**an update** on the DEV bus.
first off, the bus has been once again my saviour as I spend lots of time in it when coffee shops and restaraunts get too busy for me to supress my Cov-anxiety.. (or when they are freezing cold inside)
so.. I ended uo in minnesota.. why? in the winter? ha! who knows but im here
and my bus is here.. and the coffee at this coffee shop i found is good.. really I packed a bag tossed it on a seat, packed my work stuff and took off.. shortly after leaving my phone went off with some errors from a server in my office so I headed there to fix it. that sent me 50 miles from home in a Northwest direction.. alas i kept that theme going..
one thing of note is that in ohio and indiana and parts of michigan, coffee shops, restaraunts, and the like deem it necessary to keep the places freezing cold.. ironically when I go up north where everyone is used to the cold.. they crank the heat.. all these places are so nice and warm inside!! when I was south in Knoxville and chattanooga it was the same.. Nice n warm inside,, I guess ohio is a 'girthy' state so places are cold.. <sigh>
so now that im here.. this is Huge test of my heating systems.. its going to be minus 10f tonight (new years eve) and -18 to -20f tomorrow night.
its 14 this morning and of course the bus started easily.. pretty amazing for no glow plugs / no grid heater. it fired up easy..
I doubt it will fire up on its own tomorrow morning.. and I wont try real hard. no reason to stress out the batteries and started. (I have a total of 6 fully charged group 31 AGM batteries). 2 starters and 4 house (which can be connected by isolator engage if needed).
D&E replaced my broken heater parts as werll as sent me a new heater.. I installed the new one and then fixed the original. so the big thing will be can the diesel heater start up in that cold. theoretically I should be able to run the diesel heater to heat the coolant loops for an hour or so then fire the engine.
one thing NEVER EVER DO!!! is heat the coolant loops for the cabin with the engine valves closed and then open the valves.. you literally could destroy your engine in seconds by sending 180 degree water into a -10 engine.. so its a MUST to make sure the cabin to engine valves are Open when you start the heating process. the system capacity is large enough that the coolant has time to disperse the heast evenly into the block and heads as it warms up.
the hotel im staying in is the type with a massive Atrium so i can feel comfortable about being out and about in the Lobby to ring in the new year tonight.. they keep the heat and ventilation active all the time. you can feel the air move..
im Vaxxed and Boosted.. ive had a *LOT* of psychological grief lately in regards to getting out and about.. at this point in my life, getting severely damaged by covid is likely a LOT LESS than the severe damage im taking psychologically.. losing interest in my passions and work is a red-light warning sign.. thus I need to fix that.. No I dont need to go to concerts or massive parties or sit in overcrowded bars or nightclubs..
However i need to get back to road trips.. for years I took many road trips per year.. all over the place.. the last 2 years they have been very sparse.. one major trip per year.. other than an occasional work jaunt.. (winter '21 was many trips to chicago for work.. that project is the only reason i survived that winter)..
so here we are on a small adventure.. driving and testing out various systems on my bus and building on the tech on the bus.. finding coffee shops to hang out in and enjoy.
-Christopher