Trailer Repair Day

Robert, Friday, July 11

Today was the day to get the water pump and hot water heater fixed. To do this we had to haul the trailer to Anchorage. We made it to the repair place before 9:00 a.m. and soon they were working on the trailer. We had to go to an RV supply store and buy the water pump as they didn’t have the right one at the repair place. By early afternoon they announced they were finished. I went to check on their work and discovered that the hot water heater still didn’t work. The problem was that it wouldn’t heat on propane. It would light one time and then not light for three or four times in a row. One of the service managers came to see and agreed that it wasn’t working right. The heater, like almost anything these days, has a circuit board that controls what it does. They decided that the circuit board needed to be replaced but they didn’t have a board in stock. They called around, found a board, and informed me that the board would cost $160. The reason we were at this repair place is that it is one of three factory authorized repair facilities for the water heater in all of Alaska. When I reminded them that the water heater was under warranty and the repair cost to me was zero, they quickly got frowns on their faces. It turns out that they normally get their repair parts from the factory at a greatly reduced price. When it is warranty work, they return the defective part to the factory and it doesn’t cost them anything. This part was at some other place in Anchorage where they had to buy it at retail price. I was ready to call the factory if they didn’t get the part and repair the water heater but they did the right thing and another hour or so they got the new board installed and we were on our way home. We had planned on pot roast for dinner but we didn’t get back to our campground until after 5:00 p.m. so it was too late. We had chicken and some left over pasta and I headed for bed.