Friday, July 28, 2023

 TCAS worked. Well, I assume it was TCAS that directed the Allegiant flight to go up and the Gulfstream jet to go down.  I've learned a few things watching various aircraft disaster shows and the ensuing investigations they do after the fact.  This was the near "nose to nose" collision, as the news described it would have been if the pilots hadn't immediately responded to TCAS instructions.  From what I have seen in those shows, TCAS takes precedence over any ATC instructions.  This became the point of an investigation in an air crash disaster where TCAS gave instructions for a plane to immediate go up, but the ATC gave them instructions to go down.

The aircraft collided mid-air killing everyone on board both planes. But the description of the event that was reported yesterday sounded fairly - terrifying.  The passengers all got to go home in the end, that's the important part.  You don't, however, expect a plane to suddenly take a nose dive or start nosing way up, they said the flight attendants fell on the floor and were apparently injured.  I tried not to think of all of these air crash disaster shows I've watched when I flew to Phoenix and back, lol.

Kudos to the skilled pilots for saving a lot of lives.  

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So, I figured out where the water heater goes - and obviously (at least to me since I'm the one attempting to find the thing) and there isn't one there.  I have now found a tankless heater online and will be finding some way to install one of those things instead.  It's the best I can do, I'm not going to put a tank heater in there, there's nowhere to put one.  Trust me, the cubby hole where the propane water tank used to be will not fit a 5 gallon water heater in there, lol.  I will probably have to run a 20 amp line off the shed to run the thing.  Fortunately, they only come on when the water gets turned on, saving electricity and really don't need to have a lot of use. 2 showers a day and some dishes.   

 The propane is something that may turn out to be much easier than originally anticipated.  Well, anyway, I'm going to find a low priced water heater and the hose for the propane tank shouldn't be terribly expensive and then hopefully, I'm done with any expenses for that thing.   Basically, I can unhook the line going into the regulator on the built-in tank, find a hose with a fitting that can screw into the hose that has a regulator on it and screws into a propane tank, walaah.  Probably $30 worth of parts.  She said she'd buy her own tank.  

So, we're narrowing this stuff down and trying to get it taken care of. Fortunately, they can still take showers in the shed.  Just need to get the propane going so they can cook on the stove top.  The oven was filled with pots and pans, something that she very much liked.  

What else....I need to check lots today and clean up any messes.  I will have a full park at least temporarily soon, some of the lots haven't been used in weeks.  One of them has rocks and branches that the boy threw onto them while cleaning out the freshly-tilled ground.  So just some basic clean-up but it shouldn't take much. Maybe get the chain saw going if I can find the adjusting tool....been a while since I've seen that.  

The boys got with it yesterday and cleaned out a lot of the weeds around the septic system. Considering the size of those weeds, I was impressed.  The people in the purple thing are leaving this morning.  Their AC broke and they are staying in that thing without any cooling. Unbelievable. I would rather sit outside than in a hot vehicle like that.  In fact, I would just head over to the shed and cool off in there. But, I don't really like people hanging out in the shed, tho I never said anything to them about it.  It's something I would allow temporarily since they are leaving anyway.  

I have plans just need to execute them.  Getting the RV finished is a top priority, just because I want it over with and yes, I don't want to listen to people complaining.

I've got 200 feet of direct bury wire.  That's done and paid for, been sitting there for months. The length should be enough to go from number 1 lot to the rear of the shed, where I can install a second, small electrical panel.  The only drawback is I will have to trench through the lot and then through the driveway.  I'll have to measure that and make sure 200 feet is enough, but it should be.  A decent tankless water heater is 240 volts and requires a 60 amp breaker.  I don't think I want to put that kind of load on the already well-loaded shed setup.  I can put the entire RV on a separate panel on a separate circuit.  The drawback is $200 to rent a ditchwitch. That seems expensive for an hour's worth of use.  I doubt it will take long to trench it.  I might call a few places in Longview and see how much they charge.  

They make 110 volt tankless heaters but from reading the reviews, they are not that great.  If the water output of the sink and shower are slow, then I might work okay - and save me a lot of money.  It might just be that I do that for now and if they don't like it - well - there's always the shower in the shed.  The water output of both the shower and the sink are quite low, they do that intentionally so you don't fill up the holding tanks too fast.  It's just that if I do put one of those in there, they also have to turn the thing on and off when they want to use it. 

So what happens if they turn it on and forget to turn it off? Do those things have an auto-shut-off? or just that the water heats up to a certain temp and it shuts off because it isn't moving through it? The plus side is they have remote controls, you aren't flipping switches on and off.  

Since the thing isn't going to move anywhere, I'm sitting here thinking, hmm, my shed water heater is only a few feet away from that RV.  Instead of spending a lot of money on a water heater, why not just put a tee into the hot water outlet and run a pipe over there?  Just put a flexible hose somewhere so it can move with the rv going up and down with people walking around in it or getting in and out.  

This is so simple and there isn't a huge demand on that water heater as it is.  It's just half inch cpvc line, I can insulate any of it that is above ground, spend $30 or $40 on line and parts -well maybe a little more to get a flexible line - attach it to the RV, walaah, we're done.  I don't know why I didn't think of this right off the bat. 

Anyway, outta here. Got to get over there before the purple people leave, they owe another day's rent. 

G'day


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