Ray,IN

On 1/17/2024 at 9:38 PM, DanZemke said:

Ray and David - those are some pretty harrowing stories.  In the spring of 1972 when I and my wife to-be were still full-time students. I was on my motorcycle and a doctor in a black Cadillac t-boned me. Luckily, I landed on bushes in the center divider. 3 months later, we were married.  With me in a full-leg cast and still on crutches.  So I think I was even luckier than you two were.

Back to eyes. My father used eye drops because his eye pressure was near the danger line.  We were thankful that he never got glaucoma.  But in retrospect, he probably would have been fine without the eye-drops.  Since cornea thickness is usually inherited and my mother never had an eye pressure problem, my dad probably had thick coronas, like mine.  If so, he probably didn't need to take the eye drops.  Oh well, taking eye drops doesn't appear to be very disruptive.  

But people with thin corneas run the risk of thinking all is well until glaucoma symptoms appear.  Bummer.

I wonder what percentage of adults know if they have thin corneas?  My guess it's a small percentage - sad. 😞

Wait_ married the doctor. Just kidding, that's the way I read it though.

One does not think of life without vision, until you begin having issues, then often it's too late.

My dad and I and a neighbor were rabbit hunting and dads gun barrel hit a small thorn tree branch, the branch flipped off the barrel and a thorn hit dads right eye. Well, his generation seldom went to a Dr. so he didn't even though his eye was watering severely. By the time he realized he was having vision problems and went to an eye Dr. it was too late, all the fluid had leaked out of his eye,

About 15 years later he began to see shadows with his left eye so returned to that eye DR. Well, the Dr decided if dad had eye surgery it might help; but the surgery made him permanently blind, plus it got infected. That resulted in the eye being removed and a  glass eye inserted.

All that because dad refused to go to the Dr. as soon as we got home from hunting.

On 4/22/2023 at 3:26 PM, Lou Schneider said:

You may call it a "bad" or "unfair" business practice but AB 1472 as presently written takes the wrong approach to the problem and will have exactly opposite the intended effect. I lived in an RV for over 10 years in several CA RV parks before I retired and I can tell you if a park can't reset the residency clock by doing the "shuffle" and letting someone come back under a new lease, all that will happen is parks will lock people out for the remainder of the year until the legal clock resets.

The underlying issue is having someone obtain resident status after being in the park for 9 months as stated in CA Civil Code Section 799. This is what should be corrected, not adding a new section that prohibits resetting the residency clock while leaving the residential status intact.

Gaining residential status greatly complicates removing a troublemaker's RV from the park, for causes including non-payment of rent.  It drags the process out from a simple 1 day or 1 week written notice to a full blown court ordered eviction with at least 60 days written notice  Meanwhile the resident gets to stay in the RV park while the process plays out.  This is the same as evicting someone from a house or from an apartment.

An RV is defined as something that provides short term, portable living quarters.  It's much easier to re-locate an RV than getting the necessary permits to move a mobile home or packing up and moving someone's belongings out of a house or an apartment. 

If you make it illegal for RV parks to reset someone's status to occupant or tenant via the "shuffle" all that will happen is the parks will lock them out for the rest of the year until the legal clock resets.   Many motels in CA already do this, capping their length of stay at 14 days to preserve their right to expeditiously get rid of troublemakers.

Excellent reply! If people are living in a Recreational Vehicle, they cannot expect the same treatment as a resident in a mobile home with wheels and towing tongue removed.

About 18 years ago a hard blow to my head affected my vision that afternoon, so I called my eye Dr. He said come in immediately. When I arrived he took be right in, examined my eyes, then rushed out of the room.  He returned a few minutes later with a business card of an eye surgeon and appt. the next day.

That Dr. examined my again then told me their surgery room was ready; I had detached retinas in both eyes from the blow. Two months later I was recovered. Later  I had cateract surgery, both eyes, and the implants so far don't require cleaning with a laser but my near vision has declined to where I require reading glasses.

During my annual eye exam about 5 years ago the Dr. determined I had border-line high pressure in my eyes.  He immediately put me on eye drops to control internal eye pressure. Now the internal pressure is within the normal range and holding steady.  He said there is no solution after one develops Glaucoma and I'll be on those eye drops the rest of my life.

Bottom line to this is, your eyes are nothing to screw around with_ unless you don't mind blindness. Spend the money and time before it's too late.

Have you got a non-contact AC voltage tester? If yes, is there 120V at the converter?  When you turned the breaker back on, did you first push it hard toward the off position to reset the breaker? You will feel the spring rebound when doing that/

I'd begin with checking the classifieds here. You might find one already all set for towing 4-down, which would save you approx. $3,000 in tow bar and base-plate expenses.

