attitude or altitude?

[MyronL]

I still get up at around six and make my coffee. Just not doing it at some campground someplace. Trailer sitting in the yard, look for things to do on it. For now, thanks, virus, it just sits. Yeah, we’re riding it out best we can. That’s why birds thought it was a safe place to build a spring nest. They built a nice one inside the trailer spare tire rim.

The fridge not cooling on propane is the current issue. It works great every other way but, on propane, just isn’t right. I am flummoxed. (Love that word.) When Tom’s RV had the trailer a couple months ago they did a thorough exam and got the fridge working perfectly on propane. I get it home and it is not working on propane. Trailer is parked level. So it comes down to altitude. Have concluded altitude is the only undiagnosed factor potentially governing performance.

There’s a thousand feet difference in altitude between my yard and Tom’s in Albuquerque. That just can’t be significant enough to effect performance on propane. But, maybe it is.

Ready to pull the trailer out for the first time in months. Will tow it as a test, to Albuquerque, down a thousand feet. Got it primed on shore power then, hooked up, switch fridge to battery power. You should only do that when the tow is running, so the fridge doesn’t kill the trailer battery.

I did the walk-around and everything came to a stop. That’s when I found the home of the birds. I love birds. I read they will fledge in 11 to 15 days. They looked nearly ready to do it, so we shut down, wait.

By the way, they are Canyon Towhees. So those birds have flown. Cannot help but admire they had lots of time and left me a very well constructed nest. I need now to find a way to discourage a return for another cycle of nature’s wonderful family plan.

Options:

1. Remove spare tire, cover rim with blockage.
2. Build a bird house for them and hang it nearby.
3. Attach a plastic owl, Mike, or wipe the rim with fox urine?

Will probably go with number two because it’s the most fun thing to do. Saw fox urine at Cabellas and grabbed the last bottle on the shelf. It’s for the day we go camping again, and a need to discourage hungry animals from dining on my truck wires. (I’ve been to Gilbert Ray.) Who knows, but, like birds nesting where you least expect them, you never know, right?

Fridge on battery, towing to Albuquerque. Plan is to get to a big parking lot then switch from battery power to propane and wait, to see what happens with the fridge cooling at the lower altitude.

Time --Fridge temp --Trailer temp --observation

10:40 am 64° 71° At home, 6700 ft elevation - Turn fridge on battery power 5 dots
11:13 am 63 73 - -Arrive Home Depot, ABQ, Switched fridge to propane 5 dots
11:26 am 62 - --Home Depot parking lot - 5,474 ft elevation
12 noon 58 79 ---Looking good.
1 PM 57 83 - -- Drive to Cabellas, elevation 5,148 ft, still on propane 5 dots
2:40 pm 64 89 - -Arrive now back home, and still on propane.

[gbaglo]

Something has been eating our unripe strawberries. Could be skunk, raccoon, squirrel, rats. Thought about fox urine as a deterrent, but only fox I've ever seen was in Prince Edward Island.
How do our local wildlife know to be afraid of fox?

[padlin]

Myron, do you have a freezer? I know some folks removed them to better cool the fridge. I ask as the freezer is what cools first, there would be the best place to check if the propane is working for a short term test.
At least that's the case with my fridge.

[MyronL]

They probably are only afraid of the smell. Do not get it on your hands.

Yes I have tried removing the freezer compartment. Helped a little but not enough. I am being very patient, though if push comes to shove I will look at a replacement fridge, or, just make the thing into an ice box.

Just bought another thermistor on line, $10, which I may install, though cannot see that's the problem since it cools great on shore power and battery power. Dometic wants over $40bucks for one. They can pound salt.

[escape artist]

Hi: MyronL... Sounds like a good time to make "Birds nest soup"!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Something has been eating our unripe strawberries. Could be skunk, raccoon, squirrel, rats. Thought about fox urine as a deterrent, but only fox I've ever seen was in Prince Edward Island.
How do our local wildlife know to be afraid of fox?

Foxes don't make themselves obvious, in part because they are sneaking up on prey, and in part because they are prey for larger canines. A fox family had a den on our property, and we never saw them, although we see the coyotes in the area occasionally (and hear them regularly). There are red foxes in B.C. (and every other province); you could easily have been within a hundred metres of one at some point even in Vancouver and not realized it.

[Mike Lewis]

Myron, I'd try all three: birdhouse, spray, plastic owl. I think the spray will be least effective-- it doesn't seem to help with my squirrel problem.

Years ago I had a cat that I had raised from a kitten. When she was young she wanted to sleep on my couch and I didn't want her there. So I bought some spray that cats aren't supposed to like and sprayed the couch. This didn't help. Then I sprayed the couch then put a sheet of plastic over it, secured with paper clips. I came home from work the next day and saw that the cat had wedged her way under the plastic and was snuggled up under it, breathing the spray. Poor kitty, I thought. I gave up and let her sleep where she wanted.

[gbaglo]

Sailors here buy the plastic owls and have them perched up the mast to keep gulls from crapping on their boats. Easy to spot these owls because there are usually a couple gulls perched next to them.

[padlin]

We used them on satellite dishes, didn't work for long so they eventually became the shop mascots.

[dfandrews]

Myron,
Did Tom's RV check the propane regulator output pressure under load?

[Ron in BC]

They probably did and we checked it several times at Q'site.

Ron

[h2owmn]

We have two kinds of foxes here. One is a native Sierra Nevada Red Fox, a threatened species, and "regular" red foxes that were at one time introduced for hunting and fur farming. My home is last on a dead end road with maybe ten acres of dense forest and undergrowth to the east. I see them frequently here in summer. One year a mom and kits took up residence for their morning sun spot on my front yard. Somewhere I have video of the three babies tumbling and wrestling around and mama sitting bored in the shade.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Foxes don't make themselves obvious, in part because they are sneaking up on prey

If that's the case, why aren't they doing their job instead of donating urine to the Fox Bank?

[cpaharley2008]

I'm curious as to how they harvest wild animal excretes? Fox and bear urine for example.....

[padlin]

There's some things in life I don't care to know, this is one of them.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by padlin

There's some things in life I don't care to know, this is one of them.

So true, perhaps no one knows....

[Vermilye]

How about zoos?

[alanmalk]

Our backyard foxes are not particularly shy. Mama and young ones occasionally walk down the street - safely on the sidewalk.


--
Alan

[canyonrider]

Originally Posted by MyronL

There’s a thousand feet difference in altitude between my yard and Tom’s in Albuquerque. That just can’t be significant enough to effect performance on propane. But, maybe it is.

Altitude change would be my guess. Have you checked your gas pressure at the regulator with a manometer while the trailer is in your yard? I had issues with our fridge when going to higher elevations (over 9500 ft), but resetting the pressure at the regulator mostly resolved those issues. I realize that you aren't that high up, but IIRC the manual for our fridge expressly stated that it was not designed for use over 5000 ft. (!).

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

Our backyard foxes are not particularly shy. Mama and young ones occasionally walk down the street - safely on the sidewalk.

True, some foxes are adapted to human presence, and even flourish in urban settings, probably particularly where larger predators are not active.

Great photo