RV Macerator prep and HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY Chelsea

Yes, Steveio is a very happy man.... He had another motorhome project to work on~!

The macerator arrived this weekend, so he is busy busy busy adapting the cap, figuring out which length drain hoses he wants to make, where he is going to wire in the 12 volt outlet for it, etc.   The only problem is with the near zero weather, he can not be out there rewiring that compartment in the motorhome yet to have the outlet powered to operate the thing.   I am thinking he can wait till we head somewhere south where it's warmer, rather than working in the cold and kneeling in the snow.

For those non-RVers... the macerator is kinda like a garbage disposal that chops stuff up before it gets rinsed away.  The only difference is that this goes on the outlet to our waste tanks and chops up the *poop* into tiny pieces so it can be pumped uphill,, downhill, wherever via a 1 inch hose.  That is opposed to the normal big 3" Stinky Slinky hose being gravity dumped into a hole in the ground.

(this is a stinky slinky below.. that just lays on the ground and gravity feeds the dump stuff into a hole.  It works ok, but you can see if unlevel terrain or too far away, the stinky slinky is not a good option)

So why did we buy it???   With a macerator, we can pump the holding tanks out at strange dumpstation locations,  or into a higher located septic drain, or and up into an outhouse hole at a national forest campground where they don't have dumpstations.  Even in our yard, we can pump it a longer distance around the corner of the house and down into our septic system with a long hose.  Our motorhome could never drive down there across our lawn to dump the tanks.  This will save us on dump station fees, usually $5-10 each time you go to a public dumpstation.

Sometimes, even when parked at a campsite with hookups and sewer, the dump hole is on the wrong side of the campsite for us.  This happens a lot because many campsites have the nice view out the back of the site and the utilities and dump hole are often located to the right of the site for back-in type campers and trailers.  But with a motorhome, our big windows are in the front... we have no windows in the back over the bed.  So to take advantage of these great views, we have to pull in forwards.  That puts the hookups on the *wrong* side for us.  (RVs generally have their dump and hookup items on the driver's side of a rig)
Having a macerator will help allow us to stretch a narrow 1 inch hose across under the rig and still dump easily both our grey and black water.

This device will hook onto our drain port via bayonet tabs, plug into a 12 volt outlet (that Steve is going to wire up himself soon)  and then get removed each time when the *job is done*.   He bought a higher grade of marine macerator with metal blades as opposed to the cheaper RV version with plastic blades.

These babies run upwards of $200!  Wow.. who knew that dumping your poop could cost so much?  But never fear, my bargain hunting husband found one on Ebay from a salvaged boat that was being parted out.  It looks like new and operates, so that is what he wanted, for the bargain price of $68.00 plus $12 shipping. He is going to Fleet Farm to buy good quality 1 inch farm hose for drainage.  Our kids gave us a Fleet Farm gift card that we need to use up, so yes, the kids bought us a Pooper Hose for Xmas!

Now for the gushy Granmuddah part of my blog post today...  

Yes.. our smallest grandbaby is turning ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!!!!  

 Little Chelsea will be here soon for the day for me to take care of her.  We will sing Happy Birthday and let her have some treats.  Her big party will be this weekend at Erin and Mark's ... so she will get presents then.

I took her Friday to her little story hour at the local library.  She sits with all the Big Kids in the pit area, and is walking quite well now, and scrambled off to join the Big Kids in line after each story.

The Big Kids were gentle with her and helped her. 

All these girls were petting her head like she was a new pet!  haha  

She is the youngest one there.  

They line up in front of the librarian story teller and get a sticker to put on their nametag.  It shows they sat quietly and listened to each story.  At the end of each story they line up, get a sticker, and then sit back down.  Three stories, three stickers!  Here she is picking out one from the sheet for her self.

(I know...gushy granmuddah posts...  but hey, it's important to me!) 

Gosh, hard to believe she has been here in our world for a YEAR!    

She isn't a baby anymore... she's a TODDLER.   Oh my!  

Good thing our daughterinlaw Heather is pregnant with another grandbaby, 

so we will still have tiny babies to cuddle again.   

Hey kids... keep those grandbabies coming!