One of the side effects of being still in one spot for a while and having a shipping address, is it presents a great opportunity to make small tweaks around the RV that enhance our lives.
We’ve been catching up on shopping on Amazon.com this past month, and thought we’d share some of our recent RV purchases.
Water Timer
After we awoke in the middle of the night to discover our toilet had run all night long and the black tank overflowed into grey water tank and then flooded our bays – we’ve taken to only running off our fresh water tank. Even when hooked up to city water, we fill the water tank, and run off our pump. This limits the potential water damage should some internal plumbing fail while we’re away from the coach.
The downside to this is that we’re both very easily distractible. We can’t count the number of times we’ve gone outside to refill the water tank and then an hour later discover we’ve overfilled and there’s a puddle growing into a lake at our campsite.
We’ve tried setting timers on our iPhones. We too often end up acknowledging the alarm meaning to go outside, get distracted again and then discover the lake under our bus. Doh!
Acknowledging you have a problem is the first step. The next step is finding a solution.
So, we ordered one of these gizmos that will allow us to turn on the water spigot and fill for 30 minutes, and it’ll auto shut off for us. I had one of these when I owned a pool, and used it for handling topping up the water. Hopefully this will help us be better stewards of water usage, especially as we head into drought stricken areas later this fall.
New Sewer Hoses
When we first got our bus, we picked up basic Camco sewer hoses off the shelf to get us started. They lasted a year, and we replaced them with the same setup. And a year later, we had to replace them again. Upon arriving to this stop, we noticed some small holes starting to form.
Tired of hoses that only last a year, we decided it was time for better hoses. We of course found the PolyChute hoses in our search – the Cadillac of sewer hoses. But just couldn’t justify paying $150 to dump our poop.
Then we found the next step up from our current setup – RhinoFLEX hoses also by Camco. Highly rated on Amazon. And after conferring with our neighbors who use these hoses and have been happy with them for 4 years so far.. we placed our order.
Here’s to hoping these last at least until we get around to installing a macerator system, our ultimate goal. Some day.
12v Fan
In our continuing preps to do more off-grid camping relying on solar, we’re starting to make adjustments to our setup for more power efficiency. To save power, we turn off our inverter overnight – they tend to have a parasitic draw, and unless you need AC stuff running overnight, there’s just no need to waste that precious stored energy.
We love a little airflow overnight, and a fan generally is perfect. So off to research ideal 12v fans and we found the Endless Breeze by Fan-Tastic Vent. Basically, it’s the same ceiling vent fan installed in many RV roofs, but in a little box. It’s very power efficient, relatively quiet and can move a lot of air.
We suspect this sucker will help keep us cooler longer in many situations, delaying the need to resort to running the air conditioner.
Portable Propane Heater
Long time readers will recall – we don’t have a furnace in our bus. We took out the propane furnace to build our dual desk setup, and then went propane free for our RV systems. Since then, when we need heat – we run our awesome Vornado Vortex Electric Heater.
While we can run the electric heater off our inverter and battery setup for a couple hours, that’s not an ideal situation for lots of off-grid living. And we’re not anywhere near ready to proceed with researching and installing our ideal long term solution – a diesel hydronic setup.
So, we ordered in a Mr. Heater portable propane heater as a temporary solution in case we encounter some chilly nights ahead as we test solar panels. It can run off those little disposable propane canisters (which we prefer to avoid), or a hose assembly can be used to connect a regular propane tank. We do carry a 10 lb tank with us for our gas grill, and have holes already cut to run the hose from inside to a vented bay – so we’ll have that as an option to take the chill off.
Waste Basket
We’ve long struggled with where to keep our trash. For a long time, we just kept a grocery bag hanging from the driver’s seat while parked. Not very classy, but when you have torn up seats anyway – it kinda fit. But now that we have spiffy new seats – we just couldn’t continue that bad habit we formed.
We found this RubberMaid waste basket on Amazon. It’s designed specifically to hold grocery bags and it fits perfectly under our sink. Yeah yeah, we should be using re-usable canvas bags – but then we’d just have to buy trash bags anyway. So, we re-use grocery bags and when we’re well supplied, we use canvas bags for our shopping.
We feel all grown up now not having our trash on display in the living area of our RV. Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a big difference!
These are just some of the gadgets we’ve recently added… none of them yet tested for the long haul. We have lots more of our favorite gear listed on our RV Travel Gear Page. Go check it out, we keep it updated as we bring new stuff into the bus and ditch stuff that no longer suits our needs.
We’ve put all of our RVing specific articles into one place. Check out our new RVing Resource Center at https://www.technomadia.com/rving
I grabbed up a couple of pouch organizers and Velcro-ed them to the wall to organize my MiFi and tablets as well as got Commando hooks to organize my charge lines. Makes for a much neater computing corner, and when zipped up provides some dust protection as well.
This was name of the organizer pouch “Triple Zippered Pouch Travel Cosmetic Bag Makeup Case Toiletry Coupon Organizer”
Great idea.. have you experienced any overheating issues with sealing up your MiFi like that? That would be my concern.
