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Keeping beverages, food, and essential medicines cold while on the road can be quite challenging. That challenge has been met by the iceless cooler technology of portable thermo-electric coolers which are often referred to as 12 volt coolers. If you have ever spent any amount of time traveling by passenger vehicle, semi-truck, or motorhome you are likely all too familiar with the difficulty in keeping food cold and usable in a standard travel cooler. Conventional cooling methods such as bagged ice and freezer cold packs often leave the cooler bottom full of warm water and soggy wet food.

Enter the 12 volt cooler. These 12 volt coolers act like portable mini-fridge as they are powered directly by electricity produced by the vehicle and delivered by the accessory power outlet (ie Lighter socket outlet). Over the years there have been many performance and power saving developments made in this form of portable food storage which are greatly appreciated by travelers far and wide. Professional truck drivers and those owners of motorhome campers enjoy low power consumption and low noise level operation.

Portable electric coolers are best used for safe storage of dairy products, deli meats, cheeses, condiments, and beverages. They are also the perfect solution for the safe storage of temperature sensitive medicines. These units generally cool to 40 degrees below the ambient temperature and never reach temperatures of freezing or below.

Just like your home refrigerator, care and cleaning are an occasional requirement. Cleaning the inside of a portable electric cooler is done with a rag or sponge dampened with a mild, easy to remove soap or diluted bleach water solution. Simply wipe down the inside and outside of the cooler to clean. The only required maintenance is the removal of dust from the exterior cooling fan. This is done using a can of canned air or a common air compress set to a low air pressure level. Keeping the exterior cooling fan clean helps to keep the cooler operating quietly and efficiently.

There are many options now available which are being manufactured by well known and trusted manufacturers such as Black and Decker, Coleman, Koolatron, RoadPro and Wagan Tech. These units are all quite attractive in design, highly reliable and extremely cost effective, especially when compared to the cost, hassle and losses experienced when using conventional travel coolers. Put an end to the so called swamp coolers of yesterday and travel in comfort.

Source by JJ Martin

One of the most exciting ways of traveling when on holiday is through a campervan. Hiring a motorhome is an easy thing to do and it is undoubtedly an affordable way to see the world, coupled with the freedom to pause where you like and stay as long as you wish at each stop. Comfortable and convenient, a campervan will take you to where you can experience exhilaration, adventure, sensuality, and breathtaking beauty without having to worry about the sun setting down.

Campervan travelers know that there are many models for them to choose from, depending on the number of people traveling with them, and their preference for home-on-the-road travel. Most motorhome vehicles come equipped with beds, tables, chairs, cooking facilities, toilet and shower cubicles, and even CD players, television, and DVD facilities. Meanwhile you can also hire extra items like outdoor chairs, tables, tents, and more.

The ease and accessibility of campervan travel is only one of the advantages to motorhome road trips. Affordability plays a great role, imagine not having to pay for hotel accommodations that would otherwise eat up a huge margin of a holiday-makers budget!

No vista or landscape is ever the same on this quest of discovery. The great outdoors makes for a more cheerful trip, and the freedom of choice to go off the beaten track is beyond compare – a freedom that is not available when taking the travel agency and run-of-the-mill tourist route.

Imagine pulling over and stopping by a grassy glade for a refreshing cup of coffee while enjoying the sunrise. Or lounging on a pristine beach while a romantic moon shines down upon the water. The next day can be lunch with the locals overlooking a ruggedly uplifting mountain canyon. No one day is ever the same.

More importantly, traveling by campervan creates experiences that are meant to last forever. The freedom of the road, and various adventures shared with family and friends will be mental keepsakes that can be taken out with reverence and joyful remembrance again and again.

Source by Sydney Liang

A campervan is an alternative vehicle for travelling or camping that is sometimes referred to as a “motorhome” or simply a “camper”. Geographically speaking, “RV” is the preferred term in the US that stands for Recreational vehicle, while “motorhome” is the common term used in Germany. Today the terms campervan and motorhome are preferred in Australia and New Zealand, while RV remains a popular term in the US.

