Things that go "POP" in the night! - really scarry!
A bit of background first.
We just returned from a really great week-end camp out, in spite of a bit of rain Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Previous trip out was about 2 week ago when my water heater died because I turned it on while on by-pass. Got it fixed at my dealer. It turned out to be the thermostat and the heating element replaced.
So, this last Friday night, everything is perfect! Water heater running perfect, watching the television laying on the bed with a big bowl of pop-corn all snugged up together and the faithful dog all stretched out completely exhausted from the events of the day.
Then it happened! A very, very loud metallic sounding "POP!"
What in the world was that? My first though was, it was definitely a metallic pop and immediately I thought, maybe the water heater got too hot and cracked! My wife though a nut or a stick hit the roof the of camper. But this was not a "thud", this is a metallic "POP!"
Couldn't figure it out, so finally went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, fast asleep when all of a sudden another "POP!"
OH MY GOSH! What is going on? Water heater appears to be just fine. I went outside and check under the camper thinking if it was the water heater that just exploded, there would be water running somewhere! Nope, water heater dry as a bone! And took a flash light and looked up ... and we were not parked under trees. (so could not be a branch or a nut from a tree).
Next morning we were now in the living room area watching the television when it happened again! POP! This time, it came from behind us. Scared the dickens out of both of us. Now, I'm thinking ... is the frame of the trailer breaking apart under stress? Did I tighten the stabilizer jacks too much and the frame is cracking apart? That's how bad the "POP" was.
I started getting dressed so I could go outside and this time, check under the trailer. It still sounded like it came from the direction of the water water heater, which was no physically behind us were we were sitting.
Then ... my wife found it!
As soon as I begin, I won't have to finish, you'll figure this out pretty fast!
We have an electric cooler. Plugged in one way it cools. Plugged in the opposite way it heats!
Before leaving the house I plugged it in with 24 Coca Cola's in a cans in it, and you guessed it! It was on "HEAT" and not cold!
And yup! What we heard were the cans exploding under the heat!
What a mess! But at least they were inside the cooler and confined and nothing got messed up in the camper! 7 of the 24 cans has exploded! The rest were almost too hot to touch. Got them out, got them cooled down and put in the refrigerator, go the cooler clean up and everything is back to normal.
Sheesh! What a scary experience thinking your camper is exploding! We can laugh now, but a couple nights ago we sure were stumped and confused and concerned!
Just goes to show you, none of us are above making stupid mistakes!
I think I will use a permanent marker and indicate which side of the plug is "COLD" and which is "HOT." For some reason, my brain must have having trouble processing Red to Red or Blue to Blue!
We just returned from a really great week-end camp out, in spite of a bit of rain Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Previous trip out was about 2 week ago when my water heater died because I turned it on while on by-pass. Got it fixed at my dealer. It turned out to be the thermostat and the heating element replaced.
So, this last Friday night, everything is perfect! Water heater running perfect, watching the television laying on the bed with a big bowl of pop-corn all snugged up together and the faithful dog all stretched out completely exhausted from the events of the day.
Then it happened! A very, very loud metallic sounding "POP!"
What in the world was that? My first though was, it was definitely a metallic pop and immediately I thought, maybe the water heater got too hot and cracked! My wife though a nut or a stick hit the roof the of camper. But this was not a "thud", this is a metallic "POP!"
Couldn't figure it out, so finally went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, fast asleep when all of a sudden another "POP!"
OH MY GOSH! What is going on? Water heater appears to be just fine. I went outside and check under the camper thinking if it was the water heater that just exploded, there would be water running somewhere! Nope, water heater dry as a bone! And took a flash light and looked up ... and we were not parked under trees. (so could not be a branch or a nut from a tree).
Next morning we were now in the living room area watching the television when it happened again! POP! This time, it came from behind us. Scared the dickens out of both of us. Now, I'm thinking ... is the frame of the trailer breaking apart under stress? Did I tighten the stabilizer jacks too much and the frame is cracking apart? That's how bad the "POP" was.
I started getting dressed so I could go outside and this time, check under the trailer. It still sounded like it came from the direction of the water water heater, which was no physically behind us were we were sitting.
Then ... my wife found it!
As soon as I begin, I won't have to finish, you'll figure this out pretty fast!
We have an electric cooler. Plugged in one way it cools. Plugged in the opposite way it heats!
Before leaving the house I plugged it in with 24 Coca Cola's in a cans in it, and you guessed it! It was on "HEAT" and not cold!
And yup! What we heard were the cans exploding under the heat!
What a mess! But at least they were inside the cooler and confined and nothing got messed up in the camper! 7 of the 24 cans has exploded! The rest were almost too hot to touch. Got them out, got them cooled down and put in the refrigerator, go the cooler clean up and everything is back to normal.
Sheesh! What a scary experience thinking your camper is exploding! We can laugh now, but a couple nights ago we sure were stumped and confused and concerned!
Just goes to show you, none of us are above making stupid mistakes!
I think I will use a permanent marker and indicate which side of the plug is "COLD" and which is "HOT." For some reason, my brain must have having trouble processing Red to Red or Blue to Blue!
