The EXPERIMENT.....

6:45 am - Tuesday - Election Day - November 5th - TWW - 25° F, humidity 66%, wind 2 mph out of the  east by southeast....a few clouds today with a forecast high of 61° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were south of Salt Lake City, UT courtesy parked at my brother's home.....began snowing, and sticking.....not moving south fast enough....

.....the sunrise this morning (Tuesday).....

Nice....

I fully intended to utilize my newly purchased chainsaws cutting wood against the winter Monday, but it was way too cold first thing, so TLE and I decided we would begin to install the new cargo slide for our new Norcold, which will be used as a freezer full time.  Actually, we would be moving the newer Norcold we bought in 2020 to the through bay as it fits the new cargo slide much better.  As can be the case on project like this the 'Hockwald Way' turned what we thought to be at most a 2 hour job into a 5 hour job.  I had to modify the new cargo slide in several ways to get it to slide out far enough to open the 2020 Norcold lid.  That involved using my angle grinder and moving the 'STOP' bracket about 8" back to allow the tray to slide out further.  The second thing which took way longer than I expected was wiring up the 2024 Norcold (just purchased) to run on DC (direct current).  It is designed to run on AC, or DC, and DC is much more efficient.  It's been 4 years since I pulled out the original Norcold (circa 1982), and the 12 volt wiring left behind did not make any sense.  At any rate, I finally figured it out, and we were, at last able to install both Norcolds in their new positions....

....in the picture above you can see where (inside red circle) I had to cut out part of the tray to expose the controls for the 2020 Norcold....thank goodness I bought that angle grinder 4 years ago when we were at Seal Rock, OR....it has come in so handy numerous times over the intervening 4 years.  We didn't finish putting away the tools until after 4:30 pm....a longish work day for us, but so rewarding in the end.

We're gradually getting used to living off the grid at 5,600' elevation....

.....the weather has cooled significantly since we arrived two weeks ago to 80° F days.  Now we're happy to see 61° F days, like today (Tuesday).  The next two days will be in the 40's with lows approaching 21° F overnight.  We strictly use our three Suburban gas furnaces to heat the coach in the morning when we get out of bed, and early evenings before we go back to bed.  We're able to run our electric blanket all night long on the Bluetti battery bank, plus run the one electric heater in the basement to keep the water bay above freezing, and we still have 50+% left in the morning.  That was one of our big concerns about living at elevation whilst off the grid, and so far it is working out.

One thing we did not know about our electric heaters before this 'experiment' began was that even though the thermostats are turned down all the way to what we thought was the 'OFF' position, they will come on when the temp inside the coach gets to 40° F, or below, and we area connected to electricity (Bluetti battery bank, 30 amps).....40° F is the minimum setting on the thermostats.  Normally, when plugged into an electrical pedestal that would not be an issue, as we would probably have at least one of the heaters running all night anyway when it is this cold, like we did at the Grand Canyon back in 2017.  When we've boondocked we always turned off the inverter at night when we were sleeping, so it was never an issue then, either.  Fortunately, both electric heaters inside the coach living area are on the same circuits as the front and rear ACs, so all we must do is turn off breakers 1 (front AC and heater) and 2 (rear AC and heater), and it is no longer an issue.

One thing to add about Monday....TLE and I refilled our IBC water tote from the 5,000 gallon water tower before we began the Norcold project.  It takes about 10 minutes, and half that time is rolling out the large hoses to connect us with the water tower, and then rolling them back.

I mentioned that our presence here is an 'experiment'.  What do I mean by that?  I've been intrigued for years about being able to live off grid on a permanent basis, which is why our first major investment when we became nomads was in solar for our Newell. With the improvement, and increased affordability in solar technology, as well as battery storage capabilities it has become more of a possibility.  Being able to spend the winter here in Northern Arizona is the ultimate experiment for us, and has put us on a steep learning curve.  Just in the two weeks we have been here we have learned so much, and with the purchase of the 'dual axis' solar array (yet to be installed, but will be soon), and the wind generator (soon to be installed), we are becoming better equipped to deal with the electrical demands of living off grid.  When you think about it, access to electricity makes our lives so much better.  Without electricity water cannot be pumped, and delivered to millions of people, water stops coming out of the tap, and toilets cannot be flushed. If the electrical grid were to go down for any period of time, as we have seen in Florida most recently (hurricanes), civilization can break down pretty quickly.  By building our own electrical grid we can survive those occurrences, should they come about, in comfort, and style.  Once the initial investment is made, there are no longer any utility bills with which to deal, and those monthly costs, especially in urban areas, can be significant.  When we lived in a sticks and bricks home 13 years ago our monthly utilities often exceeded $800.  Anyway, life is good, and we are learning so much.

Thanks for stopping by!