Old School In Bulgaria: Breakfast in Julian

Monday, 19 August 2013

Breakfast in Julian

This weekend I went to work (my recording studio) on the Saturday to give myself a chance to play with Julian and find out just what I need to do to get him fully on the road.

My biggest concern was the electrics as this is not something I have any confidence in at all. I spent some time the previous week talking to a work colleague about what to look for (which was incredibly helpful) and then my business partner (who is far more competent than I when it comes to anything like this) also took a look and talked through what he had seen. None of this left me feeling any more comfortable however. One good thing was that I had seen the electrics working when I test drove the camper, with even the air conditioning switching on.

So, in an attempt to get a quick win I decided the first thing to focus on the LPG system with the hope of cooking my dinner on the cooker. To this end I headed across town to the nearest LPG filling station and eventually managed to attach the nozzle to the charging point; I had all the adapters which had been sold with the van however I didn't know which adapter was the UK version.

This is the LPG refueling and control area thing

Once I had the nozzle attached I pressed the big red button and not very much happened for a very long time; it took AGES to rack up about £5 of fuel and that did not seem right. As my friend went to pay I fiddled around some more in the refill point and spotted a very helpful CAUTION sticker which had been covered in grime. When I cleaned it I realised that I had not done what it was warning me to and, once I had identified the valve and opened it, a huge amount of gas escaped very fast. In addition, the tank gauge was now up to 95% full.

The warning sticker I didn't notice til after trying to refuel

Whoops.

I got back without exploding, though, and realised that probably the gas had been full all along, I just need to turn on the isolation valve which I had also discovered while turning taps randomly at the petrol station.

It was the work of a few minutes (and a trip to the shop to buy a utility lighter) to get the cooker ring lit for the first time.

This is actually the first time I lit the cooker

I then turned to the fridge which is a dual mode unit claiming to run either off the gas or the electric (though whether the 12v or 120v or 240v I was unsure; more of that later). The fridge has some very clear instructions on it so I ensured that the isolation valve was open and followed them.

The fridge instructions and control panel

Nothing. Not even a glimmer of light in the reflector port though the ignition switch was clicking every time I pressed it. My instinct here is that there is another isolation valve somewhere which I need to turn on however search as I might I cannot locate this. The other answer could be that the fridge is bust.

Happy with what success I had achieved I decided to have a look at the electrics and see what I could find.

The leisure battery is stored in a compartment underneath one of the seats in the back and you get to it by lifting off the cushion and then another wooden cover. When I test drove Julian the guy had his caravan battery in there to prove to me that the electrics worked so I was confident that it would be a case of just whacking a battery in and off I would go. Obviously it was not as easy as this. The compartment was a tangle of wires and cables with some very confusing parts.

First of all, the 4way at the back which is labelled "from inverted only" has its power cable going through a hole and away from the inverter, with the plug socket firmly on the outside; how I am supposed to plug this into the inverter I do not know. The flex with "Aircon" written on it ends in a standard 240v plug which appears to want to plug into the 240v socket which is tailed out of the back of the inverter however how can this work? The inverter clearly says it is only 120v.

To cut a long story short I had an old car battery in the store room and left it on charge over night and, just about, managed to get enough charge into it to register as "low" on the battery control indicator however I did get all the lights inside the back working, and the extractor fan for the cooker however the fridge remains lifeless.

The final part of my electrical investigations focused around the 240v supply. I have a hookup point on the outside of the studio for various reasons which I was able to connect my cable between it and the side of Julian and, having switched on the PCB inside the studio I went back out very excited to see if anything would work. About the only effect I think I saw (and I am not sure if this is indicative) was the main circuit breaker on the front of the inverter tripped. I was not able to work out any other progress nor which 4ways or power points around the cabin were running from the 240v. Disappointed I disconnected this and gave up for the day as the light was failing and the rain hammering down.

This is the very clear notice at the hookup point on Julian

The next morning after a pretty good nights sleep (no thanks to whatever was happening in one of the neighboring units until late involving well dressed middle aged and older men and women; I didn't have the balls to knock and ask to get involved....) I woke up to no rain and the urge for a fry up.

Time to make use of the cooker for the first time :)

After I converted the midget-bed (sorry, bed for the vertically challenged) up into a table and two chairs I buttered my bread and started the frying process.

The dining table with buttered bread

The bacon sizzling in the frying pan

I had a sad lack of oil so melted some butter...

... in which I fried my egg

For beard-pollution avoidance I went overeasy

I am happy to report that the food cooked was tasty and it was even more enjoyable as I sat for the first of hopefully many meals at that little table, contemplating the future.