When the temperatures get down to freezing and below, I run the furnace in my RV. I have heat strips in my two overhead AC units that I use to keep the chill out, but all the plumbing is in the basement and they don't help warm it up down there. Therefore, I run the furnace, which has floor ducts and it keeps the basement from freezing. The furnace sucks up the propane and it got down to less than a quarter of a tank, so off to the neighborhood RV park to get it filled up. The park is about three miles away, although there is one closer, I am not sure if it sells propane and I have been getting my tank filled at the same place for years now, even when I had my class-C. I even stayed at that park a couple of times. The last time was when I first got this diesel pusher and wanted to try it out but just in case there was a problem, didn't want to go very far from home. That way, I got familiar with setting it up for a couple of days and if I forgot something, I could run home in the Jeep and get whatever I forgot.
When I was getting ready to take it over there to get propane, I unplugged it from the fifty amp plug and then pushed the "IN" button on the cable winder. It only pulled for a couple of seconds and quit. Oh, oh, my house batteries must have died. Being plugged in for all those months must have boiled the water out of them. I hope that is all that is wrong. Today, I will try to get the batteries filled up with distilled water. On my old motor-home, I had purchased a battery filling system. You just stuck the end of the hose in a jug of water and squeezed the bulb until it got hard and you couldn't squeeze it any more. That worked great, guess I will have to get something like that to keep my batteries filled and in good shape. As soon as it warms up a little (it was freezing when I got up) I will go out and try to fill the batteries. I will take some small tubing and try to cyphon water out of the jugs into the batteries. Anyway, that is the project for today.
Although it is on the cool side, it is a crystal clear day and it is warming up fairly fast. Now, you all have a great day, you hear?
Sounds to me like you got a pretty good system going for you.... isn't interesting how each person figures out what works best? I'll readily admit that I leave things like batteries, propane and generator stuff to Bill. Sometimes I think I should learn more about how it all works, but then I doubt if I'd be living this same kind of life by myself. Hope your day goes well... and you get the charge you need ;-)
ReplyDeleteIf you are traveling in your RV, you are with it and make sure all is functioning the way it should and anything that freezes is protected. It is when it is just sitting there in the driveway that one tends to forget about something. I hope this old memory of mine will not let me forget something else important. Now, what did I forget to do ? ? ?
DeleteThis is why I travel in Homer .... gives me a headache just reading about this ...
ReplyDeleteMy wife much preferred the smaller rigs that we had. I, of course, prefer the larger one. Maybe it is a "man thing"?
DeleteYup, being plugged in on our rig, the inverter unit is constantly charging the batteries too. (we can turn that feature off if we want because our solar is charging all the time too)
ReplyDeletePlease only use distilled water in your batteries, it will keep them functioning a lot longer. We are on our same set since 2006 and still going strong because we check them every month.
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Karen and Steve
(Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
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I need to get another one of those battery filling systems on this rig. It sure did make things a lot easier and now I have twice as many batteries.
DeleteI used to think those battery filling rigs was an unnecessary extra expense. Until I boiled dry a two year old set of 6 volt batteries on the way down. No excuse, just laziness. Guess that $60 is a cheap price to pay for a longer life for the batteries.
ReplyDeleteYep, it worked real well on my last rig, I guess I need to install it on this one. Of course I have a lot more batteries on this one than I did on my older one.
DeleteHave you decided what day was the "winter"? Last year you said it came on a Thursday. Or is the best/worst yet to come?
ReplyDeleteThursday is good. Of course today it was real warm. I worked outside on my battery compartment that holds six batteries. I only had one and half gallons of distilled water and it they took all of it.
DeleteThere is never an end to the little things you have to remember with any kind of RV. I don't think I would ever go back to it, but then I miss out on the comfort and convenience of traveling in one.
ReplyDeleteIt has been pretty much trouble free, but every now and then it needs some attention.
DeleteAGM batts here in my rig.
ReplyDeleteI have four house batteries and two engine batteries, six all told. To change batteries, I would have to figure out how to remove the door completely. They slide out but the door only lifts up parallel to the ground to clear the bedroom slide out. AGM will be what I replace my existing ones with when the time comes. Bet six of them will be expensive.
DeleteIf it's not one thing, it's another. You have your work cut out for you today.
ReplyDeleteYep, always something.
DeleteI am so glad I started blogging and following people that either live in their RV full time or like yourself take them on short trips during the year.
ReplyDeleteHaving read all of the problems both you and other full timers have encountered in the past...I am so glad I never bought one.
Just talking about routine maintenance is a hand full then there is always the surprise element like what you encountered on you last trip to the Davis Mountains.
I will never own an RV!
But, it is worth it.
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ReplyDeleteTypically, the propane for rv in a recreational vehicle plays an important role for the safety of all the passengers in providing them an enjoyable trip. This is usually the source of heat and hot water, energy that makes your appliances run, and a whole lot more. In this case, it is just normal that RV will always have its own propane system. However, there are instances that you may encounter troubles with your propane system. You may think that it is just a simple issue that you can easily deal with. Yet, it would be much better if you allow professional technicians to handle this for you.
ReplyDeleteAt my age, it is easier to let professionals do almost everything.
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