Staying warm while RVing in cold weather is the main focus of this podcast episode, where Eric Stark shares essential tips and insights for those who want to embrace the RV lifestyle during the chillier months. He emphasizes the importance of using proper insulation techniques, such as vent pillows and ensuring that all seals are tight, to keep the cold at bay. Additionally, listeners will learn about the necessity of having multiple heat sources to combat extreme temperatures, including both RV furnaces and electric heaters. The podcast also touches on the importance of maintaining your RV's systems, particularly the furnace, to avoid unexpected breakdowns when temperatures drop. Join Eric and Alexis as they dive into their experiences, offer practical advice, and even reminisce about the joys of bakeries, all while keeping RV enthusiasts informed and prepared for winter adventures. Cold weather RVing can present unique challenges, particularly when it comes to staying warm and comfortable. Eric Stark shares essential tips for RVers who wish to continue their adventures despite the chill. The discussion begins with the importance of insulation, emphasizing that while RVs come with some factory insulation, additional steps must be taken to enhance warmth. Practical solutions include installing vent pillows to block cold drafts and ensuring that all potential air leaks around windows and doors are sealed. Eric also stresses the necessity of dual heating sources, recommending a combination of RV furnaces and electric heaters to maintain a cozy temperature during frigid nights. As temperatures drop, having reliable heating becomes crucial—Eric advises RVers to prepare for the worst-case scenario, especially when temperatures plummet to double digits below zero. By applying these strategies, RV enthusiasts can embrace the winter months without compromising their comfort or safety, allowing them to explore even the coldest regions with confidence.

Eric: Staying warm in cold weather, moving, and saving money. Tip number two.

In the next stop, we'll discuss bakeries, and Alexis will take us back to her childhood and describe the things that smelled so good back then. At RV Envy, we'll discuss tongue jack storage covers. That sounds so lame, but there's more to it. You have to listen to that.

You got to have a cover. This is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer Podcast, delivering the smarts.

You need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. Let's talk about everything, RV. Today's episode is 162. Let's jump into this. And Alexis, are you ready to go?

Alexis: I am so ready.

Eric: So ready. When it's Podcast Thursday, sometimes it is Podcast Tuesday. Yeah, but man, just the energy just goes crazy, huh? I mean, it's just.

INTRO

It's like electricity in the air.

Alexis: Yes, sir.

Eric: All right, well, maybe not, but it's pretty cool.

Alexis: It is.

Eric: We're fired up. Yes. One thing I talked about is that this has been going on for several episodes, and I wonder if I ever brought this point out.

I got an email about it, and it was in the RV environment. I was talking about the lever connectors for wiring, and I didn't mention a brand called Wago. Wago. That's the brand you want to use. Stay away from off-brands because they're no good. Part of that was talking about the low-quality connectors.

Lever connectors for wiring are fantastic. They're so much quicker and easier. But ago w a g o is the brand you want to use, so I want to ensure I got that out there. Someone sent me an email about it. I need to remember his name. It might have been Tom, Mike, Bill, Fred, or Joe, but I wanted to cover it.

So if you're hearing it twice, well, more power to you now, you know, twice as much. Wago way go, w a g o.

Alexis: Perfect.

Eric: They are fantastic little connectors. And another thing, you know, we had a customer the other day call and sent pictures of this brand new class B RV they bought. And, you know, it left the factory with water leaks. It left the dealership where he bought it from with water leaks.

And now he's a thousand miles away from the dealership having to get these water leaks fixed.

One is the P-one control panel, which has all the levers. Many higher-end RVs have them, but that's just one of his leaks. There are other leaks, and everything's compacted as a class B.

Alexis: Right.

Eric: So he's going to be near the factory next month, so he decided he's just going to go back to the factory and let them fix it. Oh, interesting, because this thing's a mess, and it's like, this is a flood. It's not a leak.

This thing should always have stayed in the dealership, so when they do their pre-sales inspection, they. Oh, yeah, we checked out everything thoroughly. Oh, yeah.

This thing was leaking water, like Hurricane Helene in Florida. Yeah, so they didn't check the water system at all.

So the guy's pretty disappointed, but the manufacturer will take care of him. He's already talked to him about it. They would have paid anybody to fix it, but he's just returning to the factory.

So that was cool, but when you buy an RV, the point is to ensure it is hooked up to water, power, and all these things and look for leaks. You don't want to buy it if it is leaking.

This guy bought it then, you know, in another state, several states away, and then he had to come home and have this problem.

Alexis: Right.

