WHEN YOU HAVE TO GO - YOU HAVE TO GO ---> THE TOILET IN THE ROADTREK

 Toilets are everywhere. Toilets are in houses, in apartments, in stores, in schools, in restaurants, in places of worship, in hotels, in theaters, on street in some places, at rest stops, and in Roadtreks!  The toilet in Roadtrek is one of the big advantages of the Roadtrek when traveling or just taking the Roadtrek for a ride.  If you have to go, you do not have to start looking for a rest area or someplace to stop that has a restroom. All you have to do is pull over, park, and get out of your seat and walk halfway back into the van and there is a toilet! 

 The Chevy Roadtrek came with two different types of "bathrooms". One is what Roadtrek called the "aisle bath".  This consists of a door into an open space that is a little bit like a small closet in a house with a toilet inside facing the aisle and next to the toilet is a shower curtain that is pulled out along a track into the aisle for the shower that is there at the front corner near the ceiling of the aisle bath.  With this style bathroom you sit with your legs and feet into the aisle. If you are showering you stand in the aisle with the shower curtain pulled around you. On the fiberglass floor in the aisle the floor is slanted toward the front of the van where under a plate that is removable along a open slot on the floor there is a drain that connects below into the grey waste tank (grey meaning just water and soap goes into it). 

 

 

In the aisle bath there is no bathroom sink. Instead Roadtrek provided a heavy plastic molded bowl with wide rim that fits into the kitchen sink which is just opposite of the aisle bathroom that goes into the sink and lines up exactly and goes into the sink drain to use as a bathroom sink - designed in such a way that washing your hands from using the toilet kept all water and that which is washed off your hands so that it goes directly down the sink drain and never touches the inside of the sink - or the top rim of the drain. Since one is sitting in or showering in the aisle the door does open in such as way as to block the view to to your traveling companion in the front of the van.  In earlier Roadtreks there was a half cabinet door next to the aisle bath that opened and the top blocked and a curtain that hung down from the bottom of the door to block the view from the back - or any window without a closed curtain. Our 2011 190 Popular did not have that back half cabinet door with curtain. The half cabinet door is there above but no curtain to block below.  One can open the shower curtain. Meryl made a drape out of a black bed sheet cut down to size with magnets sewn into the top seam to attach to the shower curtains metal track on the ceiling with completely blocks the view from the back.  But if one is traveling with a very close significant other - as I have said in prior articles - there is zero privacy inside a Roadtrek anyway -  and you are not seeing anything that has not been seen before. 😉  

  

The other style of Roadtrek bathroom which was first coming out when we first started looking to buy a Roadtrek in 1990 is a "private or permanent bath" This bathroom has a much wider closet which not only contains the toilet and the shower but also a sink inside the bathroom with plumbing connecting to the shower.  It is possible to completely close yourself into the cabinet - though if one is claustrophobic it can be a bit UN-nerving. The door is hinged so that it can remain open. The private bath because it is longer along the aisle than the aisle bath does take away storage cabinet space resulting in less storage. I do not have a photo of the permanent bath (not sure why RT decided to call it a permanent bath as it is no more permanent than the aisle bath which is not going anywhere.

 

The toilets in an RV are not like the toilet you have in your home. The home toilet has a tank above the bowl to hold clean water that when flushed empties into the bowl and the bowl drain will carry the waste and the water in the bowl down into the house's septic system - either sewer  or septic tank or cesspool.  The RV toilet has no such tank above the bowl.  When you step on the flush pedal centered at the bottom of the toilet base, that opens a valve which runs water from either your water pump or city water (water from a connected hose to a spigot outside) and at the same time opens a drain flap at the bottom of the bowl and washes the contents down the drain and into the black tank. Take your foot off the pedal and the flap closes and the water shuts off.  Now - doesn't all of this SMELL??!!!  No, there is a vent that goes from the black tank up through the Roadtrek wall behind the toilet and up through the ceiling and out the roof to vent any sewer gas - odor - out above the Roadtrek roof and away! There is more that one can do about odor - that I will go into later in this article. 

 

OK so now you know about the two types of Chevy Roadtrek bathrooms but what about using them.  Of course you know how to use them, but there are some Roadtrek owners who will not use the toilet in the Roadtrek bathroom regardless of the type.  Some who use it will not flush toilet paper down into the black tank from the toilet bowl!   Why?   Older Roadtreks had a gravity dump system to dump (empty) the black (waste and water from the toilet - the black tank in the Chevy Roadtreks is 10 gallons) and water and soap from the grey tank. A gravity dump system relies on gravity to bring the waste from the waste tanks into a wide hose which is connected to a sewer hole at a campsite. The problem with a Class B RV like the Roadtrek is there is not much height off the ground for gravity to be strong enough to get the waste all out of the tanks. At some campsites the sewer hole is above on a small hill - there is not enough gravity to get the waste up the hill.  So what does Roadtrek do? They started using a macerator. A macerator is an electric motor which pumps waste from the black and grey tanks into a smaller - one inch diameter hose and that hose is put into the opening of the sewer drain of the campsite and the waste is ground up inside the macerator by spinning metal knife blades and out the hose into the sewer hole. It takes just a few minutes to empty a tank instead of waiting for gravity to take its course. The macerator can pump up hill if need be. Sounds great - so why will some not use the toilet? Because the macerator if the right toilet paper is not used can jam or clog,  Also the macerator can not cut up anything really solid - so one must be careful that objects are not dropped down into the toilet. The macerator can break - what breaks is the nylon impeller that spins to pump - and then it does not pump any more. It can be repaired but more often it is easier to just replace the macerator with a new one. One RV service tech at a dealer told me that the most common thing that they find inside macerators that have gone bad is hair.  Hair goes down the shower drain - or sink drain - and gets into the macerator and wraps itself around the impeller and as it collects it jams the impeller preventing it from turning and burns out the motor. This is very much like what happens with a vacuum cleaner's roller that picks up hair and it wraps around the brush roller under the vacuum cleaner head. 

 

Everyone can do whatever they please in this regard but I did not spend what I spent to buy the Roadtrek to not use the toilet or to collect dirty toilet paper in a plastic bag or a wood box on the wall (yes, I have read multiple times about the toilet paper box)! What goes into the toilet including toilet paper gets flushed into the black tank in my Roadtrek.  Our macerator lasted 9 years before it stopped working. If you use the right toilet paper there will be no problem. 

 

What is the right toilet paper.  One can buy special toilet paper for RVs - it is expensive and while most  does breakdown completely once in water, not all do.  What we do is use Scott's home single ply toilet paper. A few sheets off the roll are strong enough to do a good clean up- and once in water it breaks down completely in a few minutes. (We are not paid by Scotts to feature their toilet paper - it just works well!) There is a test that one can do to test toilet paper for use in an RV. Take one sheet of toilet paper and put it in a clear glass of water.  Stir a couple of times and wait. In a few minutes if the toilet paper is OK for your RV toilet the paper will have disintegrated to fibers in the water. If it does that use it. If it doesn't - don't use it!

 

To help breakdown the waste that goes into the black tank, there are RV toilet treatments that both break down waste and stop odors.  There are many different ones. With the Roadtrek's macerator do not use one that comes in dissolving packets - as they do not completely dissolve and it will jam the macerator.  You also do not want to  use tablets for the same reason. The best thing to get is the liquid in a bottle. The bottles usually have a measuring guide along the side - or you can get a measuring cup to use to measure out the amount needed. Then after you dump if you are going to continue to travel right then with your Roadtrek or before you leave on a trip, you put this down into the toilet and flush it down into the black tank. I have found that the one that has worked the best is Camco TST RV tank treatment. It comes in different scents. The easiest scent to find is Orange as this is sold in most Walmart stores on the shelves in the auto aisles where they have RV supplies.  There is also citrus - not as orange and there is "fresh scent". 

 

For some time it was popular called the GEO Method to use a home made mixture of  Borax powder dissolved in hot water and Dawn dish washing detergent followed down into the black tank with several gallons of water.  We tried this for one full RV season. The mixing became a pain. The water needed to be added down into the tank took away a significant volume of what the tank was supposed to hold - the waste and we were dumping the black tank much more frequently. It did not work any better than the Camco TST. It did not fix the black tank sensors to work accurately. It involved carrying more than the just one bottle of tank treatment that cost less than the borax and detergent. We went back to the TST. 

