Hints, Tricks and Gadgets/Tools --- small ones.

Well I'll be darned. Didn't think of doing that Carson. Thanks.

We have found that the glass companies that do motorhome windshields know exactly what glass to get for any make/model/year of motorhome, but it's always good to have a record of part numbers like that.

If my windshield suddenly went off on it's own my first call (Unless I was in Las Vegas) would be to Damon customer support.

In Las Vegas I'd call Dave Simpson (Who has worked on my rig)

DEAR CARSON. ID LIKE TO INTRODUCE NYSELF. MY NAME IS CASSANDRA AND IM VERY NEW TO RVING.(SEE POST ON MAR 22 THEN MAR 26, CASSSANDRA,INTRODUCE YOURSELF) YOU'LL GET THE PICTURE. IVE BEEN BROWSING THE FORUM TO BETTER EDUCATE MY SELF AND YOUVE GOT SOOOOOO MUCHHHH REALLY IMPORTANT (SOME MAY THINK TRIVAL, NOT ME) STUFF IN YOUR HEAD THAT I  NOT ONLY NEED BUT DESIRE TO KNOW. I HOPE YOU'LL READ THE PRIOR POSTS SO YOU CAN GET A BETTER PICTURE OF WHATS GOING ON IN MY WORLD. ********A HUGE THING FOR ME IS, YES IM FULLTIME, BUT!!!! IM NOT TRAVELING, IN GOING TO BE IN PARK RESIDENT.********** NONETHELESS THE INFO IS CRITICAL TO ME. ANY AND ALL LITTLE TID-BITS (BIG OR SMALL) YOUVE GOT TO OFFER "BRING-EM-ON"!! RIGHT NOW, SINCE  READING ALOT OF STUFF ON THE FORUM 2NITE I GOT THIS KNOT IN MY STOMACH ABT LIC AND REG AND TAXES INS ETC.. HOW OR DOES IT VERY? I LIVE IN SAN DIEGO CA. THE MONTANA IS CURRENTLY REG IN ARIZONA. SHOULD I JUST TRANSFER OWNERSHIP AND GET CURRENT REG, INS ETC?? BY READING MY POSTS YOU'LL GET A BROADER VIEW. ALSO I NEED/WANT TO GET ANY AND ALL INFO ON THE UNIT. I DONT EVFEN KNOW HOW TO TURN ON THE POWER, WATER, ETC ETC ETC. OH I DID LEARN HOW TO OPERATE THE 3SLIDES HA-HA. NO JOKE HERE BUT IM A LITTLE INSCURE ON THIS MATTER AND SHOULD BE. I WISH I WAS OUT THERE TRAVELING WITH ALL OF YOU I REALLY DO, BUT THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE AT THIS POINT. MAYBE I REALLY SHOULDNT BE ON THIS FORUM BECAUSE ALL OF YOU TRAVEL, AND I DONT , HOPE ITS OK WITH ALL.    [email protected]

Cassandra,
Please do not use all capitals in your messages. It is very hard to read and is also considered "shouting", since caps are used to denote emphasis.

Greetings, Cassandra

    I see you are getting a lot of good advise from members of the forum. I am glad that you found some of my hints and tricks valuable.

    Certainly most of them are well known to the experienced, but I tailored my words toward the Newbies, as good and tested ideas are not easily nor voluntarily shared by the old-timers.

    I have a bunch more to come, so stand by.

    Please heed Gary's advice re caps. I would also suggest that you use paragraphs more often to break up the word stream. Your message will be much more powerful if you use standard principles of writing. (I know it is hip to follow the modern method (Yahoo-talk) but it is not helping your cause.

With greatest respect,  carson FL

Sandra, did I insult ypu ?

If so, my apologies.  (Polititans do it all the time)

carson  F

I think it may be time to rejuvenate this topic.

  Here is a little trick that may be of value to those with holding tank measurement problems. How full is it??

A little background: My RV has been sitting in hot weather for several months now. (90 F plus everyday).
The liquid in my tanks is about 1/3 full each, except the propane, which is full.

  My sensors, much discussed, are working fine, but I thought I might offer an alternate solution for those without sensors or with troublesome sensors. My tanks are plastic and about 12" tall each. The fresh water tank is translucent, so no problem. The others are gray and opaque.

    I used my little IR (infrared) thermometer to check the fluid levels. (Picture below) Just pointed at the exterior of the tank walls.

The result was as follows:

Fresh Water = above waterline = 89F....below waterline = 85F (degrees)

Gray Water  =                        = 88F                            = 83F

Black Water =                        = 88F                            = 84F

Propane      =                        = 87F                            = 87F    (Tank is full)

  It appears to me that the 4-5 degree difference would be an accurate indication of a reasonable guess.  ???