Eric: They should have checked, and they probably told him. We did our pre-delivery inspection: Yeah, the RV is here. Yep. Mm-hmm. We got four tires. You're good to go. Here are the keys. Yeah.

You want to check everything before leaving that lot and signing the contract.

And speaking of, before you ever sign the contract, we'll get to that in just a minute and keep you on pins and needles. Now you. Oh, what's he going to talk about? What's he going to do? And it will be a good thing, not a bad thing, a good thing.

It will be how you can save some money, but we'll get to that briefly here. So now, let's move on to enjoying the RV life. Today, it's going to be about staying warm while riding in cold weather.

Alexis: Oh, that's interesting because that's what we get a lot here. You know, people ask all the time. We live in Montana, so that's an exciting subject.

Eric: We do.

Alexis: So what are the main things we should know? I'm interested, too.

Eric: All right, well, don't do it. It's number one. No. Remember that kid who was there the other day?

Alexis: Yes, I do.

Eric: And he wanted to know how to hunt in cold weather. So explain, you know, what he has to do. And he didn't like hearing that because cold weather is either you're winterized or you're not.

When it's freezing, water freezes; you either winterize or not.

Alexis: Yes.

Eric: You can't have both worlds. It's very complex. But anyway, back to your question, Alexis. I have a list here that is also on our website, TheSmartRVer.com.

Under the RV, enjoying the RV life section, it stays warm while cold weather rises. So, one thing you want to do is to insulate your RV. Now, most are, well, not most. All RVs come insulated at some level from the factory.

Some of them are three seasons, which is funny, a three-season rv. Some of them are barely one season, some of them are four seasons. But, you know, you can't add insulation to it in the truest sense.

You won't open up walls or the ceiling and start packing in insulation, but you can put insulation in the vent lids, skylights, and vents. They make vent stuffers or vent pillows that go in there.

That will keep the cold out. And those are a must if you have a skylight.

If you can't find one that fits, make something close to the skylight so that cold air doesn't come in. Check your RV.

A lot of RVs have an outdoor kitchen. They have a wall that comes up, and on the other side of that wall or above it around it might be a bunk. So, is it sealed well, or can air come through there and get into the RV?

You want to check out things they would build at the factory because they probably didn't. Four-season RVs are better, but they still have their weak links.

A compartment door is skinny, right? And so, is everything past that sealed off? Will it be a weak link in keeping the RV cool, cold, or freezing?

You must think outside the box or the lines because the manufacturer must do a better job.

So add where you can do what you can, but be aware that it might not be the best thing when you buy the RV that it might not be insulated the way you think it might be now in an RV, you know, you really can't upgrade a heating system. If you had a 35,000 BtU furnace, you could put in a 40,000. I don't know how much better that would be.

Yeah, and the expense, if it'd be worth it. But if you're going to be rving in cold weather or living in your RV in the cold weather, you want to ensure you have at least two heat sources.

Alexis: Yeah, good point.

Eric: You know, you want your name and an electric heater. You might also want a catalytic heater. I would have two or three. Really?

When it gets down to about ten degrees minus zero, even electric heaters struggle to break the chill—if they can even do that. A furnace will help, but sometimes it's just. You're just trying to keep it at 45 degrees.

Alexis: Right, exactly.

Eric: If you have power constraints, you want to ensure you can work around that. So be prepared for the worst-case scenario because it does happen. One night of -20, your RV will take a while to warm back up.

So make sure you're prepared for that.

Alexis: We have freezing temperatures, and people come in and are cold. Still cold.

Eric: Right.

Alexis: Sleeping overnight like that.

Eric: So, yeah, we see here all the time, they. And they don't listen. Well, I don't need to do that. Oh, yeah, you will. Well, how often does it get?

Well, it doesn't get -20 very often, but it gets into the single digits quite a bit in the wintertime. You have to be prepared for that. And don't assume how your heat is; your furnace will keep up with it.

Alexis: Right.

Eric: RV furnaces break, especially when you're living them; they fail more often. So, you have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. I mean, it literally could be life and death.

It could, you know, and so then, you know, make sure—as I mentioned with the insulation—everything's sealed up nice and tight. Your compartment doors and your windows don't have air leaks. And, you know, windows and RVs are a little harder to deal with.

They only make a few to insulate them or do other things. You might have dual-pane glass. Only a few RVs do, but you might.

But, you know, you can hang thick blankets in front of them, you know, just so that cold air or the cold isn't coming through the glass because the glass doesn't insulate. It's a barrier to keep the outside out. So you could hang blankets in front of it.

Most RVs are set up where you could do that in such a way they have a valance or something where you could do it. So try that. And then, you know, you want to keep your water system from freezing. That's one of the critical things, too.

