Tag: diy

Day 2345

Tuesday March 5th 2024

Dear Journal:

Again I’m up before six this morning, but at least it was closer to six than it was five today, the coffee perk is on the burner and we should have fresh coffee shortly. Mister Sam didn’t even get up to greet me this morning, the crescent moon is smaller and there is just a trace of dawn over the mountain range. Again it was cool in the coach this morning so I turned on the electric heater to take the chill off. We enjoy a cup of blessed coffee as we catch up on the news, cinnamon rolls this morning for breakfast before Miss Laurie heads off rock hunting in the dry creek bed, with just over a month until our departure I will be tackling another project today now I just have to decide which one as the list is long and now I need to prioritize my approach.

Decision made, today I’m going to tackle a major project, one that has been a problem since the spring of 2019. It is a task that I have attempted to conquer multiple times, I have spent a lot of money on fixes 0r proclaimed fixes from numerous companies, I have watched literally hundreds of YouTube videos on how to resolve this problem and so far none have lasted more than a few weeks or a few months at best. So what is todays task well it is the same leak on our fresh water tank, that first came to light in March of 2019 when we were preparing to head north from Florida.

So lets look back at what I have tried so far, all of the FLEX products, the tape, the liquid, the chalk, none worked more than a few days at best and some didn’t even last a partial tank fill. Then there was the JB WELD products, both marine and water, neither worked. Then I moved to some adhesives like GORRILA tape and glue, then silicone adhesives, then urethane adhesives, and then I tried Eternabond tape, still no good. Then I moved on to the combinations like a two part epoxy, covered with Flex Seal paste, and then covered by some Eternabond tape to if nothing more make it look good, because it did not stop the water leak.

I have dreaded this project for what seems like forever, and after watching more YouTube videos I had decided to try to weld the tank. I know everyone thinks of welding as attaching two pieces of metal, this is the same principal only using heat and plastic sticks to melt into the crack. What I have learnt over the years is that our water tank is made of Polyethylene and basically nothing will bond to it, not glues, epoxies, adhesives or the like. But by using heat from any source it will melt and if it melts you can use a welding stick of the same material to fill in any holes or cracks by melting it all together, and unlike a glue or epoxy it will be bonded. At least that is the plan, and I have borrowed a plastic welding kit from Mister Ray who purchased the kit to repair a grey tank on his fifth wheel trailer, he said it worked well but he also had ordered a new tank and has replaced his grey water tank.

So I have removed the Eternabond tape, the Flex seal paste. as well as the most recent two part epoxy and have now removed the adhesive from the split area, my intention is to fill in the split with a plastic welding rod and then add a piece of metal mesh then to melt that into the tank and cover it with more melted plastic, the metal will hopefully reinforce the split when the tank flexes during filling, the time when the bond is broken on adhesive products. I have to do this is stages so that I do not overheat the tank itself and end up with a much bigger hole than what I have now. So fill the split, then cool it. add the mesh and melt it into the tank, then cool it, and finally add the plastic rod to the meshed area then cool it, check for possible touch up areas then fill the water tank and see what happens. And this all happens with be laying on my back working over my head with limiter space to maneuver my head and arms to right handed tasks to left handed tasks, while the area is lit by my DeWalt flashlight. Even just planning my process and I’m thinking to myself what could possibly go wrong?

Ok I figured out one more issue, as I was trying to see what I was doing while trying to look through the close up portion of my bifocals while working with my arms over my head! Well as you can see it was not a total success, but compares to previous attempts with numerous products I’m thinking that I’m ok with my first attempt. Not a task for the faint of heart as these tanks are not that thick and it takes a fair bit of pressure to get everything to melt together. I have called it a day and placed a container under the drip and I will check on the volume of the leak tomorrow. I can’t fix the leak with the tank full of water, but I hate to dump 100 gallons (378.5 liters) of fresh water on the ground, so if the volume is small enough I may consider a second attempt back in Ontario as we will use a good quantity of the water by the time we get home or we could shut the water supply off and use the tank of water while still here in Arizona.

