Category Archives: repairs

Change of plans

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Time to catch up on what has been happening. The last blog entry, before the 4-year recap, talked about where we were going next. Well, at least that was what we thought would happen next. Not quite, but changes in plans are something that we have become used to.

The plan was to wait around a bit, head to our friends in SoCal to help them install Solar on their Airstream, and then head to Visalia for a medical procedure that was 5 months in the waiting. However, the medical procedure got moved up by 2 weeks! That changes things!

We decided to change things around a bit. Go from the Vegas area to my sister’s for just under a week, to Visalia for the procedure, down to SoCal for a week, back to Visalia before heading to see our daughter and family in San Francisco. Good plan.

We had a good visit at my sister’s but the road from Vegas is always fun. The long way is down I-15 to Barstow and up 395. Another way is going through Death Valley and up the Panamints. Either way is long or difficult. I asked what route they take? They told me they take US95 out of Vegas, turn west on NV226 which turns into CA168 to Big Pine. Sounds plausible. But… I don’t think I want to take it again. It is a lot of climbing on steep, tight corners and a one-lane portion thrown in but we did make it!

While we were in Bishop, we all took a day’s drive to Mono Lake to the South Tufas. One place I had never been to before:

After our visit to Bishop, we headed toward Visalia. We know how long that trip is and we broke it up by staying in Tehachapi with a quick stop at Red Rock State Park:

The previous time we spent the night in Tehachapi, we were going to stay at the Flying J but ended up opting for the KMart parking lot (yes it was a while ago). This time we stayed at the Mountain Valley RV Park. This park is right by the airplane glider airport and we were able to watch the gliders for a bit in the AM:

We made it to Visalia in the middle of May and had all the necessary procedures done. I did a quick repair on the trailer, replacing an old stove vent:

I also saw this sign while in Visalia. Not quite sure what to make about it. Where’s the love?

We now headed down to our friends in SoCal to help with their trailer. It was a week’s worth of work but we were able to get two solar panels installed, with room for a third, replace batteries with Lithium, add a power protection system, and various other upgrades. Here is a shot of the panels:

Right before we got there, our friends did something that ultimately changed our plans again. They purchased another Airstream, a Bambi:

Their older Airstream is unusable due to the upgrades so they have the new one to take trips in. They wanted to take it out, naturally. Being retired, changes of plans are not too much of a deal so we took another in stride. We knew we were heading to see our daughter so we set up a meeting with them on the cool coast afterward.

Back to Visalia for a bit then off to San Francisco. We got to see our daughter, her boyfriend, and our grandson for the first time since the pandemic took off. It was a long time and very welcome to see them. We took a day trip to the Chinese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park one day:

Next stop Oceano. We were going down there to meet the Chen’s and their new Airstream’s maiden voyage. We stayed there a bit over a week and it was so nice and cool! They could only stay the weekend. We went back to the heat after that for a few more appointments in Visalia and then we headed off. My thoughts were to head to Montana, North Dakota, somewhere that might be cooler. However, while in Oceano we discussed an alternate plan with the Chen’s.

Being recently retired, they wanted to get out in their new trailer some more. They were planning a trip cross-country to visit a lot of friends along the way. They asked us if we wanted to join them. We thought we might as well, at least for a little bit. We wanted to be back for our grandson’s 5th birthday at the end of August.

We planned on meeting the Chen’s in AZ on a specific date, this gave us about 2 1/2 weeks to get there. We decided to head up to Redding to see Roxie’s sister. We stopped in Stockton on the Delta for a few nights en route. Here is the view from the trailer:

Next stop was Redding, during a lot of heat and smoke. Oh joy!

The other leak

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In a previous post, I spoke about repairing the black tank valve and mentioned needing to fix a freshwater leak.

I could see water dripping from the belly pan but the location changed depending upon the level of the trailer. Tongue high, drip further backward – tongue low, drip forward. I checked the floors inside for any moisture. Nothing. I looked under the bathroom sink as it is easy to access. I didn’t see much. The next option is to look at the water heater which also has an easy-to-access panel next to it. I opened this up before with another fix, the electric portion of the water heater.

