Saturday, October 25, 2014

Home, Storage, Fire Update

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Made it home safely yesterday, spent much of the time unloading and unloading and unloading.  The street right in front of the condo entrance is having major repairs performed on it.  We decided to put the motorhome into the RV park nearby for a night, and unload into the HHR and then unload the HHR into the condo….yep, that was fun.  This morning (Saturday), with less traffic in the area, I did get the motorhome to the front of our condo and unloaded the rest of it directly into the condo….much better. But at 11:30 we had an appointment to meet Jim at the RV Storage lot, so I still have a small amount, perhaps two or three boxes worth, of stuff to unload next week....along with lots of cleaning.

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Last winter our motorhome was right where the arrow was…..that was seven months ago, then there was the fire which took out some 35 motorhomes and some boats and some cars, including ours.  Well, he has it rebuilt now, but we are not in the covered area, we are out back.  Jim said that they are 99% sure that a Norcold refrigerator caused the fire.  We were in C1, the other side of this building is the “B” section, and the fire started around B5 or B6…but with the windy conditions, it took them all out.  Jim said that surprisingly ATF was able to pull that refrigerator out, and they are going to perform tests on it which “can” show that it was the refrigerator that started it all.  If so, Norcold is going to be sued again, and will probably settle for $5 or $6 million dollars to reimburse the insurance companies and Jim.

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In this google map you can see the storage area better.  The red arrow shows the building which burned down.  The black arrow is the outside storage which we are using this year for 5-6 months.  The “red arrow” building has been rebuilt, and will be ready for use in a week or two.  New rule…all refrigerators MUST be turned off.   Jim said that they are more dangerous on “electric” than on gas, but his attorney suggested that he just have them all to off.  Except there is an area at the end of the open area where one can park the night before you leave and turn everything on.  Not a bad idea.

Last year when I first met Jim I told Marcia that I was highly impressed by the guy….just seemed to be a fine family man, told me how he had just come from kids soccer practice where he helps coach the team.  We paid for 4 months upfront last year.  While talking today he says, “wait a minute, you paid cash upfront last year, right?”  “Yes,”  I said.  He gets out his little handheld device and says, “I owe you $300.”   “But my RV was still right there, you don’t owe me anything.”   “No, I stopped charging people the day of the fire,” he said.  Wow, I thought, our RV was still sitting there in his parking area, it might have been a melted pile of waste, but it was still my waste until the insurance company paid me for it.  So now we don’t have to pay anything until February 1st.  Wish there were more honest men like Jim around….

8 comments:

  1. Glad you made it home safely. I can't imagine unloading the RV. Loading it up once to go fulltiming was enough for me forever.

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    1. Since this was our first outing with it, and with plans to go to Alaska next year, felt that we wanted to nearly everything out it, and repack with hopefully "less stuff" and in a more organized way after a few more adjustments. For instance, we have a pantry with a pull-out rack. If we remove that rack and put in shelves, the pantry will hold twice as much, if not more, stuff than it currently does.

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  2. HI Dave and Marica:
    Welcome home! What a great person to do business with, is Jim. I, too, wish there were more like him.
    I'm a big proponent of shelves as opposed to wardrobes and movable racks, etc. In my little Fleetwood Flair, I actually have three wardrobe closets. I've reconfigured two of them into shelving units and can store oh so much more. Also, in the one remaining wardrobe closet, I built a shelf about 6 inches above the carpeted bottom for storing shoes and hats without getting them crunched.
    I've just gone through all my cupboards and closets this past week to ferret out clothes and 'stuff' I don't use or need. I'm going to be storing the RV at my son's house in Cottonwood and don't want to return next year to find all the stuff I don't use!
    Glad you made it home safely - there's plenty of time to unpack; don't make yourselves crazy with getting it all done immediately, friends!

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    1. We stopped working around 1:00 pm today, and will take Sunday off. Then I will get some work done over at the motorhome during morning hours when it is still cool.

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  3. That is one mighty fine business man. Sounds like Norcold may be in deep trouble.

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    1. He said, and my research showed he is pretty accurate, that Norcold has settled many a lawsuit, yet they still are making refrigerators which burn up motorhomes, and sometimes kill people in the process. Our last one had a Norcold, but this one has a Dometic which seems to be safer due to a change in design a number of years ago. Our model is suppose to be "OK". Makes you wonder if a house fridge might be worth looking into.

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  4. I've never put my RV in storage, but I would have thought it would be required that the fridge is off. Jim sounds like a great guy. I hope he was well insured.

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  5. Down here in Florida we worry about mold due to high humidity....even if the fridge is clean, over time it will mold, but if it is "on", then it is cold enough to control the mold as long as it is clean. So many people like to keep it on.

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