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Maiden Voyage
I'm going to tell a story of our first weekend trip and then I will reply to my own post with a few questions I still have after our first excursion.
We purchased a 2017 12SC several weeks ago. I couldn't wait to get it on the road but alas I had to wait because the first weekend of my Spring Break (High School Math Teacher) it snowed at our planned destination and I figured we better not risk it in case we failed to get everything working. This past weekend we piled the better half and the six-year-old in the truck and headed to the Joplin KOA so we could visit the George Washington Carver National Memorial. We let National Park stamps guide where we travel to.
My 2.7L Tacoma handled the pop-up like a champion and I couldn't have been happier. We pulled into the KOA about dinner time and started our set-up. Pop-up popped, plugged in, A/C working, lights on, radio playing, water running. When I tried to switch the fridge to gas and turn on the hot water heater, I couldn’t get a pilot going. Tapping on the propane it sounded hollow so I thought maybe it was empty. What’s that? I didn't bring any small tools. I borrowed a socket set from a friendly camper and the tank was heavy heavy so it was definitely full. My neighbors came over to investigate and we troubleshot it for a while. I thought, the stove is gas, let me try that. I lit the stove with ease and I recalled reading somewhere to light that first as it pulls the air out of the lines. In no time the fridge and the hot water tank were running on gas.
Dinner served, cocktails served, munchkin put to bed, all seemed good. I set out to sleep about 10pm and realized how cold it was in the PUP (the A/C was turned off hours earlier.) I decided to light the furnace and failed miserably.
I checked the thermostat, I checked for a pilot, I checked the breakers, nothing. I called Roadside assistance for advice and didn’t get anywhere. I sat in my truck to charge my phone and checked online wherever I could.
Side note: I forgot my phone charger so all I had was the USB charger from my truck.
I worked for hours on that thing and didn’t get anywhere so it was a cold cold night sleeping. The next morning, I set back to troubleshooting. This time I called the dealership and they mentioned the "off" switch on the thermostat. I felt like a fool as this thing didn’t seem to want to move in the dark and I feared I would break it. I switched it "on" but then...nothing. They couldn’t help any further on the phone after trying all the things I had already tried. This furnace has an automatic ignition so there is not a pilot to light.
I called roadside again and a tech talked me through some steps but we weren’t successful. Per her advice my last step was to get a specialty screwdriver and take the vent housing off the furnace where there may be a master "on/off" switch. Just as we were getting ready to leave for the National Memorial she called me back and said to look at one more thing. She asked me to pull the housing off the thermostat and take a look in there. I did that and I described it to her: basic metal coil thermostat and that danged "off" switch that I swear didn’t do anything. My partner touched the thermostat and she must be a magician because the blower came on!! Turns out the "off" switch keeps a metal tab from contacting a metal pin and kills the power. I know you all know that but I didn't. It wouldn’t stay on so I thought maybe it was just bent. I unscrewed it a little and spun it around so I could bend it a little and then put it back on right and we were in business. Hours of troubleshooting for a ten second fix. Whew!
Extra bonus: I found a USB input on the camper radio so I could plug in my phone!
We're headed next to the Mark Twain festival in Hannibal, MO Memorial weekend and we have a ten-day trip planned for Springfield, ILL (Lincoln Library) Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (Lincoln birthplace) and finishing with the New Moon in the Mark Twain National forest.
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