Even with a heated hose, when the weather gets freezing, you should fill up your water tank, disconnect it, and put it away until it warms up some more because even heated hoses can freeze or fail. They might not be heated to the temperature that it is getting at.

So when you buy a heated hose, ensure it's going below zero, like -20. If you're -40, then you want -50. You know, it can exceed the hose's ability. So be prepared for these things. Look ahead a little bit. Talk to people in the area about what they do.

Now, obviously, when you're going to bed at night, you're not going to be wearing your clothes and dressing, you know, but, you know, in the RV, you know, you might not be able to get it as warm as you want or it's maybe not economically efficient. So you might want to wear layers of clothes, you don't want to be all bundled up.

You want to avoid getting to that point, so make sure your bedding is dry when you go to bed at night. You're dry because if things are damp, you'll freeze.

Alexis: That was a good point. It was keeping the moisture out of there. So do that.

Eric: So keeping the moisture out would be dehumidifiers.

Alexis: Right.

Eric: And, you know, Camco and other people make them, and they're just little bowls, basically, with some little crystals that go in there, and they suck the moisture out of the air.

You can also get electric dehumidifiers, but they always work poorly unless you get a high-end one, like an industrial-strength one, because the moisture in the air makes it colder.

Also, a woman might go to bed and wake up in the morning with her hair stuck to the walls, frozen to it, or her clothes are frozen because they're moist. So, keeping the moisture out of the air makes a huge difference.

It also made me recall keeping your propane tanks fuller and half full on the fuller side because propane is more efficient. The furnace will work better and become more efficient. So furnaces and RVs put out excellent, dry heat, which you want: dry heat.

The furnaces are excellent, almost like a fireplace type of heat, at least in rats. At least some of them, you know, they don't smell, but.

Alexis: Right.

Eric: Those are some essential tips for traveling in colder weather. So you. For more information, you can go to our website, TheSmartRVer.com, but a lot of it just keeps everything warm.

I didn't get into the water system because it's more complex. But we have some of that on our website. If not, we'll ensure it's there by the time this episode comes out.

So having, you know, the water system, you don't want it to freeze. Not only will you lose your water, but obviously, things break. And freezing or water problems in the wintertime suck.

It's harder to do inside or outside when the water's frozen. Things are frozen. It's just a more challenging job. So try to avoid that at all costs. You do not want your water to freeze. And buy an excellent heated hose.

Don't go to the jungle online and buy one of these, you know, 10,000-foot -400 degrees heated hoses for $38. They're garbage. Buy a quality one from Camco or Pirate, or Pirate, whatever it is. So, do you want to go that route? Okay.

Anyway, now we've beaten that dead horse, right? So, let's move on to staying on the road. Oh, wait. Okay, I talked about saving money.

If you're buying a new RV and you're thinking about getting an extended warranty when you purchase it, we'll have a link in our description to a company called Wholesale Warranties. So, if you have the podcast or go to our website, there will be a link to Wholesale warrants in this show's description.

Click that link and go to their website. These guys are upfront and transparent about everything, including their extended warranties.

Before you ever sign anything or give them a nickel, you will know precisely what they do and don't do. When you go to a dealership, they tell you it does. Oh, yeah, it does that. It does everything. Everything in the. Oh, yeah. Well, no, no.

If I hit an elephant walking across the road, he would run away from the bar and Bailey Circus. Are you going to cover it? Oh, yeah, don't, don't worry about it.

You know, you're not covered the first time you hit an elephant that ran away from the circus.

Alexis: Exactly.

Eric: So you got to be careful. But these guys are transparent.

So look at our show description or go to our website, look up this show, use the link to wholesale warranties, and talk to them. And even if you're going to a dealership to buy the warranty, you don't have to buy it through the dealership. You can buy it through these guys.

Not only is the better service a better quality product, but it is also cheaper. So it saves you money and headaches. No, we're going to stay on the road.

So, we're going to talk about RV furnace repair and maintenance. It's that time of year, everybody.

Alexis: Yes, it is.

Eric: If you live in your RV, you should know how to keep your furnace running.

Alexis: Listen up.

Eric: If you're putting your RV away for storage or for, in storage for the wintertime, yeah, you might not care, but in springtime, sometimes it still cools down. And here in Montana, everybody's using their furnace-rounded. Yep.

It cools down enough at night to turn on the furnace while camping. So, furnace repair and maintenance are essential for an RV furnace that does break. Sometimes, it's not the furnace—it might be the thermostat.

It could even be the air conditioner. The fur or the thermostat is run through the air conditioner in many RVs. So there's a circuit board up there, and that can fail.