If yo don't find one advertised here, check other RVing forums.

Now if you intend to purchase a new vehicle for towing, this will identify those acceptable for towing: https://www.fmca.com/towing-guides-towing-four-wheels-down

HOWEVER! Do not depend on any online towing guide to be 100% accurate. The  specific vehicle owners manual(can be found online), under recreational towing is the final authority.

It it's been mentioned already I'll repeat it. The surface area of LP is the limiting factor when converting to gas/vapor. A 20# cylinder has a small surface area, and at these low temperatures often cannot boil enough to supply the required gas/vapor.  A solution to this is, warm the cylinder/tank.  Heating "pads" are made for this purpose.

That is another reason why 250G and larger tanks are horizontal instead of upright.

You could have a 1,000G vertical tank that will not have the surface area to supply gas/vapor in enough quantity to supply, say a grain dryer for a silo.

reference: https://propanewarehouse.com/helpful-information/lp-gas-properties/

Wind-chill temperature only affects living tissue. Actual temperature affects everything else.

3 hours ago, Kirk W said:

That is a very common symptom and nearly always indicates that the ignition probe has failed. The same probe that supplies the spark to light the furnace also detects the heat of the burning propane. If it does not send a signal back to the circuit board that it detects the heat from the burning propane, it will try 2 more times and then go into safety lockout. If you turn the furnace off and after a brief pause turn it back on it will repeat that same sequence. Over the many years that I have had an RV and also helped others repair their RV furnaces, I have probably seen that issue about 20 times and nearly all of them were the ignition probe.

If you do not have one, you can download a copy of the Suburban Service Manual from this link. On page 7 of that manual the troubleshooting guide addresses your symptoms. 

Where IS that like button? As usual Kirk is exactly right.

I'm waiting until some engineer figures out how to engage regenerative braking while being flat-towed.

12 hours ago, Deezl Smoke said:

 So, without looking it up online, I believe 14' is the federal limit? And anything under has to be stated with signage? So even 13'6", though not low clearance, has to be stated prior to the last detour.?

 When I bought an older 12'6" van trailer for storage years ago, in discussion with the seller, it was said that most states east of the mighty Mississippi, have to this day, many 12'6" bridges and over passes, or even lower? West of the Mississippi, 14' is the engineering norm, with 13'6" trailers also being the norm.?

13'6" East of the big river, 14' West of the Mississippi. but at least 1 route must be 16'. Design standards require 16'

reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_standards

4 hours ago, rickeieio said:

Parker says otherwise:  

 

Listen closely at the 37 second mark, he says it's important the end is cut square. Later he says +or- 15°, it can't be both unless he is qualifying that cheaply made tubing cutter is only that accurate.

As to disconnecting tubing, I use an open-end wrench to hold the collar in while removing the tubing.  I always use a new O-ring when replacing the tubing too, the old one usually is flat-spotted where it griped the tubing.  That has been discussed here previously.

2 hours ago, rickeieio said:

New myth:

When installing an air line into what's commonly called a DOT fitting, or push-to-connect, the end needs to be cut square to seal inside the fitting.

This one has been discussed a couple years ago, but since I was working on a gladhand line today, I thought to bring it up again.

Urban myth:???  https://www.airliftcompany.com/workshop/push-to-connect-air-fittings/

https://www.aquafittings.com/correctly-install-push-connect-fittings/

10 hours ago, lappir said:

Ray, 

Thanks for the support, but Flovent is not a "Rescue" inhaler. It's a Steroid that takes time to work. A true "Rescue Inhaler" is a Fast Acting Bronchial Dilatator such as Albuterol  or   salbutamol, salmeterol, formoterol and vilanterol  

found with google search. 

It is important to use proper technique to get the best dosing of the Steroid type of medication as well as the Rescue Inhalers. 

Rod

OK, my bad, Flovent/Fluticasone is a old cortacosteriod. I remember now, I was on that 20 years ago, and continued until Dr. put me on Advair, then Trelegy when it came out. He's had me on so many different stuff I can't remember them all. No recovery from chemical-induced COPD; he just keeps me going.

I read it as did lappir. That is only one brand of this type inhaler, I know of 3 different brands and have used them all. None of them helped me more than the others, so Express-Scripts sends me the lowest cost brand.

This is classed as a "rescue" inhaler to carry on your person, but we are told to carry and use the expansion/mixing chamber between the inhaler and mouth for best results. Carrying both is not convenient.

Medicare is attempting to control and reduce prescription medication costs to benefit citizens; and IMO are using Canada as a model. You see the cost of this medication in the link Gary provided.  I pay $14 for a 3-month supply,and Tricare For Life picks up the remainder (via federal taxes). 

