Massive snow storm shuts down Norcold refrigerator!

[oldmansax]

For those who don't know, we are having a massive snow storm here in Maryland.

Everything has been fine in the bus, we have been warm & dry.    If we loose power I don't even have to go outside. Just start up the genny & switch over.

However, I went to the fridge about 2 hours ago & found it dead!    NO lights, no power, no nuttin!   

I went out side to check the breakers and found the bay door where the breaker box is froze up solid. Fortunately, the other side was out of the wind & I was able to get that door open & crawl thru to the box. Breakers were fine....  HHMMMMMMM!   

Decided to take to access vent off & see if the Norcold had blown a fuse. Next problem was cleaning the ice off the side of the bus & vent without scratching the paint or bending up my aluminumnumnum vent..

Finally got that off & found the cavity about half full of blown snow. The control board was covered with a light dusting but enough to turn it white. Got a 2 inch paint brush I use to dust off things & tried cleaning the snow away. No go! It was frozen on! I know! I'll get the wife's hair drier & dry off the snow!

Got the drier, & found the cord was only 4' long & closest receptacle was 10' away. What's wrong with the hair drier folks anyway??!!! Don't they know somebody may have to dry off the refrigerator control board in a bus in a snow storm & not have a receptacle 4' away???!!!!

Oh well!! Managed to break a trail out to the service truck and beat the ice off the doors (who cares about paint of a service truck?) got a cord, trudged back to the bus, plugged up everything and started drying the snow up with the drier on low. Soon figured out the snow was blowing in on the board faster than I was melting it. No Problem! Just turn 'er up on high!

BAM!!!!! Tripped the main breaker in the bus! Guess I can't run the bus, 2 electric heaters, the satellite dish, internet, router, computers, TV, about 10 wall warts, and who knows what else AND MELT SNOW WITH A HAIR DRIER AT THE SAME TIME!!!   

Turned off the heaters & opened the bay door, crawled back thru the bay, reset the breaker, crawled out, and try again!

By now the access cavity was half full of snow so I scooped out most of it with my hand & started the drier.

Half hour later (by my watch, it seemed like at least 3 hours standing in the wind & snow) the board was dry & I could see the designated refrigerator receptacle. 

All the fuses checked good so I hollered inside for wifey to try turning on the fridge. 

"Houston, we have ignition!"   

Now all I gotta figure out is how to keep 40 MPH wind driven snow from filling up the access and still keep the vent open.

If I can find the camera I will post some pics of the bus in snow tomorrow.

TOM

[cody]

See tom, maybe now people will stop thinking we enjoy this lol, ain't it fun? lol. I told frank in the chat room last night when the storm was just starting to wind up that he should have moved north for the winter lol.

[bubbaqgal]

See tom, maybe now people will stop thinking we enjoy this lol, ain't it fun? lol. I told frank in the chat room last night when the storm was just starting to wind up that he should have moved north for the winter lol.

t

Now Cody.....what's not fun about it?  It was great fun to sit here in 55 degree temps and read that story.   

[Tom Y]

You may want to try a furnace filter. That should stop the snow.  Tom Y

[TomC]

Just another reason to use a compressor type refer.  Good Luck, TomC

[Dreamscape]

Very funny Tom! 

Hope y'all warm up soon!

Paul

[bobofthenorth]

Good story Tom.  I'm thinking that if the goal of ventilation is to keep the coils cool then maybe in your current circumstances ventilation isn't all that important.  IOW, a cardboard filter might work just fine until it warms up.

[oldmansax]

Cody: If I had wanted to live in 2 feet of snow I WOULD HAVE MOVED IN WITH YOU!!   

Cat: that's just mean!  LOL! 

TomC: My last box was a compressor type & had a control board in the same place, although domestic boxes do not. I still like the 3-way feature for boon docking.

As far as cardboard & furnace filters, I am a little hesitant to use anything that combustible near the back of the unit, although the chance of fire would be slim. I am thinking about a finer screen over the vent than what I am using now or even some of that aluminum filter material used in range hoods.

If the door isn't frozen shut again today, I will try to post some pics.

TOM

[cody]

I like the furnace filter idea, hadn't thought about that approach.  Tom, we're enjoying a very mild winter here, all the storms have gone south of us and the temps have been hanging aroung the mid teens, it's really a nice break.  Biggest problem is with below normal snowfall means a dry summer and the fire season can get going earlier, up here the ground water levels depend a lot on the snowfall.

[buswarrior]

Priorities?

Welcome to what happens when you start screwing around in real winter conditions!

Thank you for sharing a great illustration of how messing around in a storm may put a perfectly good ship to the bottom of the ocean!

Shut off the gas and wait for calmer seas?

The bottom step of the front door will be nice and cool for the milk, and out in the snowdrift is a fine freezer...

The part that was missing is returning to find the other bay door frozen shut behind you, being unable to re-set the tripped breaker, or finding that the electric system fried itself over a hair drier for the refrigerator.

Glad your adventure was of the "entertaining" variety!!!

Having participated in attempting to operate a coach-based command vehicle that required opening no less than 4 baggage bay doors to manipulate the electric system, plus dual 120/240 and 12/24 volt breaker panels upstairs, 2 x 8K generators, shore power options, batteries, inverter...
yes, some know-it-all engineer out of his league was involved...

I'd put it all up in the coach so you can stay warm and dry and accessible while you trouble shoot.

The hardy, the brave and the unknowing, venture north in the winter, the rest run south for cover!

Where's the adventure in that?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[philiptompkjns]

I'm sitting here in Houston wondering why you even need a refrigerator if your bus is frozen shut!

[Christyhicks]

Ahhhhh, why is it too SO much pleaseure in reading your post? perhaps it was because this is EXACTLY the type of thing that happens to us!  The year we went to Arcadia and lost our car the following day in Tampa. . . we were caught in an ice storm in Dallas and actually had to get a hair dryer out to defrost the lock just to get back inside our bus, ha ha.  Lucky for us, the outlet was only a foot from the lock!!!!

Thanks for the entertainment!  Unfortunately, we returned home today, only to meet up with a weather forecast indicating it'll start snowing tonight and will have blowing snow all day tomorrow. . yiippppeee. .  now where are the keys to that bus?  Christy Hicks

[gus]

TomY,

That is a very good idea, why didn't I think of that? I've been trying to think of some way to keep wind and rain from blowing out my Norcold when it is on LP and traveling down the road, this should do it!

Thanks.

[Ednj]

Tom,
I took this picture this morning, just North of you in Delaware.

[cody]

I'm not sure I understand all that is going on with our weather, so far this is our second mild winter in a row, most of the storms that would normally hit us have been running south of us.  Ed, is that your racing bus?