MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - *F* - RV Fridge Stuff and Quilting

I am going to start off the new year with posting some of our motorhome modifications, a few at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER F

Fridge:

We have the side by side Dometic Fridge in our rig, model RM7030.  The longer we keep this fridge going, the better.  The poor thing is 22 years old ya know. Replacing an RV fridge this size is about $4,000.  It usually means removing a window and using a forklift to get it out!  No thank you. We will try to keep this one going at all costs.

Some folks are replacing the back cooling units with aftermarket ones when their fridges die.  Others are replacing them with regular household fridges, but then you need have a constant source of electricity all of the time to run them.  That doesn't work so well when we like boondocking without hookups.  Or running an inverter and using up battery power on them.  That works for short spans but not days on end.  We will keep our propane one fully operational, if at all possible. 

Plus I like the look of ours, with matching wood panels on the doors.

Fridge fans:

We notice after a week or so, we do get frost building up on the inside fins in our fridge. For just weekend camping, this hasn't been a problem, but longer periods like vacation we do notice the frost building up. Not in the freezer, just on the fridge fins. (the freezer has a heating switch to keep it from getting buildup in humid areas)

We first bought two of the little FridgeMate fans that run on 2 D cell batteries, but they are not enough to really keep the frost off the fins, they just circulate the cold air for even temps within the box when setting on a shelf.  This is what we HAD .......

But now, Steve saw this cute little fridge fan on Ebay.   

  

It was $14.99 plus $2.60 shipping.

Seller is Richard Lockhart

597 Pickens Gap Road

Seymour, TN 37865

It came in the mail, fast shipping, and we installed it in 10 minutes.  Pretty easy. The hot lead wire attaches to the 12 volt fridge light wiring before the switch, so there is always 12 volt running to the fans.  Then the ground is a clip that does double duty.  It attaches to the fins of the fridge to hold the fan in place but also completes the 12 volt circuit.  It runs all of the time the fridge is on, with very little draw, one tenth of an amp.   When you turn the fridge off after the weekend of camping is over, the fan goes off.  We put it right where our frost builds up and it helps a lot--  It sure seems to move the air!

From the seller's website:

RV refrigerators are not frost-free. The longer they run, the more frost & ice accumulates on the fins. Frost comes from opening and closing the door, letting in warm air. The warm air has higher moisture content which results in frost & ice buildup on the fins. The buildup causes your refrigerator to think it is colder than it actually is. Frost also prevents the fins from extracting heat from inside the refrigerator box. The purpose of the fins is to EXTRACT HEAT from the refrigerator box as they are cooling down.

Life Expectancy: 30,000 hours; Rated Voltage: 12 VDC; Max Air Flow: 18.86 (CFM) CUBIC FEET per MINUTE; Max Current: 0.10A; Power: 1.20 watt; Fan Speed: 4800 RPM + or – 10%; Bearing type: Sleeve Bearing; Noise Level: 27.7 dBA; Comes with 22” of wire to hook to power supply.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Fridge Dinosaur Board repair:

We had replaced our control board in ours a number of years ago, about 2008 or 2009 maybe?  What is wonderful is that there is a company that makes aftermarket boards so you do not need to get the exact one from the manufacturer (think $$$)   The company is called Dinosaur Boards. If you have your model number, you can usually get a replacement for about half the cost of what the manufacturer or dealer wants for one.  Recently, I looked up what they cost now....  when we did ours it was about $115 and Steve did it so fast I didn't have time to even take a pic!  LOL Instructions come with it and it is pretty easy, a few screws and a few wire connections.

Imagine my surprise when I googled Dinosaur Boards and our model number, up came a link for WALMART!  Yes, you can get them through Walmart's on line ordering and have it shipped to the nearest Walmart store! Not too bad of a price increase after 9 or 10 years since we bought one! 

Fridge Maintenance and Orifice Repair:
This is from a repair we did a few years ago.....

