I have often said RV manufacturers can barely spell “quality control” let alone practice it. This picture is a prime example. The service call was to refasten a commode down to the floor. It seems the commode had simply tipped right over.

This hole is cut much too large for the commode base.

Not hard to figure out why. The hole is cut much too large, so the closet ring that screws down to the floor basically was left hanging in air. Only two of the mounting screws had anything into which to fasten, so I had to cut a sheet metal plate to provide an anchor for the screws.

If you look closely, you can also see the gasket lip on one side is deformed so the tail pipe from the commode that should slide completely into the gasket never did. In addition, the tailpiece was cut too long so the commode had to be forced down to the floor. Shortening the tail piece took care of those problems and the repair came out fine, but you have to ask yourself how something like this could ever have left the factory.

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)

When it comes to water leaking from the roof, after the joint at the front and rear cap, skylights are the “bad boys” when it comes to water damage. Couple that with the illogic of   trying to seal leaks with layers of additional caulking and it is no wonder I spend a lot of time repairing the seal on skylights.

Let’s start from the beginning. First of all, when a skylight begins to leak, the leak will seldom be quelled by dumping on a couple tubes of caulking and there is not a chance it will be sealed using most of the types of caulking I see hanging around the perimeter of the skylight. Secondly, when skylights leak, they leak around the flange. They do not leak from the solid portion of the skylight base, so there is no need to caulk there!

To begin, the first step is removing the caulking around the flange and on top of the screws holding the base to the roof. This step is the most onerous and may take up to an hour per skylight depending on how much caulking has to be removed. Since you do not want to cut into the rubber roof and the caulking may be dried in place, this step most often involves the slow careful use of a knife blade. It is not necessary to remove the caulking beyond the base flange, as long as it is securely bonded to the roof.

Next remove the screws and carefully pry the base off the roof. Once it starts to come up, it is not too difficult. You should find a layer of tacky tape, also called putty tape, under the flange and it is the tacky tape that actually does the best job of sealing the base to the roof. As long as it is intact, the skylight normally will not leak, unless it has a break in it.

Clean off the tacky tape and the roof. It is not necessary to be perfect here, but you do not want anything remaining unless it is securely bonded to the roof. It is usually quite easy to remove all the tacky tape.

After you have all the old tacky tape removed, lay down a fresh layer around the perimeter of the hole over which the base will fit. Then screw the base back down using new #8 x 1″ screws. You can use pan head for hex head screws.

Once the base is securely screwed down, caulk completely around the base and over the heads of the screws using a caulk that is self-leveling and made for RV roofs. I use Dicor self-leveling caulk and find it works well consistently. Do not rush off to Lowes or Home Depot and buy silicone caulk. It will not adhere well and wastes your money! The caulk is called self-leveling because it flattens down and seeps into cracks and crannies.

After the repair is made, do not wash the roof for 24 hours to allow the caulking to set up and do not wash the roof with a high pressure washer that may loosen the caulking. When you are done, it should look something like this.

Perhaps the thing that makes most small business owners like me crazier than anything else is dealing with the 10% of the general public who are always looking for a way to take advantage.

Take for example estimates for insurance claims. I am not sure why so many folks think it is perfectly alright to file fraudulent claims. Or, more importantly, why they think I am automatically willing to go along with their scheme. A strong wind may well damage an awning, but there is not a chance it makes the muffler fall off a generator.Don’t  the folks who do this outrageous stuff realize it is insulting when they assume I am as dishonest as they are?

Then there are the folks who expect me to provide them with a free estimate, when I know perfectly well they intend to file a claim and then pocket the money. My solution to the “I need an estimate for my insurance company” is simple enough. I will be glad to provide an estimate for a charge that is refundable, if I do the work filed on the insurance claim.

How do I handle the obvious frauds who I believe are either trying to bilk me or the insurance company. After they hang up I save their phone number in my cell phone along with a notation that comes up as “no service” on my cell, when they call. I know “the customer is always right” is a standard with businesses, but I realized a long time ago not every customer is worth having.

Comments or questions have at it!

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)

This how not to wire a 50-amp receptacle!

Okay, I’m beginning to suspect, after being shocked for the third time in two weeks, too many folks were trying to wire receptacles and extension cords for their RVs who may benefit from a wee bit of study, before getting out the tools.

