It is comforting to know that I am no longer tied to a certain place, I can now go where I want, when I want. Jenny is now working and situated at her place in the back of Trea so now I can generate my own AC power and charge up Wanda’s batteries whenever I want, no more searching for unattended power outlets.
After work I walked home, cooked myself a burger (ate it) then walked back to work to finally setup Jenny. I had already read the manual and skimmed through it again yesterday. I followed the instructions and put the wheels, feet and handles on her, then carefully filled the oil. I didn’t use the stuff the sent with Jenny but the better oil that I had purchased (in accordance with the manual specs).
Then I took her out to the back of the shop, opened the door and carefully filled her fuel tank with gasoline. Alright I spilled a little bit, this is my first generator after all, so I was more than a bit nervous. I then checked everything over again, making sure I didn’t leave some crucial bit of packing material or shipping screw in place.
I then when through the instructions and pulled . . . nothing . . . again . . . nothing. I pulled about ten times and still nothing. I was frustrated so I thought maybe she didn’t need the full choke as it said in the instructions. I set her to half choke and she sputtered and almost started. I then turned the choke off or to “run” as it is labeled and she fired right up and ran like a dream.
I measured her voltage out and she was within specs and even took my test load. I let her run for about twenty minutes as I moved all of my tools and stuff to the back of the shop and put the garbage out. Again she was fine and humming along all this while. I then closed up the shop and went back to Wanda to bring her over so I could load Jenny up.
It didn’t take long before I realized (even before trying) that I was not going to get Jenny into the back of Trea without disconnecting from Wanda. Why? Simple, I can’t drop Trea’s tailgate more than a quarter of the way when she is connected to Wanda (the ‘dolly wheel” post is in the way).
So I had to pull up in front of the main door, disconnect from Wanda, pull Trea forward a few feet, lower the tailgate fully, then I could lift Jenny up onto the tailgate. From there I could then wheel her around get her into place and finally secure her to my tie-down spots. This afternoon I will run Jenny for a few hours connected up to Wanda to make sure that she will run and charge Wanda’s batteries as intended. Here is Jenny in her place in the back of Trea.
It is comforting to know that if the zombie apocalypse (or any old sort of apocalypse) hits I am ready to take off and survive. Yep, just need to scavenge fuel and food, maybe some weapons and I’m set. Hmm . . . need a pump action 12 gauge and Winchester 30-30 (it’s tradition). Grenades, mortar tube & rounds, a spaz 12 and a belt-fed 30 cal wouldn’t hurt . . . but I digress.
Seriously, it is a comfort knowing that I will always have power in Wanda’s batteries, so no more freezing. Speaking of freezing, I woke up a bit cold this morning, even though I was plugged in and the furnace on.
Sometime in the night my propane tank ran dry. Now I did have power and so my furnace should be working on AC to heat, right? At least that is what I thought, it turns out that my previous experiment didn’t run long enough to determine that: 1) there is always a bit of gas in the lines, even after turning the tank off and 2) that it takes a bit for the furnace to quit afterwards.
The fridge will give me a warning light (though a little slow) when the tank runs dry the furnace will just stop and sit there. My best way to determine this if the tank is really dry is to try to light the stove. If it lights then I have gas, if not, I don’t. The sure-fire way to test this is to use my lighter and turn the gas on.
What this means is that for me to have heat I need both propane and power in Wanda’s batteries (or AC power). The fridge will work on either AC or Propane and battery power, so this is good to know. This means when I do get somewhere that has power, I should get a small electric heater with a temp gauge to help augment the furnace and therefore use less propane.
Yet I still need to run the furnace as part of its hot air is directed below to help warm the water tanks. Yet they also have heat tape around them to heat them and help prevent them to freeze up in winter. I just don’t see myself moving out of Wanda, not unless it is just not feasible. I will not be happy on that day, and hope that I can somehow keep living in her, just to prove that I can, and she is home.
I did get most of Brian’s chapter done and it is interesting and moving forward. I will have to do more research on The Wars of The Roses to determine what more Brian will go through and what adventures he has before Towton and then the voyage to the east.
I have decided that I will write at the library tomorrow as usual but on Sunday do my accounting mess and get it up to date. Work is the best place to do it as I need: internet, power, and tables to sort out the piles of receipts out on.
Life is a constant state of change and revising what you are doing. I am not one who deals with change that well, I never have been. Yet life and everything in it is always changing. We have to adapt and change with them or you will be left behind. My odd way of living may seem strange but it is working and I am getting ahead, as once I pay my bills off and Wanda is paid for, I will always have a place to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment