RV Tech Tips

[lawnspecialties]

In our Trailer Life magazine, I enjoy reading 10 Minute Tech. It quite often helps me either solve a situation or prevent one I hadn't even thought of. We've all got our ways of how to clean the black tank, store certain items, or maybe you have an item you find is an absolute must to keep in the camper.

So, I'll start it off and let's see how we can help each other out since it's about time to de-winterize the RV. For you Florida folks, disregard that last line.

1. Flushing the black tank. I don't have a flush connection or anything like that. But before we leave the Fort, I drain the tank as best as I can. Then I fill it about 1/4 full and put in some de-oderizer. When we get home, all that sloshing around got the sides pretty clean. If you have somewhere safe to drain that, then do so. Then with the drain open, have someone hold the toilet open and pour a 5 gallon bucket of clean water in quickly. The rush of water does a great job of flushing things out the side. A hose is good but all that water in a rush is great. Usually after a couple of buckets, the black tank is ready for the next trip.

2. We have a cover over our spare tire. One thing that has happened a few times is sparrows fly in between the tire and the cover and set up a nest. There is nothing quite so heart breaking than to go get the camper ready for the big trip and see eggs or even worse, baby birds thinking you're Momma bringing some fresh worms. Then you're faced with the choice of removing the baby birds or cancelling the trip to the Fort until the birds grow up and fly away. I know what you're thinking but it still puts a downer on the moment and by all means, don't let the kids see it. Anyway, when the camper is stored away for a while between trips, put an old balled up towel in there to fill the gap. At the same time, cover the drain to the black and grey tanks. I've seen birds and even bees try to move in there.

 

[bradisgoofy]

In our Trailer Life magazine, I enjoy reading 10 Minute Tech. It quite often helps me either solve a situation or prevent one I hadn't even thought of. We've all got our ways of how to clean the black tank, store certain items, or maybe you have an item you find is an absolute must to keep in the camper.

So, I'll start it off and let's see how we can help each other out since it's about time to de-winterize the RV. For you Florida folks, disregard that last line.

1. Flushing the black tank. I don't have a flush connection or anything like that. But before we leave the Fort, I drain the tank as best as I can. Then I fill it about 1/4 full and put in some de-oderizer. When we get home, all that sloshing around got the sides pretty clean. If you have somewhere safe to drain that, then do so. Then with the drain open, have someone hold the toilet open and pour a 5 gallon bucket of clean water in quickly. The rush of water does a great job of flushing things out the side. A hose is good but all that water in a rush is great. Usually after a couple of buckets, the black tank is ready for the next trip. Ice cubes do a great job of loosening up "stuff", too.

2. We have a cover over our spare tire. One thing that has happened a few times is sparrows fly in between the tire and the cover and set up a nest. There is nothing quite so heart breaking than to go get the camper ready for the big trip and see eggs or even worse, baby birds thinking you're Momma bringing some fresh worms. Then you're faced with the choice of removing the baby birds or cancelling the trip to the Fort until the birds grow up and fly away. I know what you're thinking but it still puts a downer on the moment and by all means, don't let the kids see it. Anyway, when the camper is stored away for a while between trips, put an old balled up towel in there to fill the gap. At the same time, cover the drain to the black and grey tanks. Don't your outlets have covers? Mine are inside a cabinet so no problem there. I've seen birds and even bees try to move in there.

I also have a portable compressor that I use to purge the water out of all the hoses. Cuts down on the extra weight, too.

 

[tungpo1]

They also have some good RV shows on tv with good tips, RV TV & RV today

 

[LarryJ]

1. During our recent extended stay at FW I noticed that my black water tank sensors were not getting cleaned when I dumped and flushed my tank so I bought one of these at CW

And works well. Of course my bath is on the driver's side and has a window so getting a hose in there is simple. I plan on using the 2 cups of water softener plus one cup of laundry detergent, but haven't been able to find the water softener yet. I also got a clear angle fitting to attach to my sewer hose so I can see how dirty/clean the water is.

