Cardinal RV Club

Welcome to the Cardinal Club, your going to have a great time. I've read over most of the advise given about what type of truck to buy. One thing missing is the rear gear ratio. That is one of the most important things that we have found for towing. We have a 1 ton Ford but we had to order ours built to our specifications. None of the Dealers had the right gear ration on a lot for what we needed. We choose a 4.30 rear end. We also choose a single axle without 4 wheel drive as it added more than 3,000 extra pounds of towning capacity. Ford has a good book, if you can locate one on the maximum required for towing different size trailers. I'm sure that Dodge would have something available too. And like the others said Trailer Life puts out a towning guide every year. Everyone has thier own preference as to what brand they like.
Good luck and looking forward to meeting you at a Rally.

Mike and Jo Anne

We are staying at French Camp RV Park in Manceta maybe we could have a Newbie lunch and load you down with info from all us old folks. We have been full timers since 04 and we learn new stuff every day. (read the post about battery cables).

Finally stable. We finally got this thing leveled and stable. I used the x-chocks on the tires. Very easy to use. I put in a super kingpin tripod. I also used two each of the slide out stabilizers one each slide out. This thing is finally solid. Still learning all this stuff.

Claude&Carole.......gotta tell ya....there is always something new to learn That's one of the resaons our Club is so wonderful!

Question re sanitizing the Fresh Water system.
We have been living in the rig for two months on city water. The fresh water tank is still empty. I want to sanitize it as a back up. (We already lost city water once when a pipe broke)
I bought the tabs to put in the fresh water tank.
As I understand the procedure, I disconnect city water, put the tabs in the fresh water tank and fill it. Let it sit for several hours. Open all valves and let it drain. Flush and readd fresh water. My question is the hot water heater. I know it should never be allowed to go dry. Any ideas on what I may be missing before I start this? Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Claude

Claude, unless you drain the hot water heater using it's drain, and leave that open, you should be OK. You should turn off the propane and the electric heater element while you're running the fresh water tank water through the system just to save the gas and ensure nothing bad can happen. Remember, you want to sanitize the line from the tank to the pump, and the pump. Additionally, this would be a good time to put some tank cleaner down the kitchen sink, and clean the Galley tank, too.

My procedure:
Drain and fill the fresh water tank, add the sanitizer. Follow the package directions for how long it needs to sit. When it's time to start flushing the tank and lines, turn off the city water and the hot water heater. Remove the water filter element, (bleed the water pressure off first) put it in a pot and reassemble the water filter. For a first time flush you need to flush the line to the water pump. But it's a good procedure to do any time you sanitize the fresh water tank. Turn on the water pump and open the cold water at the galley sink until the galley tank is about 2/3 full at least. I like to put in some tank cleaner and clean the galley tank when I do all this. Turn off the water pump, drain the fresh water tank, refill and repeat without the sanitizer. Do this until you can't taste any sanitizer in the water at the galley sink. Remember, don't over fill the galley tank. Since the tank cleaner needs some time to work, if the galley tank gets full, use the shower.

After the taste is gone, reassemble the water filter, fill the fresh water tank, turn on the city water, and if you didn't turn on a hot water faucet, the hot water heater should be OK after letting the hot water run for 5 - 10 minutes, then turn on the water heater. Oh, and drain the galley tank.

You'll do all this when you put "pink stuff" anti-freeze in, when you flush the system, if you put the trailer in storage sometime.

Claude, Here is the procedure from Good Sam

Sanitizing your fresh water tank
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•Drain your tank.
•Prepare a chlorine solution by mixing a quarter cup of liquid household bleach with a gallon of water. Use one gallon of solution for each 15 gallons of tank capacity.
•Turn off all the faucets and close all drain valves. Pour the solution into the fresh water tank.
•Fill the tank the remainder of the way with fresh water.
•Turn on the water pump. Open all faucets one at a time to remove air from the lines. When water begins to flow steadily, turn faucet off.
•Refill the tank with fresh water and let stand 3-6 hours.
•Drain the system by opening all faucets and the fresh water tank drain valve while flushing the system with drinking quality water.
•Continue flushing the system, allowing the water to flow for several minutes.
•Close the tank drain valve and faucets. Refill the system with drinking quality water.

Following these simple tips can prevent problems and provide you with a safe fresh water system.

Don

Thanks so much. I will try this this weekend. Still learnin all this stuff. Whew!

Another question from ignorance...

Under what circumstances do I use a water pressure reducer? We are now in a mobile home park and connected to city water. The flow is much better without the reducer. Is there a danger here I am not aware of? I have to confess max ignorance.

Hi Claude and Carole, I use a regulator all the time, just to be safe. A lot of people don't like them due to low water pressure, especially in the shower. I like to be safe, not sorry. Your water pressure should be around 60 PSI or lower. Anything above that can literly blow your plastic lines apart. As Don said above use a quarter of a cup of bleach for every 15 gallons the tank holds. I think that boils down to a cup of bleach for a 70 gallon tank. I always have problems getting the cup of bleach into the bird, so now I just put one end of hose into the bird, go to the other end, disconnecting it from the house or another hose, and pour the bleach into the hose. Reconect and turn on water, and let the water pressure push the bleach into the tank. Keeps the bleach off of you. Hope this helps. John

I use a regulator. I learned from a home inspector that water pressure at a faucet on a muni water system isn't steady, and can often jump by 20 - 30 psi, or more, for varying periods of time. And some systems often run as high as 70 psi or more to start with.

I use one all the time also, never use to but one park we go to all the time has very high water pressure

I normally use one, but last month we were in High Point NC at a city owned campground and the water pressure did not seem high when I flushed the connection. So I did not put the regulator on. After 2 days I noticed water on the floor an thought that someone had spilled the dog's water. I found out the next day that it was the lines connected to the kitchen faucet leaking. I was a plumber for 10 years and I know that water pressure can double during low usage hours, usually at night, but I thought that the shower would feel good with more pressure. Now I am hoping that there was no permenant damage to the plank flooring. I bet I won't hook up again without the regulator.

By the way I use a regulator from Lowes. It is a whole house regulator that is adjustable and I put hose connections on each end. The hose fittings can be purchased at Lowes too. The small ones that they sell for RVs don't seem to last very long.