 

The one thing your RT black tank likes more than anything else is water. You should never allow the black tank to dry out. It must be kept moist as not all of the waste is going to get dumped out of the tank. If the tank is dry after dumping that waste builds up - dries out and will clog the opening into the pipe to the macerator and stay inside the tank.  The fix is simple - put in one gallon of water into the black tank after dumping the tank and leave it there.   I have a collapsible silicone gallon pail that is easy to fill up and dump into the toilet and down into the black tank. It is flat when not in use and fits easily into one of the RT storage cabinets. The other place to keep moist is the flap in the toilet bowl. That needs to be kept moist so that the rubber flap which seals the toilet bowl to hold water does not dry out - as if it does the toilet will not hold water and you are using the bowl dry which means some cleaning that you do not want to do.  To put water into the bowl after flushing just hold the foot pedal down only part way and the flap will stay closed and water will go into the toilet bowl. Once the flap is under water stop.  With both of these - when winterizing and there is no water - use RV antifreeze into the black tank to keep it moist and do the same over the flap. 

 

What can go wrong with the toilet? One thing that we experienced when our RT was winterized the first two years that we had it was that at that time the winterizing process started with using compressed air to clear out the plumbing before using the RV antifreeze. NOTE DO NOT DO THIS!  The compressed air pushed mineral deposits in the pipes into the toilet flush valve - the valve behind the left side of the back of the toilet - looking from the front of the toilet - and the mineral deposits jammed and broke the flush valve. This happened after dewinterizing on a trip and the water flooded the floor of the Roadtrek and the only way to stop it was to shut off the water pump - turning it back on caused the flooding to start again. Our RT was under warranty at the time and the dealer service replaced the flush valve. We were not aware that the compressed air did this and winterized the same way with the air the next year-  and the same thing happened when we de-winterized.  This time the service shop took the valve apart and rebuilt it.  What else can go wrong? Even with the flush flap moist with water in the bowl after 12 years the toilet bowl stopped holding water. I tried different recommended ways to fix this - none worked. Recommended was get a silicone plumbers gel lubricant and open the flap and smear the lubricant all around the bottom edge of the flap - it still leaked all water out and down the toilet drain in a day. There is a liquid lubricant for this - hard to find.  Got one local RV repair shop to order a bottle for me - did not work! We took the Roadtrek to that dealer who replaced the rubber flap and the rubber seal between the toilet drain and the black tank pipe. (The two seals are sold as set.) To do this the toilet had to be removed from the floor, plumbing disconnected, and the bottom seal is put onto the toilet from the bottom of the toilet - and the flush flap seal is also put in the same way. Some try to do this with the toilet in place - but the drain seal can only be put in with the toilet off the floor. If flush seal is bad so is the drain seal. 

 

Alternatives to a regular RV toilet -- 

Some look to replace the toilet with a composting toilet. Some years back when the original Roadtrek was still in business, Roadtrek was asked on a forum why they did not put a composting toilet into the Roadtrek. Their answer was - the inside of the van is so small that a composting toilet's odor will overwhelm the inside of the Roadtrek. That is not something you want to sleep with inside.  Also - RVs that have composting toilets are not only larger but there is an access panel from outside to inside where the toilet is to empty the compost out. Without this you are scooping and carrying compost through the Roadtrek and out - and finding a place to put it. More stench! 

 

Then there are cassette toilets. A cassette toilet collects the waste into a box which has to be removed and carried to a restroom and poured out into a toilet - hopefully not including it pouring on your legs and feet. Again RVs - and some Class Bs have an access panel through the RV wall form outside to get the box out and not have to carry it through the RV to get it out. I saw a very funny episode of a show from England where composing toilets are popular in RVs (there called Caravans).  The man in the show pulled the cassette out through the access panel and it started to spill on him and the ground and then he started off looking for a place to pour it out and getting there it emptied itself all over him. It was funny - and done for humor but oh so possible to happen. 

 

Is there something to use if your toilet is not working. Yes - this article shows that and explains it. Go to the end of the article and read about DOUBLE DOODIE  Toilet Waste Bags! 

https://roadtrek190popular.blogspot.com/2014/01/traveling-in-winter-in-your-roadtrek.html 

 

 Well that is everything you either wanted to know or rather that you did not know about the Roadtrek toilet. 

 

If you have questions - email us with the link in the right column that says Email Us.  

 

 

 

 

 

HOW TO AVOID PROBLEMS WITH A BAD CAMPSITE POWER OUTLET

 

 This article applies to any Roadtrek, motorhome, RV, or Travel Trailer. All plug into a campground power box pretty much the same way, 

You get to a campground and are going to plug into the 30 amp outlet in the power box at the camp sit. What if that outlet does not work and you wait to later to plug in and then find this out. I do the following to avoid any problems before it is too late the get the campground to do something about this or move you to another site.  

I carry a plug in polarity tester (inexpensive sold in Home Depot, Lowes, etc. I also have a 30 amp plug to 15/20 amp adapter. And I have a 110/120 volt AC plug in meter. The meter was hard to find and what I found was expensive, so I bought a "KILL-A-WATT" meter (brand name) in Home Depot which is less expensive and  it  has a setting to just check voltage. 

After we check in at a campground we go to the site with the Roadtrek and I test the 30 amp outlet. The polarity tester plug goes into the 15/20 amp socket on the adapter and the 30 amp end is plugged into the 30 amp socket --- I never plug in with the breaker above the 30 amp outlet in the campsite box ON, that is a lot of current to get a shock from --- once plugged in I flip the breaker to on and the polarity tester lights up to show that the outlet is working correctly or not. Polarity problems are common in campgrounds. 

With the polarity OK. The breaker switch goes off, I set the Kill-A-Watt meter to read voltage and unplug the polarity tester and plug the Kill-A-Watt meter into the 15/20 amp side of the adapter still plugged into the 30 amp outlet. I flip the breaker on and read the voltage. I look to see that the voltage is correct and within the correct range. 

Any problems and I would go right back to the office, tell them there is a problem with the 30 amp outlet in the site and they either go right now and fix it or put us in a different site. Just in case I also have a 50 amp plug to 30 amp adapter - and if the 50 amp outlet in the box works - then I can plug the Roadtrek into it with the adapter - a 50 amp adapter has no connections to the additional lugs on the 50 amp plug and only puts 30 amps into the Roadtrek. 

I will say that we have only once in all the years found a campsite with a bad outlet and when we went to the office they apologized and moved us to a different campsite that was just as well located as the first.   

Usually we get into a campsite too early to waste the rest of the day in the camp site and we then head out to do some exploring in the Roadtrek and when we get back later I plug in the Roadtrek with our EMS unit -I never plug the Roadtrek in without the protection of the EMS unit that we have.

This article will tell you all about EMS units.  If I was buying a new EMS unit today I would buy the Progressive Industries 30 amp portable unit. This is why -  the Surge Guard works very well - never had a problem with it BUT if there was an actual SURGE - not an out of range voltage but a lightening type of surge - the surge board inside the Surge Guard would be destroyed - as are most such boards in just surge protector units. So you throw the whole thing away and have to buy a new one. The Progressive Industries EMS unit has a replaceable Surge board inside. You can buy as spare and if there was a surge all you have to do is open the screws that hold the case together - pull out the burned out board - and push the new board into place - close the case and you are already to plug in again.

https://roadtrek190popular.blogspot.com/2016/09/an-ems-unit-for-your-rv.html

 

 

A ROADTREK HAS TO BE DRIVEN

 There is not a lot new to learn from this article other than what its title states - a Roadtrek has to be driven.  Like any car, van, or truck if it is not driven it will not run well especially when you are ready to head off on a long trip. 

This winter the weather here has been a steady weekly snow storm - some small, some large and a lot of salt put down on the roads and the road salt is not something that you want to drive your Roadtrek over as it collects on the bottom of the chassis and will corrode what is under there. (There is a way to deal with this but it takes to waiting until the Spring and warm weather as it involves cleaning off the bottom of the chassis with a garden sprinkler placed under the chassis - between the middle and the front - let it run for a half hour or more, then move it to between the middle and the back of the chassis and let it run another half hour or more to clean the salt - but if it still going to freeze outside you don't want to turn on the water for the outside of your house.)  So what I have been doing each week - and I do this all year around is start the Roadtrek sitting on the driveway and let it run for half an hour. I sit in it the whole time and read a book. Generally this happens on Sunday afternoons.   This not only runs the engine but the engine battery keeps the Roadtrek house batteries charged.  In good weather we take the Roadtrek for a long drive. That has not happened in months - until this past Sunday.

