Tim and Peggy

Hello all,

So I bought the Schumacher SC 1300 "Automatic Battery Charger" After about about 5 hours "green light" which according to the manual means " The battery is fully charged and the charger is in maintenance mode." GREAT, I thought.

So 24 hours later I thought I would check on my new toy. Something told me that "red light flashing" probably wasn't a good thing, as opposed to a "green light." According to Schumacher a red light flashing means - "The connections are reversed, or the batter is bad."

So I will I unplugged the device, plugged it back in and got a solid red light = The charger is charging the batteries. So I am not going to look again tonight, but tomorrow if the red light is flashing it may indeed mean that one or both of the chassis batteries are bad. Thus the question:

What is the life of chassis batteries?  My coach is a 2016, Thor Tuscany. I presume I am going to get lots of opinions as to this question.

So have at it and, as always, I appreciate your thoughts, comments.

Hope are are well. My wife and I have had our two COVID Shots. Yeah!

3 hours ago, ms60ocb said:

I vote for the small battery minder/float charger. Does a perfect job except when parked to far from a the electric source. My unit is mounted on the frame and is weather tight. Can't tell you the brand but 6 years old now and working fine.

This winter solar would not have been a good source as of yesterday I still over 12 inches of ice and snow on the roof

Clay

so I have an outlet, near my batteries (in my coach) I presume I can plug it in to that which is plugged into shore power? Right?

19 minutes ago, GlennWest said:

Solar panel best.

Thanks, great idea. So when parked do you just run he wire down the side of the rig and into that battery compartment? Do you hide the wire, or doesn't it really matter - just a matter of aesthetics.

I presume AMAZON is the best place to buy?

Will be parking and living in one place for a few months. Learned my lesson recently. I arrived in RV resort on January 1st and never started the coach for six weeks. Surprise. The battery was dead. A simply boost worked, but lesson learned. I contacted Freightliner and they recommended a trickler charger. There are several on the market and all essentially do the same thing. Some connected to the house batteries, some do not.

Would love recommendations, ideas.  Thanks.

On 2/3/2021 at 6:17 AM, Tim and Peggy said:

Good morning and thanks. I have family in Houghton. Hope you are somewhere warm this winter. 

The URL for this resort is www.oriindio.com. There are four swimming pools, a major clubhouse, a golf course and other amenities that (in part) explain the HOA. 

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

we pulled the trigger and bought a lot here in Indio, CA where it was 81 today. The resort has an 18-hole golf course, 4 swimming pools, pickleball, etc. which helps explains (justify) the HOA. We are staying outside the resort at the moment currently paying $2,100/month...so the $5,700 annual HOA gets gobbled up if we simply rent monthly at a typical resort here in the desert. We plan to use it 5 months out of the year.

Thanks.

Good morning and thanks. I have family in Houghton. Hope you are somewhere warm this winter. 

The URL for this resort is www.oriindio.com. There are four swimming pools, a major clubhouse, a golf course and other amenities that (in part) explain the HOA. 

Thanks.

We have been FT (on the road) for the past 16 months. We are currently in Palm Desert, CA and are leaning toward the purchase of an RV lot at Outdoor Resorts Indio. The price is reasonable (its all relative). Prices range at the community between $35k-450K. The HOA is $475/month and if we did it we would probably be on the road 7 months and here for 5 months.

We are curious about anyone else who has purchased an RV lot and if so. If not, why not.

Thanks.

Thanks, great idea and perhaps we will put aside the fact that we are Red Sox fans but spring training is always a good get. Hmmm! wonder if fans will be allowed.

Sedona might also be a great idea. We flew in our kids for Thanksgiving in November of 2019.

Great ideas. Thanks.

no you are not missing anything. Bullhead City, Vegas...just want to go somewhere and was hoping for some ideas.

We will be leaving the Palm Desert, CA are on the 15 of March. We plan to in the Grand Canyon are on May 1st. We are looking for advice as to where to go between Palm Desert and the canyon.

Would love suggestions about where to go "between here and there."

Thanks.

Tim and Peggy

Thanks. I did all of the "plumbing fixes" but snaking ain't that easy with PVC and, as I said, worth the money (in my opinion) to get things cleaned out. 

Hi,

Thanks. This is Tim in a T-shirt. This rig only has 1 gray tank. The manufacture sent me the plumbing schematics. One gray and one black.

I guess to all of my new found ESCAPEE FRIENDS, I am compelled to ask.

what would you have done.?

Cheers!

30 minutes ago, Wrknrvr said:

   With 13 years experience as a mobile rv tech I would suggest that you absolutely check to see if there is another gray water tank that is not open all the way. I have seen two gray water tanks hooked together. They were in older Motorhomes up into mid 2000.

 

   But I have discovered that pouring Simple green into anyplace there is a trap in the drain system may help clear the system. Maybe a cup of Simple Green into each trap at the end of the day. Or if you can at least let it set for a few hours. Go food shopping or something to spend the time away from using your drains.

   Now I have actually did some test on grey water and associated semi solids with Simple Green. I have also tested in on black water in a liquid form. It dissolves grease and other natural semisolids.

  I did those test over several days to see what would happen.

 

  Now I have never went to college or wore a white jacket as in a lab. I have been criticized for not being educated and trying to prove things without having a degree. Or a white jack.

 

 But I did go to the (school of hard knocks) real life experience. 

 

  This just a suggestion to try. It has worked for me personally, in our fifthwheel. And it has solved quite a few similar problems through the years for my customers.

  A 1 gallon container or Simple Green is about 20 bucks.

