On Vacation Finally, A Few Hiccups

My wife told me she blogged about our experiences so far on vacation and let it out it was my birthday yesterday so I want to say thanks for the happy birthday wishes I received, it was a pleasant surprise.  

I completely forgot to take a picture of the RV and Escape before we left, I had every intention of doing it but somehow other things were on my mind. Be prepared, this is going to be a long post! It’s raining out so might as well do something, why not blog!

I drove between 55 and 58mph, we weren’t in any hurry and it was a very smooth drive. Not having that tube TV sitting in the dash causing it to bounce and squeak was a pleasure. For folks who live in Illinois, if you ever need to take your RV or Motorhome anywhere, avoid Route 38 West of St. Charles. That road will test your rig and your kidneys, how the rebuild America program missed this road is beyond me, it has needed replacing for 2 decades. Once on Rt. 88 it was much smoother, in fact with the windows closed it was almost car like quiet.

Loki was not enjoying the trip, she had to be drugged with doggy valium, when Ronda took her out for a walk during a short break she flipped out and did the Basenji flop which is her flopping onto her back and then trying to defy gravity by flipping around in circles and looking generally insane. I can only imagine what people were thinking as they drove by.

     Here she is feeling shaky                            Finally! Asleep!

 

SpongeBob sticking his tongue out at people as we drive

We arrived at the Geneseo campground around 5:30pm

 

                   Here we are!                      They have a few cabins for rent

 

We got settled into site # 3 which is full hook up 50 amps and also has a concrete pad. I love this section of the park. I hooked up our power and sewer and prepared to de-winterize the water system. I turned off the water drains and added some 2/3 of a tank of water to the fresh water tank and went into the rig to start flushing the pink stuff.

I turned on the water pump and heard a strange weak sound, the pump is shot. I remembered when I picked up the rig from Scott’s RV in Rockford finding the water pump was left on but didn’t think anything of it. I let them know and they said it was no big deal. Well, when the pump is on and only sucking air, it will burn up the pump. I found the line into the pump was left hanging, so I re-connected the line and tried again thinking maybe the pump is ok, nope, not a drop.

So what to do, I replaced the water filter, plugged in the water hose and let her rip, I asked the wife to see if the shower leaked and everything looked good. I checked under the coach and what do I see, water coming from the sprayed insulation under the sewer and water compartment. I look at all the lines and the compartment is dry, so where is this water coming from??

I walked into the coach and turned everything that makes noise off and listened. I could hear water flowing from somewhere but couldn’t find it until I heard it getting louder and it seemed to be coming from the hot water compartment. I pulled the door off and sure enough, a water fountain is going on in the compartment. Right onto the sub-floor which is made from strand board, not plywood so you know it’s soaking it up real good. For it to pour out the bottom of the RV like it did a lot of water had to have come out of that pipe.

I removed the offending pipe and found that water had frozen inside and blown off a part of the pipe. Apparently the system wasn’t flushed of water properly, so if the pump was on they must have been in a real hurry and didn’t check everything. My brother tells me they left his pump on as well so he probably has something similar to look forward to.

Now, at 8:00pm how do I fix this?? We went to Farm & Fleet and bought a few parts to try and get it working again, even if it had to be temporary.

          Here is the broken pipe.                    Here is my leaky fix.. drip..drip

 

I took it apart twice and each time it leaked from a different place, there is a bit of stress because this new fitting is bigger forcing the line to be pushed down. So today we are going to a few RV dealers hoping to find this part.

When I flushed the lines barely any pink stuff came out, none came out of the toilet lines at all. It’s apparent that Scott’s RV did a rush job and didn’t check their work causing this mess and blowing up the water pump, lesson learned, AGAIN. How I handle this with them I don’t know, it’s been 6 months. I do know this, I will not use an RV dealer or repair center for anything going forward unless it’s something I can’t do or can’t learn how to do.

Everything else seems to be working fine, since the line just drips a little bit I put a tray down to catch the drips so we can have some hot water for showers and dishes and stuff. I cleaned the water/sewer compartment and it looks almost like new now. Today we are going to relax, go a few RV places to find the part and if we find it great, if not no biggie, I can order it.

We are bound and determined to have a good time this weekend and if anything I now fully understand our water system and feel confident I can winterize it and even replace the water heater if needed. I need to order a new water pump but that can wait for now.

Time for a hot shower and off to the RV dealers, we’ll look at stuff we can’t afford while we are there so we can dream of the future. Have a great weekend everybody.