In the past few weeks I have been noticing when starting the Roadtrek that it is getting hard to start. There is a hesitation between turning the key and the engine catching and starting. Usually, it starts right up.  So I have been getting concerned. My plan had been that a week ago Sunday we would take it out for a drive - but a week ago Sunday it was pouring and not a good day to drive the Roadtrek. I figured OK the next week the long range forecast was good so we would take the Roadtrek out then. 

When we take these drives I want to drive for at least two hours and drive as close to one hundred miles as I can.  We live on an island. The island is 100 miles long end to end, west and east and 23 miles wide, north and south.  We are closest to the south shore and about 80 miles from the eastern most end of the island.  The island is well developed and a mix of suburban and country. The drive we take is usually the same - 50 miles east which takes about an hour with the 55 mph speed limit  and 50 miles back west for about another hour.  There are only two limited access roads that the Roadtrek is allowed to drive on due to its height. The height limit on "parkways" here is 7 ft 10" -  the our Roadtrek is 8 ft 10". On the limited access roads we cannot go on there really are low overpasses. (More about this later.) One limited access road goes south to north. The other limited access road goes along the north shore west to east. So this was the plan for Sunday, March 10th! At least until we heard the news on Saturday that the high winds we were experiencing resulted in brush fires on he East End that was burning in four different areas - and moving.  In fact, it was burning very close to where we would be heading.  So we started figuring out an alternative destination and back that would cover almost 100 miles of driving - and would likely take longer than the usual two hours. 

Any time we have to back the Roadtrek out of our driveway it can take a half hour.  We live on a suburban avenue with two lanes each way - which is located just past a curve in the road north of us that is just past a traffic light. This avenue is a very busy avenue any day and any time - and many cars like to drive it as if it was a practice run for the Indy 500.  😉  Meryl stands in the parking lane (which is in addition to the four driving lanes - one parking lane on each side - with a walkie talkie and I have a walkie talkie in the Roadtrek. I turned the key to start the Roadtrek and it hesitated again and then started. The engine sounded a little rougher than usual and I was hoping that good long drive would get it back to its steady and strong engine sound (which during the trip is evened out to normal). I backed down the driveway to almost the sidewalk and wait for her to say, "IT IS CLEAR NOW - GO NOW!!!" . To which I hit the gas and get into the street and hope I don't hit the car that parks too close to our driveway cut from the house next door. This was a particularly busy Sunday on the avenue we live on and it took about 20 minutes to get it into the street and another 10 waiting for it to clear again to get into the lane and drive.  This is one reason why we don't take the Roadtrek out more often and use it locally.

SO we drove east on the nearest avenue that heads eat to the north/south expressway, got on there and  headed north to its end. It was quicker than I had figured it would be and did not put many miles toward the hundred into the trip We then headed east on a four lane road that goes from commercial to country and back to commercial. We got to a main north/south road - and I did not want to head north  as that would take us toward the direction of the fires which people were saying a number of miles from the fire zone the smoke was coming into. So we headed south which was far enough west from where the fires were burning. People in the fire zones were being told to evacuate. The wind was strong - even as we were driving I could feel the Roadtrek being pushed from the side by the wind as I drove - two hands on the wheel and attention to keeping the Roadtrek straight and not moved by the wind. We got to about where the miles driven were about 30 and I knew we were going to have to repeat the trip twice to get near 100 miles all together.  As we got further south the sky which was bright blue everywhere else we had driven was a brown color from the smoke which was many miles to the east of of us. I pulled into a Walmart  parking lot and turned around and headed back the way we came. Because we were driving on commercial road and there was traffic we had driven at that point almost two hours. We went north to the road we got of the expressway to, got back to the expressway and got on it going south. At where we got on when we stared,  we got off and I said "ONE MORE TIME!" and I turned toward the expressway north entrance and got back on and drove the whole thing again!  When we got back home - after almost four hours of driving - we had driven just under 88 miles - not 100 miles but good enough. On the news the three of the fires were out but a fourth was only half under control.  

 As to what happened with the fires - 600 acres were burned, one fireman injured and taken to the hospital,  two businesses burned to the ground, no one else hurt, no other property damage. An investigation has found that the fires started when a family was int their backyard making s'mores and the wind took the flame and set the ground and trees (which have been very dry due to lack of rain here - snow we get - rain not enough) on fire and the wind spread the fire. There was a fire alert warning put out by National Weather Service for the island.

 The Roadtrek used about an 1/8th tank of gas on this trip and had used 1/8th tank of gas running the engine every Sunday afternoon so I stopped for gas before we took it home. While I am putting gas in, a man from the pump on the other side of us came over and said. "Where do you drive that?" which we were not quite sure what he meant. We asked - you mean today? No, he said, "Where can it be driven?. OK - odd but I smiled and  said "Anywhere one wants to drive it!" which I realized later is not really true as around here there are many roads that you cannot drive it on and if you need to park it, it is too tall for any indoor parking garage.  Anyway, he kept asking - what's inside - I don't know why I was not giving straight answers - but around here one is safest if one does not provide too much information to anyone you don't know (I call this "healthy paranoia") - so my answer was "Everything is inside!" --- he asks - "a bed?" - "Yes and more!" Then he is looking all around it - where do you get one - is it custom built?. I told him that there is no place on the island to get one - we went to Pennsylvania to buy it. He asked how much - i said now they are a lot more than when I bought it and that they are no longer built on a Chevy chassis. And told him it is a Roadtrek  (there is no Roadtrek name on our Roadtrek)  and that he can find them online and if he searches Class B RVs he will find several makes and models.  By this time the woman in the car behind us at the gas pumps wanted to leave and I was blocking her in so we had a convenient way to end the conversation and we got into the Roadtrek and left. And since I had not tried to start the engine since we left on this must drive the Roadtrek drive - when I turned the key the Roadtrek started right up and the engine was steady, strong, and sounded as it should sound!

So - you came along for the ride on this trip! How exciting! Sometimes it is more fun to write an article like this than the usual "how to". What you should take away is not the trip but the need to take these trips when the Roadtrek has been sitting. The van has got to be driven to keep it in good condition to be able to take you on the real and important fun trips! I do plan on getting two cans of Seafoam and putting them into the gas tank to keep it running strong. While the temps have been good this week here. just a week ago they were freezing at night and in the 30s during the day - and that is likely to happen again before the weather stays warm! (Seafoam - one ounce per gallon of gasoline - one can is 16 oz. The Roadtrek gas tank is 31gallons. The extra ounce won't hurt.)  

Ah yes - I said more about the roads here the Roadtrek can be driven on. During the trip we saw a sign at a parkway entrance we have never seen before and then we saw more of them. It said "NO, BUSES, TRUCKS OR RVS ALLOWED ON THE PARKWAY" - usually there is a sign that says "No Commercial Vehicles" and the height limit. It seems that in New York they are cracking down on RVs getting on the parkways - and the Roadtrek is an RV -  is not allowed on the parkways! So it is Expressways only. 

ADDENDUM:

 A few days after we took this trip, we drove our car to the route that we take to leave the island with the Roadtrek. This includes a parkway that has had only a posting about no commercial vehicles and not even a height restriction. This parkway is run by the city and not the State so we always felt it was OK to take the Roadtrek on it. There are no overpasses that are posted at the Roadtrek's height or lower and we have always been fine - and even have been past by highway police that just go by. What we found when we got to the entrance that we take was that same sign we saw on Sunday.  "NO, BUSES, TRUCKS OR RVS ALLOWED ON THE PARKWAY". Now we cannot take any chances any longer going on there. The alternative route is on the north shore of the island which is often busier in the mornings with truck and car traffic but also will add about 45 minutes or longer to just the part of the trip that gets us to "the mainland".  Ugh!

REMOVING THE FILTER FROM THE COOL CAT AIR CONDITIONER/HEAT PUMP

 In the mid-2000s Roadtrek started installing the Dometic  Cool Cat RV  air conditioner/heat pump.  This replaced what had been used previously which was basically a home air conditioner that had a built in thermostat and controls.  The Cool Cat uses an external thermostat and control panel which not only sets the temperature for the Cool Cat's air conditioner but also the Cool Cat's heat pump, as well as the temperature for the furnace in the Roadtrek as well. The initial panel used was analog. Later Roadtrek used an updated by Dometic digital control panel and thermostat. The panel is also the on and off switch for the air conditioner, heat pump, and furnace along with a fan only setting for the Cool Cat - plus a      Hi/Low  speed setting and an Auto/Fan setting. The Auto setting is what is used to enable the Cool Cat to turn off when the temperature that is set is reached and come on again when the temperature drops or increases - depending on using the A/C or the heat pump. 