My conclusion is simply that this repair process is the only solution that works, and after five years of multiple attempts I should have started here. After spending most of the day in the coach basement I have decided to replace all of the wood supports under the fresh water tank, this tank holds 100 U.S. gallons of water and one gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds (3.785 kilograms). 834 pounds is a lot of weight and the tank flexes a lot, so extending the supports to support more of the tank appears to be a excellent idea, but the supports will need to be cut to fit and the tank will need to be empty to allow the replacement.

I have settled into my recliner and I’m watching the Global news broadcast out of Toronto, to be honest I’m pretty much done for the day, apparently a seventy two year old man can only crawl into the coach basement so many times in one day. Miss Laurie said that this would most likely be her last rock hunting excursion, as there are more and more creatures starting to stir. It is another beautiful sunny day here in Arizona but Miss Laurie is correct with this much heat we will start to see many hibernating creatures very soon most of which we really don’t want to see.

Dinner tonight was chicken fajitas, I have to admit we eat very well, Miss Laurie has adapted to the small galley kitchen in our coach, I assist with the occasional barbeque item but Miss Laurie is the planner, the shopper, and creator of all our great meals. The addition of an air fryer last year has added to the cooking options and we still use the pressure cooker for things like spare ribs and rice pudding, our microwave/convection oven works well but is very noisy when operating, and is small enough it makes baking cookies an all day project. Well tonight will be the American news, a new episode of the voice, and then a few chapters of my most recent book and maybe even a sample of ice cream just to keep track of the freezer operation.

Day 2344

Monday March 4th 2024

Dear Journal:

Monday morning, our first day of four off and I’m awake and up at 5:07! I just don’t understand why I can’t sleep in, I read till 10:30 last night, and I was actually nodding off while reading (and it was a good book), so I hoped that I could at least sleep till dawn, but no way. Well it’s not all bad, Mister Sam was happy to see me up, he had no issue with his morning treats at 5:07, but after his treats he was off to the warm spot on the big bed that I had just left. So here I am reading my book and looking at what’s left of the crescent moon, it was just around six o’clock when Miss Laurie ventured into the galley either rousted by Mister Sam or woken by his snoring, she started the burner under our Pyrex coffee perk and joined me to watch the local news. Ah fresh perked coffee with a wee Irish blessing, and dawn breaking over the nearby mountain range, this just never gets old and while maybe not photo worthy this morning it is still a beautiful site every morning. By the time we are on our second cup of coffee I have to close the blinds to dampen the sunshine streaming into the coach. It was 57ºF (13.8ºC) when I got up this morning so I turned on the heater just to take the chill off, but as the sun warms the coach it is no longer needed, Miss Laurie prepared a omelet with sour dough toast for breakfast and it was excellent as we have now swung into national news. I glance at the calendar of events that is sent to all the Arboretum volunteers every Monday morning and realize that we are less than forty days from being back on the road.

I turned on “Navi” our RV Garmin and punch in Goderich Ontario, and “Navi” sits and spins trying to put together a couple of routes, of course first she has to find some satellites then go through all the parameters and it suggests two routes both of which exceed 3100 miles (5000 kilometers) not what I was expecting at all. A quick dive into “Navi’s” settings finds a “No Toll” switch which would explain why I was suggesting a border crossing in Manitoba or Quebec to avoid bridge tolls. Amazing what a difference, one little setting switch makes, now our suggested route is just over 2100 miles (3400 kilometers) that change just one little parameter change and we shaved 1000 miles, oh we added around sixty dollars in tolls but much cheaper than 1000 miles worth of fuel let alone the extra hours of driving! Now I just need to update “Navi” both a software as well as a map update, it won’t likely change anything on our route to Ontario but I normally check for updates before any trip.

Job #1 today is to install the new pieces that I received from “JC Refrigeration” (Dutch Aire), as you may remember our freezer failed back in February while we were in California and after we got back to Arizona I replaced the wire that had burnt off with a random piece of 12 gauge wire that I had in my electrical bag, it was actual was a piece of house wire (you can tell by the size of the strands) but it was 12 gauge the size that I was told was used on the freezer compressor. And after some photos and emails they agreed to send me both the new wiring as well as the new control unit.

