Hot and sweaty no longer

July 19, 2015--Any time you buy something pre-owned, you take a chance. You never fully know if the object was loved and tended, or if it was neglected.

In hindsight, I think Junior (our motorhome) was neglected. Or else,there was a reason why the previous owner decided to trade it in. I suspect the reason--in two words--was electrical problems.

If you have followed this blog, you know that we have experienced some type of electrical problem on every trip we have taken. On the first trip, we lost electrical power on one side of our coach. We thought it was a blown breaker. On a later trip, the same thing recurred, and Jim replaced the suspect breaker. Later, it occurred again. This time he finally discovered the real cause: worn brushes on the housing of the electrical cord reel. He finally made the correct fix.

However...

On this trip, we have experienced yet another electrical problem. When we went to pick Junior up from our storage area, we opened the door and heard a clicking noise. We had never heard it before. We also noticed that the overhead lights had been flickering and dim--and owed that up to flourescent lights that were dying. Once Jim started the engine, the clicking disappeared; the problem seemed to have corrected itself. So, the next day, we were off.

Yesterday morning, as we were packing up and preparing to leave the RV camp where we had been staying, the air conditioner quit. So did the lights that had been flickering, as well as the kitchen fan.

Not good.

Jim did some initial trouble-shooting, and discovered that when the lights were switched on, the air conditioner went out. There was not much he could do at the time, and we wanted to get to our next destination, so we left.

The temperature outside was in the 90s, with heavy humidity.

The drive through the mountains (see yesterday's blog) was actually not uncomfortable. There are two small fans in the front of the coach. Their real purpose is to help keep the windshield defrosted. Obviously, that was not a problem, so we aimed them at us.

Once we arrived at R Ranch Resort in Dahlonega, Ga., (an absolutely gorgeous resort for RVers and those who rent a cabin), Jim went to work on trying to find a solution to the problem--or a work-around.

As I was trying to find relief from the heat by sitting outdoors, Mr. Fixit came out to announce that he had found a workaround: He managed to bypass the suspect light switch and power the lights--as well as the thermostat, which was on the same circuit. With the thermostat working, the air conditioner also worked.

We are now cool.

Jim will eventually find and fix the core cause of the problem, but in the meantime, we are no longer sweating in this heat and humidity.

The moral of this story is this: Buying pre-owned is fine, but check out the purchase carefully and trust your instincts if something doesn't seem quite right to you. We had seen that the previous owner of this coach had made at least one cosmetic repair resulting in less than workmanship quality. It should have been a warning.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer

Linda