Looking downrange
Mar. 5th, 2011 09:38![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bill_schubertOne more step towards a short vacation has been taken. Well, actually two. The first was yesterday and the day before. I found a local RV repair person who is definitely a character. But pretty good at what he does and pennies on the dollar compared to taking it to an RV shop.
Everything on the RV is working now. All the systems.
The last one to pull through was the refrigerator which we had both thought was dead but turned out it was just moving slowly. Refrigerators on RV's run without compressors. They run on a chemical system that heats ammonia and then forces it through a thermal expansion valve that expands it trading pressure for volume. Can't remember the formula now but as with all rapidly expanding gasses they become very cold. This runs through the refrigerator coils losing the cold and back to the heater to go through the process again. This is on a pretty small scale on an RV so it takes hours to initially cool down the refrigerator. Turns out mine takes all night. We thought after a few hours it was not working at all and I pricing replacement units at $1300 and cringing. Then I came in yesterday morning after letting it run all night and it was cold!!
I need to replace the kitchen faucet which I think has been ruined by the damn lime in the water around here (I'm getting a filter for the filler hose so I won't be filling the system with lime water) and I need to get it inspected. The automobile part of the RV, that is. Emissions and safety. No prob.
The step taken today was to secure reservations at one of the nicest RV parks I've been to. It is called Pelican Roost and is at the tip of Mayport, FL (http://tinyurl.com/6ctzd6w) on a Naval Base where I was stationed in another lifetime.
So, we've got transportation, a place to stay, a place where we can park our place to stay, tickets to the blues festival, someone to watch our dogs and cats and fish, and time blocked off.
Gas prices are putting a crimp in things but out of my control so not to worry.
Slowly but surely we're making progress towards the trip. Looks like we'll be able to do the whole thing for about $700, beer included.
Five days at the end of the month. Just enough time to get everything else ready.
Everything on the RV is working now. All the systems.
The last one to pull through was the refrigerator which we had both thought was dead but turned out it was just moving slowly. Refrigerators on RV's run without compressors. They run on a chemical system that heats ammonia and then forces it through a thermal expansion valve that expands it trading pressure for volume. Can't remember the formula now but as with all rapidly expanding gasses they become very cold. This runs through the refrigerator coils losing the cold and back to the heater to go through the process again. This is on a pretty small scale on an RV so it takes hours to initially cool down the refrigerator. Turns out mine takes all night. We thought after a few hours it was not working at all and I pricing replacement units at $1300 and cringing. Then I came in yesterday morning after letting it run all night and it was cold!!
I need to replace the kitchen faucet which I think has been ruined by the damn lime in the water around here (I'm getting a filter for the filler hose so I won't be filling the system with lime water) and I need to get it inspected. The automobile part of the RV, that is. Emissions and safety. No prob.
The step taken today was to secure reservations at one of the nicest RV parks I've been to. It is called Pelican Roost and is at the tip of Mayport, FL (http://tinyurl.com/6ctzd6w) on a Naval Base where I was stationed in another lifetime.
So, we've got transportation, a place to stay, a place where we can park our place to stay, tickets to the blues festival, someone to watch our dogs and cats and fish, and time blocked off.
Gas prices are putting a crimp in things but out of my control so not to worry.
Slowly but surely we're making progress towards the trip. Looks like we'll be able to do the whole thing for about $700, beer included.
Five days at the end of the month. Just enough time to get everything else ready.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-05 17:41 (UTC)