I had, what seemed at the time, a major setback. I woke up in my van, and started my usual morning routine of taking Cosmo out to pee, making coffee, and getting back in bed to read the NY Times headlines. About 5 minutes in, there was a smell, and I panicked. It was the acrid scent of burned wires, or an electrical fire. That smell is unmistakable. I leaped out of bed, and searched for the source. No fire. No smoke. I sniffed and sniffed, and the smell faded, and I wondered if I imagined it or perhaps smelled smoke from someplace nearby. We got up and went for a long walk. When I returned to the van, the smell was there, clear as day. And I noticed the clock on the microwave was not lit. And the fridge wasn’t running. I looked in my fuse box and saw nothing. I took the van to an RV repair place, and after quite a bit of futzing with the wrong thing (a GFI outlet), they finally took the cover off the electrical panel and sure enough, every neutral (white) wire had burned and melted. The circuit panel is under my bed, so I’m quite lucky not to have burned up in bed! I am also quite fortunate that it didn’t set my van on fire.
The RV place said they were booked up solid for weeks and couldn’t do the repair for quite some time. I went to another RV repair place, but their service guy was off that day. As luck would have it, I told a client about my issue and he asked to have a look. He said “This is definitely in my wheelhouse. I’d be happy to replace that for you.” I was stunned. Could he do it? (I was pretty certain he could). WHY would he OFFER to do it? (Because he is one of the nicest guys I know.) I accepted. Long story short, Lenny picked out a new electric box on Amazon, I ordered it, and he came over last weekend and replaced it. It was a huge task (from my perspective) but Lenny just plugged away (no pun intended), one wire at a time, until everything was fixed. I now have a new, upgraded electrical system. It all works flawlessly!
My solar system arrived last week. I ordered it back in September, but it is a Point Zero Titan 500 system. They are selling like hotcakes during the pandemic and are on back order for about 4 months. Mine came in and once again, my friend Lenny has offered his assistance. We laid it all out inside my building (it is cold/snowy/sleeting/raining the past two weeks) to see if we have all the necessary hookups and to test the system out before installing the panels permanently on the roof of my van. So far, so good.
I got a letter from the attorney of the person who is buying my building asking for info about the mortgage, and other questions needed for the settlement paperwork. We’re moving right along and I expect to finalize the sale sometime at the end of March. It’s finally really happening. I’m clearing out my building, giving away everything I no longer need, or that won’t fit into the van. Once the solar is hooked up, I’ll be ready to hit the road.