2. My new trailer doesn't have a sewer storage bumper on it and that is actually a good thing. The factory installed "sewer holder" would only accomodate like a 5' hose which is useless and I bought one of the coil up hoses that fits nicely in that holder. I did the same thing that I did on my previous trailer for sewer hose and went and bought one of the 4" pvc post covers and two caps. I cut it to about the width of my trailer and mounted it to the frame forward of the skid bars so it won't drag. I used two brass hinges to mount the end caps to each end of the post cover with the hinges on the bottom and then put a 3" brass screw with a lanyard on it that goes into the top edge of the cap and thru the post cover to keep the end cap secure when traveling. One thing you have to do is to mount the hinges where they are inside the cover and outside the post cover and you need to countersink the two holes in cover on the inside so the head are flush since you need the whole post cover inside smooth so your sewer hose won't get caught on the screw heads. With this set up I can get a 20' and 10' sewer hose in there. All I need to do is drill a few 1/2'" drain holes along the bottom. Below are a couple of pics of my sewer hose carrier.

3. My trailer came with a dog shower on the driver's side of the trailer which I will never use and is a pain to winterize so I removed the valves and hoses under the bathroom sink counter where they tapped into the water. This freed up a lot of storage space under the bathroom sink. I put a piece of duct tape over the two holes and now use that space to keep my water pressure regulator, spare hose washers and a pair of pliers and a rag that I use to hook up my FW with. Now it's all in one place.

4. The final thing I'm icurrently n the process of doing is adding a second 30A service to my trailer. This is not really a tech tip as such, but will make using the full capabilities of our trailer easier. We bought a 1500W convection/toaster oven and along with using a 1500W space heater both to save on the propane and give us a little more cooking room (our trailer only came with the 17" vice 21" Oven and really miss the larger 4 burner magic chef oven we had in our other trailer), we are maxing out the existing 30A service. I knew just with the single space heater and coffee pot, microwave, hair dryer I was going to have problems so before we left for DW I installed a short 110V cord thru the existing floor opening at the rear of my trailer in the rear pass thru area. Since I have a small inside door in each bedroom nightstand that goesa into the rear pass thru storage area as a trial, I ran an extension cord from the campsite pedestal from the 20A GFCI outlet to the rear of my trailer and then a second cord on the inside up to where I powered either the heater or convection/toaster oven. However, I wanted a permanent solution and this is not something that I would recommend just anyone doing unless you have done electrical wiring and are sure of what you are doing and comfortable with that. The big rig/MH 50 A service is actually two split phase 110V 50A legs or 220V 50A. The 50A male plug is a common house plug used for 110/220V dryers and I got a 6' 50A dryer pigtail at Lowe's (has two 6ga hot wires, one 8ga common and an 8ga ground wire). You can't use the common 50A to 30A pigtails you can get at an RV store since the cord is only designed to carry 30A and the wire size is 10Ga. Anyway I made a 50A to dual 30A pigtail with the correct size wire so that using just the 50A service that is available at almost all campground now I can plug my existing trailer electrical cord into one outlet and my second new service into the other using my existing 25' 30A extension cord that I already have. I used waterproof covers and fittings for the new pigtail and below are a couple of pics. Now I will have 60A total service for my trailer.

Once the weather gets warmer I will be installing a 30A pigtail thru the floor in my rear pass thru storage area going into a 60A main lug load center with two 15A circuit breakers with each circuit breaker feeding one single 15A dual outlet near the areas where we use our electric space heater and convection/toaster oven. This will require running new 110V wire (12/2 WG) from the new load center to each outlet, but I've done a lot of wiring before and is just time consuming and within my capabilities. The total cost of all this new stuff will be well under $150 ($75 for the new pigtail, $10 for the two new breakers, $20 for the load center, and $20 for the new 30A male plug). I already have all the wire for the inside of the trailer and the 25' 30A extension cord to use between the campground pedestal and the trailer for the second 30A service. I don't really need a full 50A service and the costs go thru the roof for 50A cords (several hundred dollars and those things are heavy and really stiff in the cold) not to mention installing a new breaker box to feed my existing trailer electrical service along with the new service. I'm sure some pf this probably violates some code for RVs, but I feel it's safe and I'm willing to accept the risk.

