Saturday, September 17, 2011

Shake Down Weekend

Today we went thru some of the systems and checked to see if they work.  Most people would do this on a "shakedown trip" but because we are driveway bound, we are doing it at home.


Craig said "we know the bed works, what more do you need?" We've slept up there several nights.


We tried the microwave. 
 I made popcorn.  


It worked fine.


I don't have any instructions for the convection oven, but my in- house ovens are convection so I guess I can figure it out.  I did run it five minutes to be sure it heated.


We located the house air filters above the cabinets over the bed,  and I brought them down to vacuum them.  They weren't very dirty. Either they were cleaned recently or the Alfa was never in a dusty desert environment.  I asked our tech where they were, but he didn't know.  I found the information in the owners manual.


We ran the hot water heater just long enough to feel the water getting warm. 


We turned on the refrigerator for the first time, and let it run on LP.  According to the owners manual you should test the temperature by putting a refrigerator thermometer in a glass of water, in the fridge for 24 hours.  We set up one in the fridge and one in the freezer and set the temp to "4."


We were going to wait until Sunday to check them, but were up relaxing in the Alfa this evening and couldn't resist looking at them.  The one in the fridge read a perfect 40* and the one in the freezer was in a frozen cup of ice reading 0* so we turned the fridge off and will be checking on the temps in the morning to see how it does holding the cold in "off." 


We also plan on going up and testing the furnace in the morning.  This morning the outside temperature was 48*  so it should be cold enough to test run the furnace.


This evening we spent a little time just relaxing and reading our books in the Alfa.


He looks happy doesn't he?











Unfortunately our WIFI doesn't reach the Alfa up at "Camp Merikay," so I can't read blogs, but I can read with my ebook application on my laptop.


I'm writing this back down at the house.  We came down so Craig could take a shower and we could have our usual evening tea. We haven't take the cups, water and tea up to the Alfa yet, and there really isn't enough water in the tank for showers.


Not everything is perfect.


 We found one light that doesn't work, either because we haven't found the right switch or the bulb is burned out.  There is also a terrible buzz in the radio when one of the kitchen overhead lights is on, something that baffles me. And Craig is certain that the refrigerator should run on AC when just the inverter is on.  I'm not.  


These are things we will have to learn about either from our good RV blog friends, the Alfa Yahoo group, or thru trial and error. They don't seem like big problems. (except for the buzz in the radio.)


So that the news from here for now.


Congratulations to Laurie and George.  They may have gotten flooded out of their house, but the bought their Fiver today!  Yipee.  







20 comments:

  1. Yes Craig looks very happy and so do you. I love being in my MH or if it were a TT I love it.
    Hope they get those trees trimed soon.

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  2. The buzz is from the transformer in the light fixture or a ground issue.

    The fridge is best on LP unless you're plugged in. Letting it run off the inverter just runs down the batteries faster and doesn't cool any better. Now, of course yours may be different so I would read the manual to see what it recommends.

    I'll be going up to the rig tomorrow, unfortunately we can't afford to have the walls re-done. I found out my sisters best friends ex-husband is an RV tech and he's going to take a look at it next weekend, so we'll see what he says.

    Erik

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  3. have fun and congrats to Laurie and George..going to have to pop into their blog and see the big news!!

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  4. have fun and congrats to Laurie and George..going to have to pop into their blog and see the big news!!

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  5. MK our fridge will only run on propane when on the inverter... it will switch over to electricity when plugged in.

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  6. It looks like you're enjoying Camp Merikay. Anyway you can connect a couple hoses to get some water in there?

    I don't think our refrig runs on the inverter, but haven't tested it. If we're not hooked up we just run it on lp.

    It takes a while to discover everything and then longer to learn how it all works. We're still learning.

    We spent many nights parked beside our house when we bought each of our rv's. It's just as fun there as in a campground.

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  7. Thanks for the nod ;-) I had an issue with my under the cabinet radio buzzing as well if I had anything plugged into the outlet nearby, such as a mixer, etc. Was weird!

    Craig does look happy & so do you!

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  8. Sounds like you covered most bases with your "shakedown"! :)

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  9. Looking good!

    About the convection oven.... google the brand name with "manual" and I'll bet you find it and can download it.

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  10. Great shake down. It's so exciting even if it's just sitting at the house. Lots of new things to learn and discover. Love the smiles.

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  11. You guys look great and we can't tell if you've had a shower or not!!!

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  12. You guys look so comfortable in your new home away from home. Is the buzzing in the radio on AM? We tend to get poor AM reception on our radio. That's been the case in every radio we've ever had in our RVs. I don't think they always install the best equipment for radios. Overall, sounds like your shakedown was very good.

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  13. Camp Merikay is a great place to check out all the systems!

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  14. The fun has definitely started!

    One of the things I brought along with me is my Boise radio. Only the FM works, the AM is just static, and that's what I usually listen to. It sounds like that might be a common problem... I have a couple of battery operated radios, and I use them when I want to listen to AM radio. Of course, there's always the truck radio and radio over the Internet.

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  15. Yes, Craig looks very happy and so do you. In fact you both look quite comfortable and cozy in your MH.
    We use LP when not plugged in.
    Congrats to Laurie and George...very nice looking 5th wheel. :-)

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  16. That looks like fun! And Craig sure does look happy. I think you're gonna like it!!

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  17. I can't get over how much things have changed since your "I give up" post a while back. I'm so thrilled for you and Craig - you can start etching your dreams in something a bit more solid than smoke. I think that if we got a new motor home we would also be playing in it, too! Have fun!

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  18. Boy O Boy, You have found your place. You both look at home, and of course you are!

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  19. That popcorn sure looks inviting. I notice that you have a Mac, too. Aren't they great computers? You and Craig sure seem to be having a good time and I hope it continues. Maybe someday you'll be able to leave your property!!

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