    Give it a try and please report your findings on this topic.

  I think that if a measurement is made right after travel, this method may be faulty. Some time is required to settle things down.

carson FL 91.0F



     

OK, Carson, that idea grabbed me. Went right out and put my IR gun to work. (Unlike many, I have not had any trouble with my indicators.) (So far.) (Crossing my  fingers while knocking on wood.)  :

Sunny, Ambient temp = 79

Side wall of bay doors - white - of the MH was 95 in the sun - - 74 in the shade.

All tank contents were low. Might be different when fuller.

Propane- shady side: Gauge on tank reads a little over 1/4 tank. Inside indicator reads low. IR read 78.5 above level and 75 below. Agreed approximately with indicator and gauge. 3.5 deg difference, but sharply deliniated. I could tell where the top of the liquid probably was.

Water-shady side: Inside indicator reads low. Visual shows tank is about 1/6 th. IR reads 73.5 above and 71.5 below. Only two degrees difference. Might be different if there was more water. Doesn't matter as the water is visible through the tank wall.

Gray-sunny side: Inside indicator reads low. Should be low. IR indicates low. 73 above and 70 below. Note that on ths side, the higher temp is above the line, unlike the water temp on the other side. Not sure that's why, but it is different from the shady side.

Black-sunny side: Inside indicator reads half full. The yellow light is lit. 72.5 above and 70 below. The differential line indicates that the second sensor has just been submerged and should be lit, inside, which it is.

I like the idea. My differential is even less than Carson's, but repeated readings were pretty consistant and the line was fairly abrupt. I think this may work for some who are driven nuts by their indicators or have no indicators. Need more test results, from others, to add confidence but this shows promise.

Thanks, Carson.

Ray D  ;D

Good stuff, Ray,

  A few comments here: I believe that the temperature differences would vary a bit with the ambient outside temperature. The reason there is a difference between liquid and the air space is that the liquid evaporates slowly (through the vents) hereby reducing its temp. (The laws of physics; thats why you feel cool when you sweat).
    The air space would assume ambient temperature. Hence, in warmer climes, like here, the differences would be slightly higher. I believe that in really cool weather, there would be no indication worthwhile.

    Another thing I checked was the surface temperature of the RV in direct sunlight.
On the white colored surface it was about 105 deg F. When I checked a black surface it was 140 deg F.

    Moral of the story on this: Don't paint your RV black, brown, red etc. Makes for a hot inside area and lots of A/C operation, insulation or not. Even the insulation gets overheated and radiates inward.

    Anyone else with opinions?

carson FL

That sounds like a great way to read the real level.. Thanks.. I too carry an IR gun

Ron said:

If I recall correctly it was Fred and Daisy that turned us on to the cookware that the handles are detachable.

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Does anyone have a link to where I can get these? 

Thanks,

Andy

The ones we have are "T-Fal".  I have not seen any lately but then we have not been looking.  G

AJHales said:

Does anyone have a link to where I can get these? 

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Daisy also talked me into these pans and I love them ! Mine are by Fagor, bought them at Camping World for about $90....4 saucepans with lids and a skillet with 2 handles. Nest very nicely and take up minimal space in the RV. Plus they cook great.

Wendy

AJHales said:

Does anyone have a link to where I can get these? 
Thanks,
Andy

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I got one of these at Harbor Freight.  It seems to work well.

Edit:  Oops!  Sorry, I thought the topic was infrared thermometers... 

KodiakRV said:

I got one of these at Harbor Freight.  It seems to work well.

Edit:  Oops!  Sorry, I thought the topic was infrared thermometers... 

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It's actually both and a lot of other stuff too. The "hints, tricks and gadgets" subject allows for a LOT of different things being discussed.

Wendy

Seems to me that this topic has been polluted by RICE.

    Perhaps all the rice posting could be moved to the "HOMEMAKING" topic.

Respectfully,  carson FL

Sorry Carson, missed that. I split the pans & rice stuff and moved them to Homemaking. Thanks for the heads up.

Thank you, Tom.

  Having made it in the top 10 for most viewed topics, we owe it owe it to the readers to keep the topic on track. I will be submitting more in the near future.  Wish other members would contribute a bit more.

carson FL    92.8F

I know a trick my dad taught me, and it has not failed me yet. Any brand of battery with a four year warranty can be replaced in three years with a pro rate loss (about Equal to) the cost of a dinner at a fast food place, or 4-6 bucks. The piece of mind to me is worth it. Motorhomes like battries anyway. With all the new tech the batterys have now  really makes little difference. But that's just me. Also keep a real wine cork in the tool box. If you break a 12 V light bulb off You can use it to remove the blub from the socket with less chance of cutting your hand.