British Columbia

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Midnight Visitor

Ken and Donna’s family emergency had them requesting dog sitting services from me. So, I have added a sweet tiny miniature poodle to my menagerie for the next week or so. The cats and him do not seem to be too bothered by this unexpected family merger. He and I have had time to bond in the past weeks and he takes kindly to me, which will definitely help with the adjustment.

Soon as Donna left, Midnight wandered the rig a bit looking lost. I sat down at the computer and he requested lap time, which I am gladly giving him. It’s going to be quite the exercise, making sure everyone has equal quality time with me this week!

Tabitha has found Midnight’s ball and is having a blast with it. I suppose that is fair since he got her mom’s lap for the evening! 😀

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No Furnace!

While I was waiting for the repair place to get back to me, I went to the office to check for mail and asked there if they had any other recommendations for service techs. They had one, so I gave the guy a call and he said he’d be over in half an hour to make a diagnosis!

He arrived as promised, I turned on the furnace, and the confirmed that I need a new motor. His rate was at least $100 less than what the other place ended up quoting me, so it was a no brainer to let him pull the motor right then and there. While he was doing that, Ken and Donna came by with offers of heaters. *hugs you guys!*

The repair will depend on the availability of the motor and could be tomorrow mid-afternoon or Wednesday. I’ll be okay for heat, even if I won’t be super comfortable. The worst will be getting up in the morning.

I should have seen this failure coming, but I’d read that RV furnaces are supposed to be noisy, so I needed the rattling to tell me that something was amiss. I’m definitely not kicking myself over this; I’m just grateful that I can get this fixed, and so easily to boot!

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Repairing Excalibur

The warming trend was just a tease. *sighs*

And even bigger *sighs*, my furnace has conked out. Seems like a motor issue and the best thing is to replace it. I contacted a nearby RV place that does service calls and am waiting for them to get back to me about the price of the part and their availability. I’m already standing at $45 for the service call, plus $90 an hour, plus 12% HST. This is not a job I will comfortable doing myself since it could involve touching the propane system. I have been told that lubing the bearings on the fan could work as a stopgap measure, but with a twelve year old unit I feel I’m better repairing than coaxing along. What happens is that after the furnace has been running for a while it starts to groan and then makes the rig shake.

Until I get this fixed, it’s going to be chilly in here! I moved the good heater into the study and that’s working miracles, but I’m not looking forward to the chill in here in the morning. That said, the furnace runs fine for a cycle or two before symptoms manifest, so I’m sure I can get the rig warm when I need it. Worst case scenario is I’ll blow the motor, and I’m already resigned to replacing it.

I set up the dehumidifier, but it has yet to do any heating. 🙁 One thing I was not aware of is that some dehumidifiers stop working if the ambient temperature is less than 17 Celsius! I discovered this while reading the manual on my unit when it said, in essence, that the base model will not dehumidify below 17C and the mid-range and luxury models are good to plus 3. I was irked until I realised that I have the mid-range model! How funny is it that the only decent quality dehumidifier I could find is perfect for my rig?

I have a tip for new RV owners: go through your manuals and highlight the sections that are relevant to your appliances. I felt pretty smart when I called the RV place with my manual in hand only to realise that it’s a manual that’s good for five models and I had no idea what mine was! Thankfully, I remembered that there’s an information sheet on the inside of the door of the undersink cabinet in the kitchen, and that gave me the necessary model number, which then enabled me to find the correct part numbers. FYI, I have an Atwood Excalibur 8500-III 8531 hydro flame furnace.

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Thaw!

Canadian humour (with all due credit to the author, whomever s/he may be)

Today’s weather was a real reprieve and we’re currently sitting at plus 2!!! I was able to thaw my water hose and restart my plumbing. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. I just had such a long shower that I squeak!

It’s going to get cold again tonight, so I’ll have to shut off the water again, but we’re looking at a week of hitting 0 or warmer every day, so I don’t have to worry about my holding tanks.

I was surprised to learn this week that propane at the RV park is MUCH cheaper than town; $20 for 30lbs vs $27! And they are willing to add the cost to my monthly bill, so I can pay everything at once. Daytime propane usage is going down, thankfully, but I maintain the thermostat at 15 at night and it still gets cold enough for several cycles a night. I don’t think it makes any sense to let the temps go lower than that since it’d be more of an effort to get the rig warm in the morning.

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Good Deals

Today’s project was to come home with a dehumidifier. I’d done my online research as to what was available to me and Canadian Tire had the best prices, with two brands, Lancanster and Whirlpool. My experience with Lancaster heaters is that the brand is crap, so Whirlpool it was. Store availability in Penticton was nil for Whirlpool, while Kelowna had a few available. I really didn’t relish the four hour round trip drive, but I’m not going to get any further in the renos without reducing the dampness in here.

The Penticton Canadian Tire is right on the route to Kelowna, so I decided to stop in there first, just in case the online inventory was wrong. Well, they had a unit set aside for pick up by store closure yesterday and only just put back on the shelf!

Whirlpool 35 pint dehumidifier

I couldn’t believe my good fortune! While in the store, I also got some tinted window film for the loft. There was a sale going on and the store was swamped, but I had no problem getting customer service the three times I needed it today. I thought I’d crossed over into the Twilight zone. Seems like there are some Canadian Tires with decent service.

The dehumidifier is going to kill the proverbial two birds. My mini conduction heater, Lancaster brand, has died. A dehumidifier also gives off heat, so what I will do is move the big, good quality, heater to the study and use the dehumidifier to heat the front of the rig. As an added bonus, the dehumidifier draws a maximum of 500W, meaning my amp usage will drop from 6.25 to 4. Every amp counts!

The next thing on my list was a new computer chair. I tried out all the chairs at Staples last time I was in Penticton, fell in love with one that was on sale, and made the mistake of thinking I could order it online to have it delivered. Turns out, it’s a discontinued model not available on line. I went back and the chair was still there, but at full price this time, $239, vs. the $169 it was at last time. So, I went through all the chairs in my price range again, but couldn’t find one I liked. I was narrowing down the choices when an associate finally came over to check on me and I explained what I was looking for. She took me directly to the chair I liked! I shook my head at the price and she said “We’ve only got two left and we want them gone. How about $98, plus tax, assembled?”

NO WAY!!!

Ahem. I told her “Sold!” and happily wheeled the chair down to the car where I had fun squeezing it into the front seat.

I ran a few more errands and then headed home, absolutely exhausted. The holiday shopping season has commenced, so I will be staying out of stores until early 2011!