Strolling Amok

Pops goes on tour.

Archive for the tag “Mr. Heater”

09 Dec 2016
26 Comments

Where the Livin’ is a Little Easier

Garbage! The white bag is a tall kitchen bag full of papers that should have gone away long ago.

Garbage! The white bag is a tall kitchen bag full of papers that should have gone away long ago. “Someday” is today.

This post is just kind of an update to the prior one, just for those having a morbid sense of curiosity. That’s so you aren’t left with the situation appearing to be in limbo. Now that I have broadband DLS Internet and running hot and cold water, life is good.

The new blood pressure-lowering meds are a slight dampener on both energy levels and outlook, which requires more perseverance to bull through each day. As a result, cleanup has about a day more to go before I will be able to touch or lean against everything in the trailer without fear of wearing black or white clothing. It’s been a bit overwhelming, but the naps are good.

As for cleaning, I worked on my old-style IBM “clicky” keyboard, which was long overdue for a good scraping off. I was careful to rub each key with a cotton cloth dampened with Simple Green. The problem apparently came when I Read more…

Posted in Daily Life and tagged
03 Dec 2016
22 Comments

Where the Livin’ is Easy

Sometimes, in this carefree vagabond’s life on the road, circumstances intrude upon the idyllic core which is assumed to be the inherent gift of mobile freedom. These circumstances can range from minor inconveniences to the harbingers of doom. Sometimes, that mobile freedom make those circumstances more difficult to address than they would otherwise be. That isn’t the case here, since the Defiant’s location could be considered as a seasonal residence of sorts. Just sayin’.

As for me, I‘ve discovered an ongoing stack of inconveniences which are frustrating, but looked at in the proper perspective, are also a bit humorous. It’s the combination. My main priority on arriving at my trailer a few days ago was of course to make it livable again after its many lonely months in Yuma’s hot and dusty summer. The time-consuming work of completing modifications to the new Four Wheel Grandby camper last Spring, before Yuma’s heat began to set in by late March, required hasty compromises in cleaning and organizing my trailer before leaving it. In short, I discovered either just how little Read more…

Posted in Daily Life and tagged
27 Nov 2015
10 Comments

Intrepid Heat

The Mr. Heater Buddy.

The Mr. Heater Buddy, with filter and hose.

When I first started out on this crazy fiasco, the Mr. Heater Buddy I acquired for use in the Defiant quickly became my friend while wintering in Quartzsite, Arizona, and it still does sole duty. That’s mainly because the Defiant’s built-in furnace has a faulty overheat sensor that I’m loathe to have fixed. That’s because vented furnaces are relatively inefficient, using more propane than unvented systems, plus their tendency to burn through batteries if left on overnight. Many a new camper has discovered this in the morning, when they awaken to find that the furnace has killed not only their coach battery, but their tow vehicle’s starter battery as well, thanks to their dealer not mentioning that a battery isolator would be a good thing to install. That little adventure is due to the power draw of the furnace’s fan, which on heartier systems must be big enough to push plenty of air through an abundance of ductwork. On the Defiant, the furnace fan also replicates the aural ambiance of the deck of an aircraft carrier, and its old-school “analog” thermostat is a bit too sloppy for holding a consistent temperature.

The Mr. Heater Buddy is the middle-sized model of quasi-ceramic radiant heater, able to crank out either 4,000 or 8,000 BTUs. It can heat the Defiant’s 200-square-foot interior in a shirtsleeve manner on its high setting, down to a windy 30 degrees outside. Its low setting can generally pump interior temps at least 20-25 degrees over whatever it is outside, depending on wind or rain. Being a radiant heater, it sometimes helps to plug in a fan to get its heat distributed better throughout the long trailer. It thoroughly bakes whatever is directly in front of it, but as a warm-air device, it’s wanting. But hey, the price is right, and it’s efficient.

So naturally, when the decision of how to heat the new Four Wheel Grandby A.K.A. Intrepid came up, my first thought was to Read more…

Posted in Mod Squad, The Intrepid and tagged , , , ,
08 Dec 2013
26 Comments

The Quest for Fume-Free Heat

Thermosyphon_NEWThe photo above might rightly lead you to suspect that this will be the weirdest blog post ever, even on this website. That’s saying something. It was pulled from the 1919 edition of The Gasoline Automobile, which was one of a few efforts to attempt to capture what was a very rapidly changing state of the art. The odd part is that I’ll be referring to it later.

But let me shift gears to the true goal of this post. Heat. Extraordinarily clean heat.

Getting heat in RVs is no problem. You can turn on the built-in furnace for pollutant-free heat (as measured in the interior), or use heat sources that use propane, kerosene, or what-have-you. The square footage of most RVs is usually big enough that you won’t asphyxiate yourself with carbon monoxide, though the unholy stink of kerosene is notable.

Getting heat in a van or truck camper is a little more involved because of the Read more…

Posted in Mod Squad and tagged , , ,
04 May 2013

Say Hello to My Leedle Fren’!

 

See the heater. The heater is hot. His name is Mr. Heater Portable Buddy. Buddy is my friend.

See the heater. The heater is hot. His name is Mr. Heater Portable Buddy. Buddy is my friend.

Originally posted 11/11/2012

Actually, Quartzsite seems to have missed the more extreme cold snap of a few nearby areas. My outdoor thermometer only got down to 43 last night, which is fine by me. The trailer interior at that point was 51 degrees. You may find it hard to believe, but without moving air, all you need to be very comfortable at that temperature is ordinary flannel PJs, a light wool blanket, and a classic sleeping cap that my daughter knitted for me upon request. She wanted to knit something, and I threw the challenge. Think Scrooge. So, she made it for fun, and at nearly three conical feet from bottom to fuzzy-ball top, it looks like an elf lost it, but works superbly. I just shouldn’t answer a knock at the door with it unless I’m carrying a wrapped Read more…

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