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Messages - Joe R

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1
General Discussion / Re: Electrical - Potential Fire Issue
« on: June 11, 2018, 08:47:10 am »
Last fall we had the water heater catch fire due to either the thermostat or high limit overheating.  That caused the Styrofoam to burn and created thick black smoke that covered everything in greasy soot. The cost was $2700.00 to clean the PC. Lucky the only permanent damage was a small burn spot in the floor under the heater. And the burnt insulation and wires on the heater.
Service Pro did a good job cleaning the soot and smell. But there was some items we had to toss out.
This happened while the PC was parked next to the house and plugged into shore power. In the morning when I got up and went to the kitchen I kept hearing a chirping noise. It took a while to figure out it was the smoke alarm in the PC, after going off all night the battery went dead.
I haven't had time to repair the heater yet, just too many things going on this year.         

2
General Discussion / Re: Removing Wheel Covers
« on: March 16, 2018, 07:47:10 am »
Mine is a 2007 and has the fake nuts. I used a pair of water pumps and tried wiggling the nut. The fake one will give a little and then just pull off exposing the lock nut. 

3
Adventure Anywhere / Re: Travel in North Central USA
« on: February 22, 2018, 08:06:47 pm »
We followed the shore of lake Huron then crossed over to Petoskey and up along Lake Michigan, crossed over the Mac. Then went to Soo St. Marie.
The Tunnel of trees is a scenic road above Petoskey it is a tight road for the 2350. If you have anything longer I would not recommend that section of road.
In Cross Lake Village I would recommend stopping at Legs Inn they have authentic Polish food. And brew there own beer. Now to the U.P. The locks in Soo St. Marie are worth while seeing. Its even better if you catch a freighter going thru one of the locks. Plus they have there fair share of fudge stores across the street.
There are many Light house along the shore of Superior. A lot of them you can drive to some are in remote areas. Copper Mines where a big part of the U.P.
 Some of the memorable place I remember Start in Grand Maris There is a nice sandy beach with a board walk. The Town operates a RV and campground I Think it a first come first serve. You pull in and drive around find a spot you like and then go to the office to pay for the site. If no ones there you leave the money in a envelope and drop it in a slot. You do have to climb down a flight of stairs to get to the beach. There is a Agate Museum near by but was closed when we where there.
Head west and just before Marquette stop and see the Lakenland Sculpture Museum. Its a drive thru park with all sorts of sculptures made from scrap iron. It was free when we where there. Just a little farther west. Is kind of a unique RV park. The name is Gitche Gumee RV park. And the owner is very friendly and the sites are spread out in a wooded area. The lake is just across the road. In the city of Marquette check out the old iron ore dock.
In Ishpeming, Cliffs shaft mine Museum has a tour of the buildings and part of the mine shaft.
In Houghton, on the campus of Michigan Technological university. Seaman mineral museum has a large display of gems, minerals, and local copper. It would take a couple of hours to see all the exhibits. Cross the bridge into Hancock you will find the Quincy mine. They have a very good tour. You ride a cog railway down a steep hill then you are taken into the mine by a tractor pulled wagon. Once back on top you can see some of the equipment they used back when the mine operated. I was in awe of the size and engineering of the hoist system. It operated on steam power.
Head farther north into the Keweennaw peninsula. Before Copper Harbor, Delaware copper mine has self guided tour. On this one it would help to bring a good strong flash light. Because the lighting was not the greatest. Copper Harbor has a state campsite but we left early because it was very noisy with all the kids there. There is a esker in Copper Harbor that is a nice drive and scenic. And the only place that you can get cell coverage.
We found a nice quiet campground (at first) just west of Eagle River off of the 5 mile point Rd. Called Sunset Bay RV park. My wife like the beach for all the rocks. And that what this trip was for. She collects rocks for her jewelry making. I said this was a quiet campground, till a storm blows in. Then the lake becomes very angry. My wife grew up near Boston and she never seen waves on the ocean that we did that one night. She did not sleep very well thinking we would end up with all the ship wreaks. The next day all the rocks on the beach were gone. Wash back into the lake.
In Greenland Mi. Adventure mining co. Has 4 different tours you can take, One of them has you repelling down a shaft to a lower level.
As said before the Porcupine Mountains and Apostle islands are scenic stops.
We stayed a lot of state campsites. So we purchased a park passport which gives you free admission to state parks and a discount for state campgrounds.  I don't know if a young person would enjoy any of these places. But I enjoyed learning how people lived and worked in the past two centuries. 

4
General Discussion / Re: Gravity Fill for Freshwater Tank
« on: February 20, 2018, 07:35:50 pm »
I have to remove the little screen on the vent hole to stop the same thing that is happening to you. It seems to restrict the air being displaced in the tank from venting. Or you could have a plugged or kinked vent line that is not allowing the air to escape.

5
General Discussion / Re: 2017 Valve Stems
« on: February 11, 2018, 08:45:32 am »
your lucky its the outside tire. I would use water with liquid soap and spray it around the valve stem. The water will start to bubble where the leak is. If the leak is around the valve stem you can try snugging up the nut till the bubbles stop forming. If you have valve extension hoses spray them also to see if they developed a leak.
If it is the stem that's leaking you have nothing to lose by trying to stop the leak. If the leak cant be stopped you will still have to have it repaired. But if you do fix it you saved on a repair bill.
In a pinch I have used windex glass cleaner to find leaks. You have the pump spray on the bottle which makes it handy.   

6
General Discussion / Re: 15 Amp Service Connection
« on: December 07, 2017, 04:07:21 pm »
I'm sure there are a lot people that use those adaptors with no issues. that rating would be in a perfect world, say the campground voltage is at 110 now it would be 17 amps. And if you use a extension cord sold in the big box stores. They are 16 gauge wire and there rating is 13 amps for 1625watts at 125 volts.
So now what happens if something goes wrong. You don't have a breaker anymore. You have a 25 or 50 foot (or what length cord your using) fuse that will burn in two before the breaker senses a need to trip, Except in a dead short.     

