Checking in

[kelpie]

Hey ladies - just wanted to let you all know I am alive and kicking. i have been crazy busy and have had(and still having) major computer issues. I guess I'm going to bite the bullet and take it in for some diagnostic/repair work after the 1st. Have found a local repair shop that has helped me before and they have been wonderful and give free advice. Hopefully it won't be ridiculously expensive. I have missed you all. The other day I tried to winterize my rig by myself. Drove it up to the flying J to dump the tanks. Gas was only $2.65 so thought I'd go ahead and fill up there since they are so kind to have the dumping station for free. Need full tank for storage with stabilizer and dry gas. Pulled up to pump and started filling it up. Cut me off at $75. Didn't bother going inside to find out why 'cos I knew from experience they would try to blame Discover (know it's not them since I use that card exclusively for RV travel and most of the time that doesn't happen) Okay, brought rig to house and backed into the driveway. Opened valve to dump fresh water tank, then got out nifty new gadget to flush sediment from water heater (only reason I brought rig to house instead of taking stuff to storage place) but absolutely could not get drain plug out! Texted my friend Dean for advice and he asked me what the owners manual said. This is a direct quote "Remove plug to drain water heater" Really, ya think? Anyway he says I need a large size socket with an extension and a swivel, none of which I had. In meantime, I poured the pink stuff down each drain and the commode. Poured more into fresh water tank(after closing valve) and tried to flip on switch for water pump to circulate it to the all lines and fixtures. Nothing. Coach battery is dying. OK, OK, I give up. Dean calls me to tell me I can drive out to his place and he'll take the plug out and use his compressor to blow out the lines, then I don't need the dumb pump. He had previously diagnosed my battery problem and now told me he didn't think I should replace it until right before I'm ready to hit the road again. He said I don't really need it while in storage, and why have it just sit in the cold and get drained. He also thinks we should go ahead and pull the old one out, clean up the connections and make any necessary notes about how to hook up the new one when I'm ready. The main reason I was so anxious to get winterization done is that it needs to have some repair work done from my little boo boo in NH and would have to sit outside at the dealer waiting on parts and he wouldn't take responsibility without winterization being done.

[retiredhappy]

Glad to hear from you. Sooooo glad I don't have to worry about winterizing my rig. This morning was 32 degrees so I got out the little electric heater to take the chill off the rig. By afternoon it was in the high 70's. You gotta love Texas.

[Bethers]

Kellie, different gas stations have different limits set up with their cc providers - or set up FOR them with the providers. That said, when it stops, I just put the card in and fill again. Have been stopped at $50, $75, and $100. When stopped at $100, I knew I was close to full, but wanted it full - got another $3.25

Sorry about the winterizing problems. I just replaced my battery - first time I didn't drive the rig in to do it (AutoZone) - then they take it out and put the new in. I suggest you take a picture of the battery connected. Keep it in the battery storage area - you'll always have it then. This time I took the battery out myself, and put the new one in myself. If they only weren't so dang heavy!

NOTE: if your battery is low, start your engine - it charges your auxiliary battery - you could then run the pump. Only would have needed the engine running for that few seconds/minutes. I sometimes need to start the engine when my generator is acting up - as it drains too much of the battery getting it started when it does that (when it's real cold, for example)>

Be grateful you have a friend willing to help!

[avalen]

good to hear from you Kellie, I've been gone a couple months too. I'm glad I don't
have to winterize mine, I'm going to empty all the tanks but we don't get any
hard freeze that I have to worry about the lines. I'll be getting two new batteries
too when I pull it out of storage. I feel like I'm missing her already and she's not
even in storage yet

[AlmostThere]

Hey, Kellie! Good to hear from you!
I just got my Little Missy winterized last week. I take it in and get it done. They can do it much easier and faster that I could and I really like the people at B & B RV.
I also bought a new engine battery for her so I need to remove it for the winter and put it in my garage where it's fairly warm. I figure I'm probably going to have to replace the coach battery next as I'm sure both batteries are the same ones that came with the MH when it was new in 04. We'll see how it goes.
Sorry about the computer problems. I ended up getting a new one only because my video card got outdated and my computer ran slower and slower until it almost quit running altogether. EVen after I removed almost everything from the hard drive. Makes me mad that it was something I couldn't upgrade as I loved that computer.
Hope yours is an easy fix.