Dear RV Shrink:
Thank you for the reminder that we should have our alarms tested periodically. After reading your column we tested all of ours and had problems with two of them.
Two months later we were glad we did the testing. It wasn’t something normal like a failed gas fitting. Our stove top burner “went on the fritz” just as we went to bed one night. I smelled gas before the alarm sounded. I jumped out of bed and started investigating just as the buzzer went berserk. In the kitchen I could hear the gas hissing from the stove. I knew exactly what happened immediately. The stove didn’t go on the fritz, Fritz went on the stove.
Yes, our cat, Fritz, got a wild hair up his hind end and was running around the motorhome. He does that on occasion. His gets that wild look in his eyes and runs from end to end of the motorhome as if he is chasing something, or something is chasing him. From what I can figure, he ran across the couch, jumped up on the stove, and as he dove from the stove top his back leg must have pushed in on the knob and twisted it at the same time.
A freak accident for sure, but one that could have been a cat-astrophe had we not smelled the gas or the alarm was not functioning. —Thank you in Zion
Dear Zion:
Glad to hear a happy ending to what could have been a totally different ending to this story.
Yes, it is often the unexpected that can cause serious problems. You can’t prepare for every situation, but having working sensor alarms are your first line of defense. Everyone should check these devices on a regular basis.
You might want to cover your knobs or block Fritz’s path to the stove in case he decides to make a habit out of stove Free BASE jumping. —Keep Smilin’, RV Shrink
The RV Shrink is not really a psychologist (or professional RV technician). But he does know a lot.
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