Our fridge is able to operate on both electric and propane.   The electric portion was working fine, so we knew the cooling unit was operating correctly.   But the propane portion has been warming up lately.  We have been up in the 50's for interior fridge temps and that is not good.  We keep a fridge thermometer hanging inside to monitor it. We have had the opportunity to use electric hookups for the last month or so, our food has been safe.  Knowing we were going to need it to operate on propane soon, we decided to start some diagnostic repairs.

First... Steve cleaned the burner tip of some crud. (see pics below as to where he cleaned).  He also cleared out the flue as much as he could.  Our model doesn't have a lot of access to get to the flue, but he checked that the baffle was free too.  That didn't seem to help much.

Second... we thought perhaps the last time our propane was filled, the attendant didn't turn off our valves and perhaps damaged the regulator. We noticed it had been taking longer to boil water on the stove, so it might be part of the problem.  We replaced the regulator.  $30.  That didn't seem to help much.  He also checked our "water column pressure" in the propane lines with a device.  It read just fine at 11 column inches.

Third... it was during those horribly hot weeks of 90+ degree weather. We thought perhaps the enclosure was needing more air circulation, so Steve added a 4" 12 volt blower fan up under the top fridge vent on the roof.   He wired in a switch down inside so we can control it when we want it on.  That didn't seem to help much either.

Fourth....   We were running out of "fixes" so we downloaded the service manual for our model fridge.  The last thing it said to do was to change the orifice.   Our manual said to get a #73 orifice. You have to have the exact one for your unit. We checked the local RV dealer.  No go.  They would have to find it first and order it out and it may take a few weeks.   So we went on Ebay and found one and had it shipped to us.  2 days and it was here! $22.50 and free shipping.

The orifice is a tiny brass fitting with a ceramic diaphragm thingie inside that helps control the amount of propane that flows into the burner.  Okayyyyyy at least that is my understanding.

Sooooo here is how he changed it.

First, turn off the propane 
and the fridge power button
 before you start! 

REMOVE THE BACK COVER OVER THE BURNER ASSEMBLY

REMOVE THIS METAL SHROUD AROUND THE BURNER

THE ORIFICE WAS WITHIN EASY REACH AND JUST SCREW IT INTO PLACE

ALSO CLEAN THE BURNER, TUBE AND FLUE WHILE YOU HAVE IT OPEN

(this photo was taken later while it was operating for demonstration purposes)

Now replace the shroud piece and the cover, turn on the gas and purge the line a bit by running your stove burners for a few minutes.  Then turn on the propane portion of the fridge and let it ignite.

and... of course....  **IT WORKED**!!!!    The fridge is nice and cool now in the green safe range of 32-40, by George, we got it!


Dometic Thermistor Control Clip:
Many people are confused by what this little plastic slidey thing is on your Dometic RV fridge (if you have one)   It controls the interior temp of the fridge section by sensing the coldness and if it needs to call for more cold action.  Sliding it up makes it colder and sliding it down makes it warmer. Opposite of what you think.  Some RV fridges have nice labels inside to tell you that, most do not.

 Fridge Door Prop Idea: 