The Cool Cat like most other air conditioners has a filter in the front of the unit to keep dust and debris from entering the unit with the air that is brought into it.   The filter is foam - mine, as it came from the factory is foam backed with a thin plastic grid that gives the filter some rigidity to remove and put back in.  Some may have this or just a foam filter - replaced by a previous owner of the Roadtrek if your Roadtrek is pre-owned.  Because of how the Cool Cat is installed in the Roadtrek removing the filter can be awkward due to the close proximity of the two cabinets at the ceiling that are on each side of the Cool Cat. The filter does not slide up and out - as many home A/C filters do - but slides out to the side. 

You DO NOT have to remove the front grill to remove or replace the filter in the Cool Cat. If you look at the photo above there is a screw on the outer side of each of the two end round vents on the top of the front of the Cool Cat. These are the screws that hold the front grill panel on.  There is no need to remove those screws. There is a much better way to take out the filter.

1. The first thing to do is OPEN the door on the ceiling cabinet on the passenger side. With this door open you will have a lot more room to move around when sliding out the filter. The filter is going to slide out of the left side.  

2. With the open cabinet door you can get your elbow inside the cabinet to get your fingers onto the edge of the filter through the open slot on that side of the front Cool Cat panel and grab the edge of the filter. 

3. Just slide the filter out toward the open cabinet.  It is flexible and you can flex it out of the slot and completely out. 

4. The filter can be washed or vacuumed clean. If you wash it set it out to completely dry. If you vacuum the filter be careful that it has not become brittle and will disintegrate with the suction of the vacuum nozzle.  There should be no dirt behind where the filter has been in the Cool Cat if the filter has been doing its job. 

5. If you decide the filter needs to be replaced, you can use any of the cut it to size filters sold for air conditioners. I suggest getting one of the foam filters with the plastic grid on the back as it will go in and out of the filter much easier than an all foam filter.  Use the current filter as a template to cut the new filter to size. 

6. When you are ready to put the filter back in, it is going to slide in through the same place it slid out of from the same side BUT there is something to be aware of when putting the filter back in. There is a flexible plastic "clip" that holds the filter in place when it is in the Cool Cat. This does not get in the way of removing the filter but it will stop the filter from sliding back in if you do not follow the next step.

 

7.  Look at the photo above on the left side, inside the grill. You will see the clip that I am referring to. As you see it here, it is in place with the filter clipped down by it. When you start to slide the filter through the slot it came out of (again the open cabinet door next to it makes it easier to maneuver. Put your finger into the vent where that plastic loop is and move the loop toward the front of the vent cover to open the path for the filter to slide in on. The filter is sliding on a groove on the bottom of the cover. Once the edge is past that point it should slide along with the clip down and in place  and you can let go of the loop - but if there is resistance or the filter you have is just foam with no backing - keep that loop up until the filter is slid to the right side of the Cool Cat and stops.  if you are still holding the clip up, let it go.

8. The filter is now in place and the Cool Cat is ready for use. 

I clean the filter when we dewinterize and have used a vacuum to do it. I take the filter out of the Roadtrek, put it down on a flat surface and with a vacuum hose with a soft brush nozzle vacuum the front and back of the filter. 

If you decide that you are going to take the front cover off to remove the filter. When you remove the two screws on the front, it is not just going to come off. There are tabs on the bottom of the cover that fit into slots that hold the cover on. Because the Cool Cat is so close to the ceiling you cannot just pull the cover off when the screws are removed. You have to carefully pull the top of the cover slightly toward you and once you clear right above the cover move the cover up so that the tabs come out of the slots on the bottom holding them in. 

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Just for further information about the Cool Cat. The Cool Cat is a closed system. There is no way to recharge the refrigerant in the Cool Cat.  There is also no access to any of the mechanical parts of the Cool Cat from the front with the cover off. It is necessary to remove the Cool Cat from the Roadtrek to work on it. This is something not advisable to do yourself.  It may be possible for an A/C shop to cut a charging port into the coolant line for a way to recharge the A/C BUT this can only be done with the Cool Cat out of the Roadtrek and an RV shop would have to take it out for you to bring it to an A/C shop.  Reinstalling involves sealing certain places around the Cool Cat inside the the opening and where it sits on the pan behind. (per the Cool Cat installation manual). Also- The heat pump in the Cool Cat stops blowing hot or warm once the outside temperature approaches 40 degrees F.  If you put it on and the temps outside drop to near or below 40F - the Cool Cat blows COLD!  This can be a big surprise if going to sleep with the Cool Cat on at night and during the early morning ours the temp outside drops! 😦⛄

THE ONAN GENERATOR

 My 2011 Chevy based Roadtrek 190 Popular has the Onan Microlite 2800 KV model generator. Since this model, starting in 2012, Onan introduced a changed generator model  -  the Microlite 2800 KY generator. Since that model there have been two other model Onan Microlite 2800 generators. The most current - that was never used in a Chevy based Roadtrek - is the Onan QG 2800i. It was not used as it did not exist when RT stopped building Chevy based Roadtreks. It can be installed in a Chevy Roadtrek to replace an older model or as a new install.  I am not familiar at all with the Onan that came between the KY and the OG2800i.  All are gasoline powered generators. The only Roadtreks that have a propane generator - installed by Roadtrek - are the diesel engine Roadtreks - none of which are on a Chevy chassis.

In earlier Roadtreks the generator was installed in a cabinet on the outside of the Roadtrek with easy access.  Later, Roadtrek mounted the generator under the chassis of the Roadtrek in the rear driver's side of the van. This location is very difficult to access and requires crawling under the van with very low clearance, reaching up on your arms to open an access panel to the inside of the case, and then craning your neck up to try to see inside the generator to check the oil, change the oil, and reset a circuit breaker and replace a fuse - both of which will be covered later in this article. I have watched Onan service technicians get under the van to work on the Onan much easier by rolling under on a mechanic's creeper. This raises them up enough to better reach in and see inside a little better and not be too high to fit under. They roll in from the side behind the driver's side rear tire.

The position of the generator is rather precarious for the low ground clearance van.  A pot hole and bottoming out can hit the generator. A flooded street can submerge the generator. A steep inclined (or declined) driveway can bottom out the rear of the van and hit the generator. Of course, none of these things are good for the generator. Always be aware of the road and what you are going over when driving a Chevy based Roadtrek with the generator on the bottom. 

The differences between the Onan Microlite 2800 KV and KY models are these. The KV model has an owner accessed altitude adjustment for the motor. The owner can do this easily on their own - following the instructions in the KY manual. The KY model has an owner non-accessible altitude adjustment that -  per Onan - requires a technician to adjust and the addition of a part.  The KY model has a troubleshooting lamp system. The power light on the KY's wall switch flashes a code sequence if there is a problem with the generator. The code sequences are defined in the KY manual. There is NO troubleshooting lamp in the KV model Onan.  The KY also has a priming button to prime the generator before starting. To do this the bottom of the start button is pushed in once or twice to prime the motor with gasoline. The KV model does NOT have ANY priming function. Pushing in of the start button of the KY model only shuts the motor off if it is running.

 The new OG generator model is stated to be much quieter than previous Onan generators. It has a different motor than previous Onan models that is not supposed to require the same exercise schedule of the previous generator which was once a month for two hours of continuous runtime under half a load (the A/C in summer or a plugged in electric space heater in cold weather. The installation of the OG model using the same mounting holes under the chassis that the KY, KV used, requires an adapter plate sold by Onan to make the new case holes match up with the previous drilled  holes under the chassis.

The basics of starting the Onan are covered in our article THE GENERATOR found here. The Onan KV manual may be downloaded here.   For the KY manual, I am not finding a current link any longer for this manual. If you would like a copy of the PDF file of the KY manual that I have, please contact me using the Email Us link in the right column of this page. 

 There are maintenance items that are listed in the manual that are not to be ignored. They include changing the fuel filter, changing the oil (minimum once every year or per hour schedule in manual), changing the air filter, and changing the spark plug. On RV shop that I took my Roadtrek to for the fuel filter change would not do the job without taking the generator down off the bottom of the van. I did not have them do the job. I then took it to an authorized Onan service center that changed the fuel filter with the generator still attached under the van.  If any shop tells you that there is an oil filter - there is NO oil filter.  Some authorized Onan shops will do all of these items when they do an oil change. Can you change the oil yourself - yes. The grade oil to use depends on the area you drive the Roadtrek in the most - and there is a chart in the manual that specifies which oil for which type of environment. Changing the oil means doing this on the ground with you on your back reaching up - or on your elbows if you are on your stomach. Checking the oil means removing the oil cap which has a small dip stick on it. Take out the dipstick and wipe it off. Put it back in BUT leave it on the top - do not screw it back down. The oil is checked with the stick on the top of the oil fill rim.  To drain the oil there is a drain plug under the Onan. There is a specific torque that MUST be used when screwing this plug back in. Only use a torque wrench when doing this set to the correct torque which is in the manual.  I had a shop that did not do this and they stripped threads on the pan. The pan had to be replaced. 

