I’m always happy when I can provoke a meaningful conversation. And apparently yesterday’s blog stirred up a few people, which is what it’s all about.
So the one most common comment was that the vaccine is experimental! And you know what that is true. So let’s call it an experimental vaccine that is saving hundreds of thousands of American lives, even the simplest of people had to notice the death rate drop as the vaccination rate went up.
Now I know there have been a number of elected officials that did not and still do not believe in science, but it appears that the majority of those none believing leaders have rolled up their sleeve for a vaccine, I wonder why? It’s because they didn’t want to suffer through the virus or die from it. So they don’t believe in science, but they trust this experimental vaccine to protect them, kind of an oxymoron don’t you think.
So over the holiday weekend the most hated scientist of them all Dr. Fauci stated that close to 99% of the new infections were preventable if the vaccine had been administered, but obviously 45% of Americans would rather take a chance, on suffering or death before protecting themselves. I’m sure that must make sense to some one, some how, it’s just way too complex for me to understand.
Here is the simple math “Arkansas, for example, where the vaccination rate is 34%, has 17 new daily cases per 100,000 people, versus Vermont, the nation’s most vaccinated state at 66% vaccinated, which has only 0.4 cases per 100,000.” And obviously there is a political influence as most of the states with the lowest rates are red states with some of the most outspoken political people. But I’m sure those politicians are vaccinated, so help me understand when you live in a county that a serious medical issue can bankrupt a person why would someone not get a free vaccine to protect themselves from a long stay in a expensive hospital ICU, I’m sure there must be a logical explanation, and I would love someone to explain that to me.
As you can see Canada has been picking up our vaccination rate after getting off to a slow start, with the world sitting at only 25%, I’m thinking the pandemic is not going anywhere quickly. And as Canada nears the 70% mark countries that had vaccines long before us are now falling behind, and one might wonder why? Every country will have their share of “non vaxxers”, I know we do and of course there will be a few “flat earthers” again we have some of those as well. And of course there are the special people that have been told by Dr. Facebook that it is all a government conspiracy to track our movement. Like seriously the government don’t care that much about your movements (bowel or otherwise) to inject you with a tracking device.
So if there isn’t a real good medical reason not to get your virus, I’m thinking you’re falling into that special category, that are 90+% of all new cases, which could be a real serious wake up call for the special ones … jus’saying
So let’s talk about what no body ever really wants to think about, a FIRE!
You need to have a plan in place and everyone needs to know the plan!
Now having lived in our coach for four years now we have seen a number of RV fires, in coaches, fifth wheels, and travel trailers. In actual fact it has become a reasonably common experience, and happens in lots of different locations. In campgrounds, while boondocking, or just sitting in a parking lot, in fact we have seen a lot of fires in four years.
We had a fire at the park we are managing just a couple of weeks ago. And no I’m not going to to post photos of someone else’s heart ache, we have seen lots of disasters on the road but never posted any, sufficient to say it’s devastating for the people involved in where the fire started and if it happens in a campground it’s usually devastating for the neighbours as well, because it usually damages the closest trailers as well. Such was the case here, three other trailers were damaged (written off), which is why this should serve as a wake up call for lots of people.
A lot of the RV fires we have seen, seem to all start at the same location, which is at the area of the refrigerator, I know it may sound strange but here is the basic principle of the operation for an RV fridge.
Wikipedia’s description:
“An absorption refrigerator is a refrigerator that uses a heat source (e.g.,solar energy, a fossil-fueled (propane) flame, waste heat from factories, or district heating systems) to provide the energy needed to drive the cooling process. The system uses two coolants, the first of which performs evaporative cooling and is then absorbed into the second coolant; heat is needed to reset the two coolants to their initial states. The principle can also be used to air condition buildings using the waste heat from a gas turbine or water heater. Using waste heat from a gasturbine makes the turbine very efficient because it first produces electricity, then hot water, and finally, air-conditioning – trigeneration. Absorption refrigerators are commonly used inrecreational vehicles(RVs), campers, and caravans because the heat required to power them can be provided by a propane fuel burner, by a low-voltage DC electric heater (from a batteryor vehicle electrical system) or by a grid powered electric heater. Unlike more common vapor-compression refrigeration systems, an absorption refrigerator can be produced with no moving parts other than the coolants.”
