Drew Callahan

A $400 service call to replace a run capacitor on your Entegra Esteem’s rooftop AC unit is what most RV owners end up paying when they finally break down and call a mobile tech. What makes that number sting isn’t just the labor—it’s that the part itself costs twelve bucks, the job takes twenty-five minutes … Read more

Most RV owners treat their furnace igniter like a set-it-and-forget-it component—right up until the moment they actually need heat and nothing happens. The reality on an Entegra Esteem is harsher: the igniter fails quietly, the control board stops responding predictably, and you’re left in the dark (literally) trying to figure out which one killed your … Read more

Your AC fan is running but nothing’s getting cold, or maybe it won’t spin at all — so where exactly do you start diagnosing a Tiffin Wayfarer? The answer, nine times out of ten on this model, points to one of two culprits: either the run capacitor has failed silently or the fan motor is … Read more

I was three weeks into November somewhere near the Utah border when the Wayfarer’s furnace just stopped cooperating. Nights were dropping into the low 30s, and I’d wake up to that telltale clicking — the igniter trying to spark but nothing catching. Before I wasted a service call or started second-guessing myself with dealer parts, … Read more

Walk into any Jayco dealer service department and they’ll tell you a failed AC capacitor means you need a new fan motor—$600 to $800 installed, weeks on the waiting list. Then you hit the RV forums and half the posts say “just swap the capacitor, the motor’s probably fine.” One of those voices is steering … Read more

The Leisure Travel Vans Unity runs a Dometic rooftop AC unit that has a particular weak spot: the run capacitor sits exposed to intense UV and heat cycling, and when it fails—swelling, cracking, or losing its charge—the whole cooling system locks up. You’ll hear the compressor hum, the fan blades won’t move, and if you’re … Read more

Your Leisure Travel Vans Unity owner’s manual won’t spend much time on this one: when the furnace quits lighting mid-season, the dealer service write-up usually just says “replace igniter or control board” without explaining what actually fails, why it fails, or whether you can reasonably handle it yourself. The truth is, propane appliances sit in … Read more

It started with a dry click—that rapid-fire ticking sound when I turned the thermostat up to heat, the kind of noise that means the control board is trying hard but the spark won’t catch. On a Jayco Greyhawk, especially when you’re parked somewhere cold and your furnace is the only thing between you and waking … Read more

Most RV owners assume their air conditioning system will fail catastrophically—one day it works fine, the next day it doesn’t work at all. That’s almost never how it actually happens. Instead, a Jayco Redhawk’s AC deteriorates so gradually that you rationalize each small degradation: the fan takes a couple extra seconds to spool up, the … Read more

I’ve got my work bench set up in bay three of my usual spot, and sitting right there is a Thor Chateau capacitor—cracked housing, one terminal corroded clean through. Owner called me in late June saying the AC wouldn’t start, just clicked. By the time I dug into the rooftop shroud, the damage was obvious: … Read more