Mark and Patty RV Adventures: Travel to Phoenix AZ and Dinner with Friends

Friday - Saturday, October 19-20, 2012

We had a little problem on Friday morning with the AC. Both roof units locked out and would not run. I spent some time on the internet and I called Dometic (AC Manufacturer) to try to resolve the issue. I didn't get anywhere in the short time I had before we needed to take off for Phoenix. I figured I would deal with when I got to Patty’s friend’s house.

We left Quartzsite at 11:30 am for the 140 mile trip to Phoenix. The trip was uneventful with just a lot of tall cactus to look at. The temperature was hovering at 95 degrees and the thought of going on the roof of the RV when we got to our destination was not a pleasant one.

We pulled up to our destination a little before 2 in the afternoon. Don and Roe have a gravel area next to their house that is about 45 feet long and 14 feet wide making it a good place to park the RV. With our slides out we will be hanging over the neighbors gravel yard a foot or 2 which was not a problem for them. Don suggested that I go around the block so that I could back in from my side of the RV which worked well. We got into the space within a few minutes.

Don and Roe have this great cactus in their front yard.

Very cool bottle tree in Roe and Dons back yard!

Now to go up on the roof and see if the AC units have a fuse or something I can reset. The roof unit cover was not hard to get off and I found the control board. Darn, no fuse or reset that I could see. We decided to just plug into their 20 amp service and see what if anything would happen. The AC came on and of course we then tripped a circuit breaker in the house. We eventually found a lightly loaded outlet to use. I also turned on only the smaller 13.5K AC unit and put the water heater and fridge on propane. That seemed to work and now we had some AC that was enough to keep the RV around 74 with the outside temp at 90. Not bad!

I learned that the AC units will protect themselves when the input power is cycling like we had in the Quartzsite Park. I also learned that there is a reset function I can do from the thermostat controller. I did not do the reset, but I think that it must reset over time as it was fine after we arrived in Phoenix. The on-line manual doesn't say that there is a time out on the reset but it seems in practice to work that way. I am also not going to let the power cycle like that again if I can help it. I learned from Paul Everett at dinner on Saturday night that I can by-pass the Power Management System by using the on off switch on the digital read out inside the coach. This is great news as I thought I needed to open the control unit that is buried inside the RV to do this. Anyway, always something to learn.

Friday night and Saturday, Patty did a lot of catching up on the past 28 years since she had seen Roe and Don. I mostly just listened. We had made arrangements to go out to eat and catch up with our friends Paul Everett and his wife Sue. We all met up at the Westgate Entertainment complex near the University of Phoenix Stadium where the Cardinals play football. We had a great time talking about some old times and even better, talking about the fun we are having seeing this country and RVing. We also shared some stories of RVing and learning about them as we go along.