So, ya know the saying, “Off all the gin joints in the world?” Well, of all the times of winter camping this past seven years, this year when the temps are -7 and feels like -17, our furnace fan decided that it had made enough rotations. We knew something was happening because rather than hearing forced air, we heard a louder sound of metal. A little research told us that the fan bearings or bushings were wearing out.
We bought this 5th wheel in March 2020, so this is year four of living in it and year two of wintering in it. We sort of expected something like this to happen some day, but prayed it wouldn’t happen when it was frigid. I guess -17 wind chill isn’t considered frigid where prayers are answered.
My husband contacted an RV repairman to order a new fan before the old one gave up the ghost. Unfortunately, the repairman neglected a) to order the fan and b) neglected to tell us we are enjoying the benefits of a third world where one waits forever for a part that is back-ordered for months. Does anyone remember the COVID excuses?
About a month after hearing the increasing noise and spraying WD40 on the fan to keep it from screaming, the fan motor gave its last groan of its tired life. If the rotation of the fan can’t reach 75% of its maximum turning capacity, it just stops and the furnace just stops. The fan motor chose to end its life on Sunday evening, January 21, 2024 as the temperatures continued to drop, drop, drop below zero.
This is our fifth winter in Alaska. Only the first one had temperatures this low, but we had winterized our trailer and lived in a warm cozy place where even the floor was heated. This floor is no longer warm and even rugs, wool socks and slippers don’t seem to keep the cold from nipping our little piggies.
I covered the largest windows with blankets to help keep the cooler air out that comes through them. We do put 3M plastic over the windows which has been a major insulator, but cold air molecules seem to find all the nooks and crannies. Also, a trailer, no matter its size, shape, or make, is nothing more than a huge tin can with minimal insulation. So, when it’s hot, it’s hot; and when it’s cold, it can be frigid.
We do have electric heaters, but the furnace doesn’t just keep us warm. It also warms the underbelly of the trailer so that the water and sewer pipes don’t freeze. One little electric heater under the trailer blowing warm air between the AirSkirts we use to insulate just wasn’t enough. We bought electric heater number 2 to tag team with number 1 do its job. Unfortunately, before heater number 2 blew enough hot air, our water pipes froze. Now we wait for enough heat to melt the ice so we can allow the faucets to drip. At the moment, the outside temp is above zero: it’s 1 degree! Whoo hoo!
Winter life in our trailer always presents adventures, especially with water and sewer. We do have the convenience of living by the community hall which is warm and has water and toilets. This is from where we pump water weekly into our 80-gallon water tank (which has its own designated heater along with two other holding tanks). So, we do have running water until the pipes freeze and the water doesn’t even creep or drip. No washing dishes, brushing teeth, or even going to the toilet in here. We generally use the community hall bathrooms anyway, but it’s nice to have the option of ‘where to go’ when the temps are so low. Now, I’m preparing to take dirty dishes over there to wash them and maybe even hang out where it’s warmer. I am volunteering at the community library for six weeks and well, today that is going to be my warm, happy place.
Repeat. We do have electric heaters, but we only have a 30amp hookup here where we live as hosts for the community center. In just our ordinary winter life, when we want to use our microwave, we have to turn off the little electric heater we use to keep the dining slideout a little warmer so we don’t blow a breaker. When we want to use our little Keurig, the heater must go off for the same reason. During the day, our water heater is set to use propane so we can use the little electric heater, but at night, when we turn the heater off, the hot water heater goes to electric. It’s a unique little dance to keep everything working and not tripping breakers. Until now.
We have an electric fireplace in our living room. It runs all the time in the winter, but now it can’t keep up with the outside temps. The little heater from the dining area is now in our bedroom/bathroom to keep the temp at least at 50. We always turn the heat down at night because we like cooler sleeping, but with flannel sheets, fleece blanket, wool blanket, and down comforter, we just needed a little extra umph! My husband even uses a heating pad to keep his feet warm! We looked into a heated mattress pad, but we think it may be too much for our electrical system. So, we cuddle.
With these two heaters running nonstop, the inside temperature hovers between 40 and 45 degrees. Yes, we are dressed in layers and look like penguins wearing hats with cold noses and frozen fingers (except there are no penguins in Alaska so we look like polar bears). We decided to borrow another heater from our daughter, but knew the dance routine would have to be revised. We put our refrigerator on propane and plugged in the baseboard heater. BAM! Within five minutes, we blew a breaker. Not the trailer breaker, but the hall breaker, the entire electrical system to our trailer. The dance routine needed a few more tweaks. The breaker kept blowing so we are trading the baseboard heater for a different one with lower settings as that baseboard electric heater did that to us when we first bought it so we gave it to our daughter. Lesson learned.
At the moment, we have five electric heaters working hard – two outside underneath the trailer and three inside. The temperature just hit 50 degrees inside. If that seems cold, consider that 50 degrees in Alaska is WARM. When it’s 50 degrees in the summer, people are wearing T-shirts and shorts! So, why does 50 degrees feel so cold now? Isn’t a cup of sugar the same amount no matter what type of instrument you use to measure it? It’s partly because we live in the shadow of Mount Cecil. Until about February 5, the sun doesn’t rise high enough to shine on us and warm us up. In the summer the sun is so high in the sky, it’s not only always light, but gives off a lot of heat.
We went to town yesterday and stopped at an RV parts place. The man found us a fan motor, yeee haww, but we soon learned it wouldn’t work in our brand of furnace. My husband found a fan motor on Ebay and paid for it to arrive tomorrow. When that little fan motor makes its presence known in our little post office, my husband has to figure out how to install it or find someone who can or will help him in frigid temps. We are praying that it will be same-day or next-day service — not in God’s time in which a day is like 1000 years or we will meet Him before our furnace fan motor is fixed.
To warm up, I made pancakes on our gas stove, have the oven going to keep the pancakes warm, and sit in my recliner that used to have heated coils. They stopped working a long time ago, but the massager works!
Did I mention that I’m leaving in a day to go to Colorado where it will be a warm 40 degrees and sunny? I am. I hope by the time I return to Alaska, I will be welcomed with some higher temperatures, the sun peeking over the mountain, and the warmth of the forced-air furnace with a purring fan motor. If not, I may turn around and to Hawaii because I don’t want to find my husband a solid rock frozen in his lounge chair.
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