Keeping the RV Warm

Most RV's are not insulated that well. The manufacturers know that the vast majority are going to be used on weekends or for short trips and when the weather is suitable for camping. Add in the popularity of slideouts; which require a large opening to be cut into the RV, and you have a ton of ways for heat or air conditioning to escape. The temperature of the floors on a cold morning are also an indicator of how well insulated your RV is (that cold air loves to occupy the open space between your RV and the ground). Those of you with heated floors don't count, and I am envious. You can also not count on any labeling that might describe your RV as having superior insulation built into it. Some manufacturers call it a Northern Package, for instance. You can look for certain things that will help in cold weather when you purchase an RV. Heated tanks and an insulated and sealed underbelly are a good place to start. Keeping the weekend and short trip usage in mind, most manufacturers put in a propane heater powerful enough to overpower the cold most campers will encounter. We like to call it the "big heater". If you have  heat pumps they will handle most of the temperatures that the average camper encounters, negating the need for the propane heater. Because of the cost we have found that when we are fulltiming (living in the RV) an alternative to the propane furnace has to be found. It simply consumes way too much propane. We use space heaters and have been surprised how effective they can be. The only problem we have encountered is that they do pull a lot of amperage and you have to be creative about where you power them from. We are pleased with our 5ver, as we have been able to keep the inside at about 70 degrees, even on the coldest mornings. So, if you're not paying the electrical bill I suggest you use a space heater or two.

How Old are Your Tires?

We recently visited Discount Tire for an inflation check and to find out the cost of replacing a tire we recently had punctured. The tech pointed out that the tire was over ten years old and that we should verify the age of the remaining tires on our RV. Our tires have plenty of tread left and the spare we put on had never been used. That is not that uncommon on RV's because most spend so much time sitting. With that in mind here is an article on how to determine the age of your tires-RV tires should be replaced after a maximum of six years.

 

When it comes to determining the age of a tire, it is easy to identify when a tire was manufactured by reading its Tire Identification Number (often referred to as the tire’s serial number). Unlike vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and the serial numbers used on many other consumer goods (which identify one specific item), Tire Identification Numbers are really batch codes that identify the week and year the tire was produced.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires that Tire Identification Numbers be a combination of the letters DOT, followed by ten, eleven or twelve letters and/or numbers that identify the manufacturing location, tire size and manufacturer's code, along with the week and year the tire was manufactured.

Tires Manufactured Since 2000
Since 2000, the week and year the tire was produced has been provided by the last four digits of the Tire Identification Number with the 2 digits being used to identify the week immediately preceding the 2 digits used to identify the year.
Example of a tire manufactured since 2000 with the current Tire Identification Number format:

In the example above: DOT U2LL LMLR 5107
DOT U2LL LMLR 5107	Manufactured during the 51st week of the year
DOT U2LL LMLR 5107	Manufactured during 2007

While the entire Tire Identification Number is required to be branded onto one sidewall of every tire, current regulations also require that DOT and the first digits of the Tire Identification Number must also be branded onto the opposite sidewall. Therefore, it is possible to see a Tire Identification Number that appears incomplete and requires looking at the tire’s other sidewall to find the entire Tire Identification Number

The use of a partial Tire Identification Number on the one sidewall (shown above) reduces the risk of injury to the mold technician that would have to install the weekly date code on the top sidewall portion of a hot tire mold.
Tires Manufactured Before 2000
The Tire Identification Number for tires produced prior to 2000 was based on the assumption that tires would not be in service for ten years. While they were required to provide the same information as today’s tires, the week and year the tire was produced was contained in the last three digits. The 2 digits used to identify the week a tire was manufactured immediately preceded a single digit used to identify the year.
Example of a tire manufactured before 2000 with the earlier Tire Identification Number format:

In the example above: DOT EJ8J DFM 408
DOT EJ8J DFM 408	Manufactured during the 40th week of the year
DOT EJ8J DFM 408	Manufactured during the 8th year of the decade

While the previous Tire Identification Number format identified that a tire was built in the 8th year of a decade, there was no universal identifier that confirmed which decade (tires produced in the 1990s may have a small triangle following the Tire Identification Number to identify the decade).

And finally, hold on to your sales receipt. Most tire manufacturer's warranties cover their tires for four years from the date of purchase or five years from the week the tires were manufactured. So if you purchase new tires that were manufactured exactly two years ago they will be covered for a total of six years (four years from the date of purchase) as long as you have your receipt. If you lose your receipt, your tires' warranty coverage will end five years from the week the tire was produced (resulting in the tire manufacturer's warranty coverage ending only three years from the date of purchase in this example).

Number 3

Even if you are not a NASCAR fan, you probably know the name Dale Earnhardt. Most all of his driving career was for owner Richard Childress, a driver in his own right. For years he tore up the tracks of NASCAR, establishing and setting records along the way (including seven championships). He was a man's man and was known for driving his trademark black #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet. Fellow racers got so unnerved when they saw him coming up from behind that they nicknamed him the Intimidator. Sadly, Dale met his demise on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Unlike most sports, numbers are not retired in NASCAR, but they do remain with the team owner(s). Fans have mixed feelings about the resurgence of the iconic black #3; but it has been warmly welcomed when it has been brought out for limited pre race tribute runs. For better or worse the Intimidator's black #3 will return to the Sprint Cup Series for the 2014 season. Ironically it will be driven by Austin Dillon, the grandson of Richard Childress. Hopefully the pressure to perform up to the Intimidator's standards won't cause undue pressure on Austin. You got to believe that he knows the tradition behind the seat he will be in when they drop the checkered flag for this years Daytona 500. Whatever happens, it won't be the same for a lot of us Dale Earnhardt fans. But; this is a new generation and I wish Austin well.

Tech Talk from a Neophyte

You can do a ton of things and entertain yourself endlessly on the internet (yes, there is more than porn out there) provided you have the data allowance. The other caveat is that you need speed to upload and download; or stream, or video, much less graphics, will never work. In today's internet most websites take it for granted you have both the speed and data necessary to stream video and upload graphics laden websites. In our case, satellite was the key to enable us to fully enjoy the internet. Once you've got enough data and speed to allow streaming, you can watch network and cable shows, interact with the gaming community via your game consoles and even have commercial free, on demand television. And that's just a few things you can do. You can also use gaming consoles to access Amazon Prime and other providers and watch all that content on your television or internet capable device. To illustrate the data problem, we are allowed 10 gigabytes of data a month on our satellite internet. We could go through that in a matter of days by just watching a few movies. Fortunately our provider allows us unlimited data usage between midnight and five a.m. So that is when we watch and record movies and television. When we first got to the oil patch we had an air card and cellular service by Verizon. It didn't take long to figure out that wouldn't work so we purchased an AT&T phone and air card from Walmart. That air card was worthless; it was slow and only provided 1 gigabyte of data per month. The setup we use now is Exede satellite internet, AT&T phones and Dish network. Both Dish and Exede have poor customer service and their techs are rarely knowledgeable. It's kind of like everything else when you're off the grid. You have to learn to muddle though and fix stuff as best you can on your own. Tuning in the satellites occasionally frustrates me; but I'm usually up and running in less than an hour. A lot of folks don't put much stock in having a high speed internet connection or subscription television, but we wouldn't be without it. As far as the phones go, they're a necessity out here.