When any work is done inside the Onan inevitably hands working in this tight space are going to hit the circuit breaker handle that is inside the Onan. This circuit breaker is connected to the control board and if tripped or off -  when you start the Onan it will start and run just fine bur NO POWER will come out of it into the Roadtrek. The AC outlets will not work, The air conditioner will not start. The TV will not start. The microwave will not start - in fact the microwave is a good place to see if the breaker is tripped or not. If the breaker is tripped and the generator is running the display screen that is always on when there is power to the microwave will be dark  and off!.  This can happen if you checked the oil or if you changed the oil - or any work was done inside the generator by you or a service tech. The service techs rarely check to see if the breaker is on when they finish working on the Onan.  Below is a diagram from the Onan manual of where the breaker is.  

 

I have made this big because this diagram should be better and it is not. There is an open space in the area the arrow is pointing at. If the breaker is on you will see a small black handle pointing to the passenger side in that  space.  If the breaker is off or tripped, you will not see anything looking up from the ground to inside this area. The handle will be hidden when pointing down. Reach in with a finger and feel for it!  Avoid the fuse which is also in this open space.  When you feel the handle. push it down and then pull it up with your fingertip.  Close up the Onan. Go in and start the Onan and check that there is power - look at the microwave display!  This is the first thing to do if your Onan is running and there is no AC power inside  the Roadtrek!

The fuse is even harder to see. It is a regular auto blade fuse - not hard to replace. You just have to find it and pull it out. There is a sticker (sometimes) on the side of this open area with an arrow pointing to the passenger side that says FUSE. If the fuse lined up with that it would be great - it doesn't. Feel for the fuse - be certain before you pull it out.   WHAT DOES THE FUSE DO?  If the fuse is BLOWN the generator DOES NOT START. It does not crank. It does nothing when you push the switch inside which does not light. IT IS DEAD!  First thing to do if this happens is check the fuse inside the Onan. If it is the fuse it saves a lot of money and trouble to get the Onan fixed or trying to fix it yourself. 

 The Onan uses one half to a third gallon of gasoline in one hour of runtime. The generator will automatically shut down if the gas tank in the van goes below 1/4 tank. This is to prevent you getting stuck with no gasoline running the generator all night.  The generator will also shut itself down if the oil level in the generator falls below full.  This prevents the generator motor burning itself out. 

If you own a Roadtrek with an Onan you already know that it is loud and it vibrates when it is running. You can feel the vibration in the floor. There is an Onan resonator that you can buy that will quiet the motor noise some.  It still vibrates.  Some have added rubber cushioning to above the Onan and where it is bolted into the bottom of the chassis and that can lower the vibration.  I have not done either.

Some may have Roadtrek's later generator system - the "underhood engine generator". This is a SECOND high power alternator installed by Roadtrek under the hood and run by a longer and different belt. The belt is not standard to the Chevy and if you have an engine generator it is advised to buy a spare belt and always have it with you in the Roadtrek.  What this does is provide generated AC power to the Roadtrek by starting and running the engine. The engine is running at idle which Chevy will tell you is not good over a span of hours but Roadtrek insisted it was not a problem. Is this quieter - only if your engine is running is quiet. There are no vibrations - that is a plus. This does use a good amount of gasoline.  Much more than the 1/2 to 2/3 gallon the Onan uses - plus there is a great deal more exhaust that will come from running the engine with more CO to come inside or drift to a neighboring RV. Roadtrek started offering the engine generator to Chevy based Roadtreks around 2015 along with some other advanced electrical system components that previously were tested and sold only on Sprinter based Roadtreks. 

Please get the manual for your Onan, print it out and keep it in the Roadtrek - or put the USB file on your phone or a USB stick to access on your computer when traveling. It goes into much more detail than I have here and it has a troubleshooting chart written out inside.

 

HOW I GOT MY BLACK TANK SENSORS TO READ ACCURATELY

The infamous black tank sensors on the Roadtrek are well known for never reading accurately. I found this out soon after I bought my 2011 190 Popular new. I even brought it back to the Roadtrek dealer's service department to have them "fixed" and the RT service tech replaced two of them - which involved leaving the old bottom two sensors in place as he said they cannot come out and installing two others next to the originals and moving the wires from the old ones to the new ones. This worked for about a day and then the same things as before started to happen.  When the black tank was empty the monitor panel would read that it was 2/3 full. Then with just a little water added to the black tank the monitor panel would read full.  During a single day the monitor panel would change - from 2/3 to full and back to 2/.3 without anything being added to the tank or taken out of the tank. They just did not work!  I should add all of the other water sensors did work accurately on my Roadtrek - the two fresh water tanks and the grey tank have always been accurate. 

I tried all the things recommended to make them work. I flushed the tank repeatedly with clean water - still the same. I used various tank additives including borax and detergent and commercial tank cleaners that say they also clean sensors -  no difference. I bought a tank wand that attaches to a garden hose that is connected to an outdoor spigot - all brought into the RT through an open door, The wand goes down into the tank - this was a flexible wand (they are not all flexible) because the black tank is not straight down the toilet drain into the black tank pipe. There is an on/off valve on the wand to shut off and turn on the water flow - which is coming out at some pressure.  You open the toilet flap and keep your foot on the pedal as if the flap shuts on the wand the flap breaks. You put the wand down into the drain and move it around and up and down to "pressure" wash the inside of the black tank.  And if you happen to move it up too high from the hole in the toilet the water from the nozzle splashed on your face.  This, too, did not work. 

I eventually gave up as many Roadtrek owners do and on a trip we counted how many days it took us to fill the black tank with average use. It came down to between four and five days which was enough for us to know that once you get to four days dump the tanks. If the days are hot summer days just before it needed to be dumped it was possible to get a small whiff of odor when flushing the toilet when the flap opened.  I also found that if you look down the open flap in the toilet with a flashlight when the tank is really full you can see the water coming up from the tank just below the toilet flap. The problem with this is it is too easy to drop the flashlight down into the black tank which is a lot more trouble than just having a full black tank. (I never did this - I put a flashlight on a cord that fit around my wrist.) I have never put a bag of crushed ice into the black tank and drove around. Big RVs say this works BUT if your Roadtrek has a macerator and do this and you are not sure if all of the ice has melted completely - and you try to dump with ice still coming out into the macerator - you will break the macerator.

Sometimes things happen accidentally - and this article is about one of those happenings. I have not written about this until now because I wanted to be sure it worked. This goes back to May 2019 and started in November of 2018. 

In November 2018 we started winterizing the Roadtrek - using the instructions of my own article - which has become well known.  It is always important to keep the black tank's interior wet and I have always put one gallon of water into the black tank during travel season to prevent anything left in the tank from drying out and building up which will clog the output of the black tank. When we started winterizing I knew that since our last trip at the end of October there was one gallon of water in the black tank. We started by getting all of the water out of the fresh tanks and then started to dump the black tank of that one gallon of water.  We got a bucket and pointed the macerator hose in - and pushed the macerator button and we could hear the macerator running and there was a spurt from the hose and then nothing. The motor ran - the macerator was not pumping. We tried various things - change the angle the RT was sitting on - nope. Tried turning the macerator unclog handle - it turned with no resistance - nope. And then we smelled burning coming from the macerator and just gave up.  It was November. There was no way we were going to get to any RV shop that could fix this and we just would have to wait until the Spring.  But what to do about the black tank until then.  When I winterize I replace the one gallon of water in the black tank to keep it wet with one gallon of RV antifreeze poured down into the tank through the toilet. I decided that in addition to the winterizing RV antifreeze that went through the pipes to the toilet I would add TWO gallons of RV antifreeze into the black tank for the winter - keeping my fingers crossed that in the Spring there would be no problems from the cold winter other than needing to get the macerator replaced. 

The Roadtrek sat on our driveway like that the entire winter and in late April 2019 we had an appointment at the RV dealer we bought the RT in that is located in Pennsylvania - two states away - for the macerator to be replaced. (There is an article about that in April and May 2019 on this site.)

