Thursday, 21 February (part I)
On the road to Maxwell AFB Famcamp — Montgomery, Alabama
It’s great to be rolling down the road again! True, the Phaeton did get to drive around a bit while in Red Bay, but not enough to stretch her legs. It’s a sunny day; no sign of any thunderstorms, but I imagine we’ll be getting some wet stuff tonight if the radar images are any indication of what is awaiting us. It’s an easy drive from Red Bay back to Montgomery … a good time to write a post or two.
The last time we were here (Feb 1), we parked in front of the bay farthest from the road to take advantage of the warming rays of the sun. On that occasion, we had no internet whatsoever in the coach, but I was able to get an intermittent signal in Brannon’s lounge. It was a different story this time. We parked near the road and we had blazing fast internet. Either Verizon made some improvements to the cell tower in Red Bay in the last couple of weeks, or just moving a few hundred yards made all the difference in the world to getting a signal that our Wilson trucker’s antenna was able to boost.
A golden sunset sends us on our way to dinner with friends in Red Bay …
… and a colorful sunrise starts off our last day in northern Alabama.
We didn’t have to pull into a bay for today’s installation of an ultraviolet sterilization system on the water line that comes into the kitchen. This was a job that Mui was going to do, but we’re both paranoid about leaks, so we decided to have Brannon do it instead since he has invaluable information about the way the systems in Tiffin rigs work. Had we done it ourselves, we probably would have installed the unit on the main water line. Brannon suggested setting it up just for drinking water so as not to further reduce the water pressure coming into the Phaeton. Definitely a better course of action.
The bits and pieces needed for the install are laid out for the surgeon … ahem … Brannon.
Installing a UV water sterilization system in the rig was not something we had in mind. Until, that is, we went out for a pre-fulltiming dinner with some friends. Keith had installed a similar system in their cabin in West Virginia and shared enough information from his research to convince us to look at doing the same in the Phaeton.
What does UV sterilization do and how does it do it? I’ll let you read about that here. Suffice it to say that what organisms the UV light doesn’t kill, it renders sterile so that they can’t reproduce and make us sick. Considering that we will be getting our water from a variety of sources as we travel across the US and Canada, we felt this was a good precautionary measure to have. After checking out the RV Water Filter Store website, Mui ordered the UVC Lighting Model UV-2G. There is a unit that operates on 12V, but he opted for the AC version since we already have a 110 outlet in the under-sink cabinet.
Brannon made short work of the job at hand. He came into the rig shortly after 7:00a, and he was done by 8:45a. Knowing how frustrating it can be to work in tight spaces — as in the cabinet under the sink — I stayed out of the way and didn’t bring out my camera. While I sat on the couch, browsing the blogs I follow, Mui took a few pictures for today’s post.
The job entailed …
- drilling into the countertop to install the drinking water faucet we bought from Lowe’s in a finish that matches the existing faucet and sink wand
- tapping into the cold water line to add a t-connector for the drinking faucet plumbing
- installing an on/off valve between the t-connector and the sterilization unit to cut off the water if necessary (for example, to replace the bulb, which the manufacturer suggests doing after 9,000 hours, or once a year)
- attaching the water in/out hoses to the sterilization unit
- connecting the water-out hose to the plumbing for the drinking water faucet
- inserting the UV bulb into the sterilizing unit and mounting it on the brackets that came with the kit
(I may have left out a step or two since neither of us was under the cabinet doing the actual work, so don’t take this as gospel!)
After drilling into the countertop by the corner of the larger of the two kitchen sinks …
… the drinking faucet (left) is installed; the swivel head can be moved out of the way if necessary.
A look under the sink reveals all the t-connectors and whatnot that Brannon installed.
Using a piece of paper towel to hold the UV bulb, Brannon inserts it into the sterilization unit.
(The UV bulb comes in its own box with the warning not to handle it with bare hands.)
The unit is in place; the green light visible through the clear hose we picked up from Lowe’s
indicates that the UV light is working … and yes, that is the color of the UV light when you
look at it through a piece of plastic tubing … I checked it on the web ;-)
We have water!
A caution I have for anyone else who might install a similar unit … test the installation with both the water pump and city water so that the fittings can be tightened accordingly.
Brannon once again did a very professional installation for us, and we would not hesitate to recommend him. (He can be reached at 256-668-0973.)
We’re approaching Birmingham and there is a detour to negotiate, so I need to shift over to being the navigator — or the “nag”ivator, as some might say. Time to fill up — with diesel fuel for the Phaeton and with PB&J sandwiches for us. More later …
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