This weekend, we had a birthday party for the oldest nephew on my side of the family, so we didn't stay at the trailer. We did, however, go down on Sunday to fix the water heater.
We were able to find brass check valves on Amazon after a failed attempt to find them at our local Home Depot. Home Depot also did not have the channel locks that were recommended by the Lance Owners Forum, so we ordered those as well.
We had a smaller strap wrench (which was recommended by one of the guys at Home Depot), channel locks, the check valves, plumbers putty, and plumbers tape to get the job done. We ended up not using the plumbers putty at all.
Jon used the strap wrench to get the top valve off & the channel locks to get the bottom valve off. The top valve came off without *too* much effort. The bottom one took a little more effort. Once it was off, water started to pour out of the water heater. We thought we had drained it all, but I guess not!
After cleaning up that mess, we taped both of the valves on the appropriate ends and screwed them into the water heater.
It was around this time that Jon realized we left the plastic plug for the back of the water heater at home. Oops! Guess we wouldn't be checking to be sure it was fixed after all! We cleaned everything up & headed home. Short, but productive trip!
Showing posts with label Maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maintenance. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Luray Weekend 1: March 27-29, 2015
We headed to our trailer, which was nicely settled in it's spot, in Luray this past weekend. It was such a great feeling to drive out there, knowing we didn't have to do a full set up when we got there!
This trip was a little different for a couple of reasons:
1) It was going to be below freezing a good majority of our trip which meant some special equipment.
2) We were bringing both the cat (Wendy) and the dog (David) with us. Wendy's never been camping and her car rides usually only lead her to the vet.
Wendy did really well in the car. A little bit of crying, but nothing major. David didn't puke! Victory on both! Once we got to the trailer, it took Wendy a little time to warm up to the idea of the trailer. When she did, she managed to find a hiding place, enjoyed the sun a little, and even let David be on the bed with her for a while. That last one is HUGE! These two fight like... well... cats and dogs.
David was so excited to see the trailer again. He really enjoys it. Plus, the Luray KOA has a nice dog park. He had so much fun running around like crazy!
On Friday afternoon, we got the water set up. This is where the special equipment comes into play. We got a heated hose, on recommendation of a friend of ours. It was totally worth it! We also bought a heat gun (Black & Decker runs about $30), which was also totally worth it. Everything was insulated/heated except the spigot, which made for quick defrosting in the mornings. Jon decided not to put the pressure regulator on so he wouldn't have to defrost it as well. (This turned out to be a fatal flaw in our plan.)
We also restrung the day/night shades in the dinette area. When I took the valance/shades down to recover the valance, the shades got all crazy loose & needed to be restrung. It's probably for the better because we need to do the ones above the bed as well - and that's before the valance comes down!
We made trip #1 to the Super Walmart to get food for the weekend & a couple of other things we needed. Back to the trailer & I made dinner while Jondid something else set up all of his internet things.
Saturday morning, Jon got up and defrosted the spigot with the heat gun. It worked, yay! Running water is a good thing. We chilled out & surfed the web until about 1pm, when we went to Harrisonburg. We decided to check out a luxury apartment complex that's being built, just to see what's in the area. After that, we went to the AT&T store to pick up a hotspot, cause Jon's a geek. Really, he has to explain all that, but let's just go with the geek thing.
We headed back to Walmart, because what's a camping trip without at least 2 stops at Walmart? We picked up everything on our list for this trip and headed back to the trailer.
Once back at the trailer, we figured out that BOTH propane tanks had run out of propane. Of course, it was just after the office closed, so no propane refills were happening on that end. Jon decided to take both tanks to see if he could either replace them or refill them. He tried the gas station across the street and thankfully, both tanks could be exchanged for "normal" gas grill style tanks. YAY! With those set back up, we were back in business.
We managed to mount the WiFi Ranger to the wall & get a couple of other things done. Around bedtime, we decided to start watching Turbo. We got a bit into it and then decided to sleep instead. We were both pretty tired.