When we unload our fridge, especially in the summer months, we do not want the doors to stay shut.  A moldy mess can start growing inside, even without any food in there.  We tried different ways to prop open our double doors. Leaving them wide open it seems they are always in the way if we walk in or out of the rig to get things while parked in the backyard. The best one we found is to fold up two dishtowels (which are right in the drawer by the fridge) and set them over the tops of the doors to keep them open just enough for air circulation.

~~~~~~~~~

I was really bummed the other day. I was trying to sew and my thread kept breaking! ARGGHHH  Like 8 times in a row, each time having to rip out the stitches from both top and bottom sides of the quilt while it's rolled up on the frame.  VERY frustrating!

I did all the normal stuff, new needle, check bobbin case for any lint, clean the tension disks, rethread it etc. It was breaking the thread and kinda shredding it just above the needle area within the machine's mechanism. Nothing helped.  So then I called on my Last Resort! ...Steveio!   

With the side cover totally off, and him carefully watching, (to learn about the operation of the machine as well) he watched the path of the thread within the bowels of the machine. 

He found a small part of an interior metal guide that was rubbing and rough, not smooth metal.  With a tiny bit of emery cloth and some diligent use of a fingernail file, he was able to smooth it out.

I am happy to report it is sewing along just fine now! Smoothly with no shredding or breaking of threads!   What a great guy, who doesn't know the first thing about sewing machines.  My Hero!

I am doing this fun "swirl with hooks" free motion pattern over the entire quilt with variegated thread that changes colors. It is all my own movements of the machine, nothing is pre-programmed or computerized.

My regular household sewing machine (called a "domestic machine") is mounted onto a frame where it can slide back and forth, forward and back, to sew the pretty patterns on the unrolling quilt.  Three rolls consisting of the quilt top, batting and backing let it advance under even tension towards the back of the frame. I go back and forth side to side, putting in the stitches, joining all three layers. Yes, the throat space of the domestic machine limits my movement to a certain depth, but it is all good because I can still be creative and keep my quilting costs down.  Many quilters just sew the top pieces and then send them out to a "long armer" to do the rest for them.  Too expensive for my meager budget!

A lot of quilters ask me about my frame setup.  Here are some pics. It was made by Handi Quilter and is sold in pieces. It's discontinued now, but you can find them on Craigslist or quilting groups sales pages. Here is a website that still sells them:

https://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/handi-quilter-ii.php

The poles telescope out wide enough for a king sized quilt.  The tracks and frames are mounted or clamped to an ordinary banquet table.  We bolted two tables together to make it even longer for my taste.

The sewing machine sets on a "carriage" which is the clear plastic device. It has roller wheels that ride on tracks so it moves side to side and back and forth.  The handles have a little button to start and stop the stitching, and the knob controls the speed of the stitching. You need to buy the handles that are brand specific to control your brand of domestic sewing machine.  The handles were originally U shape upright and held on the backside of the machine. We changed them to bicycle style handlebars and moved them to the front of the machine. Now I can sit down and stitch and see better where I am going.

The frame and banquet tables take up a whole wall in my sewing room. The bottoms of the tables are also reinforced with heavy 2x4's to keep it from bouncing or vibrating.

 Here it is all set up without any quilt loaded up on it.  

So you get the general idea of how it works. 

You can see where we bracketed another table to extend it wider.

Here is a You Tube I made 

for people who ask me how it works,

especially while sitting down. 

Maybe by the end of today

I will have the coffee quilt completed. 

It's a king sized about 104 x 104 

so it really fills up the rolls. 

Oh.... and just a bit to make you smile----

our youngest grandchild Claire is growing up so fast, 

she is now wearing pony tails! 

BEFORE                    AFTER 

hahahahahhahaha

MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - *F* - RV Fridge Stuff and Back To Work

I am going to start off the new year with posting some of our motorhome modifications, a few at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER F

Fridge:

We have the side by side Dometic Fridge in our rig, model RM7030.  The longer we keep this fridge going, the better.  The poor thing is 22 years old ya know. Replacing an RV fridge this size is about $4,000.  It usually means removing a window and using a forklift to get it out!  No thank you. We will try to keep this one going at all costs.

