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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

RV frustrated -- which fuse did you blow?

There's an old cartoon gag about power-outages. All you see is a black frame, with a couple of eyes blinking. You hear the "scratch" of a match, and finally, it all comes to light again. When you were a kid sitting in the movie-house, it was funny. But try it in your RV on a dark night, and suddenly the humor vanishes.

Being in the dark in your RV is a "no-funner." Here's another "T'aint funny, McGee." You step on the toilet flush pedal and no water gushes forth – suddenly your RV's water pump is silent. Oftentimes these troubles are traced back to a blown fuse. But which one?

Every RV comes with a fuse panel, but not all of them are adequately marked. Lighting circuits can be oh, so clearly marked: "Lighting 1," "Lighting 2," etcetera. If you do blow a fuse then it's a matter of not knowing which circuit is which, and pulling fuses until you get the right one. In some rigs it's even worse: Fuses without identification.

Here's a simple identification assignment: Shut off all your 12-volt users, lights, water pump, et al. Now pull out a single fuse and see which appliances don't work. Label the fuse appropriately and repeat until you know which fuse operates what. Keeping a batch of spare fuses close (or inside) the fuse box really helps.


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