RV Blog - RV Blog by Charlotte RV Center

After fuel and batteries, the next most commonly replaced item on an RV is tires. This is not because the tires wear-out. In most cases, RVers must replace tires long before the tread is worn-out. Towable RVs seem to have the highest incidence rate of tire failures (blow-outs, tread separation, or bulges). This is probably because towable RVs typically are left parked for many months, even a year or more at a time. To put it simply, the rubber (which is actually made of oil, not real tree rubber) gets hard from not being flexed as it was intended to be rolling down the road. It may be hard to picture, but think of it as if the rubber was lubricating itself by circulating the oils in the material and the tire flexes while rolling at normal speeds. Some brands of tires show their age in different ways or more readily than others. Some brands of tires are more prone to sidewall cracking as they age. Other brands get “hard” so their ride quality and wet weather traction deteriorates badly. Other brands tend to go out-of-round, so the tires shake and balancing with not solve the problem. That is not to say that the tires are defective, but, rather, the rubber compound selected by the tire engineers was chosen primarily for a combination of traction, wet traction, wear resistance, ride quality, noise & vibration resistance and cost. Resistance to aging when in storage is not a high priority because how well the tire will resist aging when not in use is not a strong selling point to most tire customers.
The USDOT requires the date that the tire was manufactured to be molded or stamped into the sidewall of every tire, so you can tell how old it is. The tires that were installed on the RV when it was new may be a year or two older than the model year of the RV, because the chassis may have sat in inventory before the RV was completed. It is not uncommon for tires on brand new RVs to crack before the RV is even sold to the first owner if the RV sits on a dealer’s lot for a couple of years.

Tune in next time for more information about RV tires.

If you don’t use your motorhome or any other vehicle regularly, you could have problems with aged fuel, whether diesel or gasoline. The problem is even more severe in warm climates, and humidity compounds the problem. Just so we start off with some good news, LP/propane does not deteriorate because it is in a completely sealed system so that the fuel is never exposed to air until the moment it is used. However, diesel and gasoline go bad with age. Diesel fuel goes bad from microbes growing in it, and those microbes excrete water. The water and mucus-like sludge from dead microbes and their waste will clog fuel filters, and if enough water passes through the fuel filters it will also damage fuel injection pumps and fuel injectors (which are very expensive). Prevent microbes from growing in your diesel fuel, and kill them if they are there, by using BioKleen by Power Service. Power Service products are available from truck supply or commercial marine supply distributors, or here. By the way, it is prudent to always carry a spare set of fuel filters for your diesel. Some bad fuel can quickly clog the filters, which could have you sitting by the side of the road. If you have your own filters with you, it won’t be so hard to get a road service to come out and change them. Speaking of road service, Coach-Net is excellent for RVs, go to www.NMCA.com and click on their Coach-Net button for complete information. Join before you need help!

Modern gasoline is a real problem for vehicles that don’t use up the fuel in a couple of months’ time. Modern gasoline has ethanol in it, which absorbs water from the atmosphere. When enough water is absorbed, the ethanol and water separate from the gasoline and lay on the bottom of the tank. This is called phase separation. Guess where the fuel pump picks up the fuel from your tank? That’s right, at the bottom! So the crud that will clog up fuel filters and ruin expensive fuel pumps and fuel injectors gets sucked right in. Your goal is to prevent phase separation from happening. If you don’t expect to use-up your fuel within a couple of months and replace it with fresh fuel, you should add an appropriate fuel treatment to the tank. Fill up with gasoline, and then add the fuel treatment before you drive to where the motorhome will be stored. That way, the fuel treatment will slosh and blend with the gasoline. You can buy fuel treatments at marine supplies distributors and fuel distributors. Be sure to read the bottle and make sure that it specifies that it will prevent phase separation. If it doesn’t say so, then don’t buy that product. Or it is easy to go here. Even if you use the best fuel treatment, you are pressing your luck if you let the old fuel stay in the tank for over six months.

In some areas you can buy gasoline without ethanol in it. To find a fuel stations that sell non-ethanol gasoline, go to www.pure-gas.org. Expect to pay 15 – 20% more than regular ethanol gasoline, not because it is so much more expensive to produce, but because it is a niche product. The gas stations that have it usually have a separate pump or separate nozzle that is labeled “Recreational Gasoline” because it is also popular with boaters for the same reason as RVers, they may go unused for months at a time. Some people claim that they get better gas mileage with the non-ethanol gasoline, which may help offset the higher cost per gallon. Keep in mind that if you are adding non-ethanol gasoline to a tank that still has some ethanol gasoline in it, you still need to use the fuel treatment to prevent phase separation. But the non-ethanol gasoline with fuel treatment added to it will probably be OK for up to a year in storage if there was only a little ethanol gasoline left in the tank when you filled up with non-ethanol gasoline for storage.

If you have any questions on which kind of fuel to use, or how to maintain your fuel system, give us a call toll free at 877-883-5555. Or you could always come in to see an expert personally. If you need directions, click here:
http://www.charlottervcenter.com/pages/13/Directions.html

In any modern RV, the generator does not charge any battery; it provides 110-volt power to the on-board Inverter/Charger or Converter/Charger.

The generator also provides 110-volt power for the house air conditioner(s), microwave oven and other 110-volt devices when not connected to shore power.