Original burnt compressor wiring
My temporary replacement wire
New Control with 10 gauge wire

Once I got the new wiring opened up this morning and had a look, I was pleased to see the new wiring was 10 gauge which ran to the freezer compressor, and the refrigerator compressor wire was upgraded to 12 gauge wire. It is now very obvious to me that the previous Freezer compressor wire was 14 gauge at best, not the 12 gauge that I had been told in conversation with the manufacture. As I expressed to the manufacture, that I would be very disappointed if we had lost a freezer full of food over a few cents worth of wire. And from what I have seen today that is exactly what has happened. The original wires that burnt up were only 12″ long, today on Amazon the cost of that wire is $3.50 and the cost of the 14 gauge wire is $1.29, that $2.21 saving to the manufacture just cost us over $100 dollars in lost groceries.

I asked to replace the control unit because if the wires got hot enough to melt the protective coating at the spade connector, I was concerned that the surface may be burnt enough to cause a resistance which would cause a power loss and overheating again. And I haven’t even mentioned about the burning wires inside of the coach itself, not a warm and fuzzy feeling, but because it was vented by fans to the roof we did not smell the burning process and because the burn was not in close proximity to anything else it did no other damage, thank goodness.

The repair took less than 30 minutes with the most difficult part of the task being replacing the control unit and where it plugs onto the compressor itself. But now I’m faced with a moral dilemma, do I just go on my merry way because our unit is now fixed or do I take some measures to report this incident, so that others don’t suffer through the same problem? In reality this should be a “recall” where they offer to send out replacement wiring and for those that are not mechanically inclined they make arrangements for the repair to be completed. I also understand that we are using the refrigerator fulltime as opposed to those that just vacation a few weeks a year, after all the wiring lasted for almost seven months, that could be a lifetime of vacations. On the other hand I’m thankful that this cooling unit was designed and fabricated as a viable replacement for the original absorption cooling unit, as I can now keep ice cream frozen, as well as everything else. and I’m a big supporter of small business’s and don’t want to see them hurt financially. This could have been a much easier repair if the compressor control unit didn’t use an odd sized spade connector, which came to light when I made our temporary repair back in February, which would have been a tough repair for most do-it-yourselfers’.

Amazing as it may sound I got a call from someone back in Ontario this morning, and while always great to talk with anyone from back home it usually happens when they are enjoying an unseasonably warm day. And it doesn’t take too long for 18ºC (65ºF) to be thrown in to the conversation, and while our forecast high here today is only 64ºF (17.7ºC), I’m sitting on our patio in shorts and a T shirt, and I know that there is a reality check on the way for my friends in Ontario. But I’m good with it being warm in Ontario as we will be there in under 50 days. WOW where did the winter go? The years are sliding by at an unbelievable rate, it just seems like a few days ago we were saying goodbye to our Canadian friends and now I’m staring to plan our route and stops while heading back.

I finished reading another e-book while sitting in the sunshine this afternoon, and while not too warm it still feels great in the sunshine, and I’m willing to bet that my buddy back in Ontario isn’t sitting out reading a book in the sunshine today. I’m going to use our VPN to switch our IP address to Toronto so I can watch the Ontario news and weather, I try to catch up once a week with what’s happening north of the border, as Canada doesn’t appear on weather maps here in Arizona. I’m catching up on blogs this afternoon as well, but I’m always catching up so nothing new there.

We are barbequing pork chops for dinner tonight, with Brussel sprouts and beans, followed by “The Voice” on NBC and maybe some ice cream just to confirm my freezer repair is still keeping our ice cream frozen. We are also watching the new “Deal or No Deal” which is featuring “Boston Rob” a “Survivor” winner from many many years ago. I downloaded another e-book this afternoon and I read for almost an hour before heading to bed just before eleven 0’clock.