Plattsburgh, New York (day 4)

Friday Apr 24…11:00pm

Got up this morning and the fridge was making funny noises. Sounded like the gas flame would light and then go out, and then light again, sputter, and go out. I couldn’t see that the burner would be dirty again, because it wasn’t that long ago that I took it apart and cleaned it…but I took it apart again anyhow. Put it back together, and this time it wouldn’t light at all. Now, I know that our propane is low, probably lower than it’s ever been but that shouldn’t make a difference until it’s actually empty.

So I checked the gas valve. There was definitley power getting to it during the start up cycle, but it wasn’t making any noise. You should be able to hear it click open or closed as the power to it shuts on or off. Now, a new gas valve is $245 US, so I decided to take it apart and see if it’s serviceable. There is definitely sufficient gas when I open the manual valve, so low gas is not the problem. I took the valve apart, and put it back together. The magnet inside defintitely works the plunger when I apply power to it, so I put it all back together. Installed it all and turned the gas on, and it fired right up! So maybe it was just sticking and my messing with it freed things up for now.

The electric heating element for the fridge had burned out last year and I never bothered replacing it because I knew we wouldn’t be hooked up to electricity very often. But given that we will be parked up for the summer, it was time to get that done. I checked with a couple of places in Ontario, and they wanted $90 CAN. I found a place near here in Plattsburgh that will get me the exact same item for Monday afternoon for $49.95 US ($62.50 CAN).

We went into Kathy and Davids place for supper, and had a good chat after dinner while watching the Yankees play the Red Sox.

Total nights sleeping in a motorhome…544

April Fuel $665.20 CAN

April Grocery $357.40 CAN

April Overnight costs $ 46.50 CAN