A Sewer Story or What was He Thinking?

Well the temperatures have dipped a bit lower here in Northern Alabama than we had anticipated. Either I had failed to keep as close an eye on the weather forecast as I thought I was or the forecast had changed because I don't remember reading anywhere that we were going to experience below freezing temperatures. To be honest, after spending the past week in Ohio, I was rejoicing to be further south and what had initially felt like a heat wave.

So, imagine my surprise when last night I discovered that our water had frozen! Not one to keep a secret, I couldn't wait until morning to share the news with my husband. As if not being able to flush the toilet was a concern of his at 3:00 A.M.! He simply grunted, rolled over and went back to sleep while I envisioned horrible thoughts of broken pipes flooding our camper and ruining our newly installed floor, finely drifting off about the time my husband was getting up for work and did want to survey the damage.

Luckily, other than not having running water momentarily, there was no damage, and not anything a couple electric heaters couldn't remedy. Within a couple hours the heaters had done their job and we had water once more. But here's where the story gets interesting...

By the time my husband had returned from work and we had eaten dinner, the temperatures had already fallen into the low 20's and our holding tank (sewer) had frozen. My husband decided to have a look while my boys jokingly asked if he'd need the hose spreader- ever watched RV? If you have, you'll understand the comment and the incredibly horrible scene I envision in my mind each time the holding tanks seem to need attention.

Well, this time my imaginings weren't too far off base. In an effort to thaw out the line, my husband grabbed the electric heater and decided to remove the hose from the tank so the hot air could go into the tank and the yucky stuff could be thawed and drained.

Now, let me explain that the tank is still designed with a pull lever that needs to be released to allow the waste to exit the tank. So, it's not likely that we would experience seepage...however...after allowing the heater to heat things up a bit, my husband decided to have a glance at the progress, not expecting much of a change. But, you guessed it, when he pulled the lever...surprise... urine (because we don't do the poo in our loo) gushed (according to me), spewed forth (according to the kids),trickled (according to my husband) from the camper. But since my husband was the only one to actually witness this event, we'll just have to take his word for it that it was indeed a trickle...as exciting as spewed forth may be.

But my story is not yet finished...remember the heater that was heating up this mess so it could be properly dumped? Of course it would happen to remain directly in the line of fire. So my husband simply wiped down the heater, sprayed it with Windex with ammonia and returned it to its normal spot in front of our bedroom door.

Now this story never would have been written if that heater had not been plugged in and turned on, but it was! The intense, overwhelming smell of urine sent us all clamoring for the door and fresh air. Judging from the smell of the heater, that is NEVER permitted inside the camper again, may be it was a bit more than a trickle.

What was he thinking?