Below is a pic of my new 30A plug that will go thru the floor in my rear pass thru storage area and the new 60A main lug load center that I will also mount in the rear pass thru storage area.

4. Below is a pic of the air compressor that I bought to fill the trailer tires, Van tires and blow out the lines when winterizing. I got it for right at $100 when on sale from Sears. In that pic you can see my existing 110V aux pass thru that I talked about in item 3 above ... it's the yellow plug in the lower right and that pic was taken from inside the trailer with the nightstand door open.

Larry

 

[RvUsa]

HOLY COW Larry, can I use some of these on my website? That goes for the rest of you who post tech tips, I would love to put some of them on the site as well. Just let me know if its ok. I wouldn't want to publish something that you don't want me too.

Thanks John

 

[Duane]

Here are some of the things that I've done to our trailer..... You know, just when you get just the way you want it, it's time to get rid of it and get another one to tinker with....

Click here to see the pictures.

Duane

 

[clkelley]

My trailer is such a unique thing that I don't know that my mods will help anyone, but here goes:

I added a battery cutoff switch so that when it's in storage all the things that run regardless don't drain my battery:

http://mouseketab.blogspot.com/2007/07/battery-disconnect-switch-problems.html

I added an XM Radio and cable splitter:

http://mouseketab.blogspot.com/2007/07/xm-radio-and-cable-splitter-install.html

Some storage solutions:

http://mouseketab.blogspot.com/2007/07/mouse-ke-tb-storage-modifications.html

I built my own entrance step:

http://mouseketab.blogspot.com/2007/06/our-first-accessory.html

 

[disney4dan]

I had a frustrating experience with clearing out the black water tank on our last camping trip of the year last fall. I emptied as best as I could, and when I saw that no-one was waiting for the dump station, I filled up a 5 gallon pail of clean water and ran that through the toilet and black tank.

Seeing that there was still time to get back to the campground before the official check out time and the sensors were still not clean, I went down to the local convenience store and put in three bags of ice cubes and some more dish detergent, over a bumpy road and back to the campground to use the dump station. Of course now when I arrive the ranger station has one of the young college age kids. You know, 19 yo and captain of that little outpost. She kept insisting that I would have to pay $15 to use the dump station. I explained that I was a registered camper until later that day and the use of the dump station was included (listed right on the fee schedule). No way I was going to convince her because, of course, she was 19 and knew everything. I was sorely tempted to just walk back to the trailer and crack open the valve a little and let it drain as I swung around, but decided I could not do that to my fellow campers who would be using the area. I just told her she should get down to the dump station and start collecting the $15 from all the trailers lining up to dump before checking out for the weekend. I wonder how many others would have been polite.

Anyhow, the ice and dishwashing detergent seemed to do the trick for cleaning the sensors.

Larry - I like the modifications you did to your trailer. I was thinking the same thing about our 30 amp connection for summer use. Most of the current will be used for the air conditioner, and we will be needing some for the microwave and lights at night. May look at a second 30-amp at some point or just switching over to a 50 amp.

 

[LarryJ]

Larry - I like the modifications you did to your trailer. I was thinking the same thing about our 30 amp connection for summer use. Most of the current will be used for the air conditioner, and we will be needing some for the microwave and lights at night. May look at a second 30-amp at some point or just switching over to a 50 amp.

I don't want to get this thread too OT, but I looked into the full 50A service and just for the 30' locking cord and new trailer entrance fitting runs close to $400 from CW and I looked at those 50A cords and they are HUGH and are like trying to coil a water hose that has been in 20deg weather. Your 30A cord has 3 10ga conductors and the 50A has 4 conductors probably three 6 ga and one 8 ga. To get an idea go to Lowes and look where they have their extension cords and you should see both a 30A and 50A dryer cord and just compare their relative stiffness and a 50A RV cord is going to even be bigger and heavier than the dryer 50A cord. A full new 50A service is doable in my case, but at this point not worth it for an additional 40A of 110V power over what I'm doing and I would have to install a new breaker box inside my bathroom sink area since that's where my existing 30A service enters and I'm not too keen on putting that underneath a sink area and having 100A service entering in that area.

