Author: Steve

We don’t leave all the utilities hooked up all the time. The electricity
stays hooked up. This range of weather does not affect it. The dump hose
can only stay hooked up if it can be configured at a constant slope between
the rig and the hole in the ground. If there are dips and turns that could
freeze solid, can’t do it. The hose would burst. We have the constant
slope configuration here, so the dump hose for gray water stays. The fresh
water hose is different. Cold like this would freeze it solid any time
water is not flowing. Last year, we had a sub-zero hose made. It is a small diameter hose,
wrapped in heat tape, surrounded by layers of insulation. The park spigot
outside is wrapped in heat tape and plugged in. The sub-zero hose to the
rig is plugged in to the motorhome. The flow isn’t high, but water flows
all winter. We had one made last year. It worked, but it was stiff and
hard to work with. It was bulky to store, and allowed us to stay in
conditions we don’t really want to be in anyway. This year we gave it away
to a young couple just setting up to spend the winter here. We mean to stay
farther south during weather like this. This year, we put fresh water in the tank, then disconnect and drain the
hose. Plenty of water to run off the tank and top it off once a day. That
works fine, and the daily task will be our reminder to move to warmer
weather. Most motorhomes run off propane forced air furnaces. Ours, running off a
diesel burner, is different. It heats the house and the hot water all at
once. The advantage is that we don’t have to move the motorhome to go get
the propane tank refilled once or twice a week during cold weather. The
offset is that this system can heat either the hot water, or the furnace,
but not both at the same time. So when it’s cold and the furnaces are
running, and you take a shower, the system shifts all its energy to
providing hot water to the shower and the furnaces stop blowing until you
finish. In really cold weather like this, we find a portable electric
heater in the bathroom takes care of that.
I was roaming through the house to make sure all the heat was working
properly and discovered the heater vent in the bedroom wasn’t putting out
any heat. I lifted up the bedspread to discover there was a cat lying in
front of it, sucking up every bit of heat that blew out.

_____________________________________________
From: Steve Taylor [mailto:spt@thetaylorcompany.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 10:08 PM
To: Bill Taylor (E-mail); David Taylor (E-mail); Tom Taylor (E-mail)
Subject: winter Annie loves the cold and snow. She dashes outside, puts her face in the
snow, then runs as fast as she can, a furry snowplow, snorting. She jumps
to catch any snowball tossed, then stops cold, so to speak, when she
suddenly discovers that her feet hurt and she can’t go on. Until the next
time out.

So far so good. Ice-cold outside. Forty-five degrees in the basement.
Toasty seventy-two degrees inside. Revised forecast: seven below tonight. I guess we want to know if we stay
warm and the pipes all work in cold weather…, but seven below? I think
it’s time to head south soon.

The wind storm is over. Now it’s six degrees and snowing lightly. Much
nicer than the wind storm. As far as we know, we did not sustain any wind damage. The data dish is
back up and functioning. It doesn’t appear that any pieces blew off the
outside of the motorhome or any slide awnings ripped. They flapped and
buzzed and roared, but they didn’t rip. Some friends here had their door yanked out of their hands and twisted by
the wind. Other people froze up and couldn’t get in or out and had to break
things. Some people’s water systems froze and broke overnight. Giant brown
icicles under their rigs. Yuk. The windstorm was rough on some of the fifth wheel trailers. It made them
creep until the jacks bent or broke. Fifth wheel trailers are not as heavy
as motorhomes. Life on the road.