Servicing the Motor Home

Will the clock please click forward!  Every time I look at the clock, it is way earlier than I think it is.  Not that that is bad, but I'm all messed up with it.

I went over and traded the pickup truck for the motorhome in the storage lot.  The little F150 looks so wrong parked on the double long parking space for the motorhome, but I can only drive one at a  time.  And as usual, when I parked to do the gate combination to get out of the lot, a whole bunch of water started running out of the tank drain in the back of the coach.

Remember, I thought I had winterized the rig, pumping out each line with the pink stuff from the bottle into the water pump.  But for the fresh water tank, all you can do is open the drain and let it run out.  We have fresh water listed as 84 gallons, with 10 of that in the water heater, so the actual fresh tank is over 70.  I'm not sure how much of that is usable, since the pickup must be above the bottom of the tank.

But when parked in an upward to the front position, and tilted toward the drivers side, water comes running out the drain.  This drain has been open for 6 weeks.  I sat there for as long as I could to let it run, but a bunch of folks decided they wanted out and lined up behind me forcing me from the spot.

When I got back home with the rig, I parked in the middle of the cul de sac down in the end, and sat there as another gush of water came.  I was right in front of the storm sewer, so I let it run as long as I could, that is until the grumpy neighbor just had to back out of her garage with her Cadillac SUV.  She just glared at me!!  Reminded me of the movie Christmas Vacation where Clark was draining his Black Water down the storm sewer and declared "Sh*tters full!"  That still busts me up every time I see it.

She was for sure, that I was dumping sewer water on the street in front of her house!!!!  Glare Glare!!!!

Of course the angle in front of my house is not steep enough to get the water out.  I went around the block and came back and parked on the incline again.  Again I got a lot more out.  Thinking about this for a while, leads me to the conclusion that the water pipes are empty between the tank and the low point drain in the back, as it is, well,  the low point!  But that the tank must have some water that remains below the hole cut in the side of the tank pipe.  They are plumbed into the side of the tank, not the bottom.

Will this small amount of water hurt anything if it freezes?  It can't be more than a gallon or two, in a 70 gallon tank.  It should have plenty of air space to expand upwards, but could it push a side out?  I don't know.  I'm sure this will work on me, and if it gets really cold, like in the low 20's, I'll be over there dumping pink stuff into the fresh tank.

Mid afternoon, I decided that our propane tank that was half full needed topped off.  It holds 30 gallons.  But remember that you can only fill a LP tank to 80 percent, so only 24 gallons are usable.  The other 6 must remain as head space.

The gauge reads all 30 gallons and is never full, so when it says half, it means you have 15 gallons left.  Looking on the internet for a propane refill station here in fashionable Overland Park netted zero for dealers. But over in the oldest part of Olathe, there was a rental place, that advertised propane.  And advertised RV refill as well.  Well OK then!

So I drove there, thru the city streets but since I am at home I knew how to find the address without going in circles.  I pulled up in front of the bottle refill station on the side driveway, and a fellow came right out of the service area.  He didn't say much, but had the hose hooked up and pumped in 10 gallons.  Claimed it was over the 80 percent a little but that it would be alright.  That cost  $40, with the sales tax on it.  But just like that I was serviced.  On the way out, I drove around the building and came back to the street without backing up.   I've found my new propane dealer!  Even if it is $3.75 a gallon.

From there it was over to the Freightliner dealer.  And the MH was dropped off for its service appointment in the morning.  Loyce came after me.  Oh, and the basic service for the oil change is $240.  I didn't ask if that included the oil and filters, since I'm sure it doesn't.  He!! its only money, easy come easy go!  Ya, right......

Retired Rod