Sunday, Jon got up & defrosted us again. It took a little longer Sunday morning than Saturday morning. It was also a bit colder on Sunday morning. Once the weather got a little nicer, we took David down to the dog park & let him run for a little bit. We're still trying to teach him to fetch a ball. Guess that's a project for this summer.
Both of us had random stuff we needed to do around the trailer. Right before doing said "stuff", I went into the bathroom... and found water around the base of the toilet. At first, I thought it was coming from the toilet. Then I found more water near the wall of the bathroom... next to the water heater. NOOOOOOO. We immediately checked the water heater and sure enough, it's leaking! Crap.
Thank goodness for the Lance owners forum. The check valve was cracked & it's pretty much a known issue. Now, to get that thing out of there & replace it with a brass check valve. The parts are on order & we've bought what we hope will be the correct wrenches to get those things out! We'll update more on that later.
After we determined that we wouldn't be getting the water heater fixed on Sunday, we drained all of the water, black tank, and gray tank, and got on with our other projects.
I unpacked a bunch of stuff we brought from home. Jon started to install the battery box we bought. I helped him with what I could (read: what he'd allow) and left him to the rest. We still need to actually connect the battery & Jon had to order another part. I'll let him do a separate post about that (and a few hundred other things).
Eventually, it got to be time for us to need to head back home. So, we packed up and headed out. Overall, a good weekend. Something always goes wrong on the shakeout trip. We'll get it all fixed and it'll be good!
This trip was a little different for a couple of reasons:
1) It was going to be below freezing a good majority of our trip which meant some special equipment.
2) We were bringing both the cat (Wendy) and the dog (David) with us. Wendy's never been camping and her car rides usually only lead her to the vet.
Wendy did really well in the car. A little bit of crying, but nothing major. David didn't puke! Victory on both! Once we got to the trailer, it took Wendy a little time to warm up to the idea of the trailer. When she did, she managed to find a hiding place, enjoyed the sun a little, and even let David be on the bed with her for a while. That last one is HUGE! These two fight like... well... cats and dogs.
David was so excited to see the trailer again. He really enjoys it. Plus, the Luray KOA has a nice dog park. He had so much fun running around like crazy!
On Friday afternoon, we got the water set up. This is where the special equipment comes into play. We got a heated hose, on recommendation of a friend of ours. It was totally worth it! We also bought a heat gun (Black & Decker runs about $30), which was also totally worth it. Everything was insulated/heated except the spigot, which made for quick defrosting in the mornings. Jon decided not to put the pressure regulator on so he wouldn't have to defrost it as well. (This turned out to be a fatal flaw in our plan.)
 |
| David loves drinking from the spigot instead of the bowl. |
 |
| First of many sunsets this season |
We also restrung the day/night shades in the dinette area. When I took the valance/shades down to recover the valance, the shades got all crazy loose & needed to be restrung. It's probably for the better because we need to do the ones above the bed as well - and that's before the valance comes down!
We made trip #1 to the Super Walmart to get food for the weekend & a couple of other things we needed. Back to the trailer & I made dinner while Jon
Saturday morning, Jon got up and defrosted the spigot with the heat gun. It worked, yay! Running water is a good thing. We chilled out & surfed the web until about 1pm, when we went to Harrisonburg. We decided to check out a luxury apartment complex that's being built, just to see what's in the area. After that, we went to the AT&T store to pick up a hotspot, cause Jon's a geek. Really, he has to explain all that, but let's just go with the geek thing.
 |
| Jon and Wendy enjoying breakfast. |
Once back at the trailer, we figured out that BOTH propane tanks had run out of propane. Of course, it was just after the office closed, so no propane refills were happening on that end. Jon decided to take both tanks to see if he could either replace them or refill them. He tried the gas station across the street and thankfully, both tanks could be exchanged for "normal" gas grill style tanks. YAY! With those set back up, we were back in business.
 |
| They were actually playing nice! |
 |
| Tasty dinner! |
Sunday, Jon got up & defrosted us again. It took a little longer Sunday morning than Saturday morning. It was also a bit colder on Sunday morning. Once the weather got a little nicer, we took David down to the dog park & let him run for a little bit. We're still trying to teach him to fetch a ball. Guess that's a project for this summer.
