110v Receptacles

In my attached pics, my 2000 Fleetwood Bounder 36s has two 110v receptacles above the 30amp receptacle (circled in blue). I had read about people having to turn off their A/C or one A/C to be able to use their microwave, or run an extension cord to the microwave from a 110v supply that's next to the 30amp supply at the RV park to work around this problem, still being able to run both A/C this way and use the microwave at the same time.

My question is, are the two 110v receptacles above the 30amp receptacle in my pics for inputting 110v into my RV or for output in case I have a need for 110v outside near my waste hosing and that?

I was thinking it might be to plug a cord with two male ends into my RV for extra circuit or two from 110v supplies at the RV park, or hoping at least.

Plug in a work light. An Air compressor. or an interfacer box between park cable and everything else.

If I read you correctly, you said "might be to plug a cord with two male ends". That would be very dangerous because the end you'd be holding, the prongs would be energized. Maybe I misunderstood you.

I've also got a '00 36s.  I've never had a problem running the microwave while running the a/c's.  The thermostat has load shedding capabilities and will usually just shut off one of the a/c compressors while you're using the microwave.

What I did do was add a stand alone 20amp circuit so I can run an electric fireplace type heater without putting a strain on the coach systems.  When I plug in at a park, I run the 30amp cord and also a 2nd normal 12ga cord to the 20amp plug on the pedestal.

John is right, that plug in the electric bay is for plugging in accessories.  I use it for my heated water hose if I ever need it.

What you are talking about is commonly called a suicide cord in the electrical trade for good reason.  Wiring in a separate 120V 20 amp inlet plug wiring directly to the microwave outlet may be acceptable though.

This is where I had read about people having to turn off their A/C or one A/C to be able to use their microwave, or run an extension cord to the microwave from a 110v supply that's next to the 30amp supply at the RV park to work around this problem, still being able to run both A/C this way and use the microwave at the same time:

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=82883.0

I have a Coleman Mach 1 A/C and a Coleman Mach 3 A/C and on high pulls 10 amps and 13.1 amps together, so says airxcels specs, so pulling 23 amps in Tennessee heat this summer doesn't leave much room to play with is what I was thinking after reading the post linked above. I also was reading somewhere that if you don't run some A/C units on high, they will freeze up. But I'm guessing we will be eating tv dinners for a while and that and microwaves go hand in hand. Reason why I'm asking about this is because we have our house under contract and is sold, and we will be in this RV soon until we buy our new house. I have accepted the fact that the selling and buying of homes never times out right. But I was thinking about putting in a small refrigerator/freezer right behind the passenger seat but don't know about this because of the amp pull being so close to the limit.

But I think I read somewhere about what Old_Crow was saying that the thermostat has load shedding capabilities. I hope this is true for my RV too.

We bought this RV from a guy and his wife who are in their 70's, he is ex-military from a teenager, and I thought I could trust him to tell me how great and wonderful this coach was and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I guess none of that prevents you from being a lying POS these days. I guess standards have changed even in the older generations. By the time I'm thru finding one thing after another to fix, re-rig or replace, I'll have a new, wonderful coach, kind of like the one he said this one was. Haven't experienced all the wonders of our new coach we bought that has absolutely nothing wrong with it yet. But I will have a whole lot of new words you haven't heard of yet just for these occasions in case you want to learn some new ways to express yo self.

I'm re-doing the roof with Dicor Lap sealant and RV Roof Magic. New MaxAir A/C shrouds. Re-working and cleaning the Mach 3 A/C which is filthy. Coil looks like a muddy door mat. Brakes almost totally re-done, thru tomorrow. Replacing carpet with tile for the pets we have. The cabinets over the sink and the fuse box cabinet were hanging by a thread by faulty design. After another half million dollars or so, it will be just great. And I will dream of it in the old folks home I'll be in soon, broke and sun-burned from working on my RV. Nothing else like it. Well, then there's the wife......

But I want to thank all who have helped me figure out things over the time that I have read about things in the forum. Thanks for sharing all your know how and knowledge.

But my real point about the two 110v receptacles circled in the picture is that they are above a 30amp input receptacle and are named the same way, instead of just there, unlabeled, like all the other 110v receptacles all over the camper. Makes it look like they are 110v input receptacles labeled this way. I was hoping they had another purpose that I had never heard of or thought of that might solve the amp dilemma of the 30amp RV.

Now I wish I hadn't spent all that money on all those girlfriends when I was younger and saved up for a tour bus.

We haven't found the 30amp limit to be a problem.  We've been living full time in ours for almost 2 1/2 years and have never even popped the main breaker. 
Last winter(mostly because I was bored and wanted a project)I added the extra circuit for the heater we use, but even before that, running it off the standard coach circuitry we never had a problem. 
This winter I'm looking at possibly replacing the dining table and chairs with a booth.  We replaced the oh-so-comfortable hide-a-bed and mini recliner the first winter, and I just saw that the same company now offers booths to match.

