It was 8°F (-13°C) when we got out of bed around 8:25, and the hot water was frozen. :( We lit the propane-fired hot water heater to help it thaw. I had my normal breakfast, then did some computer work. I worked up a blog entry. The seller of the bad power converter on eBay would like me to return it to him, so I prepared the box and left around 11:55 in the Jeep.

I went to the UPS Store in Parker to ship back the bad power converter.

Then I went to the Parker Library to drop off and pick up items.

I returned to the RV around 12:35 and had lunch of Genoa salami and Swiss on rye. The hot water was fully functional by this time, so we were able to shower — yea! I did some computer work. J left around 3:40 to run an errand and returned around 4:00.

We had dinner around 6:20 of Bertolli Oven Bake Meals Italian Sausage Stuffed Shells and Texas Toast. It was the first time we had had the stuffed shells, and J really liked them. I did the dishes because J cooked.

It was 13° F (-10°C) when I finished cleaning up the kitchen! I did some computer work.

Water Emergency

Around 8:30, I heard an odd popping sound. At first I thought the water heater had blown up because the noise had come from that direction. I opened up the plumbing compartment, which is in the back corner of the office over the hot water heater, and saw that a the flexible hose from the water pump to the pressurized cold water system had popped off and water was spewing all over the floor. I quickly shut off the water to the pump and then turned off the pump by pulling the fuse because it wasn't happy that the plumbing wasn't pressurized. The hose had come loose from a barb fitting, so I reinstalled it and really tightened the hose clamp. Then I turned the water valve back "on." Actually, the "off" position drains the fresh water tank overboard, so it was good to get that back in the correct position before we lost too much water. Then I started to sop up the water that had spewed all over the carpeted plumbing compartment. I used our Extreme Shammy cloths, and they worked great. They're made of the same Super Absorbent Chamois, and by the same company, as the ShamWow! It was 5°F (-15°C) at 8:50, after the water emergency had been taken care of. I turned on the hot water heater to warm up the water to see if that would prevent the water from freezing overnight.

The water pump still sounded funny, and even worse than it had been, so I looked into water pumps. I think the problem is that the screen on the input side of the water pump is loaded with debris. The pump started making an odd noise after we had drained the fresh water tank a few times after filling up with iodine-laden water in Denali National Park, and in hindsight I think the screen probably started to collect a lot of debris then which made it harder for the pump to get enough water.

I did some computer work, and turned off the water heater before going to bed.