Monday, September 21, 2009

Stand alone heaters


We went to our local Wal-Mart and purchased two stand alone heaters. The first is a REMOTE CONTROL CERAMIC TOWER HEATER with DIGITAL DISPLAY by Lasko, Model 755320. Wal-Mart price $45.00 The second is a Holmes Ceramic Heater, Model HCH4051-UM. Wal-Mart price $18.00.


The REMOTE CONTROL CERAMIC TOWER HEATER with DIGITAL DISPLAY by Lasko, Model 755320 is a very nice heater that takes up hardly any room at all. This heater breaks the early morning chill in a matter of minutes. Actually in less time than it takes to make a pot of coffee. By using this unit for a few minutes in the mornings we can lower our night time settings for our LP gas heaters.


The Holmes Ceramic Heater, Model HCH4051-UM is the perfec size for under our dining table so our feet can stay warm while the RV heats up in the morning.


Thursday, September 10, 2009

Troubleshooting your RV

Upon the event of any problem you may encounter with your RV there is no need to panic. The Internet is full of articles about troubleshooting and repairing your RV.

Case in point, We had one of our furnaces that would not operate correctly. We did a Google search using the the key words "RV heater troubleshooting". We found all the answers we needed to correct the problem. The information saved us both time and money.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Electrical Problem

Electrical problems can and do arise from time to time. Our first encounter with loss of power occurred this past Sunday. We were in the process of cooking lunch and when we placed French bread into the toaster oven it had no power. We used an extension cord from an outlet across the room to finish our cooking.

Once our meal was out of the way I (James) proceeded to locate the problem. I did not have any kind of electrical tester so tracing the problem would be trial and error for the time being.
I started at the power box supplied by the campground. The breaker had not tripped so I moved on to the main breaker box that is on our RV. There were no tripped breakers there either although there was no power to half of the electrical box. It was as if one leg of power was just gone.

Ok, this means a trip to the hardware store. Being a Sunday that means Lowes was the only place to go for parts. I knew that any unused parts that I purchase at Lowes could be returned so I decided to purchase all new breakers as well as a voltage tester. I purchased one 50 amp main breaker, two 20 amp double breakers and one 20 amp single breaker.
When I returned to the RV I tested the power coming into the main 50 amp breaker. Power was coming in on both legs however when I tested each of the 20 amp breakers every other one had loss of power. I pulled the 50 amp breaker out and found that the connector tab on one side had burned to the point that the connection was lost.

Temporary fix:
I removed all the breakers and moved them one space to the right.

Permanent Fix:
I replaced the electrical box and all the breakers. I was able to use the old electrical box cover and keep the same placement of the breakers. This way I did not have to remark each breaker as to what they controlled The products I chose to use were Square D brand. Total cost, $140.67