7
General Discussion / Re: 15 Amp Service Connection
« on: December 05, 2017, 07:26:44 pm »
Fandj, picture the pedestal plug in like your breaker panel at home. Most common in houses are 100 or 200 services. So the power company would run wire that would support your maximum panel amperage.
Now your breaker panel has a main breaker that feeds a buss bar that all the other breakers connect to. So the service wire going to your house is the same as the under ground wire going to the pedestals in the campground. All the pedestals I have used have separate 30 and 15 amp breakers. Any campground that would wire a 15 amp receptacle into a 30amp breaker is asking for a lawsuit if an accident ever happened.   If the pedestal has a 30 amp plug and breaker, and a 15 or 20 amp plug and breaker you can draw a total of 45 or 50 amps from the 2 plugs.
I would suggest that you use 20amp outlet and 12 wire inside the PC. at 1500 watts and 120 volts that equals 12.5 amps. If the voltage drops to 110 volts the amperage jumps to 13.6. at this amperage for extended time, will over heat a 15amp breaker and it will trip. And I would use 10 wire for your extension cord because there would be less resistance than a store bought 14 gage wire.

8
General Discussion / Re: Has there been any A/C improvements
« on: November 12, 2017, 07:07:38 am »
You have to be careful when sizing a unit. If you install one too big the unit will short cycle. Under size it and it will run constantly. Motor homes are difficult to size because the heat load variables change when you travel to different parts of the country. A unit that works well in California may not work well in Florida. Find a hvac person experienced in sizing design would be the best way.

9
General Discussion / Re: PC sighting
« on: September 19, 2017, 05:20:38 pm »
This must be he week for PC's in Maine. Saw another today on the same road. This one was pulling a toad with a couple of kayaks. 

10
General Discussion / PC sighting
« on: September 19, 2017, 07:43:42 am »
Any body on this board traveling in Maine? I passed by one yesterday near Wilton, wasn't fast enough to see what state plate it had. Ours is in a services pro shop. The hot water tank wiring caught the white Styrofoam insulation on fire. And now the whole interior is covered with oily soot. Does any body know who makes the window blinds? They do not know if they can clean all the pleats on them. And may have to be  scraped. We where lucky the whole rig did not go up in flames. Seeing it was parked right next to the house. When I got up one morning I heard the weirdest bird chirping. Well it turned out to be the smoke alarm after draining its battery. There is a scorch mark on the floor under the hot water tank. I am going to place a sheet of aluminum under the new tank just in case this happens again. 

11
Tips and Tricks / Re: Generator
« on: September 02, 2017, 07:27:01 am »
Its not the gumming up problem today. But the issue with ethanol gas is its ability to absorb water.
http://www.fuel-testers.com/images/shape218016031.gif

12
General Discussion / Re: Water heater woes
« on: August 08, 2017, 11:04:27 am »
This was a bad week for 2004 water heaters. Went to but some things into our 2004 2350 and the whole inside was covered with black soot. And had a smell of burnt plastic. It got worse in the bathroom and traced it in the corner of the water heater. I pulled the heater out to make sure there was no more burning. I found all the Styrofoam insulation melted around the tank. I'm waiting for the insurance adjuster to come and look at the damage. The whole interior will need to be cleaned by professionals. I don't know if any of the sheets, blankets, and cloths can be saved.
If you weren't all the way across the country I would be interested in your heater. I could use my gas controls to fix it.

13
General Discussion / Re: Air conditioner vibration
« on: June 26, 2017, 06:22:26 am »
To isolate the problem does it  vibrate only when the compressor runs? If it still vibrates after the MH temp. reaches  set point and the compressor shuts off it could be the circulation fan motor or its blades. If the vibration happens only when the compressor runs. It could be the rubber vibration dampeners that are on the hold down bolts. but the worst case could be the springs that suspend the motor inside the can. If one loosens or breaks the motor tips enough to touch the sealed case and will transfer a bad and noisy vibration through the whole unit. If it is the latter the compressor will have to be replaced.

14
General Discussion / Re: Best Air Conditioner ?
« on: June 06, 2017, 07:34:16 am »
There description that there unit is the only one using two separate motors has me confused. All AC units use two separate motors. One motor is sealed into  the compressor can which drives the pump for the refrigerant. The other motor is for the fan, it has two shafts  for the indoor and outdoor fan blades.
The style of compressor has a lot to do with noise levels. The older piston style pump is a lot nosier then the newer screw or vane pumps. 
 

15
General Discussion / Re: Air conditioner
« on: June 04, 2017, 08:17:59 am »
the majority of the times it is what 2 Frazzled stated. Low voltage causes high amperage which causes the compressors internal breaker to trip. It sounds like if you ever unplugged your refrigerator and plugged it right back in. You will hear a hum and click a few times before it restarts. If you have access to a digital vote meter plug it into one of your outlets. If the  voltage drops down into the 90's when the air conditioner tries to start you have a voltage problem.
But your clue that it will run for only an hour. The symptom usually is a dirty condenser. Even though you have a fairly new PC the variables are how much you have used the air conditioner and where is was used. Some places here in the north east we get a lot of fuzzy stuff floating in the air from poplar trees and dandelions. This is drawn into the condenser coil and forms a mat like material over the fins. It plugs of the air flow and the unit over heats. It will trip the thermal overload. And will reset after the unit cools down.
If this is the cause you can fix it by removing the cover  and brush off the debris and then wash the coil down with a garden hose.
WARNING when removing cover shroud, beware of bees.   

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