After pulling the coach forward we noticed a small, concentrated puddle on the garage floor, maybe four inches across, directly below the AquaHot. The shape suggested a very slow drip. The fluid was clean and the proper color. Being a 2000 model still running the original AH with 50:50 ELC coolant (changed about a year ago), the fluid color looked correct. We hadn’t seen any prior signs of a leak, and we always check the garage floor after pulling the coach out.
The original step-well light was a halogen bulb and fixture with a fresnel lens in front. It worked, but it was never particularly bright, the kind of light that technically illuminates the steps without really lighting them up.
After finishing the foam work around the entry steps, the next item on the list was the pair of Norgren solenoid valves. Our coach has two: the closer one controls the step well cover, and the farther one operates the entry dropdown step.
The acoustic foam lining the outside of our entry step well had reached the end of its life. Just touching it caused it to disintegrate. Time to replace it.
A while back I posted a photo showing the sound deadening foam inside the generator compartment had completely failed and fallen onto the engine. At the time I pulled most of it out, leaving a few hard-to-reach pieces behind. The old foam was seriously deteriorated, what a mess.
Water leaks can be a major problem, especially in spaces like the utility bay or manabloc bay where they might go unnoticed for some time. To catch potential issues early, I added leak detection using Shelly Plus Flood sensors (Gen 3).
One challenge with running Home Assistant in an RV is that it assumes your “house” never moves. That works great for sticks and bricks, but when your RV relocates, your city, state, and even timezone can change regularly. Manually updating that information gets old fast.
For the switched, non-dimmable lights throughout the coach, I’ve been using the Shelly Switch Gen3. These are dry-contact switches, meaning the relay contacts don’t supply any voltage or current of their own. They simply open or close a circuit and are powered by an external source.