Now this is the way it is supposed to work, if you want to wire either the ends on the shoreline or extension cord, or the receptacle at your house for your RV. If you are wiring for a 30-amp cord or receptacle, you will have three wires, a black, a white, and a green. Everything in your RV runs on 120-volts of alternating current (nothing at all in any RV uses 240 volts) and all three wires must be connected. The neutral white and the green are not tied together anywhere at the RV or in the plug or receptacle to which you connect your shoreline.The screws holding the wires are color coded so gold is for the hot black lead and silver is for the white neutral lead. Green is for the green lead (duh). It is absolutely essential you do no mix up what wires go where!!

If you wire the hot lead so it feeds the neutral buss, everything will still work, but when you flip off the breaker, there will still be power to the receptacle or appliance. That is why this past week, I was shocked working on an appliance when I not only had the appliance breaker off, but also the main breaker in the box. If you are not following what I am saying here, do not attempt to do your own wiring. Hire an electrician.

The same rules apply if you are wiring a 50-amp service. You will simply have four leads, a red, a black, a white, and a green. All four leads must be connected and they go to specific terminals. An RV is not wired like you wire a welder using only three wires, which is a common mistake many folks make. If you do not connect the neutral lead where it belongs several things will happen.

First you likely will find smoke rolling out of your appliances. Second, things will not work. Third, if you take voltage readings at your breaker box without a neutral connected to your shoreline, you will likely find substantial feedback with voltage readings over 100 volts between your neutral and ground buss. You may also find 200+ volts between a single hot terminal on your main and your neutral buss. People get killed wiring things in this way, so you have been warned.

If it needs tape, it has not been done correctly.

As a final note, do not assume electricians who wire homes understand the workings and wiring in RVs. In one case I recently rewired, the neutrals were left out of the receptacle and the extension cord, leading to substantial property loss.

The dark spot on the carpet near the edge of the slide-out is a dead give-away of a water leak at the slide seal.

At times, I am called by a customer who says their camper is leaking, but they don’t know how to find the leak. Folks who are looking at RVs with the intention of buying also need to know how to tell if the slide-out is leaking.

It is really very easy to tell, if you know where to look as a leak tends to lead to discoloration or deterioration, as you can see in the picture. The dark spot on the carpet near the slide is where water has found its way beyond the slide seal and, in this case, in a heavy rain would soak the bathroom floor. The customer thought he had a broken water line at the water heater or commode, both of which were near the area where water appeared, but they actually were dry. The dark spot on the carpet is always a dead giveaway, as is deterioration of the wood trim at floor level around the slide-out.

Leave a comment or question. I will get back to you!

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)

View of Atwood water heater that has been repaired from inside a camper.

A good many RVs have water heaters made by Atwood with either 6 or 10 gallons tanks. Atwood water

If the tank has to be exposed, everything on the outside of the water heater has to be removed.

heaters work just fine, but have no tolerance for freezing temperatures. Forget to drain the water heater during a freeze and you will end up having the existing tank welded, installing a new tank, or buying a entire water heater.

Naturally most dealerships would prefer to sell you an entire water heater. Since my business plan depends on trying to find ways to save my customers money and because I am fast at pulling and installing water heaters, I always try to have the existing tank repaired. Did you know you can have the tank welded, if it splits during a freeze? Most folks didn’t know and most dealers won’t tell you.

If you are lucky, as I was with the water heater in the graphics, I did not have to disassemble the water heater as the split was where the element screws into the tank. If the split is not readily visible, it will be necessary to take everything off the front (exterior side) of the water heater to completely expose the tank. On a good day, I can normally do that in 15 minutes or less and can put everything back together in about 20-30 minutes, after the tank is welded. You do have to install new clamp rings, which go over the burner tube on both ends. Not always easy the first time, but they basically are tapped into place until they fit tightly down on the burner tube clamping it to the pan.

A welded tank will last every bit as long as the new tank, but next time, try to remember to drain the water heater.

Questions or comments are welcome in the comment box. I will get back to you!

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)

The type of service call I dislike more than anything else are the ones where I get to the motor home, fifth wheel, or tag-along and nothing is wrong. In those situations, I am in the difficult situation of either writing off the call in order to keep a customer happy or charging someone for doing nothing. Lately this has been a particular problem with calls from customers who say their water heater does not work on electricity, but works on gas. The claim always is the element needs to be replaced.