I peered under and around, finding a leak dripping. It was coming from under the water heater! I felt the water and it was warm. Ugh. Leaking water heater. There were no other leaks anywhere else on the water heater. It must have corroded. The tank is aluminum and they don’t normally corrode with regular flushing. That was the problem. I had only flushed the tank once and then a LOT of water scale came out. It was years of running hard water through it in Arizona and Texas.

The old one didn’t look too bad and was still operational:

I called Toscano’s Airstream in Los Banos and talked to Bobby in service. I have always been happy with their dealership and service and trusted them. We discussed the options. I knew that I did NOT want an on-demand version as I feel they don’t work that well in an RV water environment (and maybe I am just too old to change my ways). I would love to find a direct replacement but Toscanos couldn’t find one from their suppliers. I really also did not want to find an equivalent.

The model was a GE9-EXT. This means it is technically a 6-gallon heater but the 9 means how many gallons it will put out. This is because of a mixer on the back of the heater. This one heats the water to a higher temperature than is really safe. It mixes it with cold water as it feeds the trailer with hot water. This mixing stretches the 6 gallons to 9 gallons. I like that feature.

So I looked around for a direct fit but I also was keeping an eye on delivery time. I found some GE9-EXT models, some very pricey, many out of stock. I also found, on Amazon, a GEH9-EXT model. Hmm, has an extra ‘H’ in it. What does that mean?

This model was designed to be used in a motorhome and the ‘H’ means it connects to the engine of the rig like a heater core. This allows the engine to help heat the water heater. I checked with Toscano’s and they have seen Airstream send out some units with the ‘H’ model installed. Must be whatever you can get. I agree with that and ordered it from Amazon.

The concern I had with the ‘H’eater option was that the tubes invaded the heating tank and it could leak. However, the tubing is only welded onto the tank and does a heat transfer through the metal, not commingling the fluids. I put caps on it anyway:

Time to swap them out. Remove 20 screws on the outside, disconnect the hot and cold lines (with lots of towels to catch the excess water), disconnect the 110V lines for the electric heater, disconnect the 12v lines for running the computer, and disconnect the LP gas. I had to do some pulling, twisting, and breaking the seal around the outside (caulking and butyl tape). But I got it out:

Above is the hole left with the removal of the old heater. You can see all the piping (water and propane), into the bathroom (toilet), and into the bedroom. You can also see part of the blow dryer that I used to dry out the drip area. Also, there are wires to strip and connect to the new unit. In my last repair to the old heater, I had to replace the wire nuts that burned all the way through. This was not a good thing and I was looking for a solution that did not burn through again. I found a new wire connector then and used it again here:

These connectors are made by Ideal. Supposedly they will hold on to the wires and motion does not affect them. The above is for the 110V connection to the electric heater element. Ideal also makes an inline connector that I used for the 12V connections:

I prepped the mounting hole with some butyl tape to help seal the opening. I also marked, on the painter’s tape, where the screw holes are to help line things up:

With a bit of wiggling and some alignment, the heater fits great. The propane line gave me a bit of an issue getting the right angle on it to fit the connector. It leaked a bit at first but some elbow grease on the wrench tightened it up. After everything was connected, and the tank filled, I fired it up and got a nice blue flame:

Now, since the new heater is working well, I can do a forensic exam on the old one. I took off all still working parts (electrical and otherwise) for backup. I exposed the tank and saw this:

The bottom had evidence of leakage (arrows) and also you can see all the deposits from the scale buildup. Note to self: flush the heater at least once a year!

Now that both leaks, fresh and black, were fixed, we were getting ready to hit the road again. One more thing, I had to close up the belly pan to protect the valves from the road. This is what it looked like before:

I got a piece of galvanized metal and cut it to fit. Secured it with some self tapping screws, making sure NOT to puncture any of the tanks hiding under the pan. The finishing was to use some aluminum tape on the edges to keep it nice and smooth underneath:

The final touch was to support the sewer output. It kind of hangs out there on its’ own with little assistance. I decided to add a bit:

Oh, I also got a new, clear cap for the sewer.

Whew, now all those liquid repairs are done, hopefully to never happen again!