Second Chance

When you say "check if ac," do you mean in the whole RV or at the outlet for the refrigerator? If the fridge works on propane, then you know you have 12 volts for the controls. If there is AC at the outlet at the back of the fridge, that would narrow the problem down to the refrigerator control board or the heating elements in the cooling unit.

Rob

30 minutes ago, Blues said:

My doctor put my vaccination on my shoulder blade instead of my arm, so it wouldn't be visible.  These days, I can't think of a single place on a person's body that would be considered safe from visibility.

Oh, I can think of a few... but I certainly wouldn't want a vaccination there!

Rob

49 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

YES!  Though my has really faded out over the years.  My daughter, born in '76, never had one of those.  Had all of the rest of the vaccinations EXCEPT chicken pox.   She was in the 7th grade when she caught that disease - - two days before we were set to go to a meeting where I was presenting a paper.  Our friends who were going to take care of her said "no problem, we've all had chicken pox" and she spent the week with them.   Now that's true friendship!

The chickenpox (varicella) vaccine wasn't licensed in the US until 1995. Our kids just caught the disease from kids at church or playmates and endured a week of itching and confinement to gain immunity. 

Rob

4 hours ago, Kirk W said:

That is because you are such a youngster. Barb & I are a bit older since the Salk vaccine was introduced to the public schools in 1955, while the Sabin oral vaccine was not made available until 1962. 

Thanks for the compliment, Kirk. I haven't had anyone call me "youngster" in a while.

Rob

3 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

What state requires a CDL to drive an RV?   Some required enhanced DL, but those are CDLs.

DC and HI (> 26K), IN and WI (>45 ft). I've never met any full-timers who domicile in those places, though.

Rob

16 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Randy, a lot of "essential workers" will refuse vaccine.  Unfortunately a lot of them are anti-vexers.  

I am old enough to remember when Polio vaccine was finally available.   In our county it was done through the schools and EVERYONE WAS LINED UP AND MARCHED TO THE CAFETERIA.   Lots of quivering lips but no one was going to let others see them cry.   

Quivering lips? I was fearless in the face of a sugar cube!

Rob

7 hours ago, rynosback said:

Not true, I have a 5th wheel and they farmed me out to Progressive. We get a discounted rate over the regular premium because of the relationship. 

Hmmm... wonder why they've insured both of our fifth wheels, then - including currently?

Rob

Edit: I'm wondering if it has anything to do with state of domicile. There are difference insurance regulations in each state and USAA is licensed separately in each state according to the residence of the policy holder. We are domiciled in Texas.

4 hours ago, PBArmy said:

Rob, I've explained my situation to them as well. But this is the 2nd time in 6 months that I've received this request for a physical address. What have you done differently? Thanks in advance!

We've not done anything special. We followed advice early on and only used "#" in our Escapees address rather than "PMB" or something else. Example:

161 Rainbow Drive #[xxxx]
Livingston TX 77399

I know that the Escapees' system has been tested in the courts and held up - perhaps it's something with your SD PMB address. We have other friends who use the Escapees Livingston address (with "#") with USAA and don't have any issue with it, either. 

BTW, USAA will insure towable RVs - they just farm motorhomes out to Progressive.

Rob

1 hour ago, markandkim said:

USAA doesn't support fulltiming. 

They have caught up with you.

I've had them for 40 years also.

But when I head out next year and switch residence to SD with a mail forward service, I must fine another provider.

I disagree. They have supported us full-timing from the get-go. We have informed them of what we're doing at every step.

Rob

26 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

I would make three suggestions. You may want to share the information from this thread with your agent. You could also get a new agent from one of the people in this thread and move your business there. As a last possibility, shop the insurance market as there may be other companies that would like your business enough to give you better coverage for a competitive price. 

USAA doesn't use agents, per se, Kirk. Customers deal with a central system via phone or an internet account. I think if everything is changed to "#" rather than "PMB," the OP should be OK. That's how hundreds of the rest of us do it.

