Although yesterday was a lot warmer, it still dipped down to 4°C overnight. I woke up this morning just as the furnace came on, it went off about 3 minutes later, which was a little strange as it still felt cool in the trailer. I checked the thermostat and it was commanding heat…. not good.
After breakfast I tackled the furnace. First check showed that there was no voltage on the line to the thermostat; could be a broken wire or a broken controller board. It was time to remove the furnace cover and see what is happening. Luckily the problem was a bad connection to the power line, if it had been a board problem it would have been a major job to pull the whole furnace out to reach it. My plan for a quiet day hasn’t started too well.
The campground has a 10 mile walking / biking trail running along its edge, so we headed over to it for a walk. It was a pleasant walk, but there were NO geocaches, we were not amused! We clocked up just over two miles, our first decent walk of the year.
After lunch we headed out to see what the local area held in the way of stores. Within 4 miles or so there is pretty much any store you would want. I found a Harbor Freight which kept me happy, Lyn got some wool that she wanted from Walmart then we headed off to Home Depot. Last year I put LED lighting in, although these lights were bright they didn’t light a very large area. Last night we were discussing how to get better lighting and I had an eureka moment. We have a ceiling fan which had a blanking plate on the bottom where a light fitting could go. Home Depot had the fittings, so we bought one.
Back at the trailer, fitting the lamp was going to be easy as there were two wires from the light fitting that connected to two wires on the fan. I wired it all up and switched on the light….. nothing! OK, check to see if there is any voltage on the wires…. no voltage. Next step was to remove the fan from the ceiling, this should be simple, just remove two screws. Well that didn’t work; all the fan blades had to come off, then another half a dozen screws before I could take it down. Once off the ceiling the problem was obvious; one of the wires that fed voltage to the light had been cut when the fan was installed, thanks Forest River. Once the wire was extended and connected it up it was a case of putting everything back together and flicking the switch again. This time it worked, and the trailer finally has some excellent lighting.
Again, so much for a quiet day!
The temperature climbed up to around 19°C today, and it was decided that it was time to break out the BBQ for the first time this year. The weather for the next few days looks promising, maybe finally the weather is going to cooperate!