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building budget auto-backup system
well, I ended up getting a thermostat controlled switch to control the overhead 150w light and a 1500w heater, I set on med power. The thermostat only went down to 50 degrees so I set it to that. I drained the storage tank as far as I could (about 1 foot of water left), which I did last year and it survived the winter, so hopefully it will this year too. I put some environmentally friendly antifreeze in all the p traps and toilet tanks (stuff is expensive at $18 a gallon!). The pump house is well insulated, and I put a new seal around the door. I drained the water heater, and put a sign on the electrical panel reminding me to fill it first before energizing the circuit, so I don't forget like I did last winter resulting in the ruin of a brand new water heater. I hooked up a fitting that allowed me to use the iar compressor to fillup the bladder tank with compressed air a few times, then went around the house opening alll the valves until nothing but air came out. Put out about 20 rat/mice bait-traps, left the monitor kerosene heater in the house set to 42 degress, locked everything up and am crossing mmy fingers that all the new copper piping I put in the pump house as well as the old junk piping in the mobilehome survive the winter.
So...... hopefully that's enough. I've got no protection for power outages, so I'm at the mercy of things beyond my control there.
I left the day a big storm was coming in. There was already snow in the area about 500' above me from smaller storms that came through over the prior two days. It was 36 degrees when I left at 1pm, so odds are good when the big storm hit later that night, the place got dumped on.
So now, I just sit doen here in so cal and worry about the place I'd rather be. Hopefully by next wiunter, I can be there full time to babysit the joint.
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building budget auto-backup system
I know it's a little late, but, there is a very simple way to make a thermostat function at a different temperature range than the manufacturer's settings.
The thermostat uses a bi-metallic coil spring which rotates a mercury switch as it reacts to changes in ambient temperature. However, the switch does not know which way is up. If you mount the thermostat on the wall out of plumb, that is rotated either direction, then the 'on' point and the 'off' point get shifted also. It just takes a little experimenting to get the shifted temperatures calibrated back to the dial. I just adjust them so that the reading on the face of the thermostat is exactly 20° off and put a note on it to that effect.
I did this with the alarm systems at my seasonal homes, then hooked the thermostat to one alarm zone. If the alarm goes off it auto-dials my cell phone automatically, the zone that is registering trouble tells me if it is the temperature and I can either call someone or go myself.
Best of luck.
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building budget auto-backup system
My parents have a place in the northern part of WV in the mountains and they winterize it every fall. They actually have the pressure tank and everything buried in the ground inside a barrel and it has worked well so far. They drain the lines and put marine antifreeze in the traps so they don't freeze and bust. They cut all the power and take everything out of the fridge. It has worked well so far and in the spring, they open it back up.
I did notice you said you had a trailer. My concern would be snow build up on the roof. Two years ago we had to clean their trailer roof off which had 4" of ice plus 36 inches of snow on it. A guy up the road wasn't so lucky and his trailer caved in. My uncle's trailer had some of the trusses break, so he put a house type roof on it.
good luck
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building budget auto-backup system
There's a snow shed built over the trailer. It's pretty heavy duty and has a pretty steep slope.
Tom, I thought of playing with the tstat some, as it actually had some leeway available past the 50 degree mark, but I had no way to drop the temperature to test it. I was afraid of setting it too low.
So, I guess Ill deal with the extra hit on the utility bill for a few months.
Looks like Ill be putting a manufactured home on the kand in the spring anyways and getting rid of the trailer, so I guess I have some tiem to think about how to get it all right.
It really sucks that the government has so muych say so about what you can or can not put on your land. If I put the new home on the land, I have sixty days to get rid of the old. What the hell business is it of theirs anyways?
I went down to the building department today to pull a permit for a rewire job I'm doing on a duplex down here in LA. I've paid these things many times, but this is the first time that it hit me as to how ridiculous it is they charge us per outlet, switch etc..
I'm getting pretty sick of all these taxes disguised as fees. They tax everything you do. Soon they'll be counting how many times we breathe and tax us for that.
I'm really starting to understand the frustration of our forefathers that caused them to revolt against the crown.
It's all out of control anymore.
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10-22-2004, 10:09 
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