Baby, It's Cold Outside!
OK, the snow was fun for a while.
Now, it’s COLD. It was 3°F on Saturday morning, 6°F on Sunday and 7°F today.
My observations are:
- This is why people do not prefer to live in trailers year round.
- My water hose is frozen. That means we are using the water stored on board. The pump comes on as I run the water, and Big Easy’s (the trailer’s) furnace keeps it from freezing. It will run out by next Monday, I think. So I will take the spare hose, and fill up the on board tank again. That is a wet, cold operation because the RV camp’s valve to my trailer is broken, so I will have to hook up the new hose as the icy cold water is flowing. Alternatively, Lacy and I drink bottled water, so if I run out and I can’t refill the trailer, I will take showers at work, and I will cook on paper plates.
- Cans of diet Coke, stored in Big Ride, will freeze and explode when exposed to 3°F temperatures for 3 or more hours. About six of them did so last night. The inside of the truck is decorated with Coke Slush. Lacy has a big job ahead of her.
- Big Easy will burn a 40 pound tank of propane in about two weeks when the temperatures are above freezing. With these cold temperatures, we just went through one in four days. I listened to the furnace last night: on for three minutes, off for thirty seconds, on for three minutes… I am also running a big electric heater in the bedroom at night, but I unplug it when I go to work. Lacy seems fine in the cooler temperatures, and I will not risk a fire with her inside alone.
- Big Easy is covered in snow and icicles. It is very pretty.
posted by Greg Finnegan @ 11:19 AM
3 Comments:
At 7:04 PM,
kenju said…
I came back to see if your water ran out. How's it going?
At 11:30 AM,
Greg Finnegan said…
UPDATE
I got the park maintenance guy to fix the pump and to replace the broken valve on the water pipe. He had to cut my old hose off. Then, I heat taped the new valve and the exposed pipe, wrapped that in insulation, and attached my temporary hose. It took 20 minutes to fill the trailer's water tank - it was almost empty - and then I took off the hose, and put it inside in the shower to drain. Filling the tank was a cold, wet job as I stood on ice! I checked the heat tape at midnight (8 degrees F outside) and at dawn, and it was still working. I opened the valve this morning and got water from the pump, so we aren't frozen yet.
I didn't add any chlorine to the tank this time, since I had added so much last time. This morning, the new water still smelled like a swimming pool, so I'll cut the dosage from last time to 1/2 or less.
I'm glad I had a couple of spare water hoses. They are hard to find in the stores this time of year! I can probably get one at Camping World - just the place for fifth wheel junkies like me!
Finally, I left the electric heater on low this morning when I left for work. There has been no problem before; it's low and long, like a baseboard heater but freestanding; and it has a tip over cutoff switch. I'm reluctant to leave it on with just Lacy at home, but I am more reluctant to have the propane run out when I'm not there and the temperatures are plummeting, as they are forecast to do today. This is when I rely on St. Francis!
Lacy also got a new double-braided red nylon rope for her walks yesterday - 35' long! She likes it - she carried a loop of it in her mouth during our whole walk this morning!
At 3:35 PM,
Greg Finnegan said…
12/08/06 Update,
The waste water drain hose to the sewer is frozen solid.
Yuch! 99% of it is just waste water (sinks and shower).
The temperature is finally slated to rise to the 40's tomorrow and Sunday, but the hose is 4" diameter so it won't melt quickly. I plan to run a new pipe in parallel, dump both tanks, take off the new pipe and put the frozen one back in place, to melt into the septic tank.
In the winter, don't leave the grey water tank open to the sewer.
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