RE: Woke up to full shower and soaked camper
Wow. More and more I am thinking noobie niece or daughter left some water running . . . or even I did when I was initially clearing air from lines when I set up. Wate could have easily trickled down the wall, into the drain, filled tank, shower and then floor. Once it was under water there would be no sound. Only "issue" is that at o500 my wife said "Honey I hear water running." We didn't hear it all night. So I still have an odd feeling as to source . . . but it could have once again been niece/daughter. Thanks for all the insight . . . I truly did not (now I do)know if there was a plumbing connection from freesh water lines to greywater. I don't have flush lines as it is an older model, but I just love my 84. I find them very cozy, and well constructed. A certain solidness that I don't see much of in much of the 90's models that use what appears to be paper as wall coverings. It just makes walls look chintzy. Nothing like my naugahyde tough, simulated wood grain vinyl paper over cheap thin something or another. Favorite interior from 80"s? well varnished marine grade plywood. Nothing like that real cabin feel for me. Well off topic now so i go nigh-nigh.
RE: Norcold Fridge Question
Wow, I never really thought much about possibility of a fridge not working in cold weather. Read about spoiling food in the midwest where the power is out. Then I thought to myself . . .hello, its cold outside. Move the food to the porch. Yes I know lettuce won't freeze all that well but most food will do just fine and hopefully it won't attract bears, which is possible. But I never realized a fridge wouldn't work if it were too cold outside. I guessed if it was 50 odd degrees in the RV all was fine. Learn something new everyday.
RE: Woke up to full shower and soaked camper
Yeah I am befuddled here as well. My fresh water tank was not filled or filling, I was hooked up to city water from 2 pm forward . . .I too thought perhaps something was left running. However, the kitchen sink had the cutting boards over the sinks, no water running there. If the shower was running all night eventually it would have made splashing dripping sounds, which it didn't, and the sink was not running when I woke up at 0500 with the issue. I was wondering if the plumping lines have a valve somewhere that opened when it shouldn't have? We did have a first time camping niece with us . . .could very well have left sink running for hours, saw mistake, cut it off . .. snuck back to bed embarassed, telling nobody . . . or my 8 year old might have done it . . .that is actually quite plausible. I suppose another trip and close monitoring will let me know.
Woke up to full shower and soaked camper
Hi folks. Camped overnight in roughly 38 degree weather hooked up to city water. Pressure seemed fine, no issues. Went to bed with an empty grey water tank. Woke up with full grey water tank and full shower, overflowed and soaked carpet in cab. Is there a name for whatever item might have failed? Never before happened. I'm assuming there is some valve that should have closed off and prevented the city water from "pressuring" its way in overnight. Perhaps it was just a fluke of higher than normal pressure? I reckon I can take her out for the weekend and see if it happens again . . .keep checking tank status throughout the afternoon and evening. If it is climbing . . .something is no longer doing what it was and is now doing something I do not want it to do.
RE: Latest generator problem
Bill it just smells chemical-like. I know that is as squishy as Jello. I was amazed at how clean it still was, a very light amber color. I will drain that oil/gas mixture out. I do suspect that is what happened in some fashion either through pump or carb. Do I flush the oil after wards with a few quarts of oil, run a few hours and drain and refill? Or is a tad of gas diluted with 4 quarts of oil enough?
RE: Old trailer memories?
66 Barth junior aluminum trailer . . .bought it, restored it over three years . . . first "pull" to Texas I popped a roof seam, rained like heck for three days . . .once again ruined everything. Sigh. Loved that darn thing . . . Birch cabinetry . . . manually pumped water pressure . . . If only I had real skills to restore again.
RE: Latest generator problem
Again thanks folks . . . I will call Onan and see what prices this almost antique commands for replacement parts . . . if available. Might order two if the price is right.
RE: Latest generator problem
Thanks all! Gunny, I will rectify lack of info upon return to the Right coast/Virginny, currently on the left coast/California for business. I was hoping rough info on age/make/kw could get us a roughly reasonable answer. Fuel diaphragm makes much sense, again due to age, possible overuse of fuel cleaners? Perfect opportunity to put new plugs in as well. Now then, does gas in fuel make for an acidic chemical cleaning of oil chambers, or opposite and gooey/gunking of this area? Do I need to drain, flush, run, re-drain . . . or standard drain and refill enough?
RE: Suburban Furnace Recall
Crikeys . . . we all know of the build quality issues . .. this is beyond the pale. Did we contract FEMA to do this? Jiminy Crickets I would think we could sue the pants off for this type of stupidity. I know some FEMA folk are superb hard working types who care, I don't mean to malign. I speak of the crony laden fools initially working Katrina.
RE: Latest generator problem
Thanks donn0128. I did a quick oil flamability check and it did flame up. Did it safely away from danger. As I understand it oil should not flame up at all. I am not a mechanical person but I bet with the latest RV service manual I already own I could get it off and clean it very well with a techron soak, and of course change oil and plugs. I'll post back and see if I get anywhere. Otherwise folks please continue to throw info at me.
Latest generator problem
Hi folks,
My 84 Jamboree Ralley has an Onan 4kw generator. Always started,ran strong, vibration free, plenty of power. Only long and continuing issue was a smelly/stinky exhaust. Various folks told me it needed to warm up, run a cleaner or two through it, couple tanks of gas etc. I had a generator tech adjust it, which helped somewhat, ran smoother, great power, but still smelled much worse than other generators.
I change oil/filter annually,run it 2 hours minimum per month under load, use stabil when it sits, techron and others when taking out. In three years I have at various times ran it long and hot for upwards of 6 to 8 hours, even used a few oil cleaner/supplements such as Marvel Mystery Oil to clean out crud and sludge possibly left behind by previous owners. In short, I take great care of it and like having it.
Recently enroute to camp as I stopped at a few stores along the way I noted it kept stopping even though well gassed(3 times). It restarted, ran smooth, powered everything back up each time. At camp it seemed fine, nothing visually obvious; oil seemed over full, but I wrote it off to not being 100% level. On trip home it fired up and gave a puff of white smoke; first ever, but ran smooth, strong, vibration free, powered up everything. A mile or two down the road I looked into rear view mirror to see tons of billowing white smoke. Very busy street, stopped at red light, oddly nobody pointing and laughing or honking. I hit the kill switch, and looked to get off road so as to not be a danger to others or myself. As I drove off, smoke cleared immedietly ending my worst fear of being on fire. I could see I was not pouring oil or gas on raod so I drove home and checked her out. Nothing visibly wrong, but oil seems overfilled even on level ground (that isn't shaping up to be good news).
I'm not guessing a vandal would change oil and overfill it. Plenty of other ways to harass a person if you want to be mean. I park it on my property, off street so I don't think it is a vandal related sabotage.
I know blue smoke means oil getting past rings and burning, in a car white smoke can mean coolant and has tell tale odor. Since this is a genny, there is no coolant, no tell tale smell. I am guessing one of three things:
1. Unburned fuel getting past rings, into oil. System is dangerously over pressured and may have done permanent damage.
2. Last use of Stabil had just enough gas to run genny, I used enough stabil for whole tank and fuel pickup sucked up a load of almost pure stabil, burns white and smoky. (Overfiled oil may be unrelated, though peculiar as I check it twice every trip).
3. Perhaps the pump,carb and plugs have finally given up and I need to replace them all. Not a bad course of action due to age overall.
I'm leaning towards oil/filter/plugs change, see if it clears up first. If not, move on to pump and carb.
Thoughts?
Steve