BTW, if you need to make a claim, there are no adjusters with USAA, either. USAA has agreements with thousands of vetted shops across the country. We just take the car in, the shop does the estimate and submits it to USAA, and within a couple of hours it's approved. 

Rob

3 hours ago, chiefneon said:

Howdy!

 I’ve been using USAA for years with our Escapees address. I never use “PMB” doing so. I use our Escapees address and # of our PBM. Never had a problem.

” Happy Trails “

Chiefneon 

Ditto here.

Rob

From what you're describing, I would find another source for tire advice. Many tire shops won't touch a tire/wheel that has had a sealant in it. As Glenn said, good tires don't leak and, if something makes a big enough hole to make the tire leak, a sealant won't help, anyway. As for the other, sounds like another scheme to part fools from their money (really high markup/profit margin for the dealers on this type of thing).

Rob

40 minutes ago, Ron & Linda R said:

Sorry for not being more specific, we are Texas citizens and Escapee members so have the Livingston Texas address as we are Full Timers and been out of State for awhile. So why we need to get the MH inspected as they tell us as soon as we cross back over into Texas.

I know not all inspection stations can accommodate a Large Motor Home and there are a few who do so trying to find out if there is a list of Texas Inspection Stations that can handle the Motor Home other wise I will be having to call each inspection station around where we will be . it will be a full road Trip and stopping in Texas for some period of tie yet to be determined but then yes on through to otehr parts of the Country

In Texas we will be staying in the Denton area for awhile so starting there to see if around that area can handle a Motor Home Inspection or where perhaps the nearest one would be from Denton?

If you read my post above, I quoted from the Texas DMV web site: "Once you return to the state, you must complete a Texas vehicle inspection within three days of arrival at your home, duty station, or destination." 

Rob

Thanks, everyone. Based on further research I had already decided these filters weren't worth it. We do not have issues with air quality and air flow is very important to us. I also like being able to vacuum/wash the current filters rather than having to worry about keeping replacement in stock. 

Rob

Use the search function on this and other forums (and on Google) and do a lot of reading. In my opinion, it boils down to available space versus functionality. Here are some of the trade-offs:

Combo washer/dryer (single unit), nonvented: smallest drum (smallest loads), takes the longest to complete a cycle (especially nonvented), and you can't start the next load of wash while the previous one is drying.

Separate washer/dryer: take the most space (which you may not have in a class C), but have the larger drum capacities. Can dry one load while another is washing. A separate, vented dryer dries clothing the fastest.

Fresh water and gray tank capacity doesn't really matter if you're in a site with hookups.

Personally, our tolerance for laundromats during the pandemic is zero. We used to use them all the time but installed a washer and dryer when the pandemic hit.

Rob

54 minutes ago, durangodon said:

Is he?  Did you listen to his music?

Yes - some of the worst I've ever heard (and I'm a former working musician).

Rob

2 hours ago, LindaH said:

That's true, and is what the Escapees' IT department told us when they blocked the guy's IP.  Let's hope the guy is a novice and doesn't come back!  

I Googled him... he's a young guy and has profiles or channels on just about every platform out there. From the content he seems pretty narcissistic and perhaps just a little imbalanced. The common thread on each platform, as expected, is that he fancies himself a songwriter.

Rob

1 hour ago, hemsteadc said:

Pictures are quite the challenge on here.  How do you make them appear smaller?

Resize them with a utility app prior to uploading them.

Rob

I reported that to the site team yesterday... I guess there's been no action yet.

Rob

22 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

... There are no Corps of Engineers parks or similar agency campgrounds and most state parks are also smaller with fewer and smaller campgrounds.  