That doesn't happen often, but it gives you an idea that other things sometimes control the furnace and could be the problem.

So, the first thing you want to do is isolate the problem. Is it the furnace or the thermostat? I'm not going to get into the air conditioner. That's a different animal, and we don't have the time for it.

So we're just going to stick with the furnace and the thermostat. Do you want to differentiate between the two? Is the thermostat terrible, or is the furnace wrong?

And all you have to do is go to the furnace or the thermostat and jump the wires.

If you have a three-wire system like in some domestics, I would just go to the furnace, take the two blue wires from it, and tie them together. If the furnace starts, then your thermostat is bad. If the furnace doesn't start, the problem is in the stove.

Let's first discuss some facts about the RV furnace so we can understand it. You have one in your RV, so you know everything about it, right? Okay, so you do want to make sure it works.

When you start having problems with it, don't delay. The issues aren't going to go away. A squeaky motor will just get worse, and then you'll have to replace it, or it will fail.

While camping, the bearings will seize up, or the motor will seize up and stop working. No motor, no tiki, right? So you want ticky, you want to stay warm. Now, a furnace is something that many rivers can repair themselves.

And you're the intelligent rver listening to this show. So you're a do-it-yourselfer type of guy or gal. So you have the tools, you have the ability. It's part of your skill set.

If it's outside your skill set, that's fine; just take it to a service center and have it done.

But knowing that there's a problem and that's part of learning this stuff, too, or hearing it, helps even the people that don't have that mechanical skill set to be more in tune with what's happening. You know, I've said this before. I listened to the show on an AM radio station in LA 640. It was about gardening.

I listened to it every Saturday morning. I'm not into gardening; I couldn't care less.

But, you know, for the last, I don't know, 40 years, 30 years, I pulled little rabbits out of my hat when it comes to doing things out in the yard from that show. Who knows what rabbit you might pull out of your hat? And then if your family doesn't know, they all. Look how cool Dad is.

He just fixed the furnace, man. Check him out. We didn't think he could do it, but he did. So, the essential thing is to keep the furnace clean.

If you have pets in the RV, generally, there's a vent in front of the furnace or a grill. Pull that out, vacuum around the stove, and get all that pet hair, dander, or whatever out there.

It will be different for every RV, depending on how the furnace is located and what you have for pets. You know what your kids are like. Who knows if they're throwing stuff everywhere, having pillow fights, or flying feathers?

So you want to do that. It's essential maintenance, and that's about all you can do. And don't ever put a filter on an RV furnace.

They're not made for filters, so a filter is out of the question. So now, let's get back to the basics of the furnace.

Before you think the furnace is at fault, ensure you have propane going to the furnace or the RV. Turn on the stove and see if the water heater works. If those things work, you're good on the propane side.

And even the propane regulator is good because those other things work. Now, a furnace sucks more volume of propane, but more than likely it'll be okay.

So ensure you have propane, the tanks turned on, and everything else. Ensure it's above half—the more that's in it, the better it works. Now, also make sure you have plenty of battery power. If you're plugged into shore power, generally, that will solve that problem.

If you're not on shore power, ensure your batteries are in good shape. You want at least twelve and a half volts, as the furnace will not work at a certain point without them.

So if your batteries are reasonable, you got propane. Okay? Now, you start digging into it. And, you know, generally, furnaces don't have manual shut-off valves for propane.

Sometimes, you see one here or there. Some might add one, you know, if you have it. I don't know why you'd turn it off, but you'd see if you did. So check the valve if you have one.

Some Dometic Atwood hydro flame furnaces have an on-off switch on Thebans; that switch is typically always on in some furnaces. You can't even get to it to turn it off. So be aware of that.

So, if you're reaching around on, let's say, an Atwood furnace, and you've got your arm into, it'd be the, I don't know what you call it, the front of the back. The side is closest to the outside of the RV.

Alexis: Mm-hmm.

Eric: There's a switch in there, so you could inadvertently turn it off and not even know it.

Alexis: Gotcha.

Eric: So being, you know, have that in mind. There's an on-off switch or off reset on most furnaces. It's just an on-off switch. Sometimes, it says reset. So those are the basics. Okay.

Now, if you have power and propane, the furnace should work.

If you turn the thermostat on and the blower starts blowing, maybe it's not igniting but blowing, which means your thermostat's working. So, the thermostat's not an issue. So get that out of your head now; go to the furnace now.

Sometimes, you have to have a person inside flip the thermostat while someone outside listens. Sometimes, you can't hear the spark, but you can hear the flame when it ignites. You listen to it, and it gets louder, like a small jet.