Both of us had random stuff we needed to do around the trailer. Right before doing said "stuff", I went into the bathroom... and found water around the base of the toilet. At first, I thought it was coming from the toilet. Then I found more water near the wall of the bathroom... next to the water heater. NOOOOOOO. We immediately checked the water heater and sure enough, it's leaking! Crap.
 |
| The piece at the top & the one at the bottom are check valves. The one at the top was cracked. |
After we determined that we wouldn't be getting the water heater fixed on Sunday, we drained all of the water, black tank, and gray tank, and got on with our other projects.
I unpacked a bunch of stuff we brought from home. Jon started to install the battery box we bought. I helped him with what I could (read: what he'd allow) and left him to the rest. We still need to actually connect the battery & Jon had to order another part. I'll let him do a separate post about that (and a few hundred other things).
 |
| Battery box - day 1 |
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Misty Mountain Halloween Trip, Charlottesville, VA - October 31 through November 2
This is long overdue!
Since I've already done a pretty detailed review of Misty Mountain Campground, I'll just blog what we did.
Upon arrival, we checked in & were directed up the hill. There's now a passcode & gate to get up the hill. I'm guessing they were having some issues with non-paying guests going up there, but it's just a suspicion that I never asked about.
The sites at this campground are definitely not level. We haven't really had to worry about leveling (too much) all season. We had some disagreements on where to put the trailer on the site because of how tight the sites are at the top of the hill. We'd definitely prefer the bottom area if we were going to stay here again.
After we got the trailer put where we wanted it, we discovered a bolt on the weight distribution hitch was completely cut off. That side of the hitch has been giving us problems for a while, so it's not super surprising, but it scared the daylights out of us. We took a trip to Home Depot and got new nuts & bolts for that side of the hitch. We also got 2 extra sets of them, in case this happens again and we're not near a Home Depot/Lowes/hardware store.
Once we were done with our side trip, Jon was doing stuff outside & I started prepping dinner. We had friends of ours coming over (they were staying in the lower section of the campground). I had pre-made most of dinner, but needed to make the salad & heat up the main entree. In order to do the main entree, we had to use the oven. I made Jon light the pilot light. I was impressed about how well it worked!
After dinner, we made a campfire & did s'mores. Yum! I also gave the kids a Halloween present, especially since trick-or-treating was taking place the next day (the day after Halloween).
The next day, we took David down to watch the agility dog event that was going on. After that, he got a "bath" in our shower. That was an adventure! Then on to the awesome grocery store near the campground to grab lunch and then head over to Afton Mountain.
We did a wine tasting at Afton Mountain & then had lunch. Thank goodness they had just put up the "tent" coverings in their picnic area. It was WINDY and pretty cold.
We headed back to the campground & chilled out a bit before heading down to our friends' site for dinner. Jess kept telling me I was paranoid about the dogs being in the trailer. I decided it was too quiet for 2 dogs to be in there. Their oldest daughter checked & sure enough... I was paranoid for good reason! Ah well, it was easily taken care of. David decided to make himself at home, so we ended up washing their comforter for them.
After dinner, we headed back up to our site & headed to bed. The next morning, we got up, cleaned the trailer, winterized it (sad!), and headed home.
Since I've already done a pretty detailed review of Misty Mountain Campground, I'll just blog what we did.
Upon arrival, we checked in & were directed up the hill. There's now a passcode & gate to get up the hill. I'm guessing they were having some issues with non-paying guests going up there, but it's just a suspicion that I never asked about.
