Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Finally! But always something

Well, the good news is the air leveling compressor works as it should, finally!  After a couple days, we heard the compressor run, and only run for about a minute, exactly as it is supposed to do.  So at long last it appears that item is fixed.
Now on to the relief valve.  I know these things happen to everyone now and then but it seems that almost anytime you try to get a part from a brick and mortar store for an RV, it is a hassle.  First let me show you what we are talking about.
This what the relief valve looks like.  And in the next photo if you look near the top and on the right side of the tank you will see where it lives.
As I said I had called Lazy Days in Tampa on Sat and they said they had the part.  I drove up first thing Monday morning, went into parts, refreshed their memory, paid for the part, $85!, then went over to another parts department to pick it up, and the part's guy hands me a tiny little check valve?  A duplicate of a couple check valves that I have that cost me $6 each, not $85.  I said, no, no, it's supposed to be a relief valve.  He said the part number you paid for is a check valve.  Damn.  He said go back over to the parts lady and get your money back.  Then he asked specifically what I was looking for, he looked in his computer, said they didn't have one, but did some more checking and called the manufacturer of the air system and found I could probably get a generic relief valve much, much cheaper than if they ordered me an official one.  Cool.  Back over I go, get my money back, she hands me another valve she says is the one I need, charges me $35 for it and off I go.  I go back to the second parts guy, about a mile away and show him and he says I could use it in a pinch, but it needs to rated for 150 pounds where the one she gave me is good for 125 pounds.  Either way they don't have one.  Now what, oh yeah, it's a 65 mile drive up here from the campground.
I call Freightliner, a truck place, they don't have one.  I call another big truck parts supply warehouse, they have to check and call me back, so I go across the street to a TA truck stop, and although they don't have one they are real helpful, and call the same big truck supply warehouse I called and find out they have seven of them in stock.  So off I go the several miles over there.  It's a huge place, but friendly and I get my valve for $6!  Yippee.  I should have gone back to get a refund of my $35 for the overpriced wrong valve, but I don't feel like driving all the way back there, so I drive the 65 miles back to the campground.  On the way back I get 2 phone calls, one from the same warehouse where I bought the part to confirm, yes they do have ONE in stock; and then I get a return call from the service center where we have had our coach worked on before, which I had called on Sat, to confirm they had the correct valve.  I told them I had already found and bought it, she asked me where I had gotten it, and when I told her she said super, that's where we would have gotten it!
A long story, but it feels good to get it out to relieve a bit of frustration.  We will go back to Lazy Days on our way north to get our $35 back.
So, one more time under the coach and we should be FINALLY good to go.

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