Thursday, July 5, 2012

New Fridge & Other Repairs


Rockwall, Texas
Weather Condition; High 99, Low 75, Sunny

We spent 15 days at Beavers Bend State Park at Broken Bow, OK. It was a 176 mile drive for us. We attended the annual BBRT (Beavers Bend Reunion Tour). Every year this group gets together for two weeks at Beavers Bend SP. This is our second year to join the group.

These ladies are from all different areas such as; Oklahoma City, McKinney, TX and Pride, Louisiana. We have a few that were unable to make this year’s trip and we sure do miss them. They are from the San Antonio, TX area.

Everyone arrived safely Sunday. However, there were a few incidents that took place. Ginny & Dena backed up with their rear steps down and bent the steps bad enough that it wouldn’t fold up. I was dumping our black tank before we left Rockwall and the valve cable broke as I was closing it. Now our kitchen and sewer valve cables are broken.  A friend loaned us their Flush King to use as a control valve while we were at the park. 

The weather was hot but bearable. One of the great things about that park is all the wonderful tall shade trees and the cool water in the river.

We had a great time. We arrived back in Rockwall on Monday.

First item on the agenda, find a new refrigerator. We also have to buy an external waste valve. Then I have to crawl under the fiver and open all the valves.

We spent an afternoon looking for a residential apartment size refrigerator. We really wanted the Whirlpool 9.6 cubic foot but the Magic Chef 9.6 was a little cheaper at Home Depot. They come in white and we really wanted black or stainless. Whirlpool come in black but not Magic Chef.  We looked on-line and in stores for a good price. Everywhere we looked we found the prices were pretty much the same ($329.99 to $359.00).

We did get the waste valve for $27.00 and I also bought a water heater tank flushing wand for $2.00! So the day was NOT a total waste!

After much thought, Dawn and I decided we would have to bite the bullet and buy the Whirlpool in white and either paint it black or find something we could live with.

On the way to Home Depot we decided to stop off at Best Buy and see if they had anything on sale. We did well at Best Buy. It just so happens they had a Whirl Pool 9.6. They only had one, the floor model. It had a big red tag on it that stated $239.99. It is white but we can live with it for now at that price!

We bought it with a two year service plan for less than $300.00!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited. We now have a refrigerator again.

We called friends to come by and pick up the fridge for us.  Next we have to remove the RV fridge and trim the cabinet opening enough to accommodate our new fridge.

I spent the first part of the fourth with our friend Mike under the fiver removing the under belly so that we could pull open all the valves. We rolled around under the fiver for a couple of hours but we got that task done.

Now we will use our one external valve to empty our tanks. We chose this route because of the problems we have encountered with our valves and the horror stories we have heard from others.

The second part of the day was spent removing the old fridge and trimming the cabinet opening with a jig saw. All I needed was a half inch. I had to trim down both sides of the cabinet opening in order to get that half inch.  I took my time and it looks pretty good. The next several hours were spent cleaning up all the saw dust that was everywhere! I do mean everywhere!

 Before dinner Mike and his sons helped me install the new fridge. It barely slipped into the cabinet opening. But it did fit and now life is good!


I installed a couple of straps to make sure the fridge doors don’t come open while we are traveling. I will be adding a bracket at the rear of the fridge to keep it in place.
I also had to trim up some of the black plastic trim that was around the old fridge to close up a large opening under the new fridge.


WOW! I’m tired now.