Getting ready to leave for our summer trip involves plenty of work. I tested the telescope with the solar filter and camera mount to make sure everything would work well when viewing the eclipse. Note the sunspot:
I filled the fresh water tank and turned on the pump which supplies pressure to all the fixtures in the RV. I heard a spraying noise, and ran into the master bathroom to find the toilet leaking fresh water. I winterized the RV after our 2016 Assateague Island Sukkos trip, which involves opening low-point drains and then opening all water fixtures to allow the water to drain out of the fixtures and out the low-point drains. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of the toilets as water fixtures, so I didn’t do this. The toilet’s supply valve must have been filled with water and cracked over the winter when it froze. Getting the supply valve disconnected from the toilet was easy:
I ordered two new valves, since the kids’ toilet broke in the same way. The new valves won’t arrive before we leave, so I had them shipped to my brother’s house where they should be waiting for us when we arrive on Sunday. In the mean time, I capped the water supply line so we can use the water in the rest of the RV:
For now we’ll have to flush by filing a container with water and manually pouring it into the toilet. So much for our glamorous RV lifestyle.