Day: December 15, 2008

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Don’t Forget About Starting Batteries in Cold Weather

My house batteries have been handling this cold snap without blinking (knocks on wood), but my coach battery went from 100% charge to 60% overnight. 60%, I discovered, isn’t enough to crank the engine. For the first time, I pulled out my trusty charger and used it to trickle charge (at 2A) the starting battery. This took less than 10 minutes. I’ll do this once a day until the cold snap passes. How nice it was to have the tool to do this! My neighbours have been boosting their trucks to get them going each day and I know this is not good for a battery.

The car started fine this morning and I have the option of trickle charging it, too, should I have an issue with it at some point.

The charger has a 100A ‘jump start’ mode for boosting using the charger rather than another vehicle, but I can’t use it for obvious reasons! In a pinch, I could use the 15A ‘fast charge’ mode, but trickle charging is definitely the better battery maintenance option.

There is so much to think about!

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Propane Usage

I filled my propane tank today (thankfully, the place in Oliver, two blocks away, was open!). Exactly 44 hours elapsed between the time when I plugged in the tank on Saturday and the time when I did so today. In that time, I used 20lbs of propane, or 2/3s of a tank. Based on that usage, I would have made it to tomorrow morning on my tank. I have been using an average of .5lbs of propane per hour, or 12lbs per 24 hours. I’ll fill up again Wednesday morning and do the math again. My power usage is also apparently through the roof, but what can I do? I feel like I’m trying to survive an ice age in a cardboard box!!!

At least, there is a wonderful bright sun out there and it’s making a significant difference in the comfort level in here.

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Happier News

A colleague’s husband came by and determined that the water was frozen not at the inlet, but right at the faucet! And this despite the fact that the faucet has heat tape on it and so does my hose! He applied a heat gun to the area for about two minutes and then I had water! Okay, I still don’t have water in the toilet room, but this is a vast improvement over my situation this morning and it’s good to know that, except for whatever is going on with the toilet hose, Miranda’s holding together.

The propane tank still feels quite heavy, but I’m not taking a chance. 🙂 Soon as the noon day sun has time to work its magic on the roads, I’m going to risk my life and go into Osoyoos to fill up on propane.

Sitting here last night, I wondered why I shouldn’t just get a second auxiliary tank and then I remembered why I debated getting a single one in the first place. It’s nice to have them when you’re parked… but where, praytell, would I store them when I hit the road again?! My vague plan is to just store the empty tank in the trunk of the car, but I doubt that’s a very good plan. :-S

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An Unpleasant Night

Boy, the manufacturer wasn’t kidding about minus ten being the magic number!

The bedroom was unbearably cold last night and woke me up at 3AM. Additional clothing and bedding weren’t sufficient to make me comfortable. I’m not sure what I can do to insulate the windows, what with all the condensation and moisture up there, so I think I will be sleeping in the study this week.

I had water for a few minutes at 3AM, and then none. This makes me suspect that the water intake, not the whole system, is frozen. I aimed a hair dryer at it for about ten minutes this morning, removing a very thick covering of ice. I hope that full sun will help it further thaw. I’ve asked for advice as to whether I should leave the water connection on or close it and am awaiting a response.

Two winters ago, I sat shivering in a metal box on wheels without water and swore I’d never go through that again. I’ve, yet again, failed to keep a promise to myself. I’m trying to decide if that failure is mitigated by due diligence in picking a suitable Canadian climate for passing the winter (even though said climate has betrayed me) and, well, being on the road.

At least, water and hot showers are just a hop, skip, and a jump across the compound. This sure beats driving into the city to use the gym showers, schleppiung to the village spring for drinking water, and melting snow for non-potable use!

I will get through this, but after surviving the Ice Storm and four winters in the mobile house I’ve earned the right to do so while stomping my feet and jumping up and down shrieking hysterically “IT’S NOT FAIR!” At least, inside my head. On the outside, I’m still trying appear graceful and full of humour. 🙂

Next year, I’m going south. Budget be damned.

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Thinking Outside the Question

I asked the Escapees forum tonight if there was some way for me to tap into the 50A outlet on my power pedestal so I could run my heater. The answer I got was that it was possible, dangerous, and expensive. The solution became more and more complicated until someone suggested that I get a heater with a lower amp draw.

Which made me pull out my manual, whereby I discovered that by using a lower setting, I can reduce both of the heaters’ draws from 12.5 to 7.5A!!! Talk about a DOH moment that had me both blushing and laughing. Even at a lower setting, I’m still getting more heat from the two of them than I would from just the big one on its own.

I continue to be humbled.