Escapees January-February 2024

mark, my words

Loss of Engine Power Q. My question is something that just happened this year. After fi llingour gas tank and getting on the road for about an hour, our motorhome started losing power, almost like it was running out of gas, so we exited the inter stateand fi lled up our tank, which only took about eight gallons. We got back on the road and the same thing kept happening. We fi nally got to our destina tion in about eight hours that should have taken fi ve. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Sandy A. That sounds a lot like a clogged fuel fi lter to me, and it is most often a fairly easy item for do-it-yourself mechanics to replace. You can also take the motorhome to most automotive repair places and ask that they replace the fuel fi lter. It is usually an inexpensive job. If the fuel fi lter doesnot fi x it, the fuel pump, which is typically located in the fuel tank, may be going bad. There are also a number of other problems that can cause a loss of engine power, so if the fuel fi lter doesn’t help, you should have a competent mechanic diagnose the problem and make the neces sary repairs. Winterizing When winterizing your RV, is blowing out your system enough, or should you always add antifreeze? Also, we’re taking trips through January about every three to four weeks. Do I need to winterize after each trip, or is there something else I can do instead? Brad A. In my opinion, blowing out the water lines with air is fairly effective when you are storing the RV in a somewhat mild climate, where the temperature falls below freezing at night but warms up a bit during the day. However, when storing in really harsh climates, where it gets down into the below-freezing zone and stays there, antifreeze is really the only way to go. Your RV owner’s manual should have a section on winterizing. Be sure to follow the steps to get all of the water out and fully protect the entire plumbing system. There are a number of online guides for winterizing: Just type “winterizing the RV” into any search engine and you’ll turn up a bunch of them. If you plan to use the RV after it is winter ized, you will either need to de-winterize it for the period of use and then re-winterize it each time, or leave the freshwater system winterized and drink bottled water and minimize use of your plumbing system while camping. You can avoid winterizing the plumbing by fi nding a heated storage place for the RV or keep the furnace or heater running in the RV during storage to prevent the water system from freezing. However, you have to be really sure that the method you choose will truly protect the plumbing, or you’ll be fi xing broken pipes.

Residual Water and Antifreeze

Q. I have by-passed and drained the water heater, opened the drain valve for the fresh water, disconnected the ice-maker line, removed the water fi lter and opened all the valves, which allowed all the water to be removed by blowing out the lines with an air compressor but have a concern that the pump itself may not be totally void of water. Should I run the pump with some RV antifreeze? I have poured a cupful or two of RV antifreeze down each “P” trap in case there was some residual water in them. Here in Minne sota, this is critical. RML A. After you have used compressed air to purge the water from the plumbing system, you must then disconnect both water lines from the pump and allow all remaining water to drain from them. Then, run the pump for a few seconds with the lines disconnected to purge the water out of the pump itself. Remember to hook everything back up before trying to use the water system again!

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR MARK? Submissions must not contain commercial advertising or consumer advocacy issues. Due to the large volume of material and correspondence submitted, we may be unable to reply or acknowledge receipt of your material. Material will be edited. Questions and answers with the highest general interest may be repeated in subsequent issues. Questions can be sent by mail to “Mark, My Words” Column, 100 Rainbow Drive, Livingston, TX 77351-9300 or to techquestions@escapees.com.

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January/February 2024 ESCAPEES Magazine