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RV-Dreams.com Home -> RV-Dreams Community Forum -> RV Maintenance and Technical Tips -> Remember Basic Trouble Shooting Ideas
Post Info TOPIC: Remember Basic Trouble Shooting Ideas
Terry and Jo


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Remember Basic Trouble Shooting Ideas
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Another member posted a thread about changing something called a "hard starter" capacitor or something, but not wanting to hijack his thread, I thought I would post a new one.  (Also, I'm not really technically minded with such things, as you will soon read about.)

We've recently moved back to Oklahoma for a spell to be with our youngest son for upcoming surgeries.  We are in an RV park in the middle of Oklahoma and for a few days last week, it was very hot (up to 108 degrees) and very humid.  While trying to stay cool, one of our A/C units stopped on us.  To me, lying on the bed in the bedroom, everything sounded normal when it shut off.  However, the wife claimed the sound was different with hearing the sound of some clicks (remember that little tidbit in a little bit.

Since the A/C never came back on, we called a mobile tech that came out and looked things over.  He checked inside and out and declared the unit to be dead and in need of replacement.  Obviously, I was NOT a happy camper as it was getting hotter in the RV (eventually got up to about 93 inside), and I was especially not happy with the idea of having to replace the unit.

Then, a little after 8:00 pm, a thought dawned on me, so I went over to a cabinet and pulled the covers from over the fuses and breakers...

...yeppers, we had two breakers tripped (remember the clicks), one of which was the hot water heater and the other was the second A/C.  Turned them both back on and the A/C kicked back on and has been working since then.

So, ALWAYS remember to check the breakers and fuses.  Now, it it calls for high temperatures, I keep an eye on things and also turn off the hot water heater, just in case.  We were gone from the coach the last couple of days, but when we returned, everything was humming right along.

Terry



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Terry and Jo

2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3
2008 Ford F450
2019 Ford Expedition Max as Tag-along or Scout

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Terry and Jo


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Edd,

In reality, the RV repair guy didn't know that the unit wasn't defective.  When he came out and checked things out, he refused to accept any payment, saying that he hadn't done anything.  He was back out the next day to check an A/C on another RV, so I told him about the breaker.  I offered him $25 because he had driven out and looked at the unit, crawling up on the roof in 107 degree heat to do so.  He STILL refused any payment, still saying he didn't do anything.  Even when I argued that he came out because of my neglect to check the breaker, he still wouldn't budge.  I even tried to stick the $25 in his pocket, and he moved away.

So, he was really a good guy.  He just forgot to check the breaker as I had forgotten.

Terry



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Terry and Jo

2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3
2008 Ford F450
2019 Ford Expedition Max as Tag-along or Scout

Our photos on Smugmug
arcaguy


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I couldn't agree more. I used to own an Internet Service Provider (no I didn't get rich) back when the Internet was still fun and we always started with a very simple set of tests when someone's computer/modem wouldn't work. First it plugged in, second does it go beep beep when you turn the power switch on, third can you hear the hard drive whirring, fourth is the monitor turned on etc. You would be amazed at how often the problem was something simple. Oops, in light of the original post I forgot the first step - is there power to the outlet, but I think you get the idea, try the simple and cheap stuff first then progress to the more expensive harder stuff. Terry and Jo I hope you didn't have to pay the technician too much or maybe if you paid him on a credit card you can get your money back.

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Cummins12V98


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Not much of a Mobile Tech if he did not check the basics FIRST!!!

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2016 Mobile Suites 39TKSB3 "Highly Elited"

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PIEERE


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Terry and Jo wrote:

Edd,

In reality, the RV repair guy didn't know that the unit wasn't defective.  When he came out and checked things out, he refused to accept any payment, saying that he hadn't done anything.  He was back out the next day to check an A/C on another RV, so I told him about the breaker.  I offered him $25 because he had driven out and looked at the unit, crawling up on the roof in 107 degree heat to do so.  He STILL refused any payment, still saying he didn't do anything.  Even when I argued that he came out because of my neglect to check the breaker, he still wouldn't budge.  I even tried to stick the $25 in his pocket, and he moved away.

So, he was really a good guy.  He just forgot to check the breaker as I had forgotten.

Terry

 Sorry! deleted my post!



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bjoyce


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Another point is to always check if you somehow fixed something after taking it apart and putting it back together. We once had a windshield wiper that was not working. One guy took apart all the connections to the control box, testing continuity at each point, and did not find a problem. He decided the control box was the problem and put it back together since he didn't have a control box. A few weeks later we went to a place that could replace the control box. They tested the wiper and it worked fine and they tried to make it fail. When I talked to them I realized we had not tried the wipers after the other guy put it back together. There must have been a loose or corroded connection that was fixed just by taking it apart and putting it back together. Since we had all been there, not checking after it was put back together, we all laughed.

I also remember one RV rally where they had the show RVs hooked up to 20AMP and it was hot. So they wanted to run at least one air conditioner in each RV. But the breakers kept tripping. A salesperson knew enough to be dangerous, he knew how to turn off the charger on the battery chargers and that stopped the breakers from tripping. He was a hero, until the next day when they were replacing lots of batteries.

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Bill Joyce,
40' 2004 Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid
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