An abandoned property at Akumal, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Toluca on December 24th!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Beginner RV'ers

We made our share of silly mistakes when we first bought Sherman. The best one was constantly emptying the toilet holding tank because the sensor showed it to be full after only a day or two. We learned that those sensors are rarely accurate, and that we can go well over a week without having to empty. There are a lot of mistakes that beginners can make, and I had a couple of funny questions at work yesterday.

The first one was a woman who was having a problem with her water pump. I didn't understand what she was getting at....she was saying that the water pump was staying on too long after they shut off the water, but she couldn't explain it properly. Eventually her husband got on the phone, and he was pretty irate. They had just bought the trailer in the fall, and were at home getting it ready for their first trip out in a week or two. They had hooked everything up at home, just to try out the various systems in the RV. When they turned the water on, the pump would run constantly. The water would come out of the kitchen faucet no problem, but when they shut off the water, the electric pump would continue running. Eventually, we figured out that they had hooked into the city water line, and of course the pump shouldn't even be turned on. He went from irate to embarassed in a split second when he realized what he had done! Then we all laughed and he apologized.

Then later on, a couple came in who had bought a used trailer. They had it plugged in to 120v AC at home and were trying to get the furnace to work. (It has been going below freezing here the last 2 nights!) They said that the furnace fan will come on, but that was all...no heat coming out. Turned out they hadn't turned the propane on, thinking that the furnace must work off electric when plugged in. Again, we all had a good laugh, and their problem was solved.

6 comments:

  1. This was very good. Unfortunately I know that I have "been there", "done that", and "got that t-shirt", I guess we all have and occasionally, continue to do so.

    John
    http://relaxedrush.blogspot.com/

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  2. Haha... I used to work in a hardware store. Every year at Xmas time, invariably some folks would come in who strung their outdoor lights up backwards, having two female ends and no way to plug them in. They would be adamant in wanting an adaptor with three male prongs, two to connect the two female ends they have dangling and one male end to connect to the live power cord. Sorry, they don't make em that way I would say, much to their frustration!

    I know, not an RVing tale, but still shows that the customer isn't always right. LOL
    Oooooh I like those *conversations* .. sure sounds good to us!

    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  3. This was cute, I remember when I got my trailer, I did too many "newbie" things to mention that make me laugh today. I guess we all have to start somewhere!

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  4. We love these stories and we all have them in some way or another, if it's not with RV's its with something else. They always put a smile on our faces.

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  5. Well, if all you want is warm weather then yes Canada is dead last but if you love winter sports like I do then actually it's first (probably tied with northern US if I was being honest). It's all in what you want, n'est pas?

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  6. Yes Anonymous, I agree that there are people out there that like the winter and the sports that go with it. We'll take the sun and warm weather though. If we decide that we want some wintery weather we will take a holiday north for a week or so.

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