September 18, 2004

September 18, 2004

DAY 93

 

 

I started the day knowing absolutely nothing about the mechanics of an RV absorption / evaporative fridge. Now I know something. First thing this morning I read the fridge owner’s manual, then went outside the trailer and opened up the back of the fridge to see what I could see. I disassembled as much as I could of the burner assembly to see if there was something obvious wrong with the propane side of the fridge system ( since the fridge was working fine on 120V ). There was nothing obvious, but since the burner would light, and remain lit for 45 seconds, I suspected the thermocouple had failed.

We crossed the international border from Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario without too much difficulty. We drove east on Hwy. 402 to London where we stopped at an RV dealer advertised in our Explorer RV Club magazine. These was no one available in the service department, but one of the owners came out to the trailer to see if he could help. He scraped some carbon deposit off the tip of the thermocouple, but that didn’t solve the problem. By watching over his shoulder, I saw how he was cleaning it, and how to disassemble it for removal and replacement. He found a new one in their parts department, and I set about changing it while parked in their lot. It took awhile, but I got the old one out, the new one in and all connected, and everything put back together. After a little bit of final adjustments, and tweaking, everything worked fine.

AHHHHH ... the sweet smell of success. I’m getting very proud of my self-sufficiency and self-reliance.

We left the RV dealer, and drove just a short distance south on Hwy. 4 to Hwy. 401, then a few km. east to the Flying J. We stopped at Flying J to have lunch, wash some laundry, fill up with diesel, empty the holding tanks, refill the fresh water tank, and finally, retrieve e-mail and update my blog. I am sitting now at the Flying J typing this after many unsuccessful attempts to sign on through their data capable pay phone stations. I couldn’t get it to work. I’ve connected successfully before, so I don’t know what the problem is today. I think I may have charged 25 cents to my credit card each time I made an unsuccessful attempt, and there were many attempts.

As we were preparing to leave Flying J, the fridge burner wouldn't ignite, so I had to open up the outside vent accessdoor to make an adjustment. Yes, yes, ... of course, ... I dropped the fridge outside vent access door and it shattered when it hit the pavement. ARRRRGGGGHHHH ! ! ! It's not so much that I have to buy a new door assembly that bothers me as much as the fact that the trailer's graphics / striping run across the broken door. The new door will be plain white, and will stick out like a sore thumb on the side of the trailer. I'm very angry at myself tonight for my carelessness.

We continued east on Hwy. 401, stopping for some grocery shopping in Cambridge. More east on Hwy. 401 to Toronto. North on Hwy 427 past Pearson Airport in Mississauga, to the International Centre on Airport Road, where the PIJAC National Pet Industry Trade Show will be held tomorrow and Monday. We checked out the International Centre, then drove down Dixon Road to find a place for dinner. Ate at Tony Roma’s. Worst service we’ve had in a very long time. Welcome back to Canada ! One thing the U.S. does much better than we do, is provide service in restaurants.

DSK