This past week the connection where the city water hose line feeds into our RV broke. Water was gushing out the end of the hose and I shut off the water, examined the issue and figured it would be a fairly simple repair since a standard water hose is connected to a fitting built into the side of the RV.
I was mistaken; the connection necked down to fit the
half inch diameter hose fitting on the other side of the flange. I couldn’t simply hook the water hose up
without the specialty connector which contained a pressure valve.
It was late in the afternoon on Friday, I had to scramble
over to the hardware store before they closed at 5:00pm, only to find they
couldn’t help.
Not being a regular fix it yourself type guy, I found
out you can’t visit the local hardware store, walk over to their plumbing
section and purchase an RV replacement part.
The term ‘proprietary’ was used by the owner of the hardware store as she
explained the folks who sell RV replacement products won’t sell those parts to
hardware stores in order to force folks to purchase these ‘specialty parts’
from the RV outlets.
I understand the use of proprietary marketing, don’t
like that it’s done; but that’s how the free-market system works. It’s the same reason you don’t go to the Chevy
dealership to buy a replacement part for your Honda. You might find an aftermarket replacement
part at Auto Zone; but then it might not be an exact fit, so you end up having
to go to Honda anyway.
The next morning we’d planned on going into Houston anyway
and would pass by the RV dealership where we’d purchased our 2022 Keystone Bullet. Perhaps, we thought, since the RV was less
than a year old the broken part might be covered by warranty. The folks at the parts department explained
that they weren’t the ones to ask, that we’d have to take that up with
management.
I should mention that I’d called their parts
department on Friday to see if they had such a part in stock. The fellow put me on hold for a few minutes
as he checked and then said, “Yes, we have them in stock and, depending on
which one you need, it will cost between $25 and $30”.
However, on Saturday morning the fellow who greeted me
showed that they only had one RV City Water Fill connector and it was going to
cost me roughly $54. He went to look for
others that would be in the back stockroom but explained that the one on
display was the only one in stock. I
gritted my teeth, reached into my wallet, and paid cash.
I knew I could get the same product on the internet
for less than $20 plus shipping and handling; but since we had family in town
for the weekend using the RV, we didn’t want to wait a few days for a replacement
part to be delivered.
The replacement job took only a few minutes. The part
needed was the black plastic half inch diameter pressure valve connector which
was held in place by two flexible tabs to the chrome ring. Apparently, many RV units used a separate single
flange cover for the city water input whereas the newer RV units now have all
these water connections under one elongated oval flange held in place with 8 or
10 screws.
With a pair of plyers, the two plastic retaining
prongs were depressed freeing the connector from the chrome flange. That connector was then pushed through the
elongated oval flange plate and the hose on the RV side screwed on exactly as
it was designed. The standard water hose
from our faucet was then connected to the brass pressure reducer piece and the
job was done.
Thinking back to Saturday morning’s adventure, the fellow working at the Holiday World of Willis knew I had to have the part and never flinched as he handed me the receipt. I checked the mirror in my car as I drove out of their parking lot; no, didn’t see any blood dripping from my nose either.
Fifty-Four Dollars for a part that probably cost less than two dollars to make. Yes, that’s what most folks would consider price gouging.
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