I have both the fan and the heater (have for years) and you will definitely enjoy both of them! Happy Trails to your new location!
Hey, I read your blog often, although my hubby is the techy one of us. I did have a question about the propane heater. We bought one of the nice ones (well, cost about $80 some years ago) of the Mr. Buddy to use in our class B van. The problem was that it is designed to cut off automatically at a certain oxygen level. We like to camp in the mountains, so the regulator kept cutting off the heater. We got the factory to send us a different regulator, but it didn’t solve the problem. In our van, if we had to leave a window open enough to vent to the level required, we would have been freezing. Apparently, the heater is not to be used over a certain altitude. Actualy, it doesn’t recommend it in the material with the heater. I don’t think there is any way around the regulator system, and you wouldn’t want to circumvent the safety features anyway, so for those considering it, be aware that if you camp above a few thousand feet, this heater will not work for you.
Thanks for the heads up on that.. will definitely keep that in mind.
The side of the box says “may shut off prematurely at altitudes above 7000 feet”. Definitely not suitable for mountain camping.
Yes, it does have that info on the box. It turns itself off at much lower altitudes than 7000′, however. I don’t have the box nearby, but I believe there is a direction not to use in an enclosed space on our information. Even with good ventilation, using in the van or even a tent, the sensor will cause the heater to turn off. I am guessing that the enclosed area kicks the CO2 level up just enough to activate the sensor. We had it continually turning off camping in Juneau and Ketchikan, which are sea level. Maybe it is just our unit, although we made the repair the company suggested. I’m sure the larger the area you have in your RV, the better success you will have with it.
We don’t have a rhino flex but one similar and have had it for at least 10 years with out replacing it…we may be getting one that is longer for those time we need it…we would get the rhino flex
I am interested in the fan though…how quiet is it…often that is what we find is wrong with many we have looked at…
I love my endless breeze! Its gotten me through a lot of hot days for 4 years when boondocking without 110 nearby.
Possibly an even better choice for a space heater is the Camco wave series. Catalytic without a flame, they are cleaner and safer. Mine has kept me warm during some cold Wisconsin winter days. They use less propane which can make up for their higher cost then the Buddy heater. Thanks for sharing all your careful diligent research so generously! David
We considered the Catalytic Wave.. but for a temporary solution, was a bit more than we wanted to spend until we know if we’ll use it enough.
Here’s another vote for Rhino Flex. I also like that it stays the length you make it rather than having all that extra hose flopping all over the place.
We had one of those waste baskets in our former Class A. We like it so much it got moved into our apartment when Dave came off the road. I now have the trash bag hanging from the driver’s seat–lovely. If I could figure out where to put one of those baskets in my tiny van, I’d buy another one in a minute.
Thanks.. sounds like we picked the right sewer hoses! And I can’t believe how happy I’ve been with that waste basket. It’s the little things sometime 🙂
Hi Cherie and Chris, You mentioned here that you used that cheap Mr. Heater… I have one but don’t like the no venting and buildup of moisture from propane combustion…. Have you considered the high tech Kimberly stainless stove? They have a model designed for RV’s…. and they are built in Oregon… It may be worth a visit to the factory…. Here’s their website: http://www.unforgettablefirellc.com/testimonials/on-wheels/ I don’t own this stove yet…. but it would be #1 on my list for use in an rv…
http://www.unforgettablefirellc.com/testimonials/on-wheels/
ENJOY!
-Bob O
Oh gosh.. that’s quite an investment and installation. More than we’re interested in as a temporary solution until we do a diesel hydronics system. No room for a permanent interior installation in our bus.
I have use the same “sewer solution” set up for the last 5 years and still working good. Try it out
Awesome.. glad to hear we selected well.
The timer I have is run by the water flow and has gallons and minutes marked on the timer face.
Bill Kelleher
My RhinoFlex hose has served me well for four years, although it is a bit out of round in one place. (I either stepped on it or ran it over at some point, but did not notice right away.)
Water preasure varies so much I don’t think a timer would be useful to me — it took 12 hours to get 50 gallons from an external tank at my summer job, and I overfilled my half-full 80 gallon tank in 15 minutes at La Pine state park.
Great to hear another endorsement of the RhinoFlex. Water pressure does indeed fluctuate a lot… thankfully the timer has multiple settings. If we know it’ll take longer, we can just increase the timer.
My Wish List on Amazon is reaching epic proportions! A couple things were already there, but the 12V fan is a new addition – agreed on the brilliance of the swivel legs (obviously a real RV’er helped with that one). Given the smaller space I imagine I will want to dump the trash daily, but a grocery bag seems so small for the kitchen 🙂 Obviously I need to learn to make less trash!
Thanks for sharing.
We generally only fill a grocery bag once every 2-3 days with normal daily living. Then again, we use a lot of fresh (read.. unpackaged) foods.
FYI
You should be able to buy a water timer at most hardware stores.
Bill Kelleher
If there was a hardware store nearby.. we would. We’re out in the boonies 🙂
I meant when you are where you don’t have a mailing address to get something sent too. :))
Bill Kelleher