  I have used it to clean grease off on farm equipment, oil field equipment and a lot of other stuff that had oil or grease in, or on it.

 

 

   Vern in a T-shirt 

Tough crowd. 

So there was undeniably a blockage somewhere as none of the drains would empty. So what to do? Notwithstanding that vendors do like to "sell there service" was I just supposed to say oh heck we don't need to use the sinks, showers, dishwasher? Hope I don't sound too defensive, but frankly I had no option.

So while I agree that you shouldn't NEED to, I am frankly glad that I had it done...despite the need. As a preventative measure I actually might think about having it done every so often, despite the normal use of proper chemicals to keep drains cleaned. Believe me, as someone who grew up in Maine and being somewhat frugal myself, I hated to spend the money.

But as I said earlier having a desire/need to shower, do the dishes, wash clothes and keep the Mrs. happy, I figure it is was a good use of the money, and as a side benefit, the gauges/monitors now are cleaned and work (for the time being).

Good football weekend.

49 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

Interesting on the comment about tank flushing. That sounds like someone who is selling a service. I have owned RVs for many years and have never had waste tanks professionally flushed. We lived in our class A as our only home for 11+ years and we owned it for 14 years, yet never had it professionally flushed. I have only known a few people who have had their waste tanks flushed and don't remember any gurgle noise problems. As a side note, just recently we have begun to get something of that sound from the shower drain in our stick home! I haven't figured that out either.  🙄

Thanks for your email. I generally agree with you, but whatever happened, happened and I know how we have used the coach since we acquired it but certainly did not know what the prior did (by way of maintenance). 

I am just glad that it got done and everything is working and, guess what, the sensors are actually working again.

Oh well. didn't really have a choice. Although not full time as long as you, we are cognizant of proper maintenance of both tanks as we have owned rigs for 7 years.

Happy New Year.

so $295 later both black a gray tanks "flushed out" and yet gurgle still there. The company that did the "flushing" believe these that the tanks probably haven't been flushed out since it was first sold...4 years. He's probably right and then I presume (as he said) it should be done 1x a year. As we are full-times.

Gurgle clearly is the valve in the kitchen and compared to a plumbing problem, I can handle the gurgle. 

Have a great weekend everyone.

Lucky you. Wished we had one. Seems inconceivable that I should have to remove the washer and dryer to trouble shoot.

Not so lucky me - guess. Will keep looking.

just in case you might be interested, below is the plumbing schematic.

I was worried that you might have missed me, so I thought I would drop by. So we solved the gurgling issue (or should I say I know why). But in the process of running the washing machine (or a short cycle) to test the gurgling theory another plumbing issue surfaced.

I decided to take a shower and guess what? The shower was full of water. Great! No shower for me.

I didn't panic but perhaps I got pissed and said "what next." I know generally speaking you cannot snake these lines (easily) and so I went to Home Depot to buy a plunger, don't really use one for toilets as they both has macerators. So I bought a plunger...no luck. I did buy a plastic "drain weasel"....don;t ya love the name, but I figured for $5.67 why not. So Peggy and I bailed the water out, I plunged away and lots of stuff came out, well not lots. No hair (probably cause I am bald). So one wonders how to deal with a clogged line in an RV? So lets hope that Pequa  works.

So this is the first time this has happened. I wonder of this issue is (in some way related to the gurgling. I also shutter to think that there may be a Air Admittance Valve behind the washer. Oy Vey! Pulling the washer and dryer out (two separate appliances) to see if there is a AAV. I also guess I better look at the plumbing schematics that THOR sent me.

For those of you that might wonder. This is the first time in 10 months that this has happened. Guess I am lucky, right?

Sorry, but ME AGAIN!

The value (and fun) of this forum has been proven to be most valuable (and interesting). Thank you all. I hope that when and if I need further input advice it will be on a different topic.

Stay well everyone. 

1 hour ago, lenp said:

When you were on the roof checking the vents did you try running water down the vent to ensure it wasn't clogged somewhere between the roof and the tank(s)?  Also, the photo of the vent that was caulked appears that the vent pipe was (is) pushed down too far perhaps limiting air flow?????  All of mine protrude some from the roof.

Lenp

PROBLEM SOLVED...I THINK

I took the vent off the kitchen line to see if was working. I sucked in and blew out and it seemed to work. I put the vent back on the pipe and for some reason, while doing the dishes, I discovered that the sinks (double bowl) backed up. Hmmm. I took that vent off and the water evacuated immediately.

I left the vent off, ran a short cycle of the washer and no gurgle. Hmmm, could that mean that there isn't enough air in the line to push the vent-flap up to allow enough air to get into the pipe, those creating the gurgle.

Not sure if I have that right, but now do I buy a new vent , or leave it off?

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT i SOLVED IT? 

I am afraid to hear what all of you think.

THANKS TO ALL.

no, that should be fun getting at. Hmmm, BTW when we take a shower (which is adjacent to the washer) it sometimes precipitates a gurgle

Thanks (I think) 

My ABS is in a fixed pipe almost next to the pipe and there is no leak, darn.

Thanks.

Thanks. we have replaced the valve and have no visible leak or water. The curiosity is that the gurgling happens when the shower in the mater bath and the washing machine is discharging, so it does not happen when water is running out of the sinks in the kitchen. 

Are you saying that "air leak" is in the vicinity of the sink plumping? Suffice to say that the water coming from the bath, dishwasher and washing machine all use the same line.

Interesting theory, how does one run that to ground? If there air admittance valve were not functioning it would impact the water leaving the sinks...would it not?

Thanks.