I spent Sunday trying to resolve the leaky sump cover issue. Despite my efforts last month, the sump still had a slow leak. I figured out that the problem was that it lacked an o-ring. I tried four different stores, but I couldn’t find an o-ring. Eventually, I ended up buying gasket material from Pep Boys and cutting out my own o-ring. I used the hammer to pound the sump cover open, put the gasket in place, and used the hammer to put it all back togethe. Then I mounted it in the basement where it belongs. New interior and exterior filters in place, I flipped the water back on. The water pressure issue we’d been having was fixed…the leak was not. *grumbles*
Turns out my gasket caused more problems than it fixed, so I just broke down and ordered a replacement sump cover, bracket, and o-ring. The whole thing should be here by the end of the week…I hope. In the meantime, I’m daily dumping out a five gallon bucket of water that I have standing beneath the sump in the basement to keep the whole thing from flooding. Not fun. Of everything I’ve had to deal with since we moved in, wrestling with the sump every couple of weeks has been by far the most aggravating. If the new sump cover solves this problem, I will be a very happy RVer.
Of course, there can’t be just one thing wrong at a time. Here’s a short list of stuff that needs fixing right now:
1) Scare light on driver’s side of RV needs replacing. Requires super-tall ladder that we don’t have, and god knows where we’ll get the bulb. It’s like one of those huge lights that you find underwater in swimming pools.
2) The valve to our black water tank doesn’t want to close completely. This is a particular problem because if we aren’t careful, the liquids will continually drain out of the holding tank leaving the solids to build up behind. The only way to keep from ruining our holding tank is to run the tank flush every few days when we dump the grey water tanks.
3) In what I imagine is a related problem, there is liquid sloshing around in the underbelly of our RV. I seriously doubt it’s fresh water. Ugh. Something’s leaking, and I just hope the liquid trapped inside a vinyl covering on the bottom of the RV hasn’t done permanent damage to any wood framing or flooring.
4) The sensors in our holding tanks aren’t reading correctly. Even after emptying, they never read empty. There are products that supposedly clean the sensors, so perhaps we should invest in some of those. The alternative involves flushing the holding tanks from the outside, and I can’t imagine that will be anything but a disgusting mess.
I’ve called an onsite repair service, and he is coming to us this Friday. Since the problem with the sewer valve and the leak in the underbelly are the types of things covered by my extended warranty, I’m going to have him focus on those two things. We’ll have to sort out how to deal with the sensors and the scare light ourselves, I guess. I’ll have to pay a $37.50 site visit charge plus a $100 deductible for the repairs themselves. Hopefully that’s all I have to cough up!
We’re still waiting for Eagle RV to come out and put on the right awning. They did come last week and remove the wrong one, and we haven’t heard from them since. We have to say that we aren’t thrilled with their handling of the whole matter. They haven’t been very communicative, and we’re just hoping that we don’t get stuck without any awning at all. After all, they already have our money, and right now we have nothing to show for it.
Argh. If I can just get everything working all at once, I won’t know what to do with myself. I’m particularly eager to get the sewer and sump problems fixed before temperatures get down to freezing in a few weeks. We can’t afford to have things freezing over and bursting.
Speaking of freezing weather, I’ve bought some winterizing equipment. I bought some Frost King window insulating kits. Basically, the kits are shrink wrappings for my single-paned RV windows, a major source of heat loss in the winter. I can’t really put those on until we’re sure we won’t be opening the windows again anytime soon. I also bought some foam insulation for the water hose, but before I put that on, I need to attach some heat tape to keep our fresh water supply from turning to ice.
One thing on my most-wanted list right now is a fifth wheel skirt. Basically, this is a big, vinyl skirt that snaps to the bottom of the fifth wheel portion of the RV (beneath our bedroom). I figure this will help keep wind and snow at least from blowing beneath our bedroom and keep it warmer while we sleep. The rest of the RV I’m probably going to block off with bales of straw. Where I’ll get those, I don’t know just yet. The skirt plus installation will cost about $230 plus a trip to Jersey and a night in the Camping World parking lot. Yippee. Or not. At least it’s cooler now, so we won’t sweat up a storm like we did last time we spent the night boondocking. The furnace works on propane, so if it’s cold, we can still stay warm. When we’ll make that little trip, I’m not sure. First I have to scare up the cash, and I won’t be able to determine when that will be until Mr. Repairman comes out here and I shell out some buckaroos to him for fixing the sewer.
Yes, there have been lots of little expenses, but honestly, nothing major (other than the awning) has busted. Other than that one night when we didn’t realize we weren’t properly resetting our breakers, we’ve not had to spend any real time without water or power. We’re not “roughing it,” and even if we had to, we’re pretty much equipped to do so. I’m just hoping repairs will continue to be affordable enough to manage. I’m not kidding myself into thinking that there won’t be anymore repairs. After all, we’re living full time in a vehicle designed for recreational use. That means things just aren’t as durable as they are in a stick-built home. Of course, it also means they aren’t as pricey to repair or replace (at least in most instances).
Tags: holding tanks, plumbing, repairs, rv, winterizing