I'll have to disagree with you on that, Kirk. There are COE campgrounds at lakes in many parts of the east - especially Georgia and the Carolinas. GA and the Carolinas also have an extensive network of state parks, mostly on or near lakes, with camping. We have stayed at several. The Tennessee River Valley has any number of TVA campgrounds that are run very similarly to COE campgrounds. You are right in that many of the campgrounds and RV parks in the east can have sites that are harder to get into - often because of the density of trees that we don't have in many places out west. We spend a lot of time in both the east and west and I've seen about as many 40+ ft. fifth wheels and DPs in the places we stay in the east as out west. It is more difficult, however, to find affordable camping the farther north you move on the east coast. That said, we have "done" New England with a 36' fifth wheel and a very long truck and didn't have any more problems with site sizes in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont or New York than we did on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. You just have to plan ahead, talk to park management about your needs, and do your research.

Rob

There is a requirement for vehicle inspection for registration in Texas. If you renew on-line while out of state, you will need to certify that the vehicle is out of state and not available for inspection (done on-line during the renewal process). Then, according to Texas regulations, "Once you return to the state, you must complete a Texas vehicle inspection within three days of arrival at your home, duty station, or destination." We have not spent any time in Texas the past several years and don't know when we'll return. The state continues to mail our registration renewal stickers to our Escapees address each year and we have them forwarded wherever we are.

Rob

41 minutes ago, docj said:

The first question I would ask is how does the "backpressure" from these filters affect the the air flow through the A/C?  You can't get something for nothing.  The nonwoven fabric used in the filter is essentially the same sort of  HEPA filter material that my wife bought and is using in the face masks she is making to give to friends and family.  Even a single layer of that stuff makes it more difficult to breath through, so the 8 layers claimed for these filters will add substantial extra pressure the net result of which will be to make the fan work harder and to reduce the circulation.

If this outfit knows what it is doing they ought be able to quantify the backpressure and discuss the air flow reduction.  It they don't know anything about it or simply wave their hands, I'd look elsewhere.

They claim that it doesn't restrict air flow... however, I got to doing some research on MERV ratings on filters after I posted and MERV 6 (which these filters are rated) does almost nothing for anything under 10 microns. I think I'll save my money...

Rob

We have two Coleman Mach 15K ACs in our fifth wheel. The OEM filters are a black mesh that seems to have pretty large holes in it... but they catch a lot of dust which I can vacuum and/or wash out. One of the "other organizations" sent out an email about the RV Air filters (link below) which got me to thinking. I had read about them elsewhere but didn't take the time to give them serious consideration. Do any of you use, or have any experience with, these filters? They are rated for "90 days of continuous use" after which they must be replaced (at a cost of about $18 per AC). The manufacturer claims the filters remove mold spores and other allergens which I doubt my OEM filters do. Would appreciate any feedback.

RV Air filters

Thanks,

Rob

I'm not experiencing this, either. I have tried all the major browsers and find that Google Chrome is the most universally compatible with the various page codes and controls. I've reluctantly gone back despite the "Big Brother" factor of Chrome.

Rob

In '88 I went back to grad school as what they call a "non-traditional student." Thinking that my Tandy 1000 with a 10 MB "hard card" might not be up to the task, I went to a local clone shop not too far from the house (they dealt mostly with point-of-sale and business systems) to have a mini-tower built to my specifications. I knew I wanted one of the new 10 MHz motherboards with 1 MB of RAM (surface-mounted, of course). I had just started playing with one of the little hand-held half-page dithering scanners and, when asked what size hard drive I wanted, I said, "40 MB." The response was, "Good Lord! What are you going to do with all that space?" I don't remember exactly what all this cost at the time, but I do remember my late wife thinking it was too much to spend on a computer.

A few months later my parents came to visit. Dad had worked on the command module for the Apollo project. When he saw my new computer, he asked, "What's that." I told him - along with all the specs. His response: "Hmmm... I think there was only 32K of memory in the command module."

Now I have more computing power and storage space than any of that - by orders of magnitude - in the phone holster on my belt... though the phone holster really dates me and our kids tease me about it.

Rob