An amazing thing happened when the service shop installed the new macerator and dumped the black tank of the two gallons of RV antifreeze. THE BLACK TANK READ EMPTY!  

I figured that this was only temporary and with use the black tank sensors would go back to their  old tricks and do what they were so well known to do.  We took a trip that July - the black tanks were empty at the start of the trip. The black tank holds ten gallons.  With a  day plus  of  use the monitor panel showed 1/3 full -  right on what it should be. A day or so more and it went to 2/3. As I said earlier in this article - we calculated that we fill the black tank in four to five days.  At the end of the fourth day the black tank went to full. One way to find out if the black tank is really full is to put some water down the toilet as look in the pipe -  a little water should in the pipe that the black tank was really full!  The sensors worked. We dumped the tanks and they showed empty. Even with the gallon of clean water put down into the tank the sensors still showed empty - as they should! 

I have been putting one gallon of RV antifreeze down into the black tank over the winter and until we dewinterize in the Spring  and this never fixed the sensors.  Could it be that the two gallons made the difference?  This stayed from November into late April. I did not jump to conclusions. The variables from it working and prior - the RV antifreeze and the new macerator. Others have replaced their macerator and still have black tank sensors that do not read accurately.  The two plus gallons of RV Antifreeze into the black tank over about six months, I believe, is what has done it!

After the summer of 2019 Covid arrived, so travel was limited to not at all.  We live in an area that was very hard hit by the virus.  We were on lock down. There were a lot of deaths. Businesses were closed and supermarkets that were open had empty shelves.  But I still had to winterize the RT and in 2019 I put two gallons of RV antifreeze again into the black tank in addition to the antifreeze that went down into the tank winterizing. The empty black tank showed empty when before the antifreeze went in and just the two gallons of RV A/F, it still showed empty. As Covid lessened we took some day trips using the black tank. The sensors read correctly.  After dumping it showed empty - every time!

Recently we used the black tank a lot. It went to 1/3 and correctly after that to 2/3.  Before I dumped the tank I added water to the tank and took it to full - and it read full.  We dumped the tank - and it now reads empty. I tested this over three years plus - each time winterizing two gallons of RV antifreeze went into the tank between winterizing in the late Fall and dewinterizing in the Spring. The sensors are still reading accurately. 

 So what do you do if you want the same results? I do not know that if you vary the time period shorter that the RV antifreeze is in the tank, it will work for you. If you put it in and let is sit for a couple of weeks or even a month or two, I doubt it will work!  Put it in over six months and you should have the same results. No guarantees - but if it worked for me - it should work for you. Do I use any "special" antifreeze? No - unless you consider $3.99 a gallon antifreeze from Walmart special.  This same antifreeze has kept my plumbing safe over the winter for years. Will it work with other RV antifreeze? It should.  

 For eight bucks for a fix?! It is well worth the investment in two bottles of RV antifreeze and no more guessing if the tank is full! I feel I should put steps to this of what to do. OK - 

1) When winterizing - dump your black and grey tanks before you start along with draining your fresh tanks - all part of my winterizing step by step article.  This article is found here - https://roadtrek190popular.blogspot.com/2013/11/winterizing-your-roadtrek-step-by-step.html

2) Go through all the steps in the winterizing article through NUMBER 48. Instead of putting one gallon in as specified there put TWO GALLONS IN! Do this with or without a macerator. The macerator has nothing to do with fixing the sensors!

3) If you have no problem with your grey tank - as I  don't - then do not put any into the grey tank. If you want to, you certainly can but unless your sensors don't read accurately in your grey tank there is no need to do this. 

4) That is it! Leave it in until you de-winterize. While it is in the first time you do this you will still see sensors that are not working correctly. Once you dump your black tank in the Spring it should read EMPTY!

Even Whe You Know What You Are Doing , Things Go Wrong

 Weather here has been jumping from warm to hot and back to cold this Spring. We usually de-winterize in early May but waited until just now - the end of May to de-winterize.  As I have said in my de-winterizing and sanitizing articles, what you have to do takes very little time but de-winterizing and especially sanitizing the tanks involves a lot of waiting.  We de-winterize on one day and other than pouring the bleach water mix into the two fresh tanks on our 2011 Roadtrek 190 Popular, the sanitizing happens over night, the plumbing and tanks are flushed of bleach on the next day. 

De-winterizing went well.  Like many of our readers, I print out my own article on de-winterizing and sanitizing and follow along to make sure I have not left out any steps.  And I do go back and refer to it throughout the process. Nothing out of the ordinary happened -  other than my deciding to wait until the last minute to buy the bleach. Bleach goes bad over a year in the bottle. It turns to salt water and loses all of its disinfectant properties. We don't use bleach much in the house and we buy the bottle just for sanitizing the Roadtrek - so I knew that the bleach we had was from a year ago when we last de-winterized and sanitized the tanks - and kept putting off buying the bleach.  I decided that we would start de-winterizing and when we got to the point that we would pour the bleach into the Roadtrek, we would stop and go out and buy a small bottle of  bleach.  What I had not thought about was stopping meant putting everything away - the fresh water hose, unplugging because I did not want to use the battery to run the water pump, and just get ready to go.  So we went. Still all was OK. 

 We got home and got out the gallon water jug that we keep that says "BLEACH WATER" on the side and a measuring cup and the new bottle of bleach.  Out on the driveway next to the Roadtrek I took the hose and filled the water jug half way with water. I measured out a half cup of bleach and there was no odor from the bleach.  We checked the date on the bottle - it was good to some time in 2024.  I smelled the open bottle - no smell. Meryl smelled the open bottle - no smell. We stop and wonder what now.  Was the bleach bad because we remember the bleach smelling like bleach all the other times we measured it out. It was the correct bleach - it was disinfecting bleach - full strength. I poured the bleach into the water and filled the bottle the rest of the way with water. I put the cap on the bottle and gave it a shake to mix the bleach in the water.  Still no smell.  What's wrong? If you can't smell the bleach how will you know the bleach is out of the plumbing?

I was not going to stop - I took the funnel with the plastic tubing attached to it - that we made just for this purpose and started pouring the water/bleach into the front exterior fresh tank through the door fill in the driver's door frame.  I then could smell the bleach. It needed the water and to hit the air as it went into the fill hole through the funnel.  The bottle go to about 3.4 empty when the water and bleach came pouring up and out of the fill hole - all over the driver's door steps. What was wrong? Then I realized that just running the RV antifreeze out of the plumbing until only clear water came out of the sink, showers, and toilet was really not enough to take that much out of the front fresh tank - and combine that with the rear tank refilling the front tank as the water is pumped out into the fixtures, the front tank was fairly full. Was there a step I missed - no, but there should have been. Before pouring the bleach and water into the fresh tanks, let some water out of the tanks through the low point drain in the front exterior tank to make room for the gallon of water with the bleach in it that has to go into each of the two tanks.  I had a quarter of a gallon of bleach water that was not going to fit into the front tank. 

 I said something that I can't write here, and got the bleach bottle and the quarter filled water jug and poured in the one quarter cup of bleach for the rear interior tank, topped of the gallon jug with water, capped it, shook it to mix it, and took the funnel over to the rear cargo door with the water fill in the door frame. The funnel went in and the entire gallon of water and bleach poured into the rear tank - which had been refilling the front tank, as it is supposed to do. I got the hose and topped the back tank up with water.

I got into the Roadtrek, started the engine, and backed it down the driveway stopping short every few feet and then going back forward doing the same to mix the bleach and water inside the two tanks. That was it for the day. We just had to put everything away again. 

This brings us to the next day. The bleach and water sat in the tanks for just under 24 hours. According to the Clorox company when we called them years back, bleach and water after a number of hours turns to water but the bleach smell remains.  We could have drained the bleach after about four hours but we were not coming out in the middle of the night to start a process that has the most waiting.  This day was warmer than the day before which was supposed to be warmer but was fairly chilly. It was also maybe supposed to rain (which did not happen until the night). 

First thing to do was drain the bleach/water out of the two fresh tanks.  Our low point drain on the front tank - the only fresh water low point drain on our Roadtrek - has a screw off and screw on cap. Taking it off means lying on the ground next to the back corner of the driver's door, reaching under the chassis to the cap and unscrewing it which means bleach water pours out all over your hands.  We got the cap off - put it where we would not lose it and let the water drain while we had lunch. 

After lunch, the first thing to do is put the  cap back on the drain - and do that in the puddle that resulted from the water and bleach pouring out. So far no surprises.  They would start soon enough. 