Now most RV refrigerators are either manufactured by Dometic or Norcold, and a quick check for recalls will turn up numerous recalls that list overheating of the cooling unit. And next most RV fridges (unless a residential style) use ammonia and hydrogen as the chemicals to cool, and hydrogen can be very flammable. Now in a perfect world the system works very well and as stated above just uses a heat source to operate, either a heater element either powered by battery or a grid (120 volt) connection or with a small propane flame making the fridges quite versatile having either a two or three way operation.
Our coach fridge is a Norcold two way, which means it operates with either propane or 120 volt grid power, and when we purchased the coach, the cooling unit already had a recall kit installed. The problem was that the recall fix would protect the system from overheating, but did so by just shutting the cooling unit off when the overheating occurred, it did nothing to resolve the cause of the overheating. And because we were going to live full time in our coach having a refrigerator that would keep shutting off during operation was far from desirable.
So after much research, I discovered that there was a true design issue with the ammonia/hydrogen absorption cooling unit, and a little more research found that there was an aftermarket cooling unit that was produced by the Amish in Indiana, that used ammonia/helium and besides the construction was better than original, and the use of helium gas allowed for a larger cooling range it was our choice.
So what does that all mean?
Well simply put although ammonia makes a great refrigerant (as its used in most arenas to cool the pad for the hockey ice production), it is also toxic, the amount used in recreational vehicles is small and as for the reason they use hydrogen, I have to assume it is because was a cheap by-product from Oxygen production, but a leak of either at the source of heat will cause a fire. This was one of the reasons I chose helium, because helium an inert gas and will not burn. The larger cooling range means that every cooling unit or air conditioner has a range. if the ambient temperature is 30ºC (86ºF) the refrigerator cooling maximum may be 0ºC (32ºF), the helium allowed us to still reach the 0ºC cooling when the ambient temperature is 37ºC (99ºF) and that’s a big difference in the desert.
Now there are lots of other reasons that can cause a trailer to catch fire, but they are normally caused by humans doing the same things that cause regular houses to catch fire.
Here is a short list to check:
Smoke alarms need to be operational (usually battery operated, check the batteries)
Carbon monoxide / propane detector (usually hard wired to the 12 volt system)
Have a fire extinguisher and make sure it is charged (should be located near the door)
Know the emergency exits (usually windows that open and are marked as such)
Charge batteries, cell phones, lap tops only on hard surfaces only
Never leave a stove unattended
Do not use electric space heaters (unless designed by manufacture such as a fireplace)
Do not overload electrical circuits with appliances
Ventilate properly if using propane heaters and watch clearances
plus all the normal smoker created dangers!
As you may have guessed electrical issues are the second major cause of RV fires, and most because of overloading circuits. At your home a wall receptacle in your kitchen has two circuits running to each plug while in your trailer all kitchen receptacles are on just one circuit. And as hard as it may be to believe trailer manufactures are notoriously cheap with the unseen construction and then we drag these circuits on the roadways which allows circuit connections to come loose. What I’m trying to say is that that Keurig and that toaster oven are too much on one circuit. Will it start a fire now? No not likely, but it will overheat the circuit that can weaken the connections and if you do that every morning you are creating a problem for the future.
One of three exit windows in our coach
A quick mention, if you purchased your unit used, there is a good possibility the “EXIT” may have been removed from the windows, but it should have a permanent marking such as a red or yellow handle. Just take time to explore and plan your egress points when and if needed.
My last topic is insurance, now recreational units were not meant to be used as second homes. Most are insured with the intention a few weeks use a year, and some weekends, not full time summer living, and if your using your trailer all summer you need to insure it the same as your home. Your home appreciates in value, while a recreational vehicle usually depreciates in value (these last two years are an oddity where the trailer values have not fallen) so you may be very disappointed with what the insurance will allow you for your trailer. You need to insure to protect yourself and your investment, in our case we have full time insurance to protect us if a catastrophe happens on our travels, you need to do the same it will cost more but it will seem a small amount when a disaster hits. Remember that the company that insures your house may not have the needed knowledge to insure your RV and cheapest price is not always the best when its needed. We are insured for a dollar amount so if needed we know what the payout for a total loss will be, as well as we subsidise with roadside insurance that covers accommodations as well as towing and repair assistance.
The Buchanan's Rolling Down The Road 