterizing the black tank on our coach? This will be the first winter with this particular setup, and as much as I've tried it doesn't seem possible to totally drain the tank. I'd guess that there is about 1-2 gallons still in the bottom of the tank. Our tanks are rectangular and were custom made from 3/8 poly sheeting. My plan right now is to winterize the fresh water system and p-traps, and then to pour a about 5 gallons of pink antifreeze into the black tank to keep the residual waste (the stuff that won't drain) from freezing. Once we get the antifreeze in the black tank, I plan to open/close the black tanks valve to get that antifreeze mixture through the valve cracks and crevices to be sure that there is no residual water in them to freeze. The fresh water tank also won't totally drain - there will be about 1/2 gallon left once it's drained. My plan was to use an empty fitting on top of the tank to drop a vinyl tube into a low spot and try and suck out the rest of the water with a shop vac. I didn't want to put antifreeze into the fresh water tank. Workable plan?

Not sure about the systems in the newer coaches, but ours takes 25 lbs of refrigerant. That's a lot of refrigerant and $$$. Because of that, if it ever develops a leak it's going to be leak tested before a recharge. We have a tell-tale lamp on the dash that lights up if there is a problem keeping the compressor from kicking in when turned on - the most common reason is low refrigerant due to a leak. No shop is going to attempt to recharge any a/c system without a thorough leak test, often using a leak detector or dye. In Wisconsin it's illegal to recharge a system with an unknown leak status to prevent accidental discharge of refrigerant to atmosphere. I'm sure that this is the case in most states. As a side note, be careful with the cans of refrigerant that can be purchased in box stores. They may say r134 on the label, but if one reads the small print it will be found that it is "r134 compatible" and actually contains something other than just r134. Often other gases are used, sometimes flammable, and often there are other things like leak sealants which may or may not be compatible with the rubber seals in the vehicle. Not to be a stick in the mud, but there are certain systems on a vehicle where I consider a professional tech necessary, and a/c is one of them. I've gone down the DIY with a/c too many times, and every time it was money thrown away as the real problem still had to be solved down the road by a professional. At best the DIY was a stop-gap measure.

In the past, only the tax portion of the total was deductible. If there is a combined total which contains tax and a tag fee or admin fee only the tax part is deductible. Our fee in Wisconsin is only about $120, and it is not considered a tax so none of it is deductible. Turbo Tax has a listing of the states with deductible vehicle registration fees/taxes. Given the tax updates last year, it's likely that there have been changes to this in some way so I'd do the necessary homework before assuming anything for this year.

From the brochure, looks like you're correct. However, if this was my vehicle I'd find a commercial truck repair center with an a/c tech. Even better if they also work on buses. In Milwaukee we have a company called Lakeside International. They've done work on my a/c unit with great success. Odds are they'd be able to diagnose the problem and come up with a real solution. Our coach has three separate a/c units - two house and the over-the-road system. None of them are magic and all operate on similar principles. Same for the a/c in a Roadmaster chassis. A qualified a/c tech should be able to diagnose and repair this problem.

Something doesn't sound right here. The tech is looking for a design problem, but presumably the system has been functioning for 12 years with the current design. Lots of things can cause the high side pressure to rise - a faulty fan clutch, a faulty fan, a blockage in the system, etc, etc. Is the tech certain that the existing fan is working properly? I know that you say the tech is very knowledgeable, but if he recharged the system before establishing whether or not there was a leak I'd question that. When my system had problems, the tech first tried to evacuate the system and establish a vacuum. Only after the vacuum held overnight did he attempt to charge the system - first he did this with an inert gas to test if the system would hold pressure. Once it was confirmed that the system was sealed and able to hold pressure did he recharge it with refrigerant. In most areas of the country it is not permissible to recharge an a/c system without confirming that there are no leaks. I agree with the above - call the company that manufactured your chassis and get a recommendation from them for a shop in your area qualified to diagnosis and fix this.