I’m a bit frustrated right now, and I’m finding it difficult to resolve said frustrations. Here’s a list of things that are bugging me about my RV life:
1) It’s been raining off and on for nearly two months now. The ground never gets a chance to dry out. This is a problem because our RV is sitting right on top of the septic field into which our holding tanks flush. When the ground is saturated and it continues to rain, the water just pools up over the septic field and everything turns to mush. Plus, nothing wants to flush down into the tank because it’s full. The handyman has pumped out the tank twice, but it’s still an issue. In order to avoid stepping into a sewage-laced puddle when I come out my front door, I’ve laid down a layer of straw in the muck that used to be my “patio.” It helps, but I’m sure it irks our maintenance guy. He can just hush. It’s organic and will break down by spring.
When I’m having a hard time draining my holding tanks, I’ve learned that I can use my main holding tank valve as a sort of “plunger.” When the sewage stops flowing downward, I can close and reopen the main valve and create enough suction to start the flow again. But the drain is slooooow, and my favorite thing to do is stand out in the dark, in the rain and the cold, and flush holding tanks. PLEASE STOP RAINING, and snowing, and slushing, and all other forms of precipitation!
2) Speaking of holding tanks, the valve to the black water tank is finally fixed, but the valve to the grey is now completely stuck in the open position. This wouldn’t be a big deal except the nights are slipping to below freezing on a regular basis now, and there is about a yard of exposed pipe right behind the main valve, a pipe that is constantly full of water now. To remedy this issue, I’ve bought a shop light and I’ve hung it right next to the pipe. I leave it on all nights in hopes it would stay warm enough not to freeze over and burst. Let’s hope it works! The repair service is supposedly coming tomorrow to repair it, a fact which leads me to my next gripe.
3) I’m having the hardest time (again) getting the repairman to return phone calls and show up. I realize he’s a busy guy who covers four states, but damn, he lives maybe twenty minutes away from me. How hard would it be for him to stop by on his way out to another call? This guy has also not been following up with the warranty service. He’s not bothered to call them to preauthorize repairs. Mind you, he didn’t request payment the last time he was here, saying he would try to work it out with JayPlus, but when I called him last week to report the problem with the grey tank valve, he said he hadn’t gotten in touch with them. Now I don’t know how much I’m going to end up owing the guy!
4) My holding tank sensors are all fubar and nothing I’ve tried so far will clean them off, not the built in or rotary tank flushes, not the chemicals, nothing. This means that I just have to wait until the tanks back up to know when to flush them. This means that on at least two occasions, I’ve ended up flooding my basement because the gray tank overflowed into the shower, overflowed the shower onto the bathroom floor, and then dripped down into the basement area. The washer means that the tank fills up faster. My black water tank sensor is funky, too, so I don’t know to flush until my toilet starts “burping” at me when I flush. This can be pretty damned messy. I’m trying something new to clean the black tank, using a laundry detergent and borax solution. I bought some Rid-X, too. I’m bound and determined to get those sensors clean so I don’t have to keep guessing about when to flush the tanks (something we do just about every other day).
5) Wednesday night, a very cold night, I might add, all the electrical outlets on the curbside of the RV decided to short out. All these outlets are GFCI protected, and the outlet with the reset switch is located in the bathroom. The reset button won’t stay depressed. Yesterday I unplugged the shore power and removed the outlet so I could check the wiring. Nothing appeared to be burned. There was one wire that was broken, but I think I broke it when I removed the outlet. Even so, I fixed it and plugged everything back in. Nothing. All the outlets are hot. I used a circuit tester, but the reset button still won’t push in. So yesterday I went to Home Depot and bought a new GFCI outlet and plan to install it later today. If that doesn’t fix it, I hope Mr. Repairman shows up on Monday and takes care of it while he’s taking care of the gray water tank valve.
Right now, I’m having to play musical plugs, unplugging one appliance and then plugging in another while I use it. I can’t plug in my desktop computer (using Lex’s laptop right now), both heaters at once, the rechargeable wet vac…lots of stuff I use all the time. It’s a pain in the butt and probably dangerous, too, since I’m having to use extension cords in all sorts of creative ways. I’m really hoping the new outlet does the trick. I’m no electrician, so thank goodness for the Internet and wiring diagrams.
6) Then there’s the awning. The RV dealership never acknowledged receipt of our letter, and we haven’t yet taken any other steps. I just want that over and done with, and unless we decide we’re willing to sue (which I don’t think we are just yet), it means me coughing up more money to buy a new roller. Our repairman says he can do it for about $600, but that’s $600 I don’t have right now. In the meantime, we get to stand in the rain while we lock and unlock our front door. Plus the whole thing just stills stings. I don’t like feeling swindled.
7) The slide-out awnings need to be replaced. One is in tatters, and every time we have a windstorm, it just gets worse. I really need to buy new canvas and have our guy fix these, too, but that’s going to cost at least $300 between labor and parts. Again, money I don’t have right now.
8. I had plans to have about $2000 saved by the end of December, but all these repairs have caused me to piddle away my savings. Instead, I’ve got a grand total of $400 set aside, and that’s about to be spent, too. I wanted the money so we could take a week-long trip in January before I have to go back to school. That’s not going to happen now, and I probably won’t have another chance to take a trip until Spring Break.
Lex isn’t comfortable taking the 5er out in the winter, I think, because she’s afraid of encountering slick conditions. Can’t blame her; this is our home, and it holds all our possessions. We can’t afford to have it damaged or lost. Still, not being able to take trips when I want to is really frustrating. That was the whole purpose of this big move, after all. I’m really hoping I can save enough money for our big summer trip. To accomplish it, I’m teaching a winter class, doing an overload in the spring, and hopefully socking away any tax refund I might get.
Let’s pray I can get all of the above things fixed without having to suck those reserves dry as I earn them.
Tags: expenses, frustrations, repairs, rv