The fresh water hose was hooked up and I filled the front tank with fresh water. We then went to the back of the Roadtrek to fill the rear tank. I pulled on the orange push in plug that caps off the water fill holes- it was off yesterday - no problem.  It was not coming out. I pulled on it. Meryl pulled on it. We tried lifting the edge around the cap.  No it was not budging.  I went to the garage to get a pair of pliers. The cap came right out.  On ward!  Ha! Ha!

 What happened next is something that has happened in the past at this same point in the sanitizing process - not regularly but has happened.  The hose with its RV water fill nozzle went into the fill hole for the back tank with the water running slowly. A few minutes later the water was pouring back out of the fill hole - the tank was empty - but something was preventing the water from going in . 

We have figured that since this mostly happens after the fresh tanks have been filled with bleach and water, a chlorine gas bubble forms inside the smaller rear tank and prevents the water from going down into the tank - pushing it back out the fill hole. There have been times when the water comes out in a gush. This time it was steady stream pouring out. It was time to get out the "gizmo". I made the gizmo years back when this first happened. The gizmo is a hose nozzle with a small diameter. long  tube that  is fed down the water fill hole to the bottom of the tank so that it will fill the tank with water from the bottom up - under the bubble - pushing the gas bubble up and out and not the water. Up until this time it has always worked. (Here is an article about first "The Gizmo" and this article shows what happened to that gizmo one winter with a photo of the new gizmo I made to replace it which is what I use now.)

The Gizmo was screwed onto the hose, the water pressure at the outside faucet at the hose was set  low and the tube went down into the tank. I opened the valve on the gizmo and the water started pouring out of the fill hole again. I shut off the gizmo's valve, pulled the tube out of the tank - fed it back in again - tried again - still water was coming out. This was one of those "OH BOY!" moments. If the water did not go into the rear tank we were not going to be able to get the bleach smell out of the tank. 

I stood back and starting thinking, perhaps I was going about this the wrong way by putting a slow flow of water down into the tank through the gizmo. Maybe it was not enough pressure to burst the bubble. I went to the faucet on the house and turned it all the way up.  The gizmo's tube went back into the tank, the valve was turned on and the water did not come back up into the tank. The tank filled and we were ready to flush the water tanks and pipes of bleach.

There was still a smell of bleach in the water as it came out of the sink and the showers. We drained the tanks and went for the third flush. Just an aside - it takes 25 minutes to drain the two tanks through the low point drain on the front exterior tank. It usually takes three flushes.   Meryl suggested that we fill the back tank first this time. It sounded like a good idea. 

I was not taking any chances and left the gizmo on the hose to fill the rear tank again.  This time no water came back up the fill hole but it seemed like it was taking much too long to get the tank full. Meryl was inside the Roadtrek at the monitor panel.  She would check the level of the tank every few minutes. The rear tank was at 2/3 but the front tank was also filling and was at 1/3 full - before we put any water into that tank from the front fill hole.  The water system in Summer mode was doing what it is supposed to do - the water was running from the rear tank into the front tank. This was going to take forever. I could have just changed the water valves to Winter mode and that would have cut off the front tank but I was not going to start playing with valves in the cabinet. I pulled the tube out of the back tank, took it to the front tank and started filling the front tank with the gizmo. Water in the Roadtrek in Summer mode does not flow from the front tank to the back tank. The front tank filled quickly. I then went back to the back tank and filled that to the top. 

The third flush resulted in no bleach smell in the water from the tanks. Hooray! The tanks were sanitized!  We put everything related to sanitizing and fresh water away. Now, I wanted to dump the RV antifreeze that I put in the black tank when we winterized out of the tank.  It could have been left in, but for the first trip I wanted to start with an almost empty tank (almost empty because I always keep a gallon of fresh water in the black tank so that the tank and its seals do not dry out). I also wanted to see the macerator work before we took a trip so that there would be no unwanted surprises on the road! 

We got out the pail that we use to dump the tanks at home. We have no outside sewer connection - they are not permitted in this area. I pulled the macerator hose out (the SaniCon retractable hose we had put on three years ago) and went to take the cap off the nozzle. This is a nozzle that I made for the SaniCon hose as the nozzle the RV shop put on it was a pain to use and the nozzle made by Thetford for this hose would not fit into the opening of the storage compartment where the hose is stored in the Roadtrek. (Here is the nozzle.) The nozzle has a PVC cap that screws on and off. Meryl took the hose as she holds it into the pail while I push the macerator button. I said to hold the nozzle pointing up as she removed the cap so that anything in the hose would not pour out on her as she removed the cap. The cap would not budge.  So I came over and took the nozzle and grabbed hold of the cap and took my turn to unscrew it. The cap would not budge! I tried a few times. It was not coming off. I don't know why. I was last off this past November when we winterized.  I went into the garage and came back with a pair of pliers and the cap came right off.  We dumped the black tank and finally we were done!

It was a really good thing that I wanted to dump the black tank because if we were at a campground - and we generally dump on the last day before we leave, there would have been a lot more panic if the cap would not come off. I said this to Meryl later and she agreed! 

So - what you think should go easily and quickly (well, never think or say "quickly" because nothing ever goes quickly when it should), things don't always cooperate and they go wrong! 

It happens! And it is better for it to "HAPPEN" when you are home rather than when you are out having a nice trip in the Roadtrek!

THE VERSATILE POOL NOODLE AND ITS MANY USES IN A ROADTREK!

 I know - some of you are saying as you read this - "What the heck is a pool noodle?" Pool Noodles start showing up in stores as Summer approaches. It is a swimming float made of molded foam plastic. 

The photo is a section of pool noodle. They come in different colors and they come in a few diameters. The size I find that is best is two and a half inches in diameter. The length is six feet when you buy it. They cut easily with a razor blade knife. The center of the pool noodle is a hole. The easiest way to cut it is to insert the blade of the knife into the foam and turn the pool noodle holding the knife in place to cut all around to get a section of the length you want to use.

BUT WHAT AM I GOING TO USE IT FOR IN A ROADTREK?!

Here are things we have used a pool noodle for in our Roadtrek - and I often find new ways when I need to figure out what can I use to ?

A POOL NOODLE IN THE MICROWAVE:

As the Roadtrek drives along there is a lot of vibration inside from the tires on the road surface - bumps, and bounces as you go along. Inside the microwave as you all know is a glass plate that you put what you are going to cook in the microwave on top of. That glass plate just sits inside - and it bounces a lot. Aside from the noise sooner or later if you don't protect it, it is going to break. When we first got the Roadtrek Meryl made a cushioned cloth case for the plate using two quilted placemats and a towel that she stitched into a pouch and put a Velcro closure on to put the plate into. She also made a case for the wheeled plastic rack that sits under the plate to rotate the plate while cooking. She attached the two pouches and they go into the bottom of the microwave. But as we drove the plate was still bouncing around and there are enough noises inside the Roadtrek  to not need this one so we needed to fix the plate into place so that it would not move. What did we do? We used a section of pool noodle!

The section of noodle was cut just a little longer than the height from the plate to ceiling of the microwave. The pool noodle will push into itself and act like a spring when pushed into a space that is just slightly shorter than it.  Don't make it too long or you could push the inside of the top of the microwave too much. This works perfectly in our Roadtrek!

NOODLES IN THE FRIDGE - POOL NOODLES THAT IS!

We want to have cold soda with us when we are traveling, especially when the weather is going to be hot. Soda cans on the shelves in the door of our fridge in the Roadtrek rattle around  a lot. There had to be something that would prevent them from moving.  AS it happens - the two and a half inch diameter pool noodle is about the diameter of a soda can. I cut sections of pool noodle the height of a soda can.  We may fill a shelf with soda cans but as we go along and use up cans the shelf gets emptier - and the cans rattle more - so a  pool noodle section takes its place. And one always joins the cans from the start to stop them from moving along the shelf.

No more rattling cans!  There are other places in the fridge that you can do the same thing. 

A POOL NOODLE TO STOP THE FRONT TABLE FROM BANGING INSIDE ITS CABINET:

Some Roadtreks have table top that is placed on a leg and it stands in a post in a hole on the floor. Our 2011 Roadtrek 190 Popular has a front table that is on a sliding hinge that goes into a cabinet just a few inches wide and it pulls out when in use and sits on a support that slides out from the side of the wardrobe cabinet behind the driver's seat. The table on its hinge bangs and hits the two side walls inside the cabinet. Talk about loud! So a section of pool noodle to the rescue! 

There is also no latch on this door - never was since it came from the factory, and on sharp turns, before the noodle took its place standing guard, the table would hit the door and open it - sliding the table out, which at 60 miles an hour around a highway curve can become very exciting - the kind of excitement you don't want! No more since the pool noodle was pushed into place! 

