Toilet Paper
We used the “right brand” of toilet paper for quite a while, but then something happened and apparently we switched brands. That did not sit well in the black water holding tank. So, can you tell us what the right brand of toilet paper is? We don’t want to get the toilet paper from the RV supply store, as it can be a little rough. We know there is a toilet paper available that breaks down instead of remaining in a clump, which eventually will block the valve area or stick to the bottom of the tank.
Tom & Leigh Schaefer, F360347
FMCA Mail Forwarding
We can’t really suggest a specific brand of toilet paper to buy. To find a brand that won’t clump in the tank, here’s a little experiment. Take a one-quart jar; fill it halfway with water; place two or three squares of toilet paper into the jar; and tighten the lid. Shake the jar several times and allow it to sit for 15 minutes. When the time is up, check the toilet paper. If it’s dissolved, it may be suitable for use in the black water holding tank. If it clumps or remains intact, move on and try another brand.
We’ve never had a problem with black tank blockage, except when we were full-timing and hadn’t realized we needed to keep the black tank valve closed until it was full. We’d left the valve open, thinking the plumbing worked just like at home. It doesn’t. You must keep liquid in the black water tank at all times. You can leave the gray tank valve open when hooked up to the sewer line at a campground, but the black tank valve should be opened only when it’s time to dump. That will keep any blockage to a minimum.
AC Problem
We had a 15,000-Btu Coleman air conditioner installed in Tucson on May 13, 2008 (there is supposed to be a two-year warranty). The paperwork says RVP RV Products, Div. of Airxcel, Inc. Series 8000 Model #8335D876, Serial #010811231. The air conditioner works great for a while and then doesn’t blow cold. The RV installer tells us that this is normal, because the unit is freezing up. His recommendation is that we should turn it off for 20 to 30 minutes to let it defrost. This works for a while, but then it stops blowing cold again. This is a problem for us, because when we leave for the day, we come back to the air conditioner blowing room-temperature air. We have two air-conditioning units and the older one doesn’t do this (nor did the one that was replaced). We’re told that all the newer RV air conditioners have this problem. We have tried setting the thermostat in different positions and with the blower high or low. Is there any solution?
Dennis & Helen Lower, F300976
Tucson, Arizona
Any air conditioner can freeze up under certain specific circumstances (low fan speed, high humidity, and the thermostat set at an unrealistically low temp). If you avoid these conditions and the evaporator still freezes, it usually is caused by cold air being recirculated through the evaporator (some of the cold air goes escapes from going into the ductwork and is immediately returned to the evaporator, where it is super cooled, contributing to a freeze-up). Read Bill Hendrix’s article in the May 2004 issue of FMC magazine titled “RV Air Conditioner Maintenance.” (It is available at www.fmca.com.) There is a remote possibility that the unit may be slightly undercharged, and this also can be diagnosed. Temperature drop, compressor amps, and outside ambient temperature also can be questioned, but you would need a professional technician to perform the necessary tests. First, look for the recirculating cold air.
Frozen AC
I have a 2006 Forest River Sunseeker 31-foot Type C motorhome. When new, the main air-conditioner, a Duo-Therm 13,500-Btu unit, did not cool well. I had problems with it tripping the breaker, so I replaced the breaker. When the new breaker continued to trip if the air conditioner was turned on, I bought a meter and monitored the electrical flow. The air conditioner was rated at 14.6 amps, but upon startup and for about 45 seconds, the flow went to 22 amps, then decreased until it hovered between 15 and 16 amps. The dealer said nothing was wrong, so after two years I had Camping World install a new Duo-Therm 13,500-Btu energy-efficient model rated at 10 amps. The breaker no longer trips and the unit is cooler, but now I have a new problem.
On our last trip to Colorado, the daytime temperatures were around 80 degrees and, as expected, the climate was dry with very low humidity. One day when running the AC, I came back into the motorhome to discover the air-conditioning unit making a muffled noise. I shut it off and found that the unit had frozen over. I left it off overnight to thaw out, and then restarted it. I did not have the problem again.
The only other things running at the time were the refrigerator and the water heater. My outlet meter showed that when not running the air conditioner, I had 112 volts from the campground’s shore power, but when the air conditioner kicked on, the voltage dropped to between 106 and 108 volts. Is that the culprit? Will low voltage cause the air conditioner to ice up, or is something else happening?
Allen J. Giannakopoulos, Ph.D., F370788
Miami, Florida
This might be the classic problem of running the fan on low speed with a low temperature setting on the thermostat. Select a realistic temperature, such as 72 degrees, and put the fan on high speed, especially if the humidity is high. Low voltage is not the problem.
Batteries
I have a 1998 National RV Tradewinds motorhome with four 6-volt house batteries and two 12-volt chassis batteries. The motorhome sits in storage for seven months each year. My two solar panels do a great job of keeping the house batteries charged. Is there a way to also connect the solar panels to the chassis batteries and, if so, how can it be done? The motorhome has a Heart Interface inverter. I keep the disconnect switch in the off position during storage.
Gerald Fenno, F241956
Forest Lake, Minnesota
Because of the unequal size of the two battery banks and the resistance of a wire between them, just hooking them together with a temporary wire will do little good. You probably should consider separating the two solar cells and using a single cell to feed each battery bank.
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