Hello Fellow RV enthusiasts!

[Stormey]

Hallo Rv Enthusiasts. Im new to the whole rv scene. My dad purchased a 37 or 38 ft, 1999 Fleetwood Storm for me. I stay in his backyard in Sunny California full time. Permanent city sewer and water with a temp pole set up for electricity.

As much as I love my STORMEY, [sighs] she does have some very specific issues that are driving me insane.

The wholesaler GUY we bought the rv from was very very QUICK in explaining anything about the actual workings of my new house ( I call it my house,not the rv) and although my dad can fix nearly anything mechanical, neither one of us know the first thing about RV care or general workings of an RV. Although Google is my Friend, ive learned quite a bit.
Right away I noticed staining all around the perimeter of the Ceiling inside ( which is a fabric that rains some kind of lethal dust now and then). I asked the dealer what it was about, he said the roof used to leak but has been redone. The toilet was OLD as well as all the fixtures inside.  The water heater was very briefly turned on then shut off.  She started right up beautiful, and was driven for us to my dads house. Pretty much the driver walked away without a word.

Ok, well she's on an incline now. Pitched forward.  I know NOTHING about leveling this thing.  I do know we have hydraulic jacks and sort of how to set them down.  It gets muddy here when it rains.
We are going to tackle the leveling problem tomorrow. Dad doesn't want the jacks down, he wants to lift the tires with boards. [shrugs] I dunno lol.......

Next up, We haven't had a hot shower yet since we parked here.  I tried getting it going by watching a youtube video with no success.  Its an Atwood Water heater original.  The onboard propane tank. It shows we have half a tank of propane.    A hot shower would be really great. If anyone has suggestions I'd like to hear them. 

Ive replaced that old toilet.  Because we were hooked up to city water, the water pressure must have been to high without a regulator and it blew out my toilet lines. BIG lesson learned.  I didn't want that old grubby toilet anyway. And I have a 45-55 psi water pressure regulator on it now.  No more leaks.  The toilet was a bitch because the ring that you have to attach the toilet too was glued into the neck of the black water tank, no way to replace it. Stupid.... So I had to rig it make it work since the bolting pattern didn't line up with the new toilet. 
Nightmarish so far to say the least.  This is my dwelling now and I want everything in working order.  The entire water heater thing is killing my soul.
Overall, its been a great experience.  I am here to learn from the seasoned Rv'ers. 

So Ahead of time thank you all... And Happy Trails

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Owning an RV is an adventure....Sounds like you are learning all about it like the rest of us did.

I had a waterline break on the back of my toilet so I'm familiar with the mess involved. 

Does the stove top burners work?  That will tell us if the propane tank is turned on. There usually is a turnoff valve located within a foot or so of the tank. 

Do you know if the water heater is just propane or is there an electric option too.  Mine will run on propane or 110 volts.

Having the jacks down will stabilize the RV so it doesn't rock around so much. 

 

[SeilerBird]

Right away I noticed staining all around the perimeter of the Ceiling inside ( which is a fabric that rains some kind of lethal dust now and then). I asked the dealer what it was about, he said the roof used to leak but has been redone.

I strongly recommend finding a good mobile mechanic and have him take a good look at your roof. Almost all RV roofs leak as they age. You are suppose to inspect the roof and patch it once a year. Every five to ten years you should do a complete reseal job. It is rare to find a 20 year old RV that has the roof attended to in the last ten years because it is mostly us old folks owning RVs and as the RV gets older we get older and the maintenance gets less and less attention. RV salesmen would lie to their mother to sell an RV so his claim of it being patched is dubious at best. 

Ok, well she's on an incline now. Pitched forward.  I know NOTHING about leveling this thing.  I do know we have hydraulic jacks and sort of how to set them down.  It gets muddy here when it rains.
We are going to tackle the leveling problem tomorrow. Dad doesn't want the jacks down, he wants to lift the tires with boards. [shrugs] I dunno lol.......

You only need to have the RV close to level. If you walk in and it feels like a fun house you will need to level it. Either boards or the leveler will do the trick.

Next up, We haven't had a hot shower yet since we parked here.  I tried getting it going by watching a youtube video with no success.  Its an Atwood Water heater original.  The onboard propane tank. It shows we have half a tank of propane.    A hot shower would be really great. If anyone has suggestions I'd like to hear them.

You need to turn on the hot water heater first. That means finding a switch, usually located in the kitchen or bath for the water heater and turn it on, wait 15 minutes and then it will be hot. The switch may or may not have a sign on it identifying it as the water heater. If there is no switch anywhere inside then you will probably have to go outside and light the pilot light.

https://youtu.be/niu-81WTUjQ

You are going through the exact same thing almost every new RVer goes through. You might want to check the above link for the library and go read some of the articles.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Welcome to The RV Forum, Stormey!

Leave the refrigerator off while the RV is tilted!

The refrigerator uses a cooling process called absorption, where heat is applied in a boiler to produce cooling inside the box.  The heat (either an electric heating element or a small propane flame) boils an ammonia and water mixture.  The ammonia vapor rises by convection to the freezer, where it absorbs heat while condensing back into liquid.

The condensed ammonia then runs via gravity through the maze of tubing on the back of the refrigerator to the bottom, where it combines again with the water, then flows to the boiler to repeat the process.

If the refrigerator is operated off level, the water/ammonia mixture can't return to the boiler (water won't run uphill) and the boiler can run dry, creating hard flakes that can plug the cooling unit, ruining it.

How level?  Pretty close ... within a half a bubble or so using a bubble level.

 

[Stormey]

ohhh sorry I failed to mention.. The old ammonia refrigerator was taken out.  We have an electric refrigerator now.
Thank you so much for the advice .  As for the level issue. It is severely on an incline. Enough to give you a funhouse effect. We will tackle that tomorrow.

Water heater issue -  Arch Hoagland, thanks for the great info.. my hot water heater is Atwood Propane water heater and has no knob for igniting the pilot. Im guessing its electric pilot start.  I did find the switch in the kitchen.  It seems hard to know whether its on or off.  I will mess with it and see what happens."Does the stove top burners work?  That will tell us if the propane tank is turned on. There usually is a turnoff valve located within a foot or so of the tank."  Ive not tried the stove before but I will. 

Thank you for the sound advice SeilerBird.  I did ask for a few estimates from rv mechanics in my area and received absolutely absurd quotes. One guy wanted to charge 200$ just for diagnostics of the water heater and 150$ an hour labor.  However, I didn't ask him about the roof. Ill look into it again.. quotes were high.

Love all the great advice so far thank you all

 

[Lou Schneider]

In the words of Emily Litella ... Never mind.  ;D

 

[SeilerBird]

So I gotta ask you Stormey, is your last name Weather?

 

[Alpena Jeff]

Or Monday?

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Wow that guy is high priced. Just looked at new Atwood water heaters and you can buy a new one for under $500. However I think you'll get yours going once you look into it.

Where are you located?  Someone may be able to recommend a service person or even come over and take a look for you.

 

[Stormey]

San Fernando Valley in Southern California

 

[Arch Hoagland]

You may want to call a couple RV parks in your area and ask them to recommend an honest RV repair place. They always know of the good ones in the area as people have problems all the time.

I've stayed at Valencia RV Park several times and they are good people to deal with. They might know of a good RV service place.


http://www.valenciatravelvillagellc.com/

 

[Stormey]

thank you thank you ;D