The toilet works

Well, I think we already knew my toilet did work when Eric stayed in my bus for a couple of days. Anyway, today I got the chance to use the bus toilet. It was not through choice through. As those of you familiar with my situation will know, I share a double-wide trailer with four other adults and their four dogs. Last night the temperature dropped inside the bus to 16F. It was probably a degree or two lower outside. Hence, of course since the water supply to the trailer comes via ununsulated plastic pipes, the pipes froze and there was no water for washing, for cooking, for drinking or for flushing the toilet.

I’m pretty well supplied in my bus for water with about 20 gallons of the stuff in jerry cans. Some of it made its way into the house for washing and drinking but clearly there wasn’t enough for flushing toilets. Thus when the need came, I resolved to use the bus toilet. That was a performance and a half though. I had to:

1. Put a toilet liner in the toilet (A Walmart Price First Tall kitchen bag). 
2. Put cat-lit in the bag to absorb moisture.
3. Put a roll of toilet paper in the bus.
4. Heat water to wash my hands after the deed was done.

Well I got as far as point 4 which is where it all began to go belly up. I couldn’t find the bowl that I was going to put in the sink to wash my hands in nor could I find my kettle. In the end I did find the bowl and I borrowed a kettle. Then I pulled out my gas cooker expectantly and lit the gas. I had a tiny little flame which rapidly went out. Shaking the gas bottle ascertained that the butane had frozen. I had to stand the butane can in front of a fan heater (I couldn’t find my electric kettle either) to thaw the butane.

Eventually the butane was thawed and I heated the water, poured the hot into the bowl with some cold. I’d poured some cold from one of my jerry cans into the jug earlier. Now the water in my jerry can was pretty much frozen but not entirely so I was good.

The toilet having been used satisfactorily, I tipped some cat-lit on top of things and closed the lid, turning my attention to my bar of soap and the hot water. So, washing my hands went well until it came time to empty the bowl. That’s when I found that the water in the P-Trap ot U-Bend had frozen so I had a sinkful of used water. I simply ignored that and rinsed my hands.

Having now used the toilet myself I will say this...

• The gas cooker does make the place smell and does add a lot of humidity to the air.
• The frozen bend had not occurred to me but next time I can simply tip the waste water outside.
• There is no smell from my toilet (No - my $hit does not stink).
• Frozen butane is annoying.

Needles to say I was sitting working on something else, quietly in the bus when suddenly (half an hour or so later) I heard a noise from the bathroom. The water trap had thawed itself and the sink had emptied. Looking outside I could see the sink had correctly emptied itself onto the ground. I do have waste water collection tanks but with the drain cocks open, the waste goes straight to the ground. I try to leave the cocks open as much as possible. So I sit back down inside the bus and the back door alarm sounded. I have no idea what’s going on there! I fixed that and carried on.

Having done that, I set to with the electrics at the back of the bus and finished wiring everything to the fuse box. I have no idea at this point whether anything works or does not work as I have not had the opportunity to test anything. Wiring from the entry point of the wires to the appliances will be something for another day - possibly tomorrow. I know I need to buy yet more wire.

The fuse box side of the wiring is pretty tidy. The other side needs work (which it will soon receive). Only time will tell whether I can keep using my solid-state relay or not. I suspect not but I’m not counting my chickens yet. I’ve not yet tested the vehicle electrics to see if I’ve inadvertently put a screw through the cables. I’ll do that at another point.

My fan heater works pretty well and has raised the temperature to a cosy 55F. Outside it’s barely 34F.  I did get a problem with my thermometer. It has worked well ever since I bought it in 2011/2012ish. Today as I moved it, it switched itself off and lost the historical data. Opening the back I found the battery terminal was a bright green color and the battery had corroded itself. I had no idea! The battery turned out to be Duracell and was dated March 2014. Given that Duracell is the only battery brand I know to ooze, I’m not surprised. I’m surprised the battery lasted as long as it did. Anyway, it’s now been replaced with an Energiser battery. Those tend to be better quality.