It has a rumble to it. When you hear that, if it does that, then it's lighting. Or if it only does that for a few seconds, it lights for a few seconds.

Things are working to a degree. The furnace has various problems, such as the blower not coming on.

It could be the thermostat, but it could also be a bad blower motor. So, that goes back to checking the thermostat and bypassing it. A blower motor could have 12 volts going to it, but it's not turning.

It needs to be corrected. Sometimes, they seize up, and sometimes, they just quit working. It might still spin, so you have to dig into them slightly.

You can work on some furnaces. They are set up in RVs, whether hydroplanes, Atwoods, or domestics. Only some people are installed at the factory, but some are.

You can access most of the components from outside the RV, which is excellent in some ways, but you still can't get to the limit switch on those furnaces. You have to pull the stove out in most cases unless it's installed just so.

Yeah, but typically, I just pull the furnace out. It's easier just to pull it out, throw it on a bench, hook it up to a battery and a propane tank, and away you go.

And even if you don't have propane, you can at least see if the blower is coming on, sparking, or not coming on. So that's your big issue.

The motor may be wrong, so you don't need propane. You just need 12 volts. But if you had propane to hook up to it to get it running on a bench, sometimes that's easier.

Sometimes, working in the RV could be more comfortable. I'm six feet three inches tall, so I have to sit in a chair and sit at the furnace level to see in it.

But now, if you're only like 2ft. No, I'm not going to say it. If you're very short, that's easy. But anyway, so. And you know, taking a furnace out is not a big deal.

It's a few wires, a propane hose, a few screws, and you pull that sucker out. Generally, you don't have to take the vent out on the side, outside, and leave all that there.

Dometics, atwoods, hydro flames, if they have a door on the outside, there are a few more screws, but they're pretty simple, you know, it's not a massive thing. So that gives you the basics, getting you started there. We only have time to cover some scenarios, but keep this in mind.

Most of the furnaces on the blower motor, somewhere when you have it in front of you, have a sticker, a diagnostic chart on it, and a light on the circuit board.d And so the light will blink, like one time, two times fast, three times fast. And that gives you an idea of what could be wrong.

Like one blank, could be airflow issues, or is it five? I forgot, but the label says so, and then, okay, airflow. Could that be the sail switch?

Could there be debris in the burner chamber inside the RV? Sometimes, they get filled with dust and dirt, so filthy they don't work right—or even a bug or two in the bur.

Not the burner chamber, but the burner itself, where your flame is. A bug can throw the propane off, so it doesn't stay lit, so little things like that.

I will post this on our website for you to read and follow. Most furnaces work the same way.

They have power that goes in, the motor starts spinning up, and it gets to a certain rpm, as well as the sail switch, which you can't see. You can see the outside or backside where the wires connect. But the sail is in the same compartment as the blower motor and fan. So, the air blows the sail switch and depresses it. Get it?

Sail switch. When that happens, it tells the circuit board, "Hey, everything's cool here."

So, if you want to start letting propane into the gas valve and sparking, do it. There are built-in safety nets. So when.

If something goes wrong, that first doesn't keep dumping gas into the chamber, if, like, let's say, the blower quits working out of this flame with no fan blowing the heat, you know, turn into a bomb. So there are little safety things built in. You can't overheat the furnace. Typically, they have two switches for that. Which one's the limit switch?

One is the sail switch. It goes through this sequence, and almost all furnaces are the same.

The only difference is sometimes the power goes through the limit switch before it goes to the sail switch. In some brands, it goes through the sail switch before it goes to the limit switch. But either way, it's going to make a circle there.

And both of those, the limit switch and the sail switch.

now to check ohms and volts.: 1220

Alexis: All the time.

Eric: No, the test light.

Alexis: Oh, never. Never.

Eric: How often do I walk down here with a volt meter?

Alexis: All the time.

Eric: So I have a test light. I need to find out where it is.

I keep one in each of our cars, just in case. But when I travel, I bring a voltmeter, so you must have one.

If you don't have a volt meter or test light, you can simultaneously jump the sail switch and the limit switch. With the sail switch, you just pull each wire off and put a wire between them. It replaces the sail switch.

Before you do that, you can put in one wire, but turn the furnace on first. And when it's on the workbench, you tie the two blue wires together.

And that acts like the thermostat, so it's permanent. It won't turn off that way.

So you do that and then put the jumper lead into the other wire for the sail switch. Usually, everything will start working, which will help you diagnose the problem. If the sail switch is terrible and you bypass it, the furnace will light up. The same is true for the limit switch.

