More Adventures in the Life of a Full Time RVer

I didn’t intend for this blog to become an all RV all the time channel, but this winter and now into spring has become the gift that keeps on giving in terms of content worthy headaches. I think we had at least three polar vortexes (vortices?) this year with temperatures dropping down into the teens which is unusual for us. In a normal winter, North Texas might get a week of really cold weather and maybe a little bit of snow and ice. We toy with freezing temperatures, but sub 20 degree weather is pretty rare. 

This year…we got down to the low teens and several days that never got above freezing at all. That’s also not normal or happy making. Especially if you live full time in an RV.

Why? In a word, water. More specifically, keeping it in its liquid form so it does not destroy everything in sight. 

This last dip into sub freezing temps saw the kitchen grey water discharge hose freeze solid. That allowed the kitchen grey tank to fill and eventually ruptured the discharge pipe from the tank to the outlet hose connection. That pipe is in the underbelly where it’s supposed to be protected from the elements and kept above freezing by the main propane furnace whose main job is to fill the underbelly with hot air. 

Guess what crapped the bed in the middle of all this. If you guessed the main propane furnace, give yourself a prize. 

The furnace is a deceptively simple mechanism which has almost no moving parts. Two in fact: the squirrel cage fan and the “sail switch”. Of those two parts, the sail switch is the one more prone to failure. Its job is to tell the circuit board that the fan is running before the board allows the igniter to fire and light off the propane. The fan has to run a purge cycle before the furnace will light so that a buildup of propane doesn’t turn the furnace into a bomb. 

The aptly named sail switch has a thin, metal “sail” about 3.5 inches long that gets blown by the fan and completes a circuit. The switch is prone to failing due to dust, pet hair, moon phases, dust bunnies, actual bunnies, solar eclipses and probably fascist dictatorships for all I know. 

Dead sail switch

After successfully locating the sail switch on my furnace thoughtfully wedged up against an exterior wall with no access panel to facilitate easy access, I set about trying to extricate the furnace without damaging things further. 

Exterior furnace access panel - on some other, smarter manufacturer’s RV

I also had to try to find a replacement sail switch that was in stock and didn’t have to be shipped from China or Point Nemo. I called the dealer from whom we bought the RV. They assured me they had one in stock. So, I beat feat early in the morning but after rush hour to make the hour long drive to Fort Worth. I picked up the part and went on my merry way. 

I will confess here that my first mistake was not taking the original part with me to compare. In my defense, I had not succeeded in removing it yet. So, there was that. I did note at the time that the part in the bag looked different than the image on the website. 

The website image

The part I picked up - notice the wider sail

I truck back to home base and find time the next day to attempt to remove the old part and install the new part…only to discover that the new part no fit. The sail is too wide and interferes with the fan. 

Well…that’s no bueno. 

So, I called the dealership to figure out what’s what. They insist it’s the right part. The part number matches. I say verily the numbers do match but the part she no match. Much head scratching ensued, and I was told to reach out to another parts person to sort things out. That’s fine and dandy, but I needed the furnace to work now. So, I reached out to another dealership closer to home that vowed they too had the self same part in stock. I said, great. Be there in 20 minutes. 

Correct packaging and part number

Correct looking part

Old and new - we have a match

With the correct part in hand, reinstallation was a breeze and the furnace fired up without a hitch. Success!

The very next day, we got above freezing. At which time we discovered the aforementioned ruptured plumbing. Sometimes, you just can’t win for losing. 

Fast forward now a week or so, and March has started roaring in like a lion. I’m here to tell you, it ain’t messin’ about none this year. It’s the windiest I remember seeing in a long time. 

Anywho, went to bed last night to the RV being shaken about by sustained winds in the 30-40 MPH range with gusts above 55MPH (later confirmed to be above 80MPH). That really didn’t concern me as I sleep like the dead. 

That is until a very loud boom woke me out of a deep sleep around 2:30AM. The Queen was still awake (she’s the night owl), and I subsequently discovered M&M was awake because she was having trouble sleeping. 

I got a flashlight out to go check for damage only to open the door ripped out of my hand by wind. Much to my surprise, I discovered an 8 foot long, 4 to 6 inch thick tree branch at the base of the steps next to the RV. I initially that that was a near miss as I saw other, smaller branches on the roof. After a brief perusal of the weather, we retreated to Mimi’s house for the rest of the night just to be on the safe side. 

This morning dawned to a still windy but clearing day. About mid morning, MandM and I came back over the RV to care for animals and generally check things over. M pointed at the ceiling in the kitchen and said “what’s that?”

The “what’s that?” In question

I took one look, said “Oh crap” and headed to the roof. Which is when I found this:

One good sized chuck of tree limb skewering the roof. 

More holes in the roof

Scattered tree bits and carnage

So, what I thought was a near miss was, in fact a direct hit through the deck. Fortunately, it was nowhere near anyone’s vital bits and the secondary AC unit was spared a severe beating. 

The claim has already been filed, and I’ve reached out to a local dealer to get the ball rolling on scheduling the repair once we have the estimate and parts in hand. 

As I said on my personal Facebook: Thank you Lord for thinking about me. We’re alive and doing fine.