- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
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[triennial - points]
Dinky Trailer Blues.
Some annoying problems surfaced when we showed up last Tuesday afternoon for a few days at our little vacation trailer park near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
While we were away, somebody -- most likely the lawn mowing people -- had stumbled over the power wire right near where it plugs in, just enough to dislodge the plug from the 50-amp receptacle & de-energize the trailer. Everything in the refrigerator had thawed out & gone bad. Plus, the fridge stank till I washed it out using baking soda water.
Not only that, the water supply hose (which connects out near the power plug-in) had been nicked, possibly by a weed wacker or some such. In any case, it leaked bad -- meaning it made a fountain when I turned on the water. Fortunately, my son (who was already at the park in his own dinky trailer) gave me a new hose that he just happened to have on hand, so that problem was solved semi- quickly.
Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the power outage, the air conditioner would not turn on. Plus, there was a blown circuit breaker in the service panel that would not re-set -- every time I switched it on, it immediately tripped again, indicating a dead-short or serious overload in the circuit it controls.
The label inside the service panel said that circuit breaker was for the bathroom lights. It was, but that wasn't the whole story. The air conditioning thermostat -- not the roof-mounted unit itself, but the heating-cooling thermostat & control -- was on the same circuit.
I took all the bulbs out of the bathroom overhead & cabinet light fixtures, then tried re-setting the circuit breaker again. Nothing happened the 1st time. The second time, something went BLAM !
From where I was standing in the back, it sounded like it was coming from the front. From where The Chief Of Staff was located at the time, it sounded like it was coming from the back. In any case, after that the circuit breaker remained on after resetting, & kept on working after the bulbs were replaced in the fixtures & the air conditioner was switched on.
I never did determine the cause or the source of the loud noise, so we may be in for another surprise at some point down the line.
Meanwhile, although the air conditioner was blowing air like crazy, the air being blown wasn't specially cool. Before long we noticed that the fan control was set to "on" instead of "automatic" & that the thermostat was set to 90℉ instead of 75℉. When we changed the thermostat & control settings, we were rewarded with a refreshing current of chilled air out all the vents.
Case closed -- for now.
While we were at the park, we replaced an automatic-switchover 2-tank LP gas regulator on our son's trailer -- but that's another story.
When vacationing in our dinky trailer, it's always something (pretty much). No wonder I prefer vacationing at luxury timeshare resorts.
So it goes.
Some annoying problems surfaced when we showed up last Tuesday afternoon for a few days at our little vacation trailer park near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
While we were away, somebody -- most likely the lawn mowing people -- had stumbled over the power wire right near where it plugs in, just enough to dislodge the plug from the 50-amp receptacle & de-energize the trailer. Everything in the refrigerator had thawed out & gone bad. Plus, the fridge stank till I washed it out using baking soda water.
Not only that, the water supply hose (which connects out near the power plug-in) had been nicked, possibly by a weed wacker or some such. In any case, it leaked bad -- meaning it made a fountain when I turned on the water. Fortunately, my son (who was already at the park in his own dinky trailer) gave me a new hose that he just happened to have on hand, so that problem was solved semi- quickly.
Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the power outage, the air conditioner would not turn on. Plus, there was a blown circuit breaker in the service panel that would not re-set -- every time I switched it on, it immediately tripped again, indicating a dead-short or serious overload in the circuit it controls.
The label inside the service panel said that circuit breaker was for the bathroom lights. It was, but that wasn't the whole story. The air conditioning thermostat -- not the roof-mounted unit itself, but the heating-cooling thermostat & control -- was on the same circuit.
I took all the bulbs out of the bathroom overhead & cabinet light fixtures, then tried re-setting the circuit breaker again. Nothing happened the 1st time. The second time, something went BLAM !
From where I was standing in the back, it sounded like it was coming from the front. From where The Chief Of Staff was located at the time, it sounded like it was coming from the back. In any case, after that the circuit breaker remained on after resetting, & kept on working after the bulbs were replaced in the fixtures & the air conditioner was switched on.
I never did determine the cause or the source of the loud noise, so we may be in for another surprise at some point down the line.
Meanwhile, although the air conditioner was blowing air like crazy, the air being blown wasn't specially cool. Before long we noticed that the fan control was set to "on" instead of "automatic" & that the thermostat was set to 90℉ instead of 75℉. When we changed the thermostat & control settings, we were rewarded with a refreshing current of chilled air out all the vents.
Case closed -- for now.
While we were at the park, we replaced an automatic-switchover 2-tank LP gas regulator on our son's trailer -- but that's another story.
When vacationing in our dinky trailer, it's always something (pretty much). No wonder I prefer vacationing at luxury timeshare resorts.
So it goes.
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
I hope all goes well with your vacation trailer home and that you don't have any further problems. Might as well be home if you're going to have to do home maintenance.
