As we are counting down to our road trip to Missouri we have started getting our Lance Model 1995 travel trailer ready for the big trip.  There was one maintenance item and one upgrade that I wanted to take care of today.  Actually the maintenance item only cropped up today!

First the maintenance item.  I brought our trailer home from the storage yard and back it into our driveway.  Since California’s dust harvest is in full swing our trailer is just coated with the Central Valley’s finest Modesto series loam.  I gave the trailer a good rinse and took a sponge mop to the roof to get the stubborn stuff up there.  Afterwards I went to plug in the electrical cord from the trailer to the house.  When I opened the electrical connector cover on the side of the trailer, the cover broke off.   Ugh.  While it won’t affect operation of the trailer’s electrical system, it does leave the electrical plug exposed to the elements.   It needed to be replaced.  I found an exact replacement (the cheapest model they sell) at a local RV sales lot.  It only took about 10 minutes to replace.  Even though the trailer is still under warranty I elected to do the work myself because if I had taken it back to the dealer it would probably be sitting there for weeks and wouldn’t be ready in time for our trip.  Ten minutes and $40 was worth it to me.

Next the upgrade item.  Our shower has a single handle control for the water.  It is VERY touchy.  There is very little adjustment available between BRRR COLD and OUCH HOT!  We actually waste more water trying to adjust it to our comfort.  After reading some posts on the Lance Owners of America forum I elected to replace the single handle control with dual controls.  One other modification I made was to add a check valve on the hot water side of the controls.  I call it a water diode.  (Electrical types will recognize this immediately but for the rest of you, a diode only allows electrical current to flow one way)  I added this check valve because there is a shutoff valve on the shower hose that allows you to instantly cut off water flow without having to turn the valves.  However, when we did this I found that the cold water was backflowing into the hot water line back towards the hot water tank.  This meant that when you opened the shutoff valve again you would get a blast of cold water until the hot water flowed back through the pipe and into the shower hose.  UN-acceptable!  The check valve will prevent water from flowing back down the hot water hose.  I haven’t tried it yet but I’m sure it will solve the problem.

So far we are really enjoying our trailer and look forward to the trip.  Look for more about that in an upcoming article.