Running water, heat, air conditioning, electricity. The simple things in life that make living comfortable, easy, joyful.
What could possible go wrong, or not work well in an RV?
- Water: We have never had an issue with water. We have either had a tank full for when we don’t have city water, or we have had city water. What we didn’t have apparently was pressure. Given we are new RV owners we thought, ah well the water pressure is not like in our homes because we are in an RV. So showers took a little longer, filling the Brita took longer. Getting the hot water on demand to work took longer, and at times took us turning on a couple of taps to get it kicked in. Then a long came an RV maintenance guy (Tod) who we hired to clean our tanks, as you should get this done at least annually. He suggested that we buy a regulator and place it at the source – you know, one with a gauge to tell you the water pressure you are getting. He said, you won’t be sorry, it will make a huge difference. SOOO, into Amazon I went and got it within a few days. I installed and WTF!! We have serious water pressure, we have hot water immediately on demand, AND we have shaved 5 minutes off our shower time! Wish we knew this 7 months ago. Life is glorious when it comes to water!
- Heat: When you are down south you would think you wouldn’t need the heat. Well in fact, the temperature swings can be significant here. Tonight it will go down to 1C. That is a little chilly even under the covers. So when the gas furnace stops working, you need to get on top of it! So once again, we hire Tod. He cleaned our furnace, and we got him to do the A/Cs (we have 2) at the same time. He found some animal hair (go figure), a little wasps’ nest (and I mean little), and some stink bugs (which were alive and out of season – again, go figure). There was some corrosion on a furnace part, so he got rid of that. Perfect! We are all set for a very chilly night………..until the furnace kicked out early evening. Texting Tod he now thinks it may be the thermostat itself. That would take ordering and he won’t get it for 4 days, at which time we are in St. Augustine…….so that won’t work. Well, we still have electric heat……..right? It is 5am here, I have been up since 4:30 because the thermostat has decided to be finicky. It’s a smart thermostat, meaning that when the electric has to work too hard, the gas kicks in. Well the thermostat doesn’t like the gas function anymore…….so what am I doing up so early FFS?? Trying to MacGyver the thermostat into keeping the RV warm enough so Barb and the animals don’t freeze. 1. Turn thermostat off. 2. Turn thermostat back on and to 70F. 3. Turn it to the electric function 4. Wait for place to heat up. 5. When electric stops working (which it now has at 5:00am), then you turn off the thermostat, wait (while the temp drops) and then turn back on and push it to gas furnace hoping it gets to the desired temp. (As I am typing I have now set the temp at 75F, hoping I can get out of the two blankets I have wrapped myself in to make myself a cup of tea). Stay tuned on this new development………….
- A/C: Well, I don’t know if this works or not at present as this is also using the same thermostat, and I AM NOT trying the A/C at the moment when it is 1C outside……..so shit, more to come on this as well. Not only do I not like extreme cold, I really can’t sleep when it’s warm. A/C is my best friend most nights.
- Electricity: Other than the thermostat electric function, knock on wood we have no issues at the moment.
Okay, it is almost 5:30 and the gas furnace is still pushing the temp up to the 75 mark. Fingers crossed!!! I am wide awake now so will make some tea and read my latest book, continuing to monitor the thermostat and keep this place liveable. Maybe when Barb wakes up she will make me breakfast……………