That makes it easy to see why Medicare is attempting to reduce prescription drug prices.

8 hours ago, Deezl Smoke said:

 

 10 seconds is way too long. So when you turn the key to the on position, do you let the system diagnostics run through it's routine before turning to the start position?

 For example, in the farm prostar/maxxfarce, and my Pete Cummins X15, I turn the key to the on position and listen for all of the clicking and air purges to stop before turning the start position. This can take up to about 4 seconds. Then, turn to start and either engine will fire within about 3-4 revolutions.

Yep, the electric lift pump only runs for 30+ seconds to prime the fuel system, then the gauge needles stop swinging, signifying  the system is primed. Then I start the engine, which used to turn over perhaps 3 times. After Cummins installed the latest ECM upgrade it takes longer between key to start, and ignition.

The gauge needles used to swing 4x,and the low air buzzer sounded with needle swing, after the ECM upgrade they now swing 2x, with no buzzer sound.

Thank you Gary. I'll keep this information in mind for next open season.

You guys are over-thinking this UV light thing. Even if it was necessary, the first task is to determine if the tank material will be affected.

Unless a water tank drain is installed directly into the tank bottom it cannot be completely drained. A side drain hole requires about ½" above the tank floor.

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

Not having an intimate knowledge of the ecm, it would be logical that since it monitors oil pressure and initiates a shut-down for pressure loss, it might not allow a start until the pressure sending unit says all systems are "GO".  No additional hardware needed.

I cannot now find my reference link, but I'm sure I read that on the Cummins  insite website. You're right, nothing extra required for this function.

My personal experience is with my ISC 8.3. Always before the engine would start almost immediately when  the key was turned. Back in 2020 We were enroute to Mayo Clinic and had engine problems that required my MH be towed to Cummins Rock Island. The ECM was so old their computers could not connect and read information, so they removed the ECM and took it to their computer room where they had an old computer that could connect

After all that they wiped my ECM clean and installed the current programming. From then on my engine will not start for about 10 seconds or more after the key is turned, and the oil pressure gauge immediately jumps to 80 PSI.

55 minutes ago, rickeieio said:

Rod,

I believe the oil filter housing drains to the crankcase.  With the cap off, air is allowed in so the oil just drains.  At least that's how all I've done so far work.  But, I'm ready to learn if someone knows different.

Tom,

PACCAR must know more than we.  Rumor is that all new PACCAR trucks have the MX series.  Cummins is no longer an option.

Paccar must rely on the Cummins feature that will not allow an engine start until the ECM "sees" oil pressure.  I know I do, I never pre-fill an oil filter.

On 12/31/2023 at 10:51 AM, Chalkie said:

The one we have covers hearing aids, dental, vision and fitness gyms, as well as providing transportation to/from doctor visits if needed. None of this is covered by Medicare. Also, one must realize that TFL only covers IF a treatment is covered by Medicare in the first place. 

Humm, thanks for the information.  So I assume your private advantage plan works with TFL?

BTW, did you watch the Rose Bowl parade today? When the armed forces float went by they were playing Anchors aweigh, impressive.

On 12/31/2023 at 11:20 AM, Kirk W said:

Do you still do that today? If so, keep your teeth clinched to strain out the bigger things from your neighbor's livestock.

Nope not since an adjoining property owner upstream sold off lots and made a housing subdivision. Since I sold the cattle and horses only wildlife drink from the stream.  That bottom abounds with deer, turkey, and raccoons today.  BTW,  the creek originates from a spring on that neighbors property.

You've peaked my curiosity, I'll test the stream water when it warms up some, to see what is actually in that water now.

Whatever insurance you have, TFL always pays last. Express-scripts co-pay is $14/3 mos supply, for generic brands eff Jan. 1 2024. DW is on Eliquis  for a blood clot in her heart; Express-scripts charges $54 for a 3-month supply,much much less than  civilian ins.

I cannot fathom any of the "advantage plans" being better than standard gov. Medicare and TFL. I spent a month in hospital and nursing home, with kidney dialysis 3X week. I never received a bill for any medical related expenses.

I went on a hunting/fishing trip in the Beartooth mountains of WY. The Guide told us to only drink from our canteens, never drink from the mountains streams as it had a bacteria in it that caused severe intestinal problems.

Meanwhile back at my small ranch i always drank from the stream/creek that ran through the bottom land without any ill  effects. I just remembered to drink upstream of where the cow plops were.

https://www.jdpower.com/rvs/manufacturers  is a reference.

PPL motorhomes website has a page listing actual selling prices for their sold units.