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Old 03-28-2006, 09:15 PM   #5
B_and_D
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Santa Cruz County, CA
Posts: 2,405
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grouse
If possible run the water from each faucet. (the trailer we looked at prior to the one I currently have had this bloody awful smell when running the hot water. I decided that the smell may never come out and passed on an otherwise really nice looking rig).
Sometimes when our TM sits with the hot water tank full, we get this funky smell from the hot water heater. It goes right away after you run some water through it. I think it's a pretty common occurrence.

You can always add some bleach to the water tank and pump the water through the lines so that it sits in the lines and in the water tank for a while. We have to do this occasionally with our well & tank at the house here. Just make sure you flush it out completely before drinking it (or in the case of our house, washing green towels ).

Just make sure everything works when you check out the TM. It takes a while to get the refrigerator cooled down, so ask the person you're buying from to put the frig on gas 24 hours before you come to see it. For our style of camping, it's most important that the frig run on gas. Turn off the gas to the frig and try to light it again. Ask them to be sure that the battery is charged up, ask them to be sure that there's propane in both the tanks (and switch from one to another to see if the switch works), ask them to charge the toilet, and have everything ready for inspection. Turn everything on, run the faucets, if possible run a hose over the trailer to see if there are any leaks. Open and close it yourself. Read the manuals here and familiarize yourself with how things are supposed to work. If there's an awning open it up and look at it. If there's a TV antenna/booster, raise it up and down. If you can bring along a small TV you can test out the booster to see if it works. Bring a coax cable. There are a lot of things that might go wrong, such as the toilet valve slide, and leaks at the top of the grey water tank that you won't be able to test unless you are somewhere where you can fill up and dump. Turn off the converter and test the 12v water pump. I could go on and on, but if you read the manuals a couple of times it will give you an idea of the things to check.

I hope you find a good one!
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