First trip,. First mishaps

Soooo....we're on day 2 of our first weekend in our 2012 2551...the one the inspector said was the best he's ever seen.

So far: On hour one our younger dog tried to squeeze under the screen door.  It's deformed and won't roll up right

I managed to bump into the mirror on the rear cabinet in the bathroom and cracked the glass.

The PC had been winterized.  I figured that we just needed run water until it was no longer pink. 

We didn't have hot water but we had water from both taps...Yeah. I turned on the water heater with no effect.

We watched the video with Earl to see where the valves were. We found them and turned them...guess? There was no water from the hot side but I figured the tank had to fill.  A neighbor walked over to tell us that water was pouring out of the water heater.  Yep. After a couple of tried I looked and saw that the drain plug was off.

Luckily the water heater only gave the error light once. Thank you for suffering this idiot without having permanent damage.

I read the manuals as they are and realized that I had failed to orient the antenna properly before I cranked it down.

We tried to drain the black and gray tanks as per Earl's demo. Only the black tank valve appeared to open. The gauge is showing the tanks as 3/4 and full, even though they drained some. I have to make another stab at it, maybe using the stinky slinky.
'm off right now to figure why the tanks didnt drain.  If we're lucky we'll be able to take a hot dhower before we go home.

Then we saw that the pleather sofa has a few tears thanks to the same dog.

I have a few more days left to break it good, but I think we're figuring it out.

Welcome to my world.

Mike, on the bright side...these mistakes you make will, most likely, only be made ONCE!   We all have had these learning curves.  Even seasoned RVers experience unpleasant events in a new rig.  Speaking of experiences, do you know the definition on a "experience"?  An experience is something that happens to you and you wish it were happening to someone else.

Cheers 
Barry T

Sorry mikea, but you had me laughing out loud here at my computer.

About your screen door, carefully pull out all the screen material (there is extra), then carefully guide it all back in.  It should be fine as long as no damage or permanent deformation occurred to the screen itself.

Dogs are like children.  They cost a lot more than people realize.

Question:  1) I gather that the flush valves on the tanks should be closed 2) Does the water pump switch with light likee the ones inside do anythng with draining the tanks?  I thought that was for the utside shower, right?

On this one, I'm not getting the flashing light on the gray water tank valve.  I figure that means that the gray tank valve is not opening.

Off to make another try.....

Give it a while for tank gauge to get it right.  When you empty a tank, the gauge sensors will still be wet so reading high.

Give it a while for tank gauge to get it right.  When you empty a tank, the gauge sensors will still be wet so reading high.

Addition to Don's comment.  In my experience of travel trailers and three motorhomes, those sensors are NEVER accurate.  You will learn when it's time to dump the tanks.  Leave the gate valve on the gray water tank open and it should continuously drain.  The black water tank will need draining when it makes a different sound when flushing or when wife tells you to drain it.

Cheers 
Barry T

Sorry mikea, but you had me laughing out loud here at my computer.

About your screen door, carefully pull out all the screen material (there is extra), then carefully guide it all back in.  It should be fine as long as no damage or permanent deformation occurred to the screen itself.

Dogs are like children.  They cost a lot more than people realize.

Hey, Ron, since it's entirely your fault that I bought the Phoenix Cruiser....

We drained the black tank sucessfully, even though the gauge shows 1/3 full.

The gray tank valve won't open.  There's no valve motor power or light.  Would there be a separate fuse for the gray tank than for the black tank?
I will take a look at the fuses.

I guess I'd be off to Elkhart but RON is closer.  Wanna take a look?

mikea,

I would be happy to help, but to be honest, I am a dumb-dum when it comes to trouble-shooting tank valves.  I just learned there is supposed to be a bank of strange looking fuse thingies under my fridge that supports them.  I have yet to take a peek.  Contrary to popular belief, the relationship I have with our PC is on a "Need To Know" basis.  I don't get into things until something goes wrong, something irritates me enough to make changes, or I have a itching creative idea.  None of that has yet applied with tank valves, though one is on the back burner, considering duplicating tank valve control switches inside the bathroom so I can blend tanks from in there.

Regarding your tank sensors, I will share my experience with them.  Our 2007 sensors work fine, just like they did when our PC was new.  I wonder if it is because at the end of our RV season, I fill each waste tank with water and a 1/3 gallon of household bleach, soak for an hour, then drain, fill with fresh water, soak for another hour, then drain again.  I do this to eliminate any sewer gas or other foul odors because we sleep above our PC as shown here.

Thanks, all.

The point is that I can't open the (powered) gray tank gate valve.

There's a long handed crank in the stinky slinky storage.  Is that a way to open the drain valves manually?

BTW, Ron, I bought one of those Lifetime 2x4 folding tables.  It doesn't fit back there beacuse mine has a couple of metal tie down hooks at the bottom on that side that block it.
I have a smaller table that does slide in there.

The motors sometimes fail on the powered dump valves. If you disconnect the motor operator connection from the valve shaft you can operated the valve by hand. The valve handle is right there near the sanicon. (or should be)

Thanks, all.

The point is that I can't open the (powered) gray tank gate valve.

There's a long handed crank in the stinky slinky storage.  Is that a way to open the drain valves manually?

BTW, Ron, I bought one of those Lifetime 2x4 folding tables.  It doesn't fit back there beacuse mine has a couple of metal tie down hooks at the bottom on that side that block it.
I have a smaller table that does slide in there.

The long handled crank is the manual slide out tool.   Looking at the slide out from the outside, on the lower left there should be a black, round rubber hole plug.  Pull that out and you'll see the where it fits.

It's used if a motor burns out and the slide is open, you can crank it closed.

Don

BTW, Ron, I bought one of those Lifetime 2x4 folding tables.  It doesn't fit back there because mine has a couple of metal tie down hooks at the bottom on that side that block it.

I kept those tie down hooks until that Lifetime table came along.  It was a very easy decision to remove them because I never used the tie-downs.  All these years later and the table still serves us well.

For other people here wondering what we are talking about, here is the table and how it stores.

It has 3 height adjustment settings.

Set Low As A Coffee Table


Set Medium For A Standard Chair
(picture not available)

Set High For Cooking


Stored Inside The Rear Compartment

Ron, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that table before. The one I have is a bit bigger I think and the legs aren’t adjustable.  I know I couldn’t get it to fit in that location.

Quote from: mikea on May 26, 2020, 11:22:55 am

Thanks, all.

The point is that I can't open the (powered) gray tank gate valve.

There's a long handed crank in the stinky slinky storage.  Is that a way to open the drain valves manually?

BTW, Ron, I bought one of those Lifetime 2x4 folding tables.  It doesn't fit back there beacuse mine has a couple of metal tie down hooks at the bottom on that side that block it.
I have a smaller table that does slide in there.

The long handled crank is the manual slide out tool.   Looking at the slide out from the outside, on the lower left there should be a black, round rubber hole plug.  Pull that out and you'll see the where it fits.

It's used if a motor burns out and the slide is open, you can crank it closed.

Don

I looked closer and saw that the crank in the back is the lug nut wrench.   

I called Phoenix and talked to Dave. He said to see if the gray valve is getting power, which I will do. 

I think I'm going to have a trip to Elkhart in my future, which is OK because I want to have them look at how I can mount some grab handles and run some cables.

I've picked up a bunch of things added to the need list after the trip, like a toaster and a clock and a bunch more car chargers.

Hi Mike - Good to have you aboard!!! I've had 5 PCs and am still learning, so don't feel bad...as DONC said, you might disconnect the motor (it's also an easy way to check for power) and move the valve manually - it could just be stuck after a couple years of no use.  Also, I would highly recommend a trip to Elkhart - It isn't that far from you, and let Doug go over your entire rig... He will likely have you out of there in a couple hours, after explaining everything, and it will be fixed correctly.
Good luck,
Jack