Location, At
Home.
OMG, it has
been almost 2 weeks since my last update.
Much has
happened since I last posted here.
As usually
occurs while we are gone, there were lots of fix-it projects to do which have
kept me busy.
First off,
we were not getting hot water to the back bathroom or at least not much hot
water. This problem happened after we had a new solar water heating system
installed last year but the problem has been inconsistent. We also have a passive
recirculating line to the back bathrooms which allows us to get hot water quickly
without wasting water.
After
talking to the solar company I started some testing of the system. It looks
like the recirculating system when turned on with a ball valve disrupts the
solar system in some way and we lose the hot water to the back bathrooms. Why
this is so is remains the mystery.
Problem
number 2 is with the RV. When I brought it home from working Visitadores in May
I parked it in the street to wash it. After unhooking the truck from the RV and
standing in the street talking to neighbor Paul we heard a BANG and saw the
trailer drop on one side. That could only mean one thing, one of the front
jacks had slipped. This had happened last year and as it turns out, to the same
jack.
Eventually I
got the trailer parked and removed it from the truck using an 8 ton bottle jack
to support the one side. I have left the RV sit in this condition while we did our
trip to Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Last week I
pulled the jack and verified that indeed the nut which does all the work had
failed. Research on the internet told me that I needed to replace the Acme
screw as well as the nut. I ordered a new screw and nut from myrvpartsplace.com
and it was delivered in 2 days. It was not an exact replacement as the original
and we needed to modify one of the worm gears by grinding a deeper slot in the
shaft so the roll pin which holds the gear in place could be pounded in.
Compartment pulled out to allow repair to the jack. The jack is beside the compartment.
Craig helping me while you see my feet.
My feet again.
Standing behind the compartment to get to the jack.
Acme screw with the nut from inside the jack.
I installed
the jack yesterday afternoon and it works ok.
There are
two more projects that need to be done on the RV before we can use it again. I
have a leak in the kitchen sink holding tank or its associated drain line that
needs to be repaired. Unfortunately, I need to remove part of the underbelly to
gain access to the parts.
The second
project is to replace the large 18 foot awning cover. The one on the RV started
to come apart and the wind we had one day at Visitadores didn’t help it any. I
have replaced an awning once long ago and with the help of videos on YouTube I
think I can do it again. Besides, it will save about $500 if I do it myself.