Campervans vary in sizes

Size definitely matters; this applies to travelling with it and essentially when choosing for a campervan to rent. Campervan countries strictly impose vehicle capacity. Travellers and renters alike should not exceed the maximum number of people allowed in both regular vehicles and campervans. Sizes of campervans are regarded with the term “Berth”, by definition is a bed on a ship, or a passenger’s stateroom. The common berth sizes are 2 Berth, 4 berth and 6 berth. The number specifies the number of people to sleep in a particular camper.

Some companies offer 2.5 berth or 3 berth models. Many people are confused with these models. 2.5 berth campers simply means that it can sleep 2 adults and a child, while 3 berth of course imply 3 adults to sleep in it. All campers have storage cabins for luggage. Renting these types of models is definitely fine as long as the numbers are not exceeded. Some renters choose bigger vehicles to give more room to move, more luggage spaces or both, this strategy is ideal for travelers bringing in heavy or large amount of luggage than the usual.

All campers are equipped with a sleeping facility, 2 berth campers usually come with a convertible bed while 4 berth and 6 berth campers are usually built with double bed or beds that are immovable. All campers also come equipped with basic facilities of a regular vehicle like radio air-conditioner and seatbelts. Child seats should be secured when renting a campervan because some models cannot be fitted with child restraints.

When it comes to the kitchen facility, 2 berth vehicles may or may not be equipped with it, but campervans for hire commonly include a mini kitchen that is strategically designed to be convenient, thus without affecting the sleeping facility or the performance of the vehicle. Kitchen facilities among 4 berth vehicles and up are better, these models may also include toilet and shower for more convenience, DVD and TV and even awning.

Source by Sydney Liang

When we left off last, we were safe and sound in Tacoma and the Christmas holidays were fast approaching. I promised you that we would let you know how the RV handles freezing weather.

Lessons in Cold Weather RVing:

It was December, but temps below freezing in Tacoma are rare. So, when the temperature the first night there got down into the 20s (-9 C) we were totally taken off guard.

Here's what happened:

• The hose connecting us to water froze
• The plastic pipe leading to the fresh water tank froze
• The gas / propane furnace ran most of the night

I need to tell you, our Rexhall Aerbus is a good quality motorhome and all the pipes are enclosed and access is through a sealed exterior bin. We thought that would be enough if the temps got down to freezing or just below. Truth is, had is only been a couple of degrees below freezing, we probably would have been OK. The problem was that it got more than just a little below freezing!

Lesson # 1 – How to Keep Pipes From Freezing

If your water connections or any of your water lines are exposed to the outside, even temperatures just below freezing can freeze and crack your lines. Even if your lines and fill points are enclosed in bins or calculations, if those areas are not heavily insulated and heated, just having the sewer line or water hose coming up through an access hole can bring in the freezing temps and problems … as we found out first hand.

Our simple solution was to wrap a heat tape with a built in temperature sensor (about $ 20.00 US) around the exposed pipes and valves. We got it from the local hardware store. It's the kind mean for outside or crawl space water lines. It looks like an electrical extension cord that has no plug at the end.

When we are in an area that has possible freezing temps, we just plug the heat tape into our full hookup power box via an extra extension cord (heavy duty) and the sensor takes care of turning on when needed.

That's all we needed to keep the bin and connections from freezing. We do not connect the water hose in freezing temperatures, we just fill the fresh water tank as needed. If you were staying in one place for the winter, you could use another heat tape and some insulation wrapped around it on the hose to keep your hose from freezing too.

For boondocking or dry camping, you could also stuff the compartment full of insulation or heavily insulate your exterior water lines to keep them from freezing in all but the coldest of temps.

Lesson # 2 – Heat Guns and Plastic Water Lines Do not Mix

My dad had a heat gun used for heat shrink on wires and windows. We decided to use that to heat up the pipes and get the water pump working again.

BIG MISTAKE!

Well, using the heat gun was a good idea, we just did not know how warm and how fast it could work. Instead of just slowly warming the whole compartment, I made the mistake of blowing