Today was a very successful [shopping] day.
1) Thunder RV for a Valterra 3″ waste valve with flexible cable. This is not going to be used for any part of the toilet, but rather I am going to use this valve in order to control the refrigerator vent. A refrigerator needs some cool air circulation over the coils, which necessitates another hole in the floor. Of course, we sometimes might want to close that hole. Other people have devised rube goldberg contraptions for their vents, I just bought mine. This particular model includes a cable so I can open and close it from a remote location. Thunder RV did not have one other part I needed so they recommended I call Curt’s RV. Curt did not pick up the phone so I left a message.
2) O’Reilly Auto Parts to pick up the 1″ exhaust pipe I ordered yesterday. The heater comes with a 1m exhaust hose but it says you can extend it up to 2m. I am not 100% sure where I am going to route the exhaust, but I strongly suspect I’m going to need 2m. I also picked up a heat sheath that I can use for areas where the fuel line and/or electric wire comes close to the exhaust.
3) Ace Hardware for a 3″ hole saw. I need this size hole saw for the outlet of the heater as the heat duct will run from our refrigerator cabinet into our wardrobe to either heat the wardrobe or to get ducted out to the rest of the van.
4) As I was driving home from Ace, Curt called. He had the part I needed to complete my refrigerator vent so I turned around and headed out to Curt’s.
5) As I was leaving Curt’s, Sara texted saying we needed more polyurethane. Walmart has the cheapest and was right on my way.
6) Now that I had all the parts for the refrigerator vent I could determine what parts I needed to put through the hole in the floor so I stopped back at Ace. They were not surprised to see me. This is at least the fifth time I’ve left the store and come back within an hour. Ace did have one part I will use to put through the floor, but not the 4 1/8″ hole saw I needed.
Back at home I got just a little work done before I had a session with my personal trainer.
7) On my way back from working out I stopped at another hardware store and found the correct size hole saw for the refrigerator vent. Now that’s a successful shopping day!
After working our Sara and I were feeling guilty about the dogs not getting enough exercise so we drove out to the foothills to take them for a nice walk in the woods. Then dinner, then a show, then…what happened to the day?!
I did take a bit of time to paint the exposed metal on the heater hole and to shield the exposed floor with a ring of aluminum. I coated the whole thing in silicone as a sealant and adhesive to hold in the aluminum.
I promised at least one picture a day but I don’t have much work to show. I should have done a GPS track of my shopping adventure. Here is a picture of my current hole saw collection! I am pretty well stocked between 3/4″ and 4 1/8″, but I’m sure if I need another hole it won’t be a size I have.
