The Dainty Dessert

May 1, 2025

The last time we were through western New York, we saw a tourist brochure for Jello. What? To our surprise, we learned that Jello was first manufactured in LeRoy, NY, just south of Rochester.  Jello continued to be manufactured in LeRoy until 1964 when it was moved to Dover, DE. We didn't make it to the Jello Gallery on that first trip, but a seed was planted.

We thought we were going to end up missing the gallery on this trip. The Gallery opens the first Thursday in May, the same day as our travel day out of the area. We decided to make Jello our driving stretch break. The gallery mainly consists of Jello advertising history and Jello molds. We took around an hour to meander through, smile, and remember eating a lot of Jello as kids. 

The first four flavors were strawberry, raspberry, lemon, and orange. There are quite a few more flavors now. What's your favorite flavor?

I'd try that!

Where Are We Going Next?  

5-Way Ball Valve

The potable water that comes into our coach goes through a sediment filter and then to a 5-Way Ball Valve. Newmar only used three of the outputs. In this previous post Cool, Clear Water I talked about how I replaced that valve with one that has all outputs active so I could add a Reverse Osmosis system to our coach while still having the functionality that Newmar intended.

  We have noticed some issues with our fresh water system and troubleshooting brought me to the point of replacing the now three-year-old valve.

Old vs bright an shiny

 
After replacing it, I decided to deconstruct it to see what the issue was. Boy was it difficult to unscrew the end pieces from the body!!!! I didn't notice any thread locker on the threads so they must be negative clearance.

KABOOM, all disassembled

I determined that the ball had corroded. When I rotated it through its positions, the corrosion cut at least two of the white plastic (I assume Teflon) seats.  Regrettably the valve manufacturer does not sell rebuild kits siting tight tolerances.

Note the tears in the seat material and corrosion on the ball, UGH!

Where Are We Going Next?