Archive for the ‘RV Maintenance’ Category

Chassis batteries keep going dead

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

My motorhome is on a Freightliner chassis and my chassis batteries keep going dead even though the coach is plugged into a 30am plug around the clock (while in storage).

There is obviously a draw on the batteries and for some reason, the house batteries are being charged but not the chassis.

Here’s what I discovered :

When I leave my chassis power on, the charger will charge both house and chassis batteries. I’m not sure if this is recommended but this is what I do while I’m spending the night in an RV Park or Campground. Now, when the coach is in storage, I turn off all power including the battery disconnects. I fire everything up once every few weeks and let it charge.

This works for me.

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Time to Dewinterize your RV or motorhome

Monday, March 16th, 2009

If you’re cheap like me, you like to winterize and de-winterize your motorhome yourself. An RV dealership can charge a lot of money for this service and I like to know what’s been done and how. SO : here’s some tips to get you through this process :

Water System :

  • Open the water heater bypass or replace the drain plug.
  • Fill fresh water tank with 10 gallons of water only. Make sure your gray water tank is empty.
  • Get the fresh water pump operational if it has been disconnected in any way, then turn it on, prime if necessary and pressure up.
  • Flush the anti-freeze out of your plumbing though all (hot and cold) faucets including the shower / tub and toilet.
  • Keep flushing your system until your fresh water tank is empty.
  • Hook up your city water, turn off the fresh water pump
  • Again, flush all faucets hot and cold.
  • Once the anti-freeze has been flushed out of the system, you can sterilize your tank.
  • If your motorhome has other water appliances such as a washer/dryer, ice machine or dish drawer, these will also need to be run to purge all of the antfreeze out of these appliances.

Sterilizing your fresh water tank (optional):

  • Mix a cup of household bleach with a gallon of water and pour it into your fresh water tank with a funnel. Next, fill the fresh water tank with potable water.
  • Turn the pump back on and start flushing each faucet and toilet until you can smell bleach. Shut the faucets off.
  • Let it site for at least 4 hours. Flush the entire fresh tank by turning on all faucets or drain the tank manually.
  • WATCH YOUR GRAY TANK LEVELS if you flush more than your capacity.
  • Refill with clean water and flush until the bleach smell is gone.

Road Worthiness

  • Check and top up tire pressure
  • Top up fluids or change fluids depending on your mainenance schedule
  • Re-install your batteries if they were removed.
  • Check your license plate tags – don’t go away without your tags renewed
  • Inspect the tires for damage or rot and replace if necessary.
  • Check the tire lugs to make sure they are tight.
  • Inspect propane system for cracks / rust.

Other Stuff:

  • Test the appliances to make sure there are no repairs needed.
  • Test your awnings / TV’s and everything else that you will use when you go on your first camping trip of the season.

Go CAMPING ! Come back in the fall and I’ll have some great tips for winterizing your motorhome.

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