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Outside Shower – Fifth Wheel Pictorial Guide

Last updated on June 10th, 2019 at 08:54 pm

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Outside Shower :

One of the ideas behind an RV is that ONE of the ways that people use the RV is for truly outdoors activities. Things like the following come to mind :

  • Construction work ( hot, sweaty, dirty, muddy, sandy, etc. )
  • Camping at the beach ( hot, sweaty, sandy, muddy )
  • Camping while 4 wheeling or “muddin it”
  • Camping while fishing ( you get the idea )
  • Camping while doing anything where you don’t want to go inside and track dirt.
  • You have kids with you. Need I say more!?

For this reason, some RV’s have an outside shower. The idea isn’t that this is your clean-up shower and that you are to be traipsing around outside naked ( ok at some parks! )  but that you get 99% of the trackable nasty and messy off before you go inside to a more civilized type of shower. Sand in particular is a nice thing to keep outside.

So if this is something you are interested in, you might find this on the drivers side of the RV somewhere close to the fresh water connections and other things that go in and out of the RV.

Here is a picture of the shower faucet for our RV. Notice that the shower is not there since we don’t use it ourselves. We keep it stowed.

Many people will say in an indignant tone ” I don’t need that – I can just hook up to the outside water using a “Y” connection on the water hose. That is a silly feature.” My answer to that is – I can get hot water with my outdoor shower connection – but if you go straight from the water hose your showers will be cold. I can’t speak for other people, but my RV is supposed to make camping like living at home – not more like camping!

rv outside shower connections
rv outside shower connections

RV Propane Tank Tutorial Video

Last updated on February 9th, 2019 at 11:50 am

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RV Propane Tank Tutorial Video

I spent a little bit of time making this short video about my RV Propane Tanks on my Open Range Fifth Wheel RV. After watching you should have a pretty good idea of how the automatic switchover valves work.

I have several other places where you can find really useful information about RV Propane :

https://youtu.be/4OIhFwwPq4M

Transcript from this Video:

I have an Open Range 399BHS and here’s two of my four RV tanks. There’s, on the opposite side of the RV, there’s a matching slide-out that has the RV tanks. Just wanted to go over how this works. You can apply this to your travel trailer and then, there’s a little bit more information and it talks about what I’m doing with an open range.

So, first off, you almost always have two tanks and this is the way it works. So, I have an active tank and my active tank will be on the right and that’s controlled by this little lever that says “Hey, I’m pointing to the active tank.” That’s how you can think of that little lever. Most of the propane valve switch-overs look like this.

And then, just below that, you’ll have a little indicator that, if it’s all red, it’ll tell you that your active tank’s out. And if it’s partly colored, then you’re just fine. Now, when your active tank is on the right and the switch is like that and it’s not completely red, the gas flows in this direction. And on the left-hand side, that tank, that gas, is not flowing. It’s actually blocked in this configuration. And the gas, you can see it flowing out. This is my little attempt at being cute and showing an animation. See, the gas is flowing just fine.

Now, all of a sudden, let’s say your tank, it goes all red. And what’ll happen is the white thing we’re looking at has the all-red indicator on it. It’s a switch-over valve and it will literally now say that the tank on the right is red. It’s always the one it’s pointing to and that’s now an empty tank. And then, it will switch over automatically and start drawing propane from the left-hand take. So, now, the propane flow is like I’m showing right now. Now, you can think of it as kind of wired like this.

And I put together a diagram to show you. And when it’s pointing to the tank on the right, you can actually disconnect the tank on the left and go fill it up, which I think is kind of cool. Okay, now on the open range, I actually have two sets of these. That’s why you’re kind of like what you see. And so, here’s the scoop. I try to operate to operate on one side all the time and then, when it’s empty, I switch over to the other side and I take the empty tanks in. But, I recently learned something because we had a gas smell and I want to show you something. If you take off one side of the tanks, say the left side here, and you have the right sides and the tank’s turned on, you end up with a possible leak path like that. So, what I’ve learned is I don’t really want to leave the tanks disconnected when I have the other side turned on. Because, to my knowledge in the open range, there isn’t a back-flow preventer in the line, like I’m showing. I just don’t think there is and that explains the smell. And this is what my RV repair guy actually told me when I was asking about the propane smell.

So, when in operation, you really need to leave all your tanks on and turn them off at the valve. See, that’s how I do it. I just highlighted the valve. Keep those off. That will block any potential gas leaks. When you do go to get your gas tanks refilled, just do it quickly and have the passenger tank sides off, for example, while you’re filling those up. You can just do that in 30 minutes.

Propane Tanks from Amazon:

CLICK HERE IF YOU DO NOT SEE A NICE SET OF AMAZON SEARCH TERMS RELATED TO propane tank BELOW

RV Fresh Water Connection – Fifth Wheel Pictorial Guide

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RV Fresh Water Connection :

When you are parked somewhere wonderful with your RV for any time period longer than 2-3 days, you’ll want to be connected to a source of fresh water.

While it is true that the RV can usually carry fresh water in the fresh water tank, that tank won’t last you very long unless all you do is wash dishes and drink water using that tank. If you are driving with your fresh water tank full – you should remember that water weighs EIGHT ( 8 ) pounds per gallon. That weight adds up in a hurry.

The RV fresh water connection uses the same type of connector as a regular garden hose. I’ve seen it plastered all over the internet that you should only use special medical grade or drinking water grade hose for the fresh water. Honestly I don’t know what the truth is. I’ll tell you a secret – Sheri and I use ordinary garden hoses. But we do filter our water. I’m sure whatever the bad chemical is in the hoses will get through the filter, but so far we have not died. It just seems like one more of those recommendations that gets passed around that soon seems to be “gospel” when no one has actually ever checked. You be the judge.

