I rather pay up front and maintain it right then sitting along side the road..Being peed off

 

There you go.

I will arm you with whatever I can so that you won't be helpless at need.

Being stuck sux................

 

Getting caught up on the "Honey Do" list and yard work. The trailer is getting closer to the top of the list AND it's beginning to warm up, too.

Come on sunshine.

 

How about some pics????

 

I will get some up soon...

 

New year is here and time for an update on the project. What's going on, sglaine? Did you get a chance to take some pictures?

 

Update on my trailer.

Everything I was concerned about last year has been fixed. I even sealed the crack inside the fridge. I'd still like to replace the fridge, but that ain't happening for awhile.

Prior to last winter, I drained the water heater and all the tanks. I bought fittings to make my own compressor fitting and purged the water lines using my air compressor AFTER draining and bypassing the water heater.

I checked the battery charge throughout the winter months. The solar panel output has kept the battery properly charged and when winter really got dark, I plugged in the shore power, just in case.

I bought five (gotta have a spare) new ST225/75R15 tires before last winter so I know the tires are no longer a safety issue.

Upon inspecting the water heater the other day, I noticed some black 'stuff' could come out of the water heater when I sprayed in some water through the drain plug. Could this be algae? A bad annode rod? Any ideas? Is this something I should be concerned about?

Can I spray in pressurized water (garden hose) to try to clean out the interior of the water heater? Could this damage the annode rod or heating element?

 

Pull the anode rod and LOOK at it...... it may be time for a replacement!

There's no reason that you can't "clean" it with fresh water. My anode rod is part of the drain plug!

 

Thanks for the input, Bud. My drain plug is only a drain plug. I've never had to do anything with an anode rod, so I don't even know what it looks like.

Is this something that is accessed from the outside of the trailer, like the drain plug? I don't have to remove the water heater, do I?

 

Running some errands today. I stopped by the local RV dealer and asked the service guys if they could show me the location of the anode rod. I have an Atwood water heater.

As I suspected, the anode rod is part of the drain plug and the drain plug is NOT plastic. My drain plug IS plastic. Based on my super powers of deductive reasoning, I asked if the anode rod should be connected to the plastic plug.

Ummm, he said, "No" and showed me where on the shelf the 'proper' plug/anode rod combination would normally be if they had any in stock.

Using my super powers of economic reasoning, emptiness of wallet, and items to fix on my tow rig, I said I'd be back after my truck was fixed.

At least I have an understanding of why I couldn't find the anode rod in the first place. I also know I need to pressure clean the water heater interior.

 

Plastic plug means Atwood water heater and aluminum tank. No need for anode rod and do not use one unless looking for trouble. Chlorinate system, flush, and you should be good to go.

Steve

 

Thanks for the good news Steve.

Are you saying it's ok to run chlorine bleach through the water heater? I thought bleach and heat is a bad thing?

What ratio should I run through the system? I have a 40 gallon water tank. Not sure of the water heater size, but I imagine it's probably a 6-gallon model, right?

How can I verify the water heater has an aluminum tank or are all Atwood models equipped with an aluminum tank?

 

You may be able to find out directly from Atwood. Here: RV Components, Gas Appliances, Marine Products, Chassis Components, Seating Systems, Windows and Doors from Atwood Mobile

 

All Atwoods are aluminum and it is perfectly okay and recommended at least annually to chlorinate the system. It is done with the heater off and you use the pump so you smell chlorine at every fixture. This information is widely available on the Internet and in manuals on RV maintenance.

Steve

 

Thanks for the link Bud. Thanks for the info Steve. Reps sent to both of you. This helps me greatly.

I'm sure the info is 'out there' and available, but I'm not the original owner of this unit. It didn't come with any component specific manuals. I'm at the stage where I'm trying to identify the appliance manufacturers and model numbers. Some of the appliances don't have any visible stickers/decals/plates containing model numbers or other information needed to identify what I have so I can search for the specific manuals.

All of the exterior decals/plates are basically wiped clean. No information visible. I'd like to replace these as well, but I don't know where to look for these. Since nothing is visible on the decals/plates, I don't know what info should be there to be replaced if I could find out what was supposed to be there.

Is there such a thing as a travel trailer VIN decoder somewhere?