Living without electricity

[luvrbus]

Yep you find it all here,we are created equal but ideas vary a lot and I do mean a lot 

[Kirby-XL40-FL]

1. Solar and batteries are still electricity.

2. Jon is sympathetic to a kindred spirit who still uses a flip phone.

[Kirby-XL40-FL]

3. No criticism intended in any of 1 or 2.....

[Zephod]

FYI

i've read the skoolie forum posts mentioned here. Zephod, I can't attest to whether the skoolie group was mocking you or not but you have to understand that both on the skoolie forum and here (again, I am on the skoolie forum too so I've read in the past every single post you're talking about) and it's pretty immature that they were mocking you on that forum, but do understand that your plumbing and battery bank ideas are sometimes confounding. I've tried to understand them myself and don't always. I don't know if you're genius or unique but try to understand where some of us are coming from. We are a group that discusses mostly reasonable ideas and help each other out on projects related to our coaches and their converted interiors. I think when you try to reinvent the electricity or plumbing wheel you're not going to find a lot of support discussing certain things that aren't necessarily relevant to most of the club members. Was this the plumbing photo that they were discussing? In my opinion, that's a unique way to plumb, but I'm guessing it works for you, so it's not really an issue. But you do discuss using your bathroom sink as a urinal...and again, this kind of discussion isn't going to find a lot of support here at BCM. More power to you, just trying to help.

Yes. I couldn't get a small P trap. The usual size just took up too much space and the water flow - who cares if it's slow. It's a tiny handbasin and I'm using water supplied from either a jug beside the sink or a cooler with a faucet beside the sink. The clear tubing was lying around so it got used.

The waste barrels that they couldn't be bothered to read about and look at photos of are 15 gallon uline drums from a local car wash. They had detergent in them and hence cannot be used for fresh water. I'm putting waste water in the bottom and combining the input-output piping so when I empty, I just turn a garden hose faucet. There are indeed vent pipes. Each barrel has two threaded holes. The top one has my vent pipe.

As far as pee goes, I've heard it's not good to pee in the poo container but I'll have to see if that's a load of bunk, given everything gets a scoop of cat lit on top. If it turns out to be true. Peeing in the sink is an option but somebody I know came up with using wide mouthed orange juice bottles from Walmart.  That's an option to explore too.


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[Zephod]

1. Solar and batteries are still electricity.

2. Jon is sympathetic to a kindred spirit who still uses a flip phone.

I like my flip phone. I had a smart phone but when it became too challenging to charge (it would like this cord but not that cord and this charger but not that charger and finally would only charge to 75% and only if it was plugged in all day and only if it was in my car), I switched to a flip phone to see if I'd notice a difference.

Well, I looked back and said hang on, I paid $300 for that smart phone in 2013 which was then about a weeks wages. Then I back calculated that I'd spent $2100 over the years in phone service. That totaled $2400 or slightly more than half the original cost of my bus!

I noticed in a trial month of using a Tracfone that I really didn't miss anything about the smartphone. The tracfone worked at work but not at home so after that month I got a Verizon flip phone for $12.88+tax and a connection at $15 a month +tax.

I've been using my Verizon phone now for 3 months and do not miss a smart phone one little bit. I've saved over a hundred dollars in phone charges and a couple of hundred over buying a new smartphone.

The kicker.... I get 300 minutes a month and last month I used a whopping 75 of them! It's also nice that I can charge that phone once every few weeks! It'll run for 30 days between charges.

Yes, I put in solar powered ventilation. I did have it originally direct hook up fan to panel but decided I might shift more air in cooler weather using a battery and charge controller. In retrospect I made an error. For the $100 or so I spent on battery, panels and charge controller, I could have bought 100 packs of 4aa batteries from the dollar store and replacing them twice a week (if they were on continually) I could have had a year of continuous powered ventilation.

Given that the two 10W panels produce pitiful amounts of power, I won't be wasting further time, money nor effort on solar power. When the battery dies, the fans are going back to direct hookup.


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[B_K]

1. Solar and batteries are still electricity.

2. Jon is sympathetic to a kindred spirit who still uses a flip phone.

Hey whats wrong with a "flip phone" I use one too!
  BK 

[sledhead]

I like my flip phone and would not trade it for a smart phone

if you cant find me leave a message at work and I will get back to you on working hours !

only a small few people have my cel # and it is going to stay that way

why some people are glued to there smart phone is beyond   me 

but to each there own

dave

[chessie4905]

I guess I won't mention how I love my bag phone...

[chessie4905]

I guess I won't mention how I love my bag phone...At least till 2008.

[bigred]

Had an old AT&T phone that I referred to as the 'BRICK









Had an old AT&T cell phone that I called the "brick"because that was exactly what it looked like ,a brick with an antenna sticking out of it .I listened to my friends telling me that I needed to get rid of that antique and get a modern phone.I did !! Worst mistake I ever made ,I never found a dead spot with that phone .This thing i've got now ,you never know if it will "hit"a tower or not!!!










=
'

[Zephod]

I like my flip phone and would not trade it for a smart phone

if you cant find me leave a message at work and I will get back to you on working hours !

only a small few people have my cel # and it is going to stay that way

why some people are glued to there smart phone is beyond   me 

but to each there own

dave

I notice the vast majority of smart phone users seem to use Facebook or play Facebook games. I'm rather glad I'm not addicted to any of this social media garbage.


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[luvrbus]

 Solar,water, mean comments, peeing in a orange juice bottle from WM to a brick cell phone I would say we got this one well covered in detail  

[Jon]

I can see that Kirby is going to be a problem, but as long as BK has my back all is good.



On all of the forums I am on there is no lack of folks who seem at one extreme or another, and sometimes I would like to say things I know I will regret. But my view is tempered by the fact that as a group of folks with a special interest we need to avoid scaring people away by being mean to others. I don't always keep my mouth shut and there are times I eat a lot of crow. But to encourage others to join us as the crazy bus people we need to at the very least show them courtesy and respect. We can still constructively criticize ideas.

[DoubleEagle]

Zephod might be unconventional, but it seems to me that he has been treated fairly well over the course of his postings. It is strange that he would feel less welcome on the Skoolie forum, but that could be because his views are controversial, and the members of that forum might not be as accommodating. Clearly, his plumbing ideas stink (as in not in compliance with any plumbing code), but they might be a severe reflection of the need to use parts that could be scrounged. If there are forums dealing with survival and alternative forms of energy, he might benefit from them. He undoubtedly must cringe at the vast amounts of energy we use to keep our coaches comfortable, and the cost, but that is our lot. Living without electricity in an all-electric coach does not work well, just as solar panels and battery operated fans will not cool a school bus.

[bigred]

I'm a school bus driver so I'm obviously fabulously wealthy. Living in my bus rather than crashing with a friend as I have been for the last 3 years is the goal.

Elimination of bills makes my income more survivable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatal      Maybe you should check in to moving to S.C .Heard on T V the other day where they are paying experienced SBD's over seventeen dollars an hour.Sure is an improvement over what I got paid as a student driver.