Finally two things on my plate are to wire in a couple of 12V lights one on each side of my rear pass thru storage and to install valve in the low point drains inside the trailer where my WH bypass valves are. Currently they terminate just in front of the axle and have caps that have to be removed to drain and then replaced for putting antifreeze in the lines which is a pain and I have all the parts on hand for both of these mods so the cost to me is zero.

I have been thinking some and since it's already there I might just leave my exiting 110V service I have to the rear storage area and drill a new hole for my new 30A service. That way I could if the need ever arises use that 110V service to power a second space heater back in the bedroom by using the regular 15 or 20 amp GFCI ckt that is on most RV power poles using a regular outdoor extension cord like I did this last trip to WDW. I've never run two 1500W heaters since one does the job down into the mid 30's and if it were to get cold enough to need two electric heaters, I would want my installed furnace to run some since I have an enclosed heated under belly so two might not be such a good thing since if sub freezing weather I would fill the FW tank and disconnect and drain the outside hose so I don't freeze it or damage my pressure regulator.

Even this WDW last trip I used less than 30lbs of propane (probably around 15 to 20lbs) over a 30 day period from late Dec to mid/late Jan) using my electric space heater, convection/toaster oven and running the WH on electric. I only used the LP for the outdoor grill, and the stove top. The only time I had power issues was when I was running the electric space heater and coffee pot on the same circuit and either the WH came on or the DW fired up the microwave and I did pop a circuit breaker a couple of times. All this went away when I powered either the convection/toaster oven or electric heater from the second power source.

I still have to determine what is on each 110V circuit so I can manage better where things should be plugged into.

Finally as a disclaimer I do not recommend "mucking" around with your 110V trailer circuits. It can be dangerous and might have insurance issues since mods weren't done by a qualified person or to exact RVIA code or whatever code that is. I have done this sort of work before and am comfortable with what I'm doing and accept responsibility should something happen.

Larry

 

[LarryJ]

O.K. here is an actual cheap RV tech tip that may or may not work. We had/have a cross oriented closet (clothes bar is oriented side to side) both in our old and now two on each side of the queen bed in our new trailer where the clothes at times would all end up on the floor. I bought some of the spring loaded shelf keepers that you put in cabinets to keep things from falling out when you open the cabinets after being on the road. This was especially an issue in our new trailer bath room medicine cabinet where you had to open it and "catch" whatever came falling out like shaving cream, taller bottles even tho you only use plastic. You put that spring loaded bar at the top front edge of the hangers so they can't bounce off the bar and simply remove it when parked. This only happens in the very rear closets. Problem is I can't say they actually work since we only had this happen when we didn't have the spring bars in place in our new trailer. We are testing this idea by putting one bar in one closet on and not in the other when we remember to put the bar up at all. We've only tried this for three traveling days and nothing fell off. Going down to WDW in Dec both back closets all ended up on the floor the first day and nothing after that.

Worth a thought if you encounter this problem and only costs around $3 per closet.

Larry

 

[disney4dan]

The only time I had power issues was when I was running the electric space heater and coffee pot on the same circuit and either the WH came on or the DW fired up the microwave and I did pop a circuit breaker a couple of times.
Larry

Reminds me of our first, very old home. I got a call at work one day from DW, saying the circuit breakers had tripped and she could not get them to go back on. Ends up, she had managed to trip the 100-amp main breaker. The furnace was on, roast in the electric oven, stuff cooking on the range top, microwave going, and she fired up the vacuum cleaner and everything went out. Reminded me of the scene from Carousel of Progress

 

[Brer Bear]

Hope I'm not repeating a tip that everyone knows/already been posted, but if you really want to DEEP CLEAN your black tank, dump a bag (or two) of ice in your toilet prior to leaving home. While you are driving down the road, the ice slosh around and scrape the nastiness off the walls. By the time your reach your destination, it will have melted and you can dump normally.

