Seasonal camping thread

[sixstring]

I put an ice cube in a ziplock bag and leave it in the freezer. If the power did go off for any length of time ,the cube be distorted alerting you to the possibility of spoiled food. We have done this for the last 4 years and it has seemed to work well .

[jthomp58]

As djmac said, set your fridge to auto setting and be sure to leave your propane open. In the event of a power outage, the fridge will kick over from electric to propane and foods will stay cold/frozen. We leave ours on all season, but due to summer humidity, I usually do have to defrost at least once during the summer months.

[caper]

Ours has been on for the past 3 years. We live in our trailer full time and do not have a back up fridge. \What we do have is a small apartment size deep freeze.

[Wiscampsin]

Originally Posted by sixstring

I put an ice cube in a ziplock bag and leave it in the freezer. If the power did go off for any length of time ,the cube be distorted alerting you to the possibility of spoiled food. We have done this for the last 4 years and it has seemed to work well .

I like the ice cube idea. The microwave clock will blink even if the power goes out for a minute. If the ice cube is close to the original shape chances the power wasn't out for long, probably not long enough for food to spoil.

[brokenaxle]

We leave our on all season from may1st until oct. 30th like previously said leave it on auto. Our c.g. is in a very rural location and the power goes out quite often and it will run on gas if the power goes out keeping the stuff inside from spoiling. We also keep an apartment sized fridge on our deck under our awning. Sin ce the camper fridge is of limited size we keep our veggies in the crisper of the outside one and any overflow from the inside. But mainly use it for beverages. The water is very hard and we drink a lot of bottled water and soda. Also a few adult type beverages. Then we also have extra freezer space with the fridge the nearest store is quite a hike down the road and we tend to keep a lot of meat in the freezer. We bring it from home where it is much cheaper to purchase than up here in northern Mi. Also I make my own homemade sausage which is much leaner than any you will buy in the store and we go through a lot of breakfast sausage here.
Some people here also put their extra fridge in their sheds to protect them from the elements. But we have had no issues with that. In the winter we just cover it with a tarp and bungee cords.

Oh yes if your hubby is afraid he'll hurt it leaving it on tell him no worries our last trailer was 7 years old and the fridge never had an issue.

[brokenaxle]

Originally Posted by sixstring

I put an ice cube in a ziplock bag and leave it in the freezer. If the power did go off for any length of time ,the cube be distorted alerting you to the possibility of spoiled food. We have done this for the last 4 years and it has seemed to work well .

I do this in my outside fridge that runs off of electric only. The inside one if it goes out it will run on gas and if it doesn't you will know.
Believe me lol Our neighbor here had converter issues with their camper from when they bought it and one day they came up and the fridge was dead because it wasn't getting any electric at all for a couple weeks.

[bodzcampers]

Originally Posted by sixstring

I put an ice cube in a ziplock bag and leave it in the freezer. If the power did go off for any length of time ,the cube be distorted alerting you to the possibility of spoiled food. We have done this for the last 4 years and it has seemed to work well .

Great idea! So simple, yet so ingenious!

[RVChick]

Originally Posted by williamm72

HAPPY CAMPING

What a fun looking camp set up!!!

[williamm72]

Thank you!!!we love it

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by sixstring

I put an ice cube in a ziplock bag and leave it in the freezer. If the power did go off for any length of time ,the cube be distorted alerting you to the possibility of spoiled food. We have done this for the last 4 years and it has seemed to work well .

That's a brilliant tip/idea!

[poppy127]

Ok, he is concerned about..was it designed to run for 6 months without being shut off the whole time. The food inside wasn't a concern. He just doesn't want to have to replace the fridge because it was left running. We bought the mini fridge for $70. Replacing the main fridge inside will be much more expensive.

[bodzcampers]

Originally Posted by poppy127

Ok, he is concerned about..was it designed to run for 6 months without being shut off the whole time. The food inside wasn't a concern. He just doesn't want to have to replace the fridge because it was left running. We bought the mini fridge for $70. Replacing the main fridge inside will be much more expensive.

This is a great idea! Definitely, replacing a mini fridge is waaaaaaaaay less expensive than an RV fridge.

[bodzcampers]

Remember that putrid green shed we moved to our new site this spring?
Well, the make-over is done. DH even took the back off and extended it two feet longer so we can park the golf cart in it. Then it got fresh paint to match our trailer and deck and new shingles. DH was even kind to let me put up some artsy stuff.

[RVChick]

Oh my gosh Bodz.....that looks terrific!!! Love your final touches! It just changes the ambiance entirely!!

[Wiscampsin]

Best looking campground shed I've ever seen!!!

[BOBFIDY]

Originally Posted by poppy127

Ok, he is concerned about..was it designed to run for 6 months without being shut off the whole time. The food inside wasn't a concern. He just doesn't want to have to replace the fridge because it was left running. We bought the mini fridge for $70. Replacing the main fridge inside will be much more expensive.

Think about folks that full time. Their fridges would never be turned off, and I have not heard of any issues. A sister and BIL have lived in their motor home 24/7 since Sept. 2010 and thay have had no issues whatsoever.

[pwrboatfan]

Has anyone else had their water system start producing a bad odor. I have a 20 gallon hot water heater that is hard to drain so I put water to the system at the beginning of the year and do not drain the tank between visits and since I leave the trailer parked, I do not disconnect water lines. I do turn off the water before I leave. I did not have a problem last year at all. Now, I have a bad smell when we first turn the water on. I have read about sanitizing the fresh water system on the net which all basically say to fill the fresh water tank with a mixture of bleach and water and push through the system. My problem is my fresh tank is 40 gallons and I have a 20 gallon hot water heater so half will just go to my water heater. I guess i could fill the fresh tank twice. Should I try this method or has anyone just added bleach at their city water connection and flushing the system that way.

[bodzcampers]

By bad odor....can you be more specific?
We have the mother load of water problems in this region. First, the well water smells like rotten eggs (sulfur bacteria) when it's heated and sometimes even when it's cold. Second, it is loaded with rust so the water is often yellow orange and turns everything it touches orange.
Our solutions:
1. We use a charcoal filter at the water spout and another where the water enters the camper. (Not a cheapy campco).

2. We use an iron filter which clears out the iron and other impurities...they generally cost about $1000.00...but no way around it if you have iron...nothing else filters it. Now we can safely get our things wet. As newbies here last year, we didn't know the rust in the water could spoil everything on contact. Thank heavens it didn't get on our camper, but it turned our green shed orange from watering the grass and my car got a nice orange/mother of pearl sheen (Gross). Planned on painting the shed anyway, which we did this year. The car had to be buffed out.

3. Because the area's well water is so bad, there are many "water stores" where you can buy purified water in small or large quantities and that is what we use to drink or cook with. Our triple filtered water is clear and smells fine now, but I still don't trust it. It is safe however to clean things with now and no longer stinks.


Hope this helped with possible problem solving...and above all, you know you're not alone.

[pwrboatfan]

No rust down here...it smells like rotten eggs sort of. Just plain stinks. I am using a charcoal filter at the entrance to the camper. I think I need to sanitize the water heater and water lines to get rid of it.

[bodzcampers]

Another thing you can do, is take a water sample to be analyzed. We took one to Sears so we knew what was in it to purchase the correct solutions. If the sulfur bacteria is in the water, I suspect it will come back. Sears offered the analysis for free. It was done on the spot with various litmus-type testing strips. I'm personally (probably unjustified) afraid of adding bleach to water supply or lines for possible corrosive qualities and just poisoning the water per se'. But that is prolly just a feeling I have, not based on first hand knowledge.