If it's terrible, bypass it; the furnace will light up and stay lit. So those are some basic little tests.

Also, when you take a furnace out, if the sail switch is hard to get to, especially if you're near it and may have it apart, put a new one in that way. It's just done out of the way. Little bits of dust and dirt can ruin a sail switch.

Now, if you have an Atwood domestic hydro flame furnace where it's accessible from the outside, you know, there are generally two screws holding on. You're just very visible. Then I wouldn't worry about it so much. You see, you can access it anytime.

You could carry a spare sail switch if you wanted to. You just have to keep it somewhere where it won't get ruined.

They're delicate in their way, like an awning fabric. You know what? It's not on an RV. Those things are a nightmare. They tear, they scratch. Super easy. But when they're on the RV up.

I just noticed something here. We had a little technical glitch, but we will continue. Um, but they're solid and robust in the RV.

So, sail switches and circuit boards can be like that. A circuit board floating around in a cupboard could be horrible. And circuit boards fail on furnaces quite a bit.

Sail switches do. Sail switches and circuit boards are the two biggest things we replace the most.

But I don't know. I'd carry a spare circuit board or a sail switch, especially if you had yours out and bought one to replace it and got a spare. That way, you can match it up and ensure it's the same because some furnaces have different parts based on the serial number.

So, a sail switch for, let's say, an Attwood AFMD, whatever, might work on one model of it but not another model with a different serial number. You just need to be aware of that.

Serial numbers are sometimes excellent to give or have available when you get a part for your furnace. Sometimes, even with a serial or model number, you still can't figure it out, so matching them up is good.

For example, with a blower motor, sometimes there are three for it.

You need help figuring out the serial number; they're asking for one of three, and I would only carry a spare blower motor if you're going to the ends of the earth somewhere. So, you know, it's a sequence, and that's what's essential for you to understand.

It's not the parts as the sequence of the power's workings. Understanding that sequence will help you navigate the diagnosis.

And when you have power going everywhere except maybe the gas valve, when it starts to, the spark begins igniting or sparking, but it doesn't ignite. Is the gas valve opening okay? Is it the sail switch? Could it be the gas valve or the circuit board?

Circuit boards can be tested, and that's part of the operation. They test them for a gas valve and a spark, and that's it. But that's usually enough to diagnose it.

If the circuit board and the sail switch are good, the gas valve will likely be wrong. A voltmeter can test for power and a gas valve.

If you're sure it's it, you can remove the power and connect 12 volts to each side of it. Magnets drive two solenoids, and you can connect 12 volts to each one, one at a time, and see if it works.

Sometimes, one might work every week. If you have your finger on it, you feel it; it doesn't have a lot of oomph, and the other one will just slam into place.

The first one's going wrong.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric: And maybe partially succeeded; keep in mind that sometimes these magnets will open the gas valve, and then they'll go for a little bit, and they lose their strength, and the magnet will shut, or shut the solenoid off, or allow the solenoid to shut the gauge valve off. So that happens, too, and it's not that common, but it does happen. We had one in here the other day when the furnace was cold.

It wouldn't work at all. It got a little warmer, and the gas valve was still up for a little longer but was still shut off.

I put a new gas valve with new solenoids on it, and the problem disappeared. So that's an odd scenario. It happens in refrigerators, too, with Norcold more than domestics.

But gas valves are straightforward. They work or don't; in my experience, they go better nearly as often as other parts like circuit boards and sail switches.

As I said, we'll have this on the website. A little more information, like reading it, makes it easier, too. So, read through the sequence and understand it.

If you Download the manual from the manufacturer's website and find your furnace's model number, often the manual or a separate one has instructions on how to diagnose your furnace if it fails.

Those are handy because they generally show the sequence and a wiring diagram. Wiring diagrams—sometimes you have to understand them, but they help.

Let's see how things are going, where this should be, and what color that wire is because they're pretty accurate regarding wire colors and stuff. It differs from many Chinese diagrams that tell you it's a blue and pink wire.

Even with their black-and-white pictures, it still helps quite a bit. And it enables you to go in with your eyes wide open.

So you're not unthinkingly trying to fix the furnace because, you know, so many people just buy parts and they throw them at the stove. It's got to be the circuit board because that's the easiest thing. They throw that in there. It's not it. There's a couple hundred bucks down the drain.

If they bought a dinosaur board, because you can't return it, they buy something else. Something else. It's. It's silly. You don't need to do that, right? You know, and if you bought a sales switch, it doesn't fix.

And that's not the end of the world. It's just the timeout doing it. But if you can get it on the workbench, sometimes it's much more manageable.

