Dometic recalls, right and wrong…
As many people have learned, Dometic has been forced to recall something over 900,000 refrigerators for the possibility of a failing cooling unit, which might result in a fire. Norcold recently went through a recall for the same reason- the heating elements installed are just too hot, along with a possibly defective weld, which results in the coolant leaking out.
Generators and bad gasoline
Disclaimer… I’m not a generator tech- I do have a rudimentary understanding of them, have had a few introductory classes on them, and service our own Onan Emerald, so…
Today I had (on the end of a list of things to service) an Onan Microquiet 4K which would crank but not start. In trying to start it, I could smell the unmistakable smell of old gasoline.
Battery Maintenance
I’m just finishing up my second custom inverter install for a client, and for this coach we had room for 9 group 29 batteries (yowza!).
The area we had to install them was previously occupied by the frame mount LP tank, so the height was somewhat limited (no room for 6 volt GC batteries), but the group 29s fit quite well.
Furnace Troubleshooting (the first step)
I recently had a furnace come in- complaint was that nothing happened- no fan, no heat.. nothing.
Whenever I have a furnace problem, the first step I take is to go to the thermostat. This one had a simple heat only, mechanical thermostat. I pull the cover off, switch my multimeter leads to read amperage and hook up the leads across the thermostat terminals.
Measure Twice…. Order Once…..
When I mess up, I have a tendency to mess up repeatedly! This past week I managed to make two good mistakes, once in a price quote, once in a special order…
Air Conditioners and more Air Conditioners
Well, the past couple of weeks have seen a slew of air conditioner service- starting with a simply check out of a new (used) rig.
On this rig (1995, or 11 years old), everything checked out fine- standard cleaning of the LP appliances, testing 120 volt and 12 volt systems, leak testing the LP system, etc. Then I get up to the air conditioner. One glance at the filters, and I figured it would be a candidate for a good cleaning, and I was right.
Orphaned Parts
One of this weeks tasks was troubleshooting a non working electric step. When the appointment was first made, I thought “No Problem”, as Kwikee steps are pretty easy to troubleshoot and repair.
But… when the coach arrived, I discovered that the step is a B & L electric step- no longer in business.
Kwikee Step Repair
UPDATED…
Unfortunately, it looks like the Kincor kit I mention below is no longer available- Kwikee changed the motor enough that it is not possible to take it apart- the unit is not sealed.
An alternate repair method using an Auto Parts store motor is discussed in this RV.NET forum posting.
Original post below——————————–
Electric steps are one of those luxuries that are a near necessity- in a Motor Home, you often need a step to enter, and yet once you are in, you cannot push a manual step in, and when you are in the rig, pulling the step out is impossible.
Midwest Products
I work on a lot of RV refrigerators. A “not insignificant” portion of those have cooling units which have gone bad (see my webpage on absorption refrigerators) .
For nearly 10 years, I have been using, with very good results, remanufactured cooling units from Midwest Products, of Corning Iowa. Midwest had been rebuilding cooling units for nearly 20 years, they did a great job, produced a quality product, and were generally good people to deal with.
Aftermarket Parts
In the auto industry, there are many, many companies producing aftermarket parts- you simply have to check out the nearest auto parts store to see that.
Many of these parts are of a great quality- designed to remedy the short comings of the stock parts and provide superior performance and longevity. On the other hand, many are…. to put it mildly… junk. Aftermarket parts are often called “will fit”, because they will fit (but whether they will last, or do what they are supposed to do…)
In the Recreation Vehicle industry, by and large, the market simply isn’t there for a wide variety of aftermarket parts- after all, even to build a cheap part takes a large investment in design and tooling.
But… there are a few notable exceptions, and because of market forces, they generally fall in to the superior category. Two manufacturers I can highly recommend are Dinosaur Electronics and Flight Systems.