Some folks are replacing the back cooling units with aftermarket ones when their fridges die.  Others are replacing them with regular household fridges, but then you need have a constant source of electricity all of the time to run them.  That don't work so well when we like boondocking without hookups.  Or running and inverter and using up battery power on them.  That works for short spans but not days on end.  We will keep our propane one if at all possible. 

Plus I like the look of ours, with matching wood panels on the doors.

Fridge fans:

We notice after a week or so, we do get frost building up on the inside fins in our fridge. For just weekend camping, this hasn't been a problem, but longer periods like vacation we do notice the frost building up. Not in the freezer, just on the fridge fins. (the freezer has a heating switch to keep it from getting buildup in humid areas)

We first bought two of the little FridgeMate fans that run on 2 D cell batteries, but they are not enough to really keep the frost off the fins, they just circulate the cold air for even temps within the box when setting on a shelf.  This is what we HAD .......

But now, Steve saw this cute little fridge fan on Ebay.   

  

It was $14.99 plus $2.60 shipping.

Seller is Richard Lockhart

597 Pickens Gap Road

Seymour, TN 37865

It came in the mail, fast shipping, and we installed it in 10 minutes.  Pretty easy. The hot lead wire attaches to the 12 volt fridge light wiring before the switch, so there is always 12 volt running to the fans.  Then the ground is a clip that does double duty.  It attaches to the fins of the fridge to hold the fan in place but also completes the 12 volt circuit.  It runs all of the time the fridge is on, with very little draw, one tenth of an amp.   When you turn the fridge off after the weekend of camping is over, the fan goes off.  We put it right where our frost builds up and it helps a lot--  It sure seems to move the air!

From the seller's website:

RV refrigerators are not frost-free. The longer they run, the more frost & ice accumulates on the fins. Frost comes from opening and closing the door, letting in warm air. The warm air has higher moisture content which results in frost & ice buildup on the fins. The buildup causes your refrigerator to think it is colder than it actually is. Frost also prevents the fins from extracting heat from inside the refrigerator box. The purpose of the fins is to EXTRACT HEAT from the refrigerator box as they are cooling down.

Life Expectancy: 30,000 hours; Rated Voltage: 12 VDC; Max Air Flow: 18.86 (CFM) CUBIC FEET per MINUTE; Max Current: 0.10A; Power: 1.20 watt; Fan Speed: 4800 RPM + or – 10%; Bearing type: Sleeve Bearing; Noise Level: 27.7 dBA; Comes with 22” of wire to hook to power supply.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Fridge Dinosaur Board repair:

Just a few days ago, Steve's brother called from an RV trip they were taking in Nevada. Their fridge was not cooling and he was awaiting a mobile repairman to come.  He wanted to troubleshoot with Steve first.  After all of the practical suggestions were exhausted, the two brothers decided it was probably the electronic control board.  Sure enough, when the tech guy came, that is what it was and he and wife Ann are happily enjoying cold food once again on the road! 

We had replaced our control board in ours too a number of years ago, about 2008 or 2009 maybe?  What is wonderful is that there is a company that makes aftermarket boards so you do not need to get the exact one from the manufacturer (think $$$)   The company is called Dinosaur Boards. If you have your model number, you can usually get a replacement for about half the cost of what the manufacturer or dealer wants for one.  Recently, I looked up what they cost now....  when we did ours it was about $115 and Steve did it so fast I didn't have time to even take a pic!  LOL Instructions come with it and it is pretty easy, a few screws and a few wire connections.

Imagine my surprise when I googled Dinosaur Boards and our model number, up came a link for WALMART!  Yes, you can get them through Walmart's on line ordering and have it shipped to the nearest Walmart store! Not too bad of a price increase after 8 or 9 years since we bought one! 

Fridge Maintenance and Orifice Repair:
This is from a repair we did a few years ago.....

Our fridge is able to operate on both electric and propane.   The electric portion was working fine, so we knew the cooling unit was operating correctly.   But the propane portion has been warming up lately.  We have been up in the 50's for interior fridge temps and that is not good.  We keep a fridge thermometer hanging inside to monitor it. We have had the opportunity to use electric hookups for the last month or so, our food has been safe.  Knowing we were going to need it to operate on propane soon, we decided to start some diagnostic repairs.

