Once again in hopes of helping anyone who is watching their vacation slowly circle the drain . . .
Day Three -- Santa Fe -- Rancheros De Santa Fe RV Park
As we were dealing with truck issues the prior day I called Rancheros where we had just made a guaranteed reservation earlier in the day.
1 pm -- "We're going to be later than we expect, but working on getting there. We've had a truck problem"
"Sorry, but there aren't refunds within 24 hours."
"I understand, but if you could have us on a site where we won't be as much of a bother coming in late. I don't want to be 'that guy' waking anyone up"
"Ah, OK, we'll do what we can." I could hear the confusion in her mind.
6 pm -- "We're not going to make it. We're broken down for the night"
"Sorry but no refunds"
"I understand and not asking for one, but I don't want you to turn away someone needing a spot." They seemed a bit surprised I wasn't complaining but I really like the campground, understood their policy, and will live with it.
We stayed there the following night after finally getting to Santa Fe. My wife just reviewed our expenses for the trip and we were only billed for one night. We've stayed there five or six times in the past, but always only one or two days. They didn't need to do that but it does earn my loyalty.
Now on to the lemons. It was slightly chilly in the morning so I flipped the thermostat to heat. I heard the heart, and potentially hand warming sound of propane igniting and then nothing. Silence filled the room. No fan, no furnace. Turned it off and on. Nothing. I then started troubleshooting.
Propane? Check. Stove, fridge, water heater all working.
Electric? Check. All fuses checked. 12v and 120 all working fine.
Flipped to AC nothing. Hmm, the AC and furnace are both controlled by the thermostat. I checked the 2 amp fuse and it looked fine. I even swapped it out. I grabbed my meter and couldn't find any signs of life or electric anywhere. THAT must be the problem.
It isn't.
I posted here for some help and was quickly pointed to the reset switch that is in the worst &^$# place. Twisting like Houdini and grateful for having my drill and driver with I removed the cover, hit the reset, and
nothing.
We left Santa Fe an hour or two later and was staying at a NFS site without hookups or cell coverage. I waited until our next commercial campground stay to do some more troubleshooting. We arrived in Nathrop Colorado at Chalk Creek Campground and asked if there was anyone local that could help with a furnace issue. They highly recommended a mobile service the RV Medic. Without T-Mobile cell service there we elected to just wait. When I finally was able to call he offered the same reset advice and offered to come out to Twin Lakes where we were staying. After balancing the perceived cost of a mobile repair we elected to not have him come out. It wasn't an emergency and it wasn't changing our plans. It could wait until we got home.
One bit of advice he passed on. In his experience the Atwood furnace fails at elevations over 5,000 feet and recommends the Suburban replacement. Mine is three years old and has been above 5,000 feet before without an issue, but I'm really not in a position to debate his advice.
Never did get it started. Also, the 12V control line routes through the furnace to the AC then on to the thermostat so if one is out so is the other. Thank you engineer who probably never lived in one
. Not a big deal, Colorado, even at 10,000 feet in Leadville didn't get cold enough for us to be uncomfortable. I also have a Heater Buddy backup with 1 gallon propane bottles in a real emergency. We also had an extra comforter and warm sleep clothes.
I am planning on learning how to bypass the 12V to go directly to the AC in case I am ever in that position again.
truck problems, now TT problems, tensions were rising.
Later, not having an AC may have contributed to the problem in Part 5 - The Home Stretch.
Linear Mode