To review quickly, the electric element is simply a loop of wire connecting the positive and neutral leads on the end of the element. Elements have very long lifespans as long as there is water in the tank when they are turned on. If there is no water in the water heater, they will often overheat and self-destruct in a matter of minutes. I usually replace them with special elements that can be “run dry” for up to two hours, but which are more expensive. The advantage of run dry elements is most owners will discover their error in the first two hours of operation when they have no hot water at the faucet. Simply put is saves me a call back when the owner burns out the replacement element.

Now here is what to do, before picking up the phone and requesting service. Make sure the water heater is full of water. The only reliable way to do this is to go outside, open the water heater door, and briefly open the relief valve at the top of the water heater. If the water heater is full of water, water will immediately come out of the valve, when you open the valve.

Next make sure all the switches are turned on to power the element. That means the circuit breaker in the breaker box, any wall switch (if you have one) inside your RV, and the switch on the water heater itself. The switch on the water heater is on the back of Atwood water heaters so you get to it from inside the camper. On a Suburban water heater, you have to access it from the outside of your camper by opening the water heater door and looking in the lower left hand corner (It is hard to see and often hard to push).

If there is water in the water heater and all the switches are turned on, give the water heater several hours to heat, before calling for service. Onsite service at least means a truck charge, if you call for service on an appliance that works!

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)

The absurd comments folks make hoping to get a link or response are really entertaining. Not only do they never directly address any of the content on the blog, but they also slaughter the English language so much of what they write makes no sense.

I love em for the entertainment value, but permanently delete them after I read them.

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)

Like many of you, I follow RV listings on Craigslist  near daily. Seldom, however, do I see anything I would consider buying and many of the ads are dead give-aways that the RV being listed for sale is a loser.

I won’t go into pricing other than to say the overwhelming majority of RVs listed on Craigslist are over-priced and the average buyer could do as well or better on any dealer’s lot. Of course, that is after educating one’s self as to what to look for in a used RV.

The ads that I think are really nuts come in two flavors. The first say something like “I don’t know if everything works or not”. What does an ad like that mean? Was the person who posted the ad too lazy to turn whatever it is on? They own the RV for heaven-sakes. Turn it on and see if it works. It either does or doesn’t; knowing whether something works isn’t rocket science! Now, you and I both know what they are saying is “I know it doesn’t work, but when you find out, I want to be able to deny any responsibility.

The second type of ads I think are a dead giveaway are the ones that acknowledge something needs repair, but include a statement like “an easy fix for the right person” or imply the necessary repair will be easy. Things like repairing water damage to roofs, sidewalls, and slide-outs is never easy and often drop the value of an RV to near worthless. Yes, it is possible to make the repair, but it is labor intensive and possibly costly to boot, so unless you have a load of time on your hands, forget it.

As a caveat to rule number 2, watch out when reading an ad for an older RV i.e. pre-1999 that states parts like slide motors are necessary. RVs are not like cars in that parts runs can be very short lived and when the part is no longer available, it really is no longer available and it can take an eternity or longer to find a replacement. Lots of motor home chassis parts like John Deere are scarce as are some Norcold refrigerator control boards, etc. You get the picture.

I see folks slaughtered everyday buying RVs that are essentially junk. Don’t be one of them!

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)

Most folks realize they need to check the fuses when something doesn’t work in their RV, they just don’t know where all the fuses are located. Take the refrigerator for example. Did you know to find all the fuses you have to go outside and open the lower vent on the sidewall of your camper?

The fuses are located under the black plastic cover all the wires go to in both Dometic and Norcold refrigerators. Fortunately, however, there are only two situations in which the fuses hiding under the cover may need to be checked.

The first is if you have no lights on the control board on your refrigerator door. No lights means no power and if you have already checked the the fuses in the fuse panel inside your camper, next check the fuses under the cover as one of those also powers the board.

The second situation where you need to check the fuses is if you are operating your refrigerator on “auto” and have AC power located at the plug on back of the refrigerator, but the refrigerator operates only on gas. When that happens, the refrigerator is telling you it can not find AC power and the AC power fuse under the cover may be the culprit. Naturally any time you are working around AC power, you know to leave the board unplugged to avoid nasty surprises and if you know how to use a multimeter, checking the terminals to the leads for the element for power will help you avoid removing the cover over the board unnecessarily.

For more information about this procedure, as well as all other service procedures be sure to search the Internet and review the manufacturer’s recommendations in their service manual or better still, contact a certified RV technician to service your appliance.

Steve (Mobility RV Service 423.341.8792)