First... Steve cleaned the burner tip of some crud. (see pics below as to where he cleaned).  He also cleared out the flue as much as he could.  Our model doesn't have a lot of access to get to the flue, but he checked that the baffle was free too.  That didn't seem to help much.

Second... we thought perhaps the last time our propane was filled, the attendant didn't turn off our valves and perhaps damaged the regulator. We noticed it had been taking longer to boil water on the stove, so it might be part of the problem.  We replaced the regulator.  $30.  That didn't seem to help much.  He also checked our "water column pressure" in the propane lines with a device.  It read just fine at 11 column inches.

Third... it was during those horribly hot weeks of 90+ degree weather. We thought perhaps the enclosure was needing more air circulation, so Steve added a 4" 12 volt blower fan up under the top fridge vent on the roof.   He wired in a switch down inside so we can control it when we want it on.  That didn't seem to help much either.

Fourth....   We were running out of "fixes" so we downloaded the service manual for our model fridge.  The last thing it said to do was to change the orifice.   Our manual said to get a #73 orifice. You have to have the exact one for your unit. We checked the local RV dealer.  No go.  They would have to find it first and order it out and it may take a few weeks.   So we went on Ebay and found one and had it shipped to us.  2 days and it was here! $22.50 and free shipping.

The orifice is a tiny brass fitting with a ceramic diaphragm thingie inside that helps control the amount of propane that flows into the burner.  Okayyyyyy at least that is my understanding.

Sooooo here is how he changed it.

First, turn off the propane 
and the fridge power button
 before you start! 

REMOVE THE BACK COVER OVER THE BURNER ASSEMBLY

REMOVE THIS METAL SHROUD AROUND THE BURNER

THE ORIFICE WAS WITHIN EASY REACH AND JUST SCREW IT INTO PLACE

ALSO CLEAN THE BURNER, TUBE AND FLUE WHILE YOU HAVE IT OPEN

(this photo was taken later while it was operating for demonstration purposes)

Now replace the shroud piece and the cover, turn on the gas and purge the line a bit by running your stove burners for a few minutes.  Then turn on the propane portion of the fridge and let it ignite.

and... of course....  **IT WORKED**!!!!    The fridge is nice and cool now in the green safe range of 32-40, by George, we got it!


Dometic Thermistor Control Clip:
Many people are confused by what this little plastic slidey thing is on your Dometic RV fridge (if you have one)   It controls the interior temp of the fridge section by sensing the coldness and if it needs to call for more cold action.  Sliding it up makes it colder and sliding it down makes it warmer. Opposite of what you think.  Some RV fridges have nice labels inside to tell you that, most do not.

 

 Fridge Door Prop Idea: 

When we unload our fridge, especially in the summer months, we do not want the doors to stay shut.  A moldy mess can start growing inside, even without any food in there.  We tried different ways to prop open our double doors. Leaving them wide open it seems they are always in the way if we walk in or out of the rig to get things while parked in the backyard. The best one we found is to fold up two dishtowels (which are right in the drawer by the fridge) and set them over the tops of the doors to keep them open just enough for air circulation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, this post got pretty long with fridge stuff... so I won't write much about family or fiber things. I AM working on a secret thing but can't post pics of it yet.  LOL .  

As for Steve, he is heading back to work today at noon for a few hours. For those who don't know, Steve retired Dec 31, but took on a part time job for the county driving medical routes for patients for The Commission on Aging. 

Today he gets to drive the BUS!  Yesterday he drove the handicapped van. He had two delightful patients yesterday, one of which was a spry elderly lady the age of 94.  She was quick as a bunny and sharp as a tack he said.  He really enjoyed her banter.  This morning he was double checking his bookwork....  he is so cute.  

I am glad he found something fun to do during his retirement. They said it won't be hard to schedule time off for us to take some longer trips this summer. They have a number of drivers to rotate, but right now two are out on medical recuperations and one down with the flu.  So for now he will be putting in more hours than usual.  It should be settling down to 15-20 hours a week.

I hope so. I kinda sorta got so used to him around now all the time, I really miss him when he is gone.  I have weaving, quilting and the dogs to keep me company, but having him here with me all of the time was a nice bonus of the retirement.

Well, back to the sewing machine!

Motorhome shocks, backup camera, and fridge prop

Well... update (kinda sorta) on the motorhome shocks.   If you read my other post from Sunday:

Crazy Customer Service when trying to order motorhome parts

you will see that we have been trying to spend some money and get some shocks since May 5.  Today is the 18th.   The not-so-helpful sales guy at the other end of the phone finally promised that his supplier would have the shocks to him by Mon or Tues and then he would ship them on to us toot sweet.  

Welllllll  I wanna go camping this weekend!  

It's already Tuesday, so I figured a call to double check might help.   After being on hold while the same sales guy (by the name of Dan)  he had to call his supplier to double check my order again, he finally came back to me and *said* that the shocks were shipped from his supplier yesterday and would be there at his place today.  And then he in turn would ship them to me overnight to my house and they should arrive by tomorrow.  

WE WILL SEE.  

(and now, watch, I am tempting the Monkey Motorhome Gods by saying they won't be the right ones?!?) 

These Bilstein shocks run in the $120-140 range a piece, and this place has them on a special for $75.75 each with free shipping.   The other guys on the Safari list said it was a good place to buy from.  hmmmmmm?

Now, being the *Cover My Bases* kinda gal, I decided to call a few truck supply places in Green Bay to see what they can do for us, in the event that the shocks do arrive tomorrow and are wrong.    Batting ZERO.... one place suggested their books show a cross reference to a Monroe gas-filled shock for $38 each.  I don't think that is a match??  They said we could bring in our shock and physically match it up, so I think we will send Steveio to work tomorrow with a shock in the car trunk, and he can run over on his lunch hour if need be.

I guess we will see what shows up tomorrow with UPS?  Otherwise I might make Steveio put the old ones back on just so we can go camping.  LOL  One is ok, the other isn't holding firm even after taking it off and adjusting it.   The rig rides fine, we just hear a loose rattly sound when going over some bumps.

If the shocks come, and fit and are good, then I will praise the company and we will order some rear shocks too.  The rears could probably use replacement too, as one seems to have some oil seepage.  Steve is going to have to torch them off because even with 2 weeks of daily squirts of anti-rust spray on them, nothing is budging on the nuts.   The front ones came off easy, so that was half the battle right there.


On to the next thing... our backup camera.    It is housed in a little extruded bump on the rear top cap, with a scratchy plexiglass cover over the opening.  It had yellowed over the years, and really needed to be changed.  Steveio put in a nice piece of strong safety glass, and sealed it in from the inside (accessible from a cabinet in the bedroom)   He used some leftover black butyl tape from when we replaced our window last summer.

 It was a quick repair, but made a big difference on the view~! 

I like using the backup camera when I am doing the driving, especially to keep track of what vehicles are around me.  It's always some stupid little car that is tailgating me and who will inadvertently whip around my right side as I am trying to make a wide turn!  They never seem to see my turn signals either.  At least then then I can prevent damaging my side of my rig because they are impatient or too dumb to know that motorhomes need a wider turn and don't *bend* in the middle.   It happens so often that we learn to drive very defensively and keep track of all motorists around us, even in the rear.



Speaking of the back of the motorhome,  did you see our white tigers? They are right below the camera on the back of the rig.   Jameson was over and doing a little nature walk with his Granfaddah Pfun last weekend.

I have mentioned it before, but the Safari murals are hand painted and airbrushed on individually each personally by the Dame family out in Oregon.  And each one is different and interesting.   Here is a website with more information:   http://www.arcatapet.net/travel/murals.cfm

I am not a tiger fanatic, but it came that way to us, and it's kinda cool.   Often they hide a small animal somewhere on the mural, here is out little mouse.  Makes a great conversation starter in a campground! 

So after Jameson checked out our tigers, he finished his little walk around our yard....  the grape vines are just starting to bud out with tiny leaves, and the lilacs behind are all in full bloom.

The other day on the RVnet forum,   www.rvnet.com , someone was asking about ordering a fancy replacement lever device for keeping their RV fridge door propped open when not in use.   I mentioned we used folded up dishtowels.  I happened to snap a pic this morning when I was in the motorhome taking the photos of the television, so here is a handy RV Hint for the Day:  

  

Well, the sun is shining here, and the sweet baby Chelsea is here for the afternoon.  Might take her out on a nature walk around the yard too.  Never too young to start them enjoying the woods????

.