Our RV Adventures

Since we were heading out for lunch about 12:15, that was our excuse for not walking this morning. But I did get in a call in to Westland Sales about my Splendide drain pump problem.

As I mentioned yesterday, I noticed that when I turned the fan shown below,

the white pump impeller shown below did rotate. But when I turn the impeller itself, the fan didn’t turn.

Now my first thought was that there was some sort of slip clutch on the impeller so that if a sock or something got hung up, it wouldn’t burn out the pump but would just spin free. But I wanted to be sure before I went any further with the repair.

And it turns out my thought about the clutch was correct, and that’s the way it’s supposed to work.

So tomorrow, first up I’ll put 120vac to the motor to be sure it works, and then put the washer into spin/pump mode to be sure it is sending 120vac to the pump. This part may be interesting since the washer is presently upside down in the kitchen, but I’ll make it work somehow.

Then I’ll disassemble the pump as much as possible and clean it up, and then try to get some lithium grease into the bearings. Hopefully this will get it working again.

And before I put the bottom panel back on, I’ll spray it with the black Rustoleum paint I bought the other day to paint my re-welded screen door hinge. The panel is kind of rusty so it could use a little clean up.

We head out about 12:15 to meet blog readers Sherry and Clark for lunch at the nearby Asian BBQ & Grill. Neither of us had ever eaten there, but Sherry’s son, who lives in this area, recommended it.

Based on the Yelp reviews and pictures, we were hoping for our own local version of our favorite Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro. Since Little V’s is out in Katy near our daughter’s, and over an hour away, we don’t get there as often as we’d like, so we had our fingers crossed.

Getting to the restaurant, we were warmly greeted by Sherry and Clark, and spent some time getting to know them. And we quickly discovered that there’s a bunch of ‘news’ in their lives.

Sherry is newly retired, as in just last week, and she’s still trying to adjust to the big changes in her life.

And Sherry and Clark are on their way to being new ‘semi-fulltimers.’ They have a new Jayco 31ft Class A, and are planning to check out the fulltime lifestyle by taking several months this summer to travel the East Coast all the way up to the Escapees Escapade being held in Essex Junction, VT the last part of July. They did a one month trip last year, so this will be another step in that direction.

But the most important ‘new’ is the fact they’re ‘Newlyweds’, only married for 42 days.

So Congratulations to the happy couple!

Finally we got down to ordering, starting out with an order of their Shrimp and Pork Spring Rolls, Really good, with a great peanut sauce.

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For our entrée’s, Jan and I tried to duplicate our favorite dishes from Little V’s. We both got the Grilled Lemon Grass Chicken over Vermicelli, while I added a skewer of grilled shrimp to mine.

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Our meals came with the Fish Sauce above, but we also asked for some of their Dragon Sauce. Really hot, and a lot of flavor too.

Jan and I both really liked our meals, and though we both agreed it wasn’t quite up to Little V’s, it was a delicious replacement, especially considering it’s about half the cost of Little V’s. Always a favorite of mine.

We will certainly go back.

Finally saying our goodbyes to Sherry and Clark, and thanking them again for the Pumpkin Muffins and bottle of Cupcake Moscato they brought Jan, we drove over to the nearby Sam’s Club for a few things before moving next door to Wal-Mart for a few more things. Then on the way home we stopped off at Starbuck’s for a caffeine pick-me-up. Jan went with her usual Cinnamon Dolce Latte, while I tried out what is now my new favorite Starbuck’s drink, a Smoked Butterscotch Latte.

Tomorrow we’ll try to get our walking started up again, and then I’ll get back on the pump repair.

Thought for the Day:

“Loyalty to country ALWAYS.â€

“Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.â€

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”- George Washington

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I woke up this morning feeling under the weather so we didn’t walk. But I still wanted to tackle my washer problem. But first I had something else I wanted to fix

When we parked here this past Sunday, the pavement looked strong enough to not need the leveler pads. But the last couple of days have proved me wrong, and we started tilting a little. So before I started pulling the washer out, I cranked up the rig, raised the levelers, put down the pads, and then releveled.

My first task was to empty the water that was stuck in the drum, and the only way to do this is to open the lint trap and let it run out into a bucket.

Next up I removed the wooden retaining strip that keeps the washer from sliding out while we travel. Three screws hold it in place.

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Once that’s done, then I can pull out the canvas straps that I installed previously. I use these to help pull the washer out of the enclosure.

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When I was down in Clear Lake yesterday, I got my furniture dolly from my son Chris’ to help move the washer once I get it out.

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After that it’s just a matter of working it out, little by little, using the straps and also pulling from inside the door.

The reason the washer is so difficult get out of the enclosure is shown here. It’s almost a jam fit like this on both sides. Every time I pull it out, I tell myself that I’ll sand it down, but somehow I never do.

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Then it’s just a matter of dragging it out onto the dolly.

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Once it’s completely on the dolly I can roll it aside enough to unplug the power, and then remove the water hoses and the drain line.

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My next step was to turn the washer upside down so that I could remove the bottom panel and get to the drain pump itself.

After removing the two screws that hold the pump in place and then loosening the hose clamps from the input and output hoses. Then after unplugging the power wires, I was able to completely remove the pump and take a look at it.

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The first thing I did was do an ohmmeter check on the power leads. I got a reading of 7.0 ohms which is about right for a motor this size and also tells me that the windings are good. So the motor is probably working, but I’ll test it with voltage later if necessary.

The next thing I noticed was that when I initially tried to turn the fan by hand, it was kind of hard to turn, but then freed up slightly.

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Then I removed the three screws that hold the pump housing to the motor. I kind of expected the housing to have some lint or other debris inside, but I didn’t find anything.

One thing I did find unusual was that although when I turned the fan by hand, the impeller did turn, when I turn the impeller it just spins without turning the fan. So I don’t know if that’s the way it’s supposed to be, so that if that something clogs the pump, it won’t burn out, or if it’s broken.

I’ll call Westland Sales tomorrow and find out.

Checking eBay, I did find a new pump for $185, or a ‘used but working’ one for $100. But I’ll hold off until I find out more about my problem.

Earlier in the afternoon I found blog readers parked on both sides of us. Our friend Randy Lazarine showed up yesterday, following us over from Colorado River yesterday.

And blog reader Brett O’Neal recognized us when he and his wife Frankie parked on the other side of us. They just started full-timing recently, and are just getting on the road and heading to Florida.

Later they came by for a local restaurant recommendation, and we sent them off to El Bosque, our favorite local Mexican place. Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we do.

And hopefully we’ll get a chance to get together and get to know them better.

Thought for the Day:

In aviation, there is no problem so great or so complex that it cannot be blamed on the pilot.

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