Those outlets are for your use to plug in any accessory you wish (within limits). BUT be aware they will be (or should be) protected by a GFCI breaker or plug along with several other outlets found inside. Just mentioned so you will be aware of that should you find them dead at any point and have to troubleshoot the problem.

Alfa38User said:

Those outlets are for your use to plug in any accessory you wish (within limits). BUT be aware they will be (or should be) protected by a GFCI breaker or plug along with several other outlets found inside. Just mentioned so you will be aware of that should you find them dead at any point and have to troubleshoot the problem.

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My 36S has 2 GFI's.  The outlet in the bathroom above the sink and the outlet in the kitchen.  The one in the bathroom seems to cover the outlets on the driver's side of the coach, and the one in the kitchen covers the outlets on the passenger side.
I suspect that since the outlets in the utility bay are on the driver's side, they would be covered by the GFI in the bathroom, but I haven't tested this.

Skyview911 said:

We bought this RV from a guy and his wife who are in their 70's, he is ex-military from a teenager, and I thought I could trust him to tell me how great and wonderful this coach was and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I guess none of that prevents you from being a lying POS these days. I guess standards have changed even in the older generations.

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This may not necessarily be the case, although your frustration is certainly understandable. Many folks simply don't know all the in's and out's of RV ownership and maintenance, even if they owned one for a long time. Lots of items just go ignored or overlooked, and since it hasn't actually "broken" then the sellers assume everything is fine and it's in great shape. As RV buyers, we DO still have to educate ourselves fully on these rigs, and know what to look for prior to buying.

Skyview911 said:

By the time I'm thru finding one thing after another to fix, re-rig or replace, I'll have a new, wonderful coach, kind of like the one he said this one was.

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Consider that a silver lining! In all honesty though, you will be very familiar with your rig and pretty confident on troubleshooting/fixing just about anything that comes up. That's a good thing!

When I bought mine, it took me about a week and a half to fix the stuff that the PO said "worked fine".  For the past 2 years I've been fixing stuff that broke since then.  Don't sell your tool box.

Yep, you guys are right about that. And thanks for the help and advice.

While the Dicor lap sealant is drying for 2 WEEKS on the roof, I just got thru seafoaming the onan 5500 and replacing the fuel pump, fuel filter, oil and filter, and air filter. Now on to the rest of the 5000 things on my list to do to it. Did the brakes yestitty. Got them almost finished, but have a doctors appt. today. This is to find out whats wrong with me buying a 2000 Bounder with nothing wrong with it. I figured out how you know if anything is wrong with a RV you might be buying. You know somethins wrong with it when they tell you there aint nothin wrong with it.

I think I'm gonna be able to fry up burgers and stuff on the roof to sell and maybe break even. I cannot believe how hot that rubber roof gets without melting.

It really does not matter if you buy a million dollar brand new coach or the one that is used and "In perfect condition" it will invariably have issues and need repairs from day one. RVs are worse than boats in that respect.

As you were told, there is a real good chance the man that sold it to you really believed it was in tip top shape. When you sell it, undoubtedly the next owner will cuss you when he finds things wrong you knew nothing about.

Help is here, just ease up a bit on the negativity please.

Old_Crow said:

When I bought mine, it took me about a week and a half to fix the stuff that the PO said "worked fine".  For the past 2 years I've been fixing stuff that broke since then.  Don't sell your tool box.

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I got mine new... I did not sell my tool box either (Well part of it But not the house/RV part.. Just some vintage electronics stuff like Tube Testers).

Negativity?

I understand about people not knowing this and that, sure. Thinking their big investment is in great shape and not knowing any better, certainly understandable. After a bit of careful consideration after I saw what all was wrong with the RV I had bought, after being told it was in such great shape, I made a decision.

I can tell you 1000% sure that that man knew of everything that was wrong with that RV that he lied straight to my face about. Said to me "There's not a thing wrong with my old coach and if there's anything wrong with it, I'll stand behind it 100%". But that never happened quit like he said. Promises, promises. Good for the prom night only.

So a few days after the purchase, I paid him a friendly visit and my right boot confirmed he lied to me and my right boot got told about stuff I didn't know about as well. Such as rear metal on metal brakes, blown exhaust gasket, roof leak, generator issues, A/C problems and a few other things.

I also cured him of his "hard of hearing problem", being that he said he didn't hear the brakes grinding and the blown exhaust manifold gasket because he couldn't afford his $6000 hearing aids. When he was thru telling my right boot about all these things wrong with my newly purchased RV, I leaned over and asked him this question. "Can you hear me now?" It was a definite "Yep, I can hear you man". And that's my ending to the story.

