Hello from Carriere, Mississippi

[miss_carriere]

Hello everybody;

My husband Ken and I recently purchased our first travel trailer, a 30 ft 1994 Fleetwood Wilderness which we pull with my husband's work truck, a Ford E350 diesel power stroke with a boxy Utilimaster box,? from a seller on e-bay.? In September, 2006 we travelled to South Carolina to pick it up.? Almost everything about the trailer was as described, except the fact that the tt had leaked rain into the rear of the trlr, but an adequate repair job was completed.? ?We've gotten sick of paying through the nose for lousy hotel rooms, and y'all know what a disaster flying has become in recent years.? We didn't want a monthly note so a used tt seemed the way to go.? We did not receive an owners manual with the trailer, so I'll be ordering one from Fleetwood in the near future.? I've got to give my husband ALOT of credit. He brought the tt all the way back to MS from SC over several days.? Going thru Atlanta, GA was scary, but we made it thru o.k. It's alot to get used to at one time...the towing, braking, a/c, black/gray tanks, etc.? He has done a great job.? We've purchased a couple of tt books on-line to become familiar with the way travel trailers operate, etc.? We just spent three days at the Little Black Creek Water Park in Lumberton, MS.? We enjoyed the park very much.? Still occupied by alot of FEMA folks, but most everyone we came into contact with were friendly, and respected the rules of the park governing quiet time, pets on leash, etc.
We had a couple of problems with the tt while we were there.? The weather had cooled down and we wanted to try out the heater to see how it worked.? The first time we turned it on everything was fine..it heated the trlr in no time.? The second time, though, only our fan came on w/o the burner.? We would have to wait anywhere from 30 mins to 1 hour before we could turn the unit on again where both the fan, followed by the burner would come on...could be the delay?? The 2nd problem was with the water.? We hooked up the the parks water supply (we have a filter/pressure regulator in place) Initially the water flowed thru the pipes to the kitchen sink w/o a problem, but the 2nd day it started to 'spit' and 'sputter' as though it had air in the line.? By the 3rd day everything smoothed out and I was able to wash the dishes w/o spattering water all over the place.? Could this be a problem with the parks water supply?? It doesnt make sense to us that the tt has a problem especially when one day it is fine, and the next its not.? Does anyone experience the same problem..how do you know if its the parks problem or your own tt?? ? We enjoy travelling during the off season when the weather is cooler and there are fewer people, noise.? We brought a couple of bicycles and rented a canoe.? My husband tried some fishing but didn't catch anything.? We did meet a man who had arrived at the park at daybreak and had a stringer of five fish, each weighing about 2lbs, that he had caught on live bait (shad).? We plan to head back to the park in January, 2007 after we've addressed the problems I've described.? The local trips will help us learn and get it together before we make a longer trip.? We look forward to heading out to the Grand Canyon.? Neither of us have ever been there.? Well, I better go.? I hope I haven't violated any forum rules by 'rambling' on about the tt's maintenance isssues here on the 'Intro' board...

Glad to be here,

Barbara  ???

 

[John From Detroit]

I do recommend one of the generic RV owner's handbooks Either Woodalls or "The RV Book"  both of which you can often find at an RV dealer or Camping World  They have a lot of generic info

The problem with your furnace for example... They give instructions for cleaning the burners. but I suspect you may have had some air in the line preventing it from fireing up the first time (it timed out waiting for propane to appear)

As for the water.. I can think of no problem with the trailer, so long as you have the water pump off, that would do that, the only way air can ENTER a pressurized system is at the pump. 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Your furnace has a high temperature limit switch that prevents internal overheating - it will inhibit burner ignition until it cools down. If yours started after a 30 minute rest, that could be the problem. Could be a faulty high limit switch or it may actually have overheated.  Usually an overheat condition resets in just a few minutes, though.  Should not be anything like 15-30 minutes.  I think John's idea about the propane supply may be more likely. How long did the furnace run before it would not re-start? Are we talking all one day or just one heat cycle, i.e. 2-10 minutes?

As for the water bubbles, it is not unusual for air to be trapped in the water system for a day and suddenly come spurting out. It kind of defies the imagination how this happens, but I have experienced it any number of times. Yes, it could have come from the campground supply if they worked on their system or maybe have a well pump with a leak on the suction side, but chances are it was just air trapped somewhere in your rig's plumbing.  You usually inject some air whenever you disconnect/reconnect the city water hose (air in the hose and the connector) and it finds it way through the system eventually.  If your faucets have fine mesh strainers on the spigot (most do), unscrew the end and clean the accumulated crud out. It reduces water flow and also tends to trap air behind it in the tap.

Your "rambling" is just fine, Barbara. Sharing experiences and seeking help is what we are here for... 

 

[Carl L]

Some suggestions were provided over here where this same message was posted.

No longer there.  The topic has been split and recombined under the current topic of Re: Hello from Carriere, Mississippi.  T'aint lovely but at least it is all in one place now.  ;D

Carl: I further fixed it up by deleting the duplicate message and also my comment about "over there".  Gary/RVRoamer