The sites at this campground are definitely not level. We haven't really had to worry about leveling (too much) all season. We had some disagreements on where to put the trailer on the site because of how tight the sites are at the top of the hill. We'd definitely prefer the bottom area if we were going to stay here again.
 |
| Lil Lance all tucked in for the weekend |
Once we were done with our side trip, Jon was doing stuff outside & I started prepping dinner. We had friends of ours coming over (they were staying in the lower section of the campground). I had pre-made most of dinner, but needed to make the salad & heat up the main entree. In order to do the main entree, we had to use the oven. I made Jon light the pilot light. I was impressed about how well it worked!
After dinner, we made a campfire & did s'mores. Yum! I also gave the kids a Halloween present, especially since trick-or-treating was taking place the next day (the day after Halloween).
The next day, we took David down to watch the agility dog event that was going on. After that, he got a "bath" in our shower. That was an adventure! Then on to the awesome grocery store near the campground to grab lunch and then head over to Afton Mountain.
We did a wine tasting at Afton Mountain & then had lunch. Thank goodness they had just put up the "tent" coverings in their picnic area. It was WINDY and pretty cold.
We headed back to the campground & chilled out a bit before heading down to our friends' site for dinner. Jess kept telling me I was paranoid about the dogs being in the trailer. I decided it was too quiet for 2 dogs to be in there. Their oldest daughter checked & sure enough... I was paranoid for good reason! Ah well, it was easily taken care of. David decided to make himself at home, so we ended up washing their comforter for them.
After dinner, we headed back up to our site & headed to bed. The next morning, we got up, cleaned the trailer, winterized it (sad!), and headed home.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Atwood Stove Problems
Last camping season, on our last trip out, we started having this weird flare up with our front burner of the stove. We were hoping it was a wind thing, as we had read that on windy days, it can cause flare ups.
Fast forward to the first trip of this year (which I still need to do a trip report for - I'll get it up this week!) and we're having the same problem. Well, crap. Now we needed to do some research about what was causing the issue.
Thank goodness for the Lance Owner's forum. They've saved us so much time & money. Seriously.
Anyhow, someone recently posted about the same problem with their Atwood stove. Turns out that Atwood decided plastic bushings were a good idea. Um, right. Plastic bushings, which connect to the valves that provide gas to the burners, which produce fire. Nothing could ever go wrong with those!
As you travel, the burners come loose from the valves. When that happens, the bushings aren't connected properly & they can melt. That's the gist of it anyhow. While we were having issues with the front burner, the other two were coming loose too.
We ended up bending the metal in the back of the burner (where the screw hole is) to push the burner into the valve on all three burners. Hopefully this fix holds for a while. At least now we know how to fix it if we need to!
(--Heather)
Fast forward to the first trip of this year (which I still need to do a trip report for - I'll get it up this week!) and we're having the same problem. Well, crap. Now we needed to do some research about what was causing the issue.
Thank goodness for the Lance Owner's forum. They've saved us so much time & money. Seriously.
Anyhow, someone recently posted about the same problem with their Atwood stove. Turns out that Atwood decided plastic bushings were a good idea. Um, right. Plastic bushings, which connect to the valves that provide gas to the burners, which produce fire. Nothing could ever go wrong with those!
As you travel, the burners come loose from the valves. When that happens, the bushings aren't connected properly & they can melt. That's the gist of it anyhow. While we were having issues with the front burner, the other two were coming loose too.
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| All three burners |
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| Melted bushing |
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| Front burner, melted bushing, new bushing |
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| Close up of the melted bushing & new bushing |
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| Where the burner naturally sat to line up the screw holes. Notice that the valve & burner still aren't all that well connected. |
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| The screw hole needs to be up slightly more in order for everything to line up properly. We ended up bending the metal at the back (where the screw hole is) to push the burner into the valve. |
We ended up bending the metal in the back of the burner (where the screw hole is) to push the burner into the valve on all three burners. Hopefully this fix holds for a while. At least now we know how to fix it if we need to!
(--Heather)
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