Well, at least we’ve changed the clocks to daylight saving time. The furnace is no longer needed at night. There’s real warmth to the sun light. And it’s time to fill the water system. All winter long we’ve been flushing the toilet with RV anti-freeze. Using gallon jugs of water for cooking and cleaning and now we’re faced with the task bringing all that damn plumbing back to life. I’m planning on opening up both bunks in the master bedroom to expose the fresh water tank, water pump, system drains and the hot water heater
(Time passes)
And I’ve moved all the eBay stuff and the clean clothes from the master bedroom and removed all of the screws holding down the bunks. I examined all the plumbing that I could see certain that I’d find the water pump and hot water heater cracked from frozen water. Nothing obvious appeared so I broke out potable water hose and ended up a few feet short of the water. So I broke out the non-potable water hose, flushed it and connected it to the brand new potable water hose. What the hell, I still need to sterilize the RV’s water system.
I started the water into the gravity fill — remember I expect something to dramatically fail in the RV water system. I went inside and checked the plastic tank and saw orange water so I went out and stopped the fill and drained the tank into the gutter. Add water and drain and this time the water is more or less clear. Add enough water so I can run the pump. I turn on the pump and listen as the water system pressurizes for the first time in a decade. And the pump runs and runs and runs. Nothing leaking in here so it’s time to walk away and observe the situation. There’s water leaking underneath the hot water heater. I knew It! The heater’s toast and I need to come up with $600! So where is the hot water heater leaking from? The drain. So I close the drain and run water through all of the taps. Wow, this is anticlimatic. The hot water heater fired us as though it had been run yesterday. Twice. It won’t run today but yesterday it was fine. But I have running non-potable water so I can flush my toilet and wash my hands. If you haven’t lived without running water you won’t understand what that means. With a little liquid bleach I’ll have potable water and after cleaning a couple of switches I’ll have potable hot water. If you can’t imagine living without running water you can’t imagine how I feel with the prospect of a working shower bath!
