Drew Callahan · April 2, 2026
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
Drew Callahan · April 2, 2026
Skip this repair and you’re looking at no heat when the temperature drops—and on a Jayco Redhawk, a furnace that won’t ignite means you’re either abandoning the rig mid-trip or paying a dealer $400-plus for a diagnosis that should take you ninety minutes and a fifty-dollar part swap. The stakes climb fast once winter weather … Read more
Drew Callahan · April 1, 2026
I’ve got the burned-out igniter sitting here on my bench right now — the ceramic probe is chalky white where it should be glossy, and the wire where it enters the housing shows that telltale discoloration you see when an electrode has been arcing at the edge of its operational window for weeks. That discoloration … Read more
Drew Callahan · April 1, 2026
“Drew, I’ve got a Thor Four Winds that won’t light. It’s clicking, then nothing. Is it the igniter or did I fry the board?” I get that question more often than you’d think, usually from someone parked somewhere cold and running out of patience. The answer almost always starts with the igniter — it’s the … Read more
Drew Callahan · April 1, 2026
I’m standing in front of a Thor Four Winds right now with the access panel off the rooftop AC unit, compressor humming like it’s working hard but the fan blades aren’t moving at all. Hand on the housing—it’s hot enough that I’m not leaving my palm there long. This is the moment where most owners … Read more
Drew Callahan · March 31, 2026
A Winnebago Minnie Winnie furnace igniter runs you about $30 to $40 if you source it yourself, but a service center will quote you $180 to $220 just for the part, before labor. That gap — the difference between a half-hour DIY fix and a $400+ mobile service call on a freezing night — is … Read more
Drew Callahan · March 31, 2026
Most Winnebago Minnie Winnie owners don’t realize their rooftop AC unit’s real enemy isn’t heat—it’s what happens when the run capacitor fails silently and nobody catches it until the compressor is already damaged. I’ve watched people ignore the warning signs (that hum before the breaker trips, cooling that fades to room-temperature air) because they assume … Read more
Drew Callahan · March 30, 2026
Your Newmar Bay Star’s rooftop AC quits pushing cold air mid-July, and you’re already asking yourself: is this a capacitor, a motor, or am I looking at a five-figure compressor replacement? The answer, in most cases, is simpler than that — and it’s something you can fix yourself if you know what you’re looking at. … Read more
Drew Callahan · March 30, 2026
The holiday-weekend phone calls follow a predictable script: background noise of kids playing, a parent’s voice tight with worry, and me asking the same opening question every single time—how long has this been happening? The honest answer is never “since this morning.” With a Newmar Bay Star furnace, the warning signs usually stretch back weeks: … Read more
Drew Callahan · March 29, 2026
You’ll hear two very different stories about furnace work on a Tiffin Open Road Allegro. Walk into a dealer service bay, and they’ll tell you that igniter and control board failures need to be diagnosed by factory-trained techs, that the labor alone will run into the hundreds, and that you’re better off just letting them … Read more
