September 12, 2025
51 degrees at 6:00, high of 64
We are moving to Finland Campground today, so we went to Zup’s Food Market in Silver Bay. A lady with a very good voice was singing briefly as we shopped fruits and vegetables. Then a young man sang as he stocked the shelves. He nodded and smiled as we passed. they had a very good supply of sausages and brats, and Martha bought some. We didn’t need a lot, but this is a good store.
I was taking a picture outside the grocery and nodded to a man approaching the store. He said good morning, then asked if I was from Canada. “No, but we are doing the Circle Tour around Lake Superior.” “Oh, and you are from Wisconsin?” I tied it together now. I was wearing a Wawa, Ontario sweatshirt and standing in front of a car with a Wisconsin license tag.
Next we checked out the dump station, since none of the campgrounds have one. We drove up a big hill, saw the dump station and a sign pointing to a scenic overlook. We drove to the top of the hill, then walked a trail to the overlook, which probably was good when it isn’t socked in with fog. There has been nothing but fog since we arrived in Minnesota two days ago.
Some may be wondering why we would checkout a dump station. When you leave a campground, you want to get on the road. You don’t want to drive around town looking for a dump station while pulling a trailer. You might get stuck in a place where you can’t turn around.
Martha put groceries away while I hooked up. We pulled out a little after checkout time at 11:30. It’s only a 16-minute drive to Finland. What we have found here and in Thunder Bay is there is a large contingent of Finnish people comfortable in this climate.
Finland is a cute little town with a general store and two restaurants, one called “Our Place.” Just past town we crossed Baptism River and turned right to enter the campground. We were happy to see our chairs still there. We backed in carefully, as there were big rocks on one side and a tree on the other.
It started raining, so I sent Martha inside while I set up. It was one of those chilling rains. As we ate lunch, Martha wrapped up in her red blanket, and I knew I needed to fix that furnace.
I got my tools, put down my life preserver so I could kneel on it, and opened the furnace door. I turned it off and asked Martha to turn it on inside. That way I could test it from outside when I was done.
I had tried to buy a new sail switch at Julie’s True Value, but the nice young man working the register asked, “a what?” He asked another worker, then went in the back and said, “Julie doesn’t know what that is.”
It’s a $12 part on Amazon. In all my searching, and thank God we had cell service, I could not find the bracket or cover. A new furnace costs about $1100 and probably another $500 in labor to install it. But you can buy all the parts for very little. I was getting very familiar with this furnace, but I might have to have it replaced in Duluth.
“The primary purpose of a sail switch in an Atwood gas furnace is a safety device that prevents ignition without adequate airflow. It acts as a sensor, with a small rectangular “sail” that is moved by the furnace’s fan. This movement closes the switch, completing the circuit and signaling to the furnace’s control board that there is enough air to safely ignite the propane.”
from Google AI
It was drizzling rain, but the short awning kept me reasonably dry. I opened the door, unplugged all the wires and removed the circuit board, setting it on a piece of paper under the trailer. I saw water dripping on it, so I pushed it further under.
Now to remove the Velcro tape, but only on the cover, not the bracket in the back. I cut it about half way up the cover and worked hard to pull the bottom pieces loose, plus one more I put on the upper right side. Once free, I put wet newspaper over the tape that I won’t need to stick any more, as I will use the fuzzy Velcro to cinch it back up.
It was a struggle getting the cover out, and it’s a miracle I didn’t break it, or break the delicate sail switch inside it. I had to flex this semicircular cover to get it out of the cabinet, and I mean flex it a lot. Checking it, I was surprised I hadn’t cracked or broken it.
The sail switch looked fine to me, but I wiped it with a Clorox Wipe and pulled it away from the cover a little. Then I carefully disconnected the wires, afraid I would break the connections. They looked clean, but I ran a wire brush over them, put dielectric grease on them and replaced the wires. It seemed like a good idea, so I applied the grease to all the connections.
The only other thing I could see was the blower wheel was dusty, so I cleaned between all the slats. There are a lot of them, so this took 30 minutes or so.
Bending the cover to get it back in place, I kept pulling the Velcro tape so it wouldn’t bunch up under the cover. Thankfully, the wet newspaper did its job. Thankfully, the cover didn’t break as I pried it under the case with a screwdriver.
Finally back in, I placed Velcro across the two ends to pull the cover tight – or as tight as I could. I had to refer to my beginning photograph to make sure I reattached the wires correctly. I held my breath as I turned it on. For 20 seconds the furnace blows air to test the flow, but then it fired up. Then it takes a minute or so to warm the air. It got hot, so I was very happy, and so was Martha Jean, but we have been this far before. We will have to see if it fires up on its own tonight.