 

[LarryJ]

Well I finally got around to taking a few more pics, adding captions/descriptions and making up an album on my Webshots site so here it is if interested.

Trailer Mods

Larry

 

[clkelley]

trying to coil a water hose that has been in 20deg weather.
Larry

Speaking of coiling your fresh water hose in in cold weather.

I take mine off, drain it some, then connect it together so it doesn't leak, then put it in the camper with the heater running full blast.

That gets it nice and warm and pliable so it now coils really easily to put away

 

[LarryJ]

Speaking of coiling your fresh water hose in in cold weather.

I take mine off, drain it some, then connect it together so it doesn't leak, then put it in the camper with the heater running full blast.

That gets it nice and warm and pliable so it now coils really easily to put away

That's a great tip, but if it's getting that cold and I need to disconnect and roll up my water hose I do it ahead of time and simply put some water in my FW tank and run off that when it's below freezing my more than 2 or 3 degrees for any length of time. In my old trailer when disconnecting just for the day I also connected the hose together so it didn't leak since I stored it in an interior compartment. On our new trailer I bought one of the coiled ones that look like a spring and store it in the short factory installed "sewer hose holder" that was only like 30" long. And no I bought the trailer new and never used the installed "sewer hose holder" for actual sewer hose storage.

Larry

 

[clkelley]

That's a great tip, but if it's getting that cold and I need to disconnect and roll up my water hose I do it ahead of time and simply put some water in my FW tank and run off that when it's below freezing my more than 2 or 3 degrees for any length of time. In my old trailer when disconnecting just for the day I also connected the hose together so it didn't leak since I stored it in an interior compartment. On our new trailer I bought one of the coiled ones that look like a spring and store it in the short factory installed "sewer hose holder" that was only like 30" long. And no I bought the trailer new and never used the installed "sewer hose holder" for actual sewer hose storage.

Larry

Most definitely if its below freezing, I use my onboard water, but even at temps between 35 and 50 outside, that hose gets pretty stiff. Warming it up just helps it roll up better without kinking

 

[bgula]

Bumping! Love this thread! People, keep posting your upgrades to your rigs. I've got some ideas for mine, but I'm always looking for other ideas to make my rig more efficient.

 

[JCJRSmith]

O.K. here is an actual cheap RV tech tip that may or may not work. We had/have a cross oriented closet (clothes bar is oriented side to side) both in our old and now two on each side of the queen bed in our new trailer where the clothes at times would all end up on the floor. I bought some of the spring loaded shelf keepers that you put in cabinets to keep things from falling out when you open the cabinets after being on the road. This was especially an issue in our new trailer bath room medicine cabinet where you had to open it and "catch" whatever came falling out like shaving cream, taller bottles even tho you only use plastic. You put that spring loaded bar at the top front edge of the hangers so they can't bounce off the bar and simply remove it when parked. This only happens in the very rear closets. Problem is I can't say they actually work since we only had this happen when we didn't have the spring bars in place in our new trailer. We are testing this idea by putting one bar in one closet on and not in the other when we remember to put the bar up at all. We've only tried this for three traveling days and nothing fell off. Going down to WDW in Dec both back closets all ended up on the floor the first day and nothing after that.

Worth a thought if you encounter this problem and only costs around $3 per closet.

Larry

We had the same kind of closet arrangement in our old Kiwi. I made these from pre-fab shelving I bought at Lowes for about $4 per shelf. They are a foot wide and four feet long. I used two of them to cut out shelves that were 19 inches long, and the other two were kept as is to become the supports. I made the dadoes for the shelves using my table saw and a stacked dado head cutter, but a router would work as well. The shelves are made of Medium Density Fiberboard with a nice oak veneer. It worked out well as there are 4 of us (Me, SWMBO, DS16, DD10) and we each get a shelf. Mine is on top, SWMBO right below that, DS below that and DD on the bottom. The other half of the closet was used for hanging stuff.

When we traded in the trailer, the salesman commented on the shelves and said he would adapt that for his trailer. For the motorhome, we got one of those free-standing frames that holds slide-out wire-mesh baskets and it fits perfectly in the closet.

 

[bgula]

Bump!