What is the most common problem with a generator? If your generator is running but you are not getting 110-volt power into the RV, the first thing to check is the circuit breakers on the generator. There may be one or two. If there are two, they are usually right next to each other, so you don’t have to look all over. It is a good idea to find the circuit breakers so that you will know where they are BEFORE the occasion occurs that a circuit breaker trips. You may be surprised to learn that the circuit breakers on most generators are not labeled “on” or “off”, so you can’t tell which way to move the switch to reset it. Yes, that sounds stupid, but that is just the way it is. How can you tell which way is “on” and which way is “off”? It is a secret! No, seriously, here is how you can tell: Move the circuit breaker switch back and forth. You will be able to feel a stronger resistance due to spring tension as you move the switch one direction and no resistance from spring tension as you move the switch in the other direction. The direction that you feel resistance from spring tension is the direction to move the switch to reset the circuit breaker to the “on” position.

The second most common failure of a generator if it has a gasoline engine is a bad carburetor. Modern gasoline usually has some ethanol in it, which attracts moisture and combines to make a nearly insoluable gum in the minute passages in the carburetor. Or the ethanol causes the metal in the carburetor to corrode, which blocks the passages. In the “old days”, carburetors could be taken apart and cleaned. Nowadays, the gum cannot be cleaned with available solvents or the corrosion cannot be cleaned out of the minute passages. If a carburetor is bad, it is usually most cost effective to replace is than to spend the labor to attempt to clean it and then find that it still is bad. The question you want to ask is: How do I keep my carburetor from going bad? The answer is simple: Run the generator for ½-hour every week so that the fuel does not rot and turn to gum in the carburetor. If you have a generator with a diesel or LP powered engine, then this problem will not occur. However, it is still advisable to run your generator under load every week (or at least try to do it once a month). What is a “load”? A load is a significant electrical demand, such as an air conditioner running.

To prevent costly failures of the generator, it is important to follow the instructions for oil changes and other maintenance listed in the owner’s manual. If it is a diesel generator with a radiator, it is extremely important to change the coolant (antifreeze mixture) according to the instructions in the owner’s manual, because if you don’t you may have corrosion in the cooling system which will cause overheating or leaks.

If you would like to contact us for any reason, all the information you need can be found on this page:
http://www.charlottervcenter.com/contact-us.html

If your motorhome already has one or two battery disconnect switches, you should verify that there is absolutely no draw of electricity from the batteries when the switches are in the “off” position. You wouldn’t think so, but some RV manufacturers design their systems so that even with the battery switch(es) turned off, there are still some devices that draw power, such as LP alarms or engine computer. This doesn’t have to be do-it-yourself work. RV dealers are used to dealing with these issues, and not a huge labor bill will be required to have it professionally done. The investment will save the aggravation of discharged batteries, and the expense of prematurely replacing batteries.

Note: Do not use the small battery disconnect switches that mount directly on the battery terminal, whether the knife-switch style or the type with the knob to tighten the connection. Both types tend to make poor connections after not a long time in use. The marine-style switches with a large selector dial are the best because they resist corrosion. If you do-it-yourself, be sure that you buy a switch with sufficient amp rating to match the batteries that you are connecting it to.

Fun Fact: Why do they call it “shore power”? Much of the technology and equipment for RVs came from the boating industry, and boaters called it shore power before RVing became popular, so the name stuck.

If you want any info on the warranties we have, visit this part of our website:
http://www.charlottervcenter.com/pages/49/RV-Warranty.html

It is important to realize that most motorhomes are designed so that only the house batteries are being charged when plugged into shore power or when the generator is running. The “chassis” battery(s) (the battery that starts the engine) receives a charge only when the engine is running. Have you ever wondered by most motorhomes have a “battery boost” switch? Its purpose is to (hopefully) enable starting the engine if the chassis battery is discharged. While you hold that switch, it uses the house battery to jump the chassis battery. The theory is that since the chassis battery is not being charged while you are camping and plugged into shore power, but the house battery is being charged under those conditions, the house batteries should have the power to start the engine so that you don’t have to drag out the jumper cables. But think about this: the RV manufacturers must expect the chassis battery to be discharged often, or they wouldn’t go to the expense of providing the battery boost feature! That line of thinking confirms that chassis batteries often get discharged, and I have already explained that that shortens the lifespan of the chassis battery. How do you protect your chassis battery? The best way is to install a battery tender on the chassis battery and plug it in whenever your motorhome will be parked while camping or in storage for more than a week at a time. Battery tenders are available at RV dealers or here.

What to do about maintaining batteries if the RV is parked for more than a week at a time where there is no access to electricity? If you have a towable RV, the easiest thing to do is take the battery home and keep it connected to a battery tender. If you have a motorhome, the easiest thing to do is drive it for ½-hour every week. If you can’t attend to the motorhome every week, you could take the batteries home and keep them connected to battery tenders. But that is a lot of work because there are usually multiple wires and cables, difficult access and awkward lifting involved. If you think you could attend to the motorhome at least once a month, you could disconnect the negative cables from the batteries or have an RV dealer install a high-quality battery disconnect switch on the negative (chassis ground) cable of each set of batteries.

If you need any type of battery for your RV, make sure to check out our online catalog, located here;
http://www.charlottervcenter.com/pages/1/RV-Parts-&–Accessories.html

If you have any other questions, feel free to call us at 941-883-5555 or toll free at 877-883-5555.