If you can work on it on the side of your RV and the door opens up, and you can get to it that way, that's great if it works for you. As I said, they're sometimes more challenging to take out. And just put on a workbench, hooking up a propane tank.

Depending on how it's configured, you can use one of your tanks on your RV. You know, you can. If you had a quick connect on the side of it, you can plug right into there with another fitting.

Go to the furnace and plug off the line. By the way, you disconnected the furnace line with the three eight-male flare plugs.

Furnaces use three eight male fittings and male flare fittings. So, making your line is what you want on one end, and whatever you can do on the other end to get your tank, so you have options there.

Battery power is accessible. You could even jump into the battery on your trailer if you had to. Making up some wires is pretty straightforward.

It's just a little ingenuity. And if you're a do-it-yourself or that stuff becomes that much easier, and you'll use it again, your furnace won't last forever.

It's going to break again. And heck, you'll become the furnace repair guy in the neighborhood. Who knows, right? Yeah. Hey, you know, the furnace repair guy.

I'll have more of this on our info, information, and website. You can read it and follow along better, but that runs through, and it gives you an idea and builds up that confidence. You're the intelligent Rver.

You have to be able to do the stuff yourself. You don't want a neighborhood laughing at you—you want to laugh at them, right? All right. So now, along with repairs, we often go to YouTube.

Now, we only have a few repair-specific videos. We have many videos to help you make good purchase decisions, but you probably go to YouTube to find out how to repair your furnace.

And you probably get it wrong. They get it wrong and teach you how to do it wrong. Sometimes, they get it right. But while you're there, check out our YouTube channel.

We're trying to build it up. We want to have 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year, but we're a ways away from that. So, we need you to have your dog subscribe to your cat.

If you got a gopher in the yard, say, hey, gopher, come here. Come on in for a minute. We're not going to kill you. Subscribe. Yeah, after he subscribes, you can kill him. But get that subscription first.

If you have children, get them. Get a Gmail account in their name. Don't tell them about it. Just do it and subscribe.

Alexis: We're going to need one anyway.

Eric: Well, yeah, but, you know, this is for essential business purposes. In other words, we want everybody in the world to subscribe. When you go to your doctor, log into his computer and subscribe to him.

If you're buying a new RV and the financing guy leaves, get on his computer and subscribe with his email. You know, he's priority logged into his Gmail account. You don't even have to do anything. Just subscribe. Just go to YouTube, our channel. Subscribe!

Go to YouTube, TheSmartRVer, and subscribe. We appreciate that. We like it and appreciate what you guys do so we can support the show.

All right, now we're going to the next stop, and Alexis will reminisce as we talk about bakeries on the Eastern Seaboard.

Alexis: Here we go. Okay. Dim the lights. Start the music, light the fire. It's story time.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite memories was when my dad would spring me from school. Cause Sometimes, don't tell my mom. Hopefully, she's not listening. She probably is. And we'd go to Ceres Bakery downtown.

When you walked in, the smell was warm and good. I always got a hot cup of cocoa and a giant cinnamon roll. It was my favorite thing ever, and I still remember how it tasted.

It was so good—sugary. Of course, kids love that. I still love that.

It doesn't do me any favors now that I'm older, but it was so much fun, and I love it.

Eric: When looking for our next stop, you considered bakeries and found the ten best bakeries in the east.

Alexis: Many of them are in New York, in the same vicinity. But we've got a few listed here. They'll be on the website, too, but just a few. One of them is Mike's Pastry in Boston.

It's been there since: 1946

Of course, you know what you expect when you go to a bakery. There's Bread's Bakery, which is famous. It's in Union Square in New York City. So that's a famous one.

But it's known for its chocolate babka, a delicious European-type pastry. I've never had babka, but I would try it.

Eric: I've always wondered about that because it's in an episode of Seinfeld. Isn't it funny how everything goes back to Seinfeld?

Alexis: I love it. I love it.

Eric: Man, what a genius show. Yep.

Alexis: And there are a couple of other bakeries in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. And Maine.

So, if you're looking for a bakery tour, which I think would be fun now because all these states are close

Eric: Right.

Alexis: You could do that if you're in that area or will be there for a while. Hit. Hit the big bakery.

Eric: Yeah. You know, it's fun.

Alexis: Take a picture.

Eric: It's like another hobby, right?

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric: Instead of hopping, because almost everywhere you go, there will be a bakery.

Alexis: Yeah. Your heart doctor might not love it, but.

Eric: Nah, but, you know, you don't have to buy something horrible every time.

Alexis: That's true.

