Just getting started, need to move into CT with pets

[Glenlivet]

I wouldn't worry too much about the ventilation. ...

Let's see... ...I don't know how to score cats but med to large dogs can be counted as people for this calculation...4 dogs equal to 3 humans...

I hate to come back to this with negative commentary as I realize we are discussing living conditions of a fellow who due to a limited budget, is limited in regard to his options, but I don't think we can conclude that four med-large dogs equal the environmental impact and resource consumption of three humans.
From a veterinary website: "Due to its elasticity a dog's respiratory tract has a natural frequency at which it oscillates with little muscular work. At the onset of panting respiration rate increases rather suddenly from around 30-40 respirations per minute to around 300-400 respirations per minute. Under a moderate heat load a dog alternates between brief periods of panting at high frequencies and periods of normal slow respiration"
The average resting human respiratory rate is around 12-20 per minute. While it's tempting to say ' A dog is equal to X humans', that would not be not a reliable calculation. Still it is inescapably a fact that a single dog, with an average body temperature of 101.5 degrees f. and a respiratory rate up to 20 times faster than that of a person, will obviously cycle through a given volume of air much faster than a human. Four of them, well do the math.

Not to be a doom-cryer but I'm just saying that it will be prudent to go into the project in the knowledge of what is going to be required if one is to avoid a really foul living space that would also be a breeding ground for mold and the pathogens that flourish in such an environment.

ps. Robertson screws, a fine Canadian invention, are also colour coded and the #2 that fits the double Robertson screw head so commonly seen on cargo trailers, is red.

[Chilly Willy]

The dogs could get by without living in the trailer. A decently constructed dog house would suffice.
I'm a dog nut, and give my dogs more indoor time than they need, but bringing the scope of the trailer back to reality makes success more likely.

Also, I'm grateful for this thread and everyones contributions. Helps to stretch the brain before getting to brass tacks on my own ark

[jisincla]

Okay, I concede that at this point, putting the aquarium in the trailer is beyond the scope of what I can manage. It was a speculative "if possible" part of the original question anyway. Maybe with a bigger trailer, lots more funds to work with, and lots more expertise, it could work. But for now, I will put the aquarium back in the living room of the house, put a HEPA air purifier (already purchased from a thrift shop, and then a new filter purchased from amazon.com) right next to it, and hope for the best. If the fish start doing poorly again, it will be easier to find someone willing to take in young pretty fish, that come with their own aquarium and equipment, than it would be to rehome large and mostly elderly dogs and adult, elderly, and some sick cats.

So, fish will not be in the trailer.

Dogs do not need to be in the trailer full-time. They seem to do all right in the house, and in good weather they can also be outside in the fenced yard. Given the unsafe neighborhood I live in, I think it would be safer for me to have at least one dog in the trailer with me, especially overnight. But they don't all need to be there at once. They can take turns.

That leaves one human (BTW a pretty small human; I stopped growing at age 14 right around the time everyone else started growing), one dog at a time, and four cats to be in the trailer. And I won't be in the trailer all the time, because I need to put in a lot of time inside the house, sorting and packing stuff in preparation to move if/when I find a place to move to. I hardly think one small human and four cats constitute a huge indoor air quality hazard.

Litter boxes from four cats, yes, that will require diligent cleaning. I have at least one litter box per cat, though I'm not sure where I'll put four litter boxes in the trailer. We may need to make do with two or three. I already scoop the boxes at least once a day, at least twice a day for the box that's in my room, and more often if they smell bad between cleanings. Cats fed on a consistent and regular meal schedule tend to have a consistent and regular elimination schedule. Generally within an hour after feeding my cats have a litter box lineup, and then when they're finished, I scoop the boxes, and usually the boxes get very light use until the next big lineup, after which I scoop them again. I think I've got a workable litter box routine.

And I know, from last summer's experience, that we can be comfortable in the trailer and the air quality will be all right as long as the weather allows for the window and ceiling vent to be open, and as long as I have power to run that fan out the window. *And* as long as there is no mold or rot or anything inside the trailer. That is why I am so concerned about protecting the plywood walls and floor against water or food spills and potty or puke accidents. It's not that I discount the importance of adequate ventilation and insulation. I fully intend to address those, and appreciate concrete guidance as to HOW to do them, rather than dire warnings about how bad it will be if I fail to do them. But I also know that no matter how well insulated and how well ventilated the thing might be, it would still be big trouble if a wall or floor panel starts rotting because a water bowl gets knocked over or a cat vomits or a dog urinates, and I'm asleep or not home when it happens, and don't find it and clean it up until hours later. Thus my prioritizing of indoor surface protection first. *Then* I fully intend to insulate and consider if I need additional ventilation.

