I mentioned this to Neighbor D, who laughed in my face. But I’m a firm believer in the old aphorism, “If it’s a stupid idea that works, it’s not a stupid idea.”
Plus it’s my cabin, and I can bolt a completely incongruous handle on it if I want to.
I’ve had incidents in which I got up on the roof with no problem, but lacking the peer pressure to act brave it took me quite a while to work up the nerve to get back down. This would be one of those incidents, because I noticed the first time I was up here that there’s a great place to brace the ladder but nothing to hang onto while transitioning. And I had this old handle lying around, and a couple of right-sized lag bolts. So now it’s there, and in the fullness of time I’ll paint it green and it’ll be much less conspicuous. One day after I’m gone people will look the place over, point, and say, “WTF?” But now you know why it’s there.
No painting today. I’m not feeling it, plus there are lots of little things to do. S&L are gone till tomorrow evening which means more Ghost-related back-and-forth, there’s the aforementioned stranger visit, and little chores that have gone begging. In spare moments I’ve been wiring the inside of the addition; it wasn’t really on the schedule that way but it turned out I couldn’t get along well without my exterior outlet and that involved the only significant run of new wire, so it made sense to just go ahead and do that. (By the way, to the person who sent me that salvaged Romex? Perfect.) The 120v wiring is negligible, really. The 12v lighting will take most of a day, and the first part is climbing under the cabin to lay out a bunch of conduit. Not really looking forward to that part.
That is a damn fine handle in the perfect spot. Good on you!
I have less charitable thoughts in mind for neighbor d…
That handle will make a great place to tie off the ladder.
I’m a great believer in tying off ladders.
Are you putting in a 120 outlet where it would be usable for that AC unit, when Frigidaire gives me a response on the startup current?
Best location would be near an east or north window, since you’d probably only use it late in the day, and those sides would have the least heat load so it would operate more efficiently…
I like that handle! Every time I go up on my roof by way of a ladder, I have a rope on the other side of the cabin, tied to a tree.
Smart move on the handle! A great place to tie off the ladder as Kentucky pointed out. It’s tough enough getting on and off a ladder when you got all your limbs. It’s got to be really scary with a gimpy body part.
You know, I was just thinking this morning of ways to secure the top of the ladder. And tying the thing to the handle never once occurred to me. D’oh…
Curiously, Mark, there is a new outlet near the north window. Not that I seriously expect to ever use a compressor-style air conditioner in that window. Ever…
A new care package is being assembled, Need more ROMEX? Phone wire? Open air knife switches, rheostats, lighting rods….Anything packable? 😉 Sorry, no Abby Normal brains remain.
No problem. Is it still “hot season” there? Or has monsoon cooled things down as night approaches? And is your 600 watt inverter rating for continuous load? Or for peak?
Still haven’t heard back from Frigidaire, but if it’s not too hot at night, I won’t push them. By the way, how much other 120 volt stuff do you use shortly before bedtime?
For the record the Magnum Energy 612AE inverter has a 600 watt continuous load rating, 1000 watt 30-second surge. But I’ve tripped the surge limiter with a hung-up power drill, so I don’t have a lot of hope for an air conditioner compressor.
At night about the only other 120V appliance is the laptop, usually.
Could use some thermostat wire, Terrapod, but only if it’s already laying around. Light-duty wire is cheap at the hardware store.
The compressor on that unit is rated for “low voltage start” which I think means it starts with the compressor unloaded and then cuts it in in a manner that minimizes load problems:
http://www.frigidaire.com/Home-Comfort/Air-Conditioning/Window-Mounted-AC/FFRA0511R1/
Shouldn’t get anywhere near that 1 KW, nor anywhere near 30 seconds for startup load. Has the temperature moderated for the year? Or are you still getting cooked at night? Ben’s calculation was ~85 amp hours load on your batteries, although at first glance that looks like it’s giving a very low efficiency to your inverter.
Is that something your system could live with on sunny days? I expect that on rainy days, you aren’t likely to need anywhere near as much cool as you do on days when it doesn’t rain…
Also, once you get that Kubota loaded on the trailer, is there any chance said trailer could detour to your range for a few minutes before it hits the road, Jack? I expect you’ll have to be able to start it to get it on the trailer, and if the “road” isn’t too bad betwixt where it is now and the range and where it needs to go later, that should make easy work of your previous Waterloo…
Just a tip… “a bunch of conduit” For your future sanity, you might want to buy your conduit bends in the electrical aisle rather than the plumbing department.
I don’t think its stupid either, many bathrooms / showers have grab bars for the purpose of steadying you when you enter / leave the area. A grip to keep you from splitting your skull open on ground below – I’d consider that good sense !