Eric: That's bad. Don't. You can buy some bread.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric: You know, or you could buy stuff and send it to your friends so they get all fat and have heart problems and everything else.

Alexis: One thing I think, too, is some of these are family, you know. So if you can get the story if you're there, how fun would that be to understand, you know, where they're coming from?

Eric: And, it's fantastic, too; some of these bakeries have become so popular that people from everywhere go there. You see, they. We got to go to the bakery, whatever it might be. So check them out.

These are all in the same general area. One was a little farther away, but it was on the East Coast of the United States.

Alexis: Yeah, just do it. Be fun.

Eric: Yeah. Virginia was the farthest one south there, but yeah. So check them out. You know, bakeries are excellent.

And, you know, it seems like food is always good. Many bakeries, maybe donuts, are like, the sweet stuff isn't their extreme specialty. It's bread, right?

Cheese bread, jalapeno bread. You know, the bread is so good, you put more bread in it. Yeah, bread. Bread sandwich, you know. Yeah. So check out the bakeries.

Alexis: Yes, do it.

Eric: And then, you know, every time you're in a bakery, you can think of Alexis in her childhood stuff in her face with, you know, cinnamon rolls.

Alexis: Okay. I told my favorite. What do you? It's your favorite pastry, and you would just eat it no matter what.

Eric: You know, it used to be cream-filled donuts from Dunkin' Donuts.

Alexis: I love it.

older, remember that it is in: 1990

I went to: 2000

This thing sucks, you know? But, you know, that was then. Now, I don't know. Maple bars are probably the best.

Alexis: Yeah, here we go.

Eric: But, yeah, anyway, all right, now we're going on here.

Alexis: So we are.

Eric: All right, so let's hit the RV envy. And there you go with RV Envy. It can be something other than something fantastic.

And I've said that before because, you know, tongue jack storage covers, how exciting are they? You know, you pack up the kids and the wife. Okay, we'll buy a tongue jack cover today, guys. Oh, dad? Are we? Are we?

Yeah, we're going to go to the RV store, and we're just going to. We're going to do it. You know, I've got the money set aside. I've been saving up. No, we don't do that. No, it's a tongue jack cover. Who cares? Right?

Well, you know, electric jacks are not the best quality anymore. Some brands have everything exposed. They have little touch pads that are exposed to the elements, the sun, and the weather, and they don't last.

And it took me a while to put two and two together because someone else buys covers for a lot of stuff. You know, whatever. I let the sun do it; it's going to do. But you can only sometimes buy parts for these tongue jacks, and it's a hassle.

So you can buy a cover or make one. If you buy one, great. If you make something, it doesn't matter as long as it keeps the sun and water off of it.

It's going to extend the life of that tongue jack. You know, Barker makes more waterproof, perfected ones. Lippert has tried theirs, but theirs must be more suitable for the elements.

They look nice, but we sell more lippert parts than anything else. Slippers are a few trailers, so I must give them that.

But I would get cover for the tongue jack or electric tongue jack or make the same with a manual tongue jack because they're pretty basic. It's just gears. They seem to last forever. But if you put a cover over it, it keeps the water out, you know, and it keeps some of the dirt out.

So it's going to work better, and those gears are going to last longer. And then, you know, many of them have zerk fittings. Grease them, spray something in there, or do something to maintain them.

It's going to help, but that cover will make a difference. It doesn't have to be anything fancy; just something to keep it dry, and dry keeps the dust out. So that's it.

Cover that tongue jack, whether manual or electric, and it will extend its life, especially if it's an electric one-light. Here's a shout-out: Go to YouTube, check out the intelligent rver channel, and subscribe. We'll leave that alone until the next episode, episode 163.

We have yet to develop or produce that one because we will wait. It comes out on November 8, and we want to see if the world still exists after the elections.

Alexis: Oh, boy.

Eric: Yeah, we hear that the world won't be here. I don't know. So we're just going to play it by ear. Okay.

We're neutral on all this but want to wait and see what happens and if an epiphany hits us. So, you might be living in your RV by then. Some experts say that if the world comes to crash to pieces, we'll see.

All right, so hopefully we. We see that I hear from you, or you listen to us, something like that. Either way, how does that work? If there's the Internet, who knows? It's tough to say. We've had a great show today. We've covered some ground and made some tremendous little points for everybody.

I want to thank Alexis for sharing her bad eating habits from childhood with us. Next, we can do a minor in psychology to help her out. Some are beyond help.

OUTRO

All right, so everybody, this is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer podcast. Thank you so much for coming by. It's been great hanging out with you. If I don't see you on the road, let's connect it to TheSmartRVer.com.