But what happens if we don't have a new place to live before winter? How do I ventilate it adequately without freezing?

And what happens if, in order to get to a new home, we need to relocate some distance away and camp in the trailer during the journey?

Fire detector, fire extinguisher, an air quality alarm ( CO2, gas, etc ), reliable emergency light that you can find in a blind dark, more than one exit. All things I would consider as mandatory. A cat sleeping in front of the space heater could rest it's tail up close, any long hair may reach an element, something about a hot tin roof, etc.

Do trailers need special smoke detectors and CO, or would regular household ones do? Fire extinguisher, there's one in my kitchen, I can take it out to the trailer, or just get a new one. Flashlight, check, I always have one by my bed. More than one exit, check, the trailer has a side door and a rear ramp door. I've already put slide bolts inside both doors, so I can lock and unlock them from inside using those slide bolts. When I stayed in the trailer with the cats last summer, I always had both doors unlocked from the outside and only used the interior slide bolts.

Also, if you would like some reading material, I found a message board that ski bums use to discuss sleeping in a car during the winter. You'll be facing similar challenges. Also most of them are working with a near zero budget, so some of the solutions they come up with are handy and affordable. http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/show ... the-winter

Thank you, that looks interesting. As mentioned earlier, I spent the winter of 1988-89 living in a broken-down old van with three dogs and a cat, so I know how to keep warm during the winter, at least the type of winter we have in the midwest or northeast US: Zip two sleeping bags together and bring a dog or two inside it with you. But I will definitely look over that board and see what else I can learn from it.

Jim

[jisincla]

Not to be a doom-cryer but I'm just saying that it will be prudent to go into the project in the knowledge of what is going to be required if one is to avoid a really foul living space that would also be a breeding ground for mold and the pathogens that flourish in such an environment.

That is exactly why I came to this forum: to FIND OUT what is going to be required.

ps. Robertson screws, a fine Canadian invention, are also colour coded and the #2 that fits the double Robertson screw head so commonly seen on cargo trailers, is red.

I talked to my housemate again this morning, and asked him if he has any square bit screwdrivers. He said he was holding one in his hand that very minute.

Jim

[Rainier70]

If I were you, my first expense would be to get the Maxx Air cover to go over the vent. With it you can leave your vent open even if you get rain, snow, sleet, or hail. It's easy to install too. Most RV places should have them. Or there is always Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Maxxair-00-933066 ... vent+cover

I know that is a repeat of what I said before, but you will need to have your vent open at least part way most of the time, and you don't want to get rain coming in.

[jisincla]

If I were you, my first expense would be to get the Maxx Air cover to go over the vent. With it you can leave your vent open even if you get rain, snow, sleet, or hail. It's easy to install too. Most RV places should have them. Or there is always Amazon.

Thanks. I just ordered one.

Jim

[Chilly Willy]

Might want to look up Fantastic Fan for your powered vent, to actively move air.
Now that you have the rain cover dealt with you should probably avoid the rain sensing feature... you don't want the thing arbitrarily shutting off your air supply.
Some have a remote control too, which could be handy depending if you have any mobility issues, trouble reaching overhead etc.
Guess you'll need to pay attention to interfacing your power source. I suspect they're mostly 12v, and your shore power is not.

[jisincla]

What do I need to look for in a dehumidifier? Would a 30 pint/day model do? The box says it covers approximately 2000 square feet, which is obviously way bigger than my trailer, but 2000 square feet of house is also less steamy than a trailer.

[jisincla]

My menagerie and I are back home in upstate New York. It was a horrible grueling drive home, in high heat and steamy humidity with no air conditioning in my van. I tried leaving at night hoping to get home by the time the sun came up, but that didn't work, so around mid-morning when the sun was high enough in the sky to start baking us, I pulled off somewhere near Cleveland and found a small city park and parked in a strip of shade next to some trees, opened doors and windows to let air move through the van, and let the dogs lounge outside on cables. That was fine for a couple of hours until the sun got higher in the sky and the shade moved off the parking lot. I piled the dogs back in and closed up the doors and drove some more, in search of another park or patch of shade to rest in until that shade moved too, meanwhile not sleeping more than a few minutes at a time and getting more and more exhausted. It ended up taking two nights and one full day plus part of another one to arrive home on Tuesday. But everyone survived the trip.

The aquarium is in the house. The dogs are in the house but spending time out in the yard. The cats are in the trailer. I am dividing my time between the house and the trailer.