When a man lies to you about things that involve this kind of money, somebody ain't gonna have a good day. I like to make sure it ain't me. What's really bad is a man who was a life long member of any of the armed forces to lie to another mans face don't fly with me. It's a disgrace. You look a man in his face and shake his hand and give him your word, you best stand by it.

Negativity? I think it turned out very positively. He got his hearing back and I saved him $6000. I still wear them boots today.

I don't know if you mentioned this but did you have it inspected by a professional RV inspector?  Mmmmmmm!

I sat in this RV with the man and woman and my wife for a few hours listening to a Triton V10 motor purring. It was at the end of a February ice storm, heat on, talking to them about everything in or on that RV. Knew it like the back of their hands. He talked about being a pilot flying C130 cargo planes and so on. Had to speak up to talk to him because he couldn't afford the $6000 hearing aids he needed, but most everything you said to him was said again three times as loud to him by his wife who could hear a gnat whisper. He also talked about the hip surgery his wife needed. That's what they were selling the RV for. Really, I wanted to help them out in the back of my mind.

I was always taught to respect them old boys who served. Their words carried weight. When it was important, there was no BS. I believed him and as far as I was concerned, I didn't need to test drive it or take it to some place to have it checked out. The man looked me in the eye and told me they had taken good care of their coach and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it and would stand behind it 100%. Shook my hand and the deal was done.

When I came back with the stack of cash and paid him at his bank, we went to his house and he cranked up the thing. It sounded like my old mans farm truck. A ragged POS. It turns out that purring kitten I heard a couple days before had a blown exhaust gasket on the back right side cylinder with the blackest soot blown outside it. It didn't happen boom like that either. It had been that way for some time from all the soot. I think the only way it was hidden was that he unhooked that cylinder the day we looked at it and heard it purring. Only thing I can think of. Exhaust gaskets don't blow and soot up the head around it that quick and he didn't drive in with the ice on the road since a couple days before.

I just thought to myself that it's only a gasket, easy to fix. Move on. Then he followed me to my house and just before we got there, I pulled us over and told him to let me drive the rest of the way because my driveway was tricky to get the RV into. Soon as I got to the first stop sign, brakes grinding metal on metal loud as can be. The gnat whisperer would have heard this for sure and screamed it to him that a monster was underneath the RV or something. When I took that right rear side apart, the brake caliper was so burnt up and scorched, it took me almost 5 hours with a 3 ton jack, a pull bar and long pipe to get the two caliper bolts out, jacking up the pull bar with the pipe on it to turn the 15/16" bolts. It is a Ford 550 Super Duty under there. I can't believe it didn't catch the RV on fire. The left side caliper was stuck causing the pressure to all go to the right side and burn it up. Been like that for a while.

Was I wrong to not get the thing checked out? In hind sight, yeh. Was I wrong to trust a man as he said he was, a Veteran with his service record? Sad to say, but yeh, I was wrong. Not only wrong but stupid to do so turns out. Was he wrong to disrespect who he said he was and lie to me. Oh yeh. He had no respect for himself, his wife or his past to do that. So now I've got to question what a man tells me who has served this country? It ain't right. It ain't right for me to have to do that and it ain't right for somebody to be that way to put me or anybody in that position. I expected the best out of this man. He fell short, way short. That is one of my dilemmas. The other is all the work I have to do and money to have to spend to fix both our mistakes.

Sadly used vehicles are generally sold "Where is As Is" but if you can get him to put "Nothing wrong" in the contract.. He's toast.

IF you buy it from a dealer.. Dealers are regulated in most states by a licensing authority. often the DMV (in Michigan it is the Secretary of State, which is also the DMV).. I have a friend who is an investigator for SOS. and ... Well.. I know of one dealer (Car not RV) padlocked by the state due to their service dept..  Mine was one of the complaints.

But that said... They license RV dealers too.

My RV dealer is decent on service. what they do of it. Only two complaints.. (on two jobs)
Camping world is worse (3 complaints on 2 jobs). Oh I might add the complants

one minor (When they did the dometic recall they forgot to put the condensationdrain outside.. Told me they did but I checked it even before I got back in the RV andit was inside..  The Major.. The install instructions for the BLUE OX base plate on my towed said to LOCKTITE the bolts.. My Body man.. Doing a bit of repair to the car later.  Found one bolt missing and replaced it.. WITH LOCKTITE THIS TIME.

It's as likely to be ignorance as misrepresentation.  The guy probably thought the RV was OK (he couldn't hear the noises anyway!) and that he had taken good care of it.  A large proportion of the owners are of the drive it and forget it school. Works well-enough with late model cars that run near-forever with little care, but not so on a heavy duty vehicle.