MOVING OUTSIDE THE ROADTREK!

A POOL NOODLE WHEN THE MOUSE HOLE GOES BAD: 

New owners are going to say - "First its noodles, now its MOUSE HOLES?!" The mouse hole is an RV term for the hole between where the shore power cord is stored and brought outside without having to leave the outside storage cabinet open. It is a hole - with a snap cap on the outside, looks like a cartoon mouse hole in a wall BUT the name is twofold because since the cord is smaller than the opening of the hole to get the large 30 amp socket out with the cord, mice have enough room to walk on the power cord outside, up the cord to the "mouse hole" and walk right into the outside storage cabinet - and from there find their way inside your Roadtrek. (EEEK!)  When the Roadtrek comes from the factory the mouse hole unit comes with flaps to take care of that. Over time, however, the flaps fold out of place - no longer close together to keep anything out - and because Roadtrek in all its wonder, riveted everything instead of installing with screws (yeah - rivets don't come loose - but they also prevent easy repairs requiring drilling  out the rivets). Ours went bad. I thought so what. Nothing is coming in (and nothing has) BUT Meryl said we need to close this! I thought about it - and, of course, what better than a pool noodle!

When doing this you have to get the pool noodle around the power cord - there is no end to just slip it through. I sliced along one side into the center hole of the pool noodle. It just gets pulled open and slips around the cord and is moved into the mouse hole around the cord filling the hole. It has to be slid back - and taken off when pulling the cord back in - and you do not put the noodle on the cord to put in the mouse hole until all of the power cord you need is outside the Roadtrek. Again, the two and a half inch diameter pool noodle is perfect for this - it fits just right - and does need to be squeezed into the hole to fill all gaps and stay in place.

A POOL NOODLE FOR YOUR FRESH WATER HOSE:

When at a campground, the ground can get muddy and you never do know what dog or other animal just came by and added some biological moisture to where you will be dragging your fresh water hose as you stretch it out to empty it of any water when you put it away.  I just did not like the idea of the end of the hose dragging along the ground in the mud - and what else. So I cut a pool noodle section and when we are ready to get the water out of the hose as we wind it up to put it away, the pool noodle goes on the threaded end of the hose. Simple - and I know where the inside of the pool noodle touching the hose end has been. 

SO - there you have the versatile pool noodle - every RVer's friend! I am sure you will figure out other uses for them.  You may even want one to go swimming with! 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTACT US TO ASK A QUESTION ABOUT ANYTHING YOU READ IN THIS ARTICLE PLEASE EMAIL US USING THE LINK IN THE RIGHT COLUMN OF THIS PAGE.

 

 

THE HIDDEN FUSE BOX

 Most know that the Roadtrek fuse box containing the fuses and circuit breakers for the Roadtrek RV appliances and components is on the wall of the Roadtrek next to the passenger side door into the Roadtrek. This is where you will find the main 30 amp circuit breaker for the coach, the breakers for various other 110/120 volt electrical components like the air conditioner, the television, etc.. Also in this box on the wall are all of the fuses for the 12volt components  of the Roadtrek such as the hot water heater, the furnace, the water pump, the lights, etc..  In the photo below it is the large black panel below the generator switch, the hot water heater switch and the monitor panel with the battery disconnect switch, the test switch, and the water pump switch.  You open this panel by pulling up on indentation in the center, pulling toward you and out.  On the back of that panel is a diagram that shows what circuit breaker and which fuse goes to what. (Some Roadtreks do not have that diagram. It is in the manuals of some Roadtreks and apparently in most recent Chevy Roadtreks it was not put into the manuals (why is a good question).)

That box contains everything for the Roadtrek part of the van. Nothing in this box is connected to anything in the Chevy part of the van. 

There are two fuse boxes that have the fuses for the Chevy. One is in the engine compartment. The second fuse box is hidden. The hidden fuse box is under the driver's seat. If this were just a Chevy Express van it would not be hard to find and get to that fuse box, but when Roadtrek removed the stock Chevy seats, installed swivel mechanisms under them to allow them to swivel around to be lounge seats for the Roadtrek, and then put in Roadtrek's own front passenger and driver's seat, accessing the hidden fuse box becomes a mystery. Like some other parts of the Roadtrek it is a puzzle that is a challenge to solve. 

We have solved that puzzle for you and will give you the steps for you, too, to be able to get to and into that hidden fuse box.  Some Roadtrek manuals will tell you that to get to the fuse box all you have to do is turn the driver's seat counterclockwise. That sounds very simple, but it is not quite that simple. 

HOW TO GET TO THE HIDDEN FUSE BOX:

1) Put the back of the driver's seat straight up. Pull the large handle on the right side of the bottom of the seat. 

2) Remove or move anything you might have behind the seat. In the "Popular" models of the Chevy Roadtrek  there is a wardrobe cabinet right behind the driver's seat that is fairly close to the back of the driver's seat. We keep a small folding table behind the seat and I removed that before I did the following steps. The "Versatile" models of the Chevy Roadtrek have a seat behind the driver's seat. If there is nothing on the floor between that seat and the driver's seat, then you should not have anything to remove or move.

3) Using the bar below the front of the seat cushion, move the seat about half way back on the slide so that it is in the position the seat is in the photo below. You can be sitting in the driver's seat of you can be standing outside the open driver's door, just pull up on that bar and slide the seat to where it needs to be. 

4)  Look again at the photo above.  Leave the armrest down. The black handle in the center below the side of the seat facing you looking from the open door inside is the handle that swivels the seat. This handle is on a spring and also is connected to a latch that locks the seat in place so that it will not swivel while you are driving. With one hand or two, pull that handle UP. You will hear the latch unlatch and you will be able to now swivel the seat COUNTERCLOCKWISE -  do that the front of the seat comes toward you.  If it gets stuck on the curtains that hang down from behind the door post, just move the curtains.  Below you see the front of  seat facing you! 

5) In the photo above you can see the slide handle for the seat right below the seat cushion. With one hand pull that handle up and with the other hand push the seat back as far as it goes on its slide. Let go of the handle and the seat locks into that position.  If you look to the left on the floor at the black box on the floor - YOU HAVE REVEALED THE HIDDEN FUSE BOX!

6) The box cover has two clips that keep it closed. They are on the sides at the top - on facing the driver's door and the other facing the passenger side.  Reach in under the seat and  feel for them. It is a simple move and release clip. They are hard to see and it was not possible to photograph them in place. Release each clip and the cover will come right off. Putting it back on is just as easy. line up the edge of the cover with the front of the box and put it on top and it just gently pushes down and clips into place.

 

7) The photo above is the extent of what you can see in the hidden fuse box. You pretty much have to reach in from the open driver's door getting your head and eyes around to see the inside of the fuse box from the floor below the steering wheel.  It is far from convenient and very awkward.  There is some reaching and eye straining to see and get the the fuses further back in the box. The Chevy Express owners manual will identify what each of the fuses in the box are. There is NO chart on the cover of the box.  There are also no labels other than the amps on each fuse. These are "MINI FUSES". There are also what the manual calls "J CASE FUSES". These are You should be able to find them in any auto parts store. These are smaller than the fuses that are in the "Roadtrek side" fuse box. There are also 6 relays and 2 circuit breakers. One of the circuit breakers is for the power seats and the other circuit breaker is for the power windows. Some fuse spaces are left empty.  

8) To put it all back together again just reverse the steps.  Use the slide handle to pull the seat back to where you started in Step 3. When the set is swiveled it will continue to swivel until it is facing front to the steering wheel again. To do that all you have to do is swivel the seat back to the front without pulling up on the swivel handle again. The seat will lock in facing the steering wheel. Move the seat forward or back to where you like it when you drive. That is it!

If you do not have a Chevy Express Manual for your year Chevy Express van - and remember that the Chevy Express is not always the same year as your Roadtrek is, so you go by the Chevy year and not the Roadtrek year as far as the Chevy Express manual is - there are a several websites that have manuals for all cars and vans of various years and they will let you download the manual for free. It is a good idea if you only have a downloaded manual to put the PDF file for the manual in your smart phone or other device you have with you on trips. 

So now you too can find the hidden fuse box and get to it whenever you need it. Let's hope you never have to get to it. 😃

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTACT US TO ASK A QUESTION ABOUT ANYTHING YOU READ IN THIS ARTICLE PLEASE EMAIL US USING THE LINK IN THE RIGHT COLUMN OF THIS PAGE.