My housemate moved some of his junk cars so we could back my trailer under trees at the rear of the driveway. I showed him the roof vent cover I'd gotten from eBay, and explained about weep holes for the window. He installed the vent cover and drilled some weep holes. We had brief but intense showers on Wednesday and more heavy showers on Thursday, and it's dry in the trailer with the ceiling vent and window both open. Cindy, thank you for those two practical suggestions.

VENTILATION:

I ran an extension cord out the kitchen window and hooked up a lamp and dehumidifier in the trailer. The big square fan I used for ventilation last year is too heavy for me to move by myself (it's an old solid metal thing attached to an adjustable-height frame, also metal, so I can position it wherever I want, but it's heavy), and my housemate has not moved it out for me yet, so I took out a small plastic clip-on desk fan for now. I have it blowing out the window, just as I had the big square fan last year, hoping to pull outside air down through the ceiling vent that way. It really does not work as well as the big fan.

DEHUMIDIFICATION:

The dehumidifier is doing a very good job, getting the humidity down between 40-50% when it's been very steamy outside. So far I've been removing the water bucket to dump outside manually, but it's only a matter of time before that leads to a water spill in the trailer. The unit has a hose attachment to put on the back for continuous draining without having to empty the bucket. I need to discuss with my housemate if there's a way to let this drain outside without having to cut a hole through the trailer. It occurs to me that possibly if the dehumidifier is sitting up on a table of suitable height near the window, I could open the windowscreen enough to run the hose out, then stuff the gap with towels or something to keep bugs out. Thoughts?

TEMPERATURE:

The dehumidifier blows out hot air, which might be nice if we're still there when it gets cold, but is NOT a good thing when the temperature is up around 90.

I had an idea for a simple "air conditioner": put four long screws around the ceiling vent, used them and some wire to hang a collander beneath the vent, then put cold freezer packs in the collander. The theory was that as outside air is sucked in by the fan blowing out the window, it will be cooled by blowing through the freezer packs, and from there flow through the collander to cool the trailer. It seems like it should work, but it doesn't. Is there something wrong with the design, or do I just need the larger, more powerful window fan to make it work? I have plenty of freezer packs, so I can keep refreezing them when they get warm and have freshly frozen ones to replace them with.

In the aftermath of the storms that came through yesterday, we're getting a reprieve from the heat for a couple of days. When I came inside to post this, it was 66F (18.9C) and 44% humidity in the trailer. By way of comparison, it's 69F in my bedroom (where there is NOT a dehumidifier blowing out hot air), and I don't have anything to measure humidity in here, but it feels damper than in the trailer.

INSULATION:

I bought three 4'x8' blue panels. They are in my van waiting to get to the top of the priority list for my housemate to help me with. The ceiling is the first thing we need to insulate, because the walls at least have the plywood panels on them. I think I can buy a couple more panels each month.

INTERNET ACCESS:

Is there any kind of antenna or anything I can use to get the wifi signal from inside the house to get into the trailer? How about cell phone signal? When I am in the trailer, I am basically cut off from communication with the world.

Jim

[pchast]

As far as cell phone, there is an antenna 'extender' used with autos that may work.
Check http://www.amazon.com/home-automation-s ... 6563140011
for home accessories on the cell phone and networking.

[warnmar10]

...
TEMPERATURE:

The dehumidifier blows out hot air, which might be nice if we're still there when it gets cold, but is NOT a good thing when the temperature is up around 90.

I had an idea for a simple "air conditioner": put four long screws around the ceiling vent, used them and some wire to hang a collander beneath the vent, then put cold freezer packs in the collander. ...

Jim

You're already paying the full price for air conditioning but getting less than half the benefit.

A dehumidifier IS an air conditioner. Unfortunately a dehumidifier has its condenser (the coil that gets hot) inside the room with you. All the heat the dehumidifier removes, in order to condense water into its bucket, is being dumped right back into the room PLUS the heat the dehumidifier generates from being an electricity consuming device.

If instead you hung not the dehumidifier drain hose out the window but a window air conditioner... you would get de-humidification and air conditioning in one tidy package and the water would drip harmlessly onto the ground plus the bugs are still outside where they belong. Everyone is a winner!

[cornfused]

Are you running the dehumidifier with the windows open? If so it's probably a loosing battle. Save the dehumidifier for when it's cooler out and the vents/window are just cracked for a little fresh air. If the windows are wide open you are just paying for the electricity to take the humidity out of the endless supply of air outside.

Also don't forget hot air rises... Pull cool air in from the window and let the hot air out the roof vent.