I also see lots of recommendations to have a water pressure limiter on your incoming water. I DO think that is a good idea, particularly in a new park where you don’t know exactly what kind of pressure the park has. Sheri and I do put on a limiter and if the pressure is too weak, we take it off. I will tell you that of all the issues we have had with our RV, water leaks seem to be the biggest problem. Not necessarily because of pressure, but maybe because of turning pressure on, then off, then traveling  with vibration, then turning pressure on again. I can’t prove it, but that is my hunch. So you should probably have a limiter on your system. You could put it at the fresh water connection here or you could probably put it at the RV park valves connector.

We did try an inline filter from Walmart and you can get the same thing from Amazon. We finally decided that the inline filter knocked down water pressure too much, cost too much, and using it to filter water for showers seemed a bit wasteful. We now use a Pur filter pitcher for water that we place in our refrigerator. You can order Pur pitcher filter refills here too. We have been VERY happy with this pitcher and the water tastes great. We are thinking about a reverse osmosis system instead though.

Here is a picture of the fresh water connection in your fifth wheel :

rv fresh water or shore water connection
rv fresh water or shore water connection

RV Battery Disconnect Switch – Fifth Wheel Pictorial Guide

Last updated on October 20th, 2012 at 08:35 pm

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RV Battery Disconnect Switch:

As you move around the RV, you might find a switch marked “Battery Disconnect Switch”. It does exactly what it says it does – it disconnects the battery from the RV’s electrical system. That is very straightforward.

What are some reasons you might want to do this?

  • You are switching out your battery or performing maintenance on the battery and this provides a clean disconnect from the rest of the RV. If you don’t do this, you are “spiking” the DC current from the battery to the rest of the RV more times than you need to do – hard on everything.
  • If your RV is going to be stored for awhile, by disconnecting this switch, you’ll reduce small DC loads on the battery that will discharge it faster than its natural self discharge. Things such as monoxide detectors, clocks, sensors in the convertor circuitry, microwave clocks, controls for hot water heaters and refrigerators – all will contribute to draining your battery unnecessarily.
  • I read about a CLEVER use of the battery disconnect switch ( actually a special switch ) to create circuitry so leveling jacks and slides cannot be moved, while the rest of the battery operated items in the RV would work very well. I thought that was a very good idea.

Not all RV’s have this switch, but I would expect most fifth wheels to have one. Ours was located in the fifth wheel basement on the passenger side of the RV.

Here is the battery disconnect switch :

rv battery disconnect switch inside of basement
rv battery disconnect switch inside of basement

 

RV Breakaway Brake Switch – Fifth Wheel Pictorial Guide

Last updated on September 5th, 2016 at 11:05 am

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RV Breakaway Switch overview information
RV Breakaway Switch overview information

Recreational Vehicle Breakaway Switch :

As you check out the exterior of the RV, you will eventually get to the defining characteristic of the fifth wheel RV and that is the hitch.

When looking at the hitch, you’ll see there is more than just a mechanical connection – there is an electrical connection and then a baffling looking cable with a loop on it.

What the heck IS that baffling looking cable with a loop on it anyway?

It is a breakaway switch that, when activated (pray that it does not activate) it will turn on the electrically activated brakes in the fifth wheel trailer.

The RV gets the power to turn on the brakes from the 12 volt battery in the RV.

Lesson #1 is that you should tow your RV with a charged battery if you want these emergency brakes to work when the breakaway switch is activated.

How does this breakaway switch work?

The best way to explain how this switch work is to use an analogy. In this case, the analogy is VERY VERY close to the real thing.

RV breakaway switch and the treadmill analogy

Think about when you go to the the gym to work out. While you are at the gym, focus on the treadmill machine. On almost every treadmill I’ve ever seen is the “safety key”. The idea behind the treadmill safety key is that you clip the safety key to your clothing and plug it into the treadmill.

When you are exercising on the treadmill, if you lose your balance and consequently get too far away from the machine, the safety key will pull out from the treadmill and turn off the treadmill so you aren’t repeatedly smashed into the wall or continually get a “belt burn”.

How the breakaway switch works

With the analogy of the treadmill in mind,  here is how the RV breakaway switch works.

You fasten one end of the breakaway switch to your tow vehicle and inside the hitch the other end is already attached to the RV.  In fact, the other end isn’t just attached to the RV, it is attached to a special switch that will turn on the brakes if you pull on the cable  hard enough to pull out the cable from the switch. The loop of wire that fastens to your tow vehicle is often called a lanyard.

The BIG IDEA behind breakaway switches

The overall BIG idea or safety idea behind the breakaway switch is this – if the RV comes unhitched, for any reason, the breakaway switch will be activated, the brakes will turn on strongly and your RV will come to an stop.

Hopefully if all this works, your RV damage will be minimal and people on the highway will be safe. Without the breakaway switch, the RV might continue to roll and cause more damage or even hurt another person by hitting a car headon. This braking mechanism is the best chance to get the RV slowed down, stopped, and then safe.

My recommendation is to double, triple, and neurotically quadruple check your hitch connection and pray that you never have to utilize your breakaway switch.

My next recommendation is to make sure your battery is fully charged prior to towing your RV. That way if you ever do need the breakaway switch services, the RV brakes have the power to engage.

Here is a picture of a breakaway switch so you can see what to look for :

rv breakaway brake switch cable or lanyard
rv breakaway brake switch cable or lanyard

Breakaway switches and cables on Amazon:

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