I Got Lucky (Not That Kind)

Okay, so all through work yesterday I was going through various scenarios, things that I could do to solve this problem of my full Black Water Tank with cold weather approaching.

I need to dump it because in the dead of winter, without me plugged in somewhere, I will not be able to keep it from freezing solid and cracking that tank. 

(That’s bad and an expensive fix, by the way).

It was warm yesterday and so after work I decided to risk it and take a chance on seeing if I could actually dump.

You see, what was preventing me was a frozen blockage, a plug if you will in the middle of the pipe that leads down from the Black Water Tank (aka where the toilet stuff goes into).

I opened the valve (with a garbage bag over the opening to catch anything that may come out) and a few slush chunks dribbled out. 

I poked at the blockage with a sacrificial broom handle, and I found that it was soft, soft enough for me to take a chance.

So, of to the neighbourhood truck stop I went to try to dump my tanks. 

When I finally got things ready and in place (as in got my drain pipe all situated and ready to accept anything that would come out of said pipe) I poked at that blockage.

It took but a few prods to poke a few holes in it to cause (let’s call it ‘water’) to flow out.

I quickly pulled the sacrificial broom handle out and connected the drain pipe up and watched. 

   

This is my inspection pipe and I highly recommend it because it lets you see what is actually flowing out. 

Now, that may be strange, but it will let you see, as in this case, that darned blockage be eroded and flushed down the pipe by ‘water’ that was flowing around it.

It also lets you know when the tanks are completely drained and when you are flushing your tanks you can see when your tanks are cleaned by only seeing clean water run out.

You can get that inspection pipe at any place that sells RV accessories.

As for me, I was just happy to see the tank finally drain.

So with that, a potentially very large hole in my budget was closed up and I am now in full-blown Winter Mode.

I will not use my toilet or sinks until I can be sure that the tanks will not freeze solid. I do not want to be caught out like that again.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

*Mental Note to Self: Need new broom.

Nice Extended Weekend . . . It Didn’t Work.

Okay, so I will call this past extended weekend (from Thursday Evening to this morning (Tuesday) a nice weekend in the forest. 

My primary goal (to dump my tanks) was not a success. Yet, I was able to get (what I could tell) most of the tanks defrosted, the essential bit is still frozen. 

I don’t know the exact term, but I will call it the downpipe. This is the pipe that leads from the tanks down on an angle to the connector for the drain hose. 

This two foot stretch of pipe is still frozen, despite the heat tape on all that time and the heat cranked in the trailer. 

I will be okay today through to Thursday during the day, after that, once night falls on Thursday, I am in trouble again. 

For Thursday night it will dip below zero and stay below zero for all of Friday. And after that I won’t get warm enough during the day to thaw that pipe out.

What I really need is a warehouse or other indoor space large enough to park Wanda in for a few days to get heat in from the outside.

If I can’t dump my tanks this evening, (or that warehouse magically makes itself available) I will have to contact the RV Dealership.

I will have to have them finish this thawing and tank draining that I started. I just can’t risk it any further. 

Sure, this means extra cost in the repair bill, as well as staying in a hotel for the better part of a week, but it is better than the repair bill for a cracked tank(s).

One way or another I will make this work, I will solve this problem and keep going. I simple can do no less; it’s just what I do.

As always: keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

(And yes, always dump your tanks BEFORE the freezing weather hits.)

Grand Savings Update (And More)

Okay, so it is that time again, when I update how my progress is going on my “Grand Savings Plan!” 

Okay, so let’s see how I did . . . 

   

For review, here is how things looked from last payday . . .

   

And this is how things look like, after the dust settled on this payday’s budget . . . 

   

That’s right things jumped up to 11.8% of my savings target. That means I put away 1.7% of my total Savings Target this payday. 

The other cool thing is that the "Estimated End Date" moved up one payday to July 7, 2022. 

So, this is partly due to the fact that my taxes have started to drop off, coupled with my savings mentality. 

We shall see how things go, but I may make my target of at least 15% by the end of the year (17% preferred).

With regards to winter and my still almost full Grey and Black water tanks, things are looking dicy. 

Did you ever have one of those days where all of the little things went wrong? I had one of those evenings. 

It started out hopeful, I could get those valves open (in order to dump). So I went to the local truck stop and just paid to dump. 

I didn’t get a discount that I had expected and paid nearly full price, all to find out that there was some ice further up and that was why neither tank would dump. 

Naturally, the place would not give me a refund.

I call this the “Geoffie Level of Customer Service” As in the level of customer service that I usually get which can be summed up by the statement “Why are we talking? We already have your money?” 

Anywhoose, I decided that since I was moving, I may as well do my payday running around. This despite me depositing my paycheque yesterday morning over the app because I didn’t want to run around. 

So, I did my shopping, bought gas, etc. 

My plans are to now go to McLean Creek, yet I plan to head out for tonight and take tomorrow off. 

This way I will have an extra day and an extra night to plug in and try to defrost my tanks, at least enough so that I can get most of the water out of there.

If this is not enough I will look at finding a campground that is local and open over winter to plug in and thereby continue my defrosting efforts.

Again, one thing at a time, I will try this, as I don’t think those tanks are anywhere near fully frozen yet, just frozen around the outsides.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

A Dump Delayed

Okay, so we’ve got a bit of a blast of cold weather currently. I still have my nearly full Grey and Black Water Tanks. 

Currently in the trailer it is still hovering around freezing, if a little bit below. So, this is good, because it will take a while for the black and grey water tanks to freeze.

Yet the problem is that the end where I actually connect the hose to dump the tanks has a couple of valves out there in the cold.

They have frozen shut, or at least as far as they have done so currently. No pipes are cracked but I can’t open that valve, yet.

A bright spot is the fact that it will warm up to 6C on Friday, and that should be enough, with the warmth of the sun, to warm up that valve enough for me to be able to dump.

Again, we shall see, as if I can’t open those valves, I may have to go to a campground so I can apply some heat to the insides of the tanks (by way of internal electric heat tape) and an external electric heater.

Either way, I will dump this weekend, I would just rather not risk the budget in order to do that. (By going to the campground).

All in all, one way or another I will deal with this and get it solved.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

With a Wisp of Winter, I Hibernated

It got cold, colder than “Ah, it’s a bit nippy” as in below freezing, so I just turned in early. 

We go a bit of snow and with that I just turned around and tucked into my bed, early and stayed warm. 

This morning despite the fact that it was already below freezing in m house (okay, -2C) I turned the air blue.

Again, I am not all that proud about this, and it is a process I go through, when winter actually arrives, the mentally getting into Winter Mode. 

As in getting ME into Winter Mode.

I have done this before, for four winters behind me, I can certain handle this one. I know what to do, I know what to do in order to get through it.

Again, I do this, I endure winter so in my RV that I can get land a home, (without a mortgage) all that much faster.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

Long Weekend Dilemma Again

So, this weekend (the upcoming one) is a long weekend, at least for me. As it is the Remembrance Day Long Weekend. 

This is due to the fact that the actual Remembrance Day is on Sunday, but the day off is on Monday.

So, as with all things, I am considering heading to a campground for the long weekend. This is mainly for the free-flowing electricity (ooooh luxury).

I can also cook up my next batch of Mealstarter and enjoy the peace and quiet. 

Yet there is also the fact that it is an unnecessary expense and we are in the closing days of this year and the rush to 15% (of Savings Target).

Sure, it is easy for someone else to tell me “go, enjoy the weekend, don’t worry about the expense.” It is quite easy to be generous with someone else’s cash.

I will decide what to do later on, but either way, I will still cook up my Mealstarter. After all, I have had the ingredients for the past two weekends.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward.

One Week to Winter Mode (Probably)

So, as is normal this time of year, I look at the Weather App to see what may come this way. 

So far it is saying that the weekend will be decent (as in 10C) high for the weekend. So, that’s good and I’ll take that positive.

Yet in a week it looks like the daytime high will drop below freezing and stay there. 

This is always my sign to stop using my Black and Grey Water Tanks. Meaning, I can’t pour things down my sinks or use my toilet. 

This is because the valve that I have to open in order to drain those tanks will freeze shut. As well all or some of the contents of those tanks will freeze. 

I don’t feel like carrying around a block of ice and/or frozen poop for the next four months. 

So, it is a precautionary measure that I do, I dump for the last time and just don’t use the sinks or my toilet. 

Maybe I could push it a bit longer, but for me, it is not worth the risk. 

I will just take things one day at a time and do what I need to do right now in order to get ahead. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!