Our RV Adventures

And Nick helped!

Well, our scheduled walk with Garland and Valencia this morning was called on account of rain . . . that never materialized.

The Weather Channel had predicted rain around noon, and the Rainy Days weather radar app show a large rain storm moving in from the southwest. But after we cancelled our walk, it never showed up. It just split apart and went around us.

But as it turned out, it worked out well for Paula and Rob Kingsbury. They’re parked two spaces down from us and we met them a couple of days as we were finishing up our walk.

They were just getting set up with their new Forest River Wildwood X-Lite on their first trip out. Paula Kingsbury happened to mention that they couldn’t get their water heater to work. Of  course Jan volunteered, “If you don’t get it fixed, let Greg know. He’s good at fixing stuff.”

That’s my Jan!

Well, this morning Rob showed up to see if I could take a look at it. So a little later I grabbed my voltmeter and headed down there to take a look.

Turns out they have a Suburban SW6D, which is a 6 gallon Gas Only model. I did confirm that it had never worked since they picked up the camper, and didn’t put out hot water, so I had to keep that in mind as I investigated the problem.

The power switch was lit, and the DSI Fault light was off, so it looked like the 12V DC power situation was probably OK and the electronic igniter was working.

I next checked continuity on the two solenoid gas valves which were OK. Then while I was looking at the manual, the unit came on, ran for about 5 minutes and then shut off.

But when they checked, there was still no hot water. So I went back to the rig to do a little Googling, which gave me a couple of more things to check. But again, no luck. The unit would come on every once in a while, but still no hot water.

Finally, as we were inside talking about other stuff, I noticed the unit come on and shut off a few minutes later. So since I was standing at the sink, I turned on the hot water and put my fingers in the stream. It came out very hot for a couple of seconds and then went lukewarm. And it kept running lukewarm for a good while, longer than I would have thought it would under the circumstances. And this started a tickle in my brain.

It reminded me of something I’d seen before, but I couldn’t quite grab it. But as I stood there feeling the water stream, it finally clicked.

It was the much-fabled, almost legendary, Nick Russell repair. Yes, Nick, once upon a time, actually repaired something.

A few years ago, while we were staying at the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails in Batesville, IN, a couple parked next to Nick and Terry were having the same problem. I don’t remember if their rig had been in for repairs or what, but they also only had lukewarm water.

In this case we could feel that the water heater was hot, but again, no hot water. We were all looking at  the drain and bypass valves in the water bay used to winterize the rig. At some point, Nick reached in and turned a valve, and presto, they had hot water.

The valve Nick turned was the the Bypass valve, which actually connects the cold water input to the water heater and the hot water output together, ‘bypassing’ the water heater. So the hot water output was being diluted with the cold water, resulting in the lukewarm output.

So I started looking for the bypass valve, finally finding it behind an access panel underneath the sink. And the bypass valve was closed!

Crossing my fingers, I opened the valve and voila, they had hot water.

And here’s the happy couple, Paula and Rob Kingsbury, excited now that they’ve got hot water.

Thanks, Nick.

Later, about 2pm, Jan and I drove over to the Kroger’s in Willis to pick up a few things before we leave Lake Conroe tomorrow morning

Getting back to the rig, I replaced one of my sewer hoses because it had developed some pinhole leaks. I had ordered a new one from Amazon, one without the end connectors. So today I took the connectors off the old hose and installed them on the new one. The hoses are much cheaper this way.

I learned a while back that the easiest way to get the connectors on is to first soak the hose ends in hot water for about 30 seconds or so, and then the the connectors just slide right on. Easy Peezy!

About 4pm, our friends, Garland and Valencia Scott, picked us up and we headed out for El Bosque, our favorite local Mexican place.

I had the Fajitas de la Diabla. I’m not sure what a ‘She Devil’ has to do with it, but with beef, chicken, and shrimp, as well as onions, mushrooms, green peppers, and jalapenos, it was really good, maybe the best fajita dish I’ve ever had. Really good.

Jan had the Stuffed Avocado, which she said was not quite as good as the same dish at the Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant over in Columbus, but really good just the same.

We had our usual great time talking with Garland and Valencia. Valencia worked for Chevron for many years, and Garland spent 31 years with the Houston Police Department. So we really  enjoyed listening to some of Garland’s many stories about the police department.

Hopefully we’ll be able to get together again when we get back here in a couple of weeks.

Getting back to the rig, I plugged in our engine block heater, and then disconnected and stowed away the water and sewer hoses.

I wanted to get as much done as possible before tomorrow morning because we’re going to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel before we head out for Colorado River Thousand Trails later in the morning.

Winston Churchill was the first, or one of the very first people to use the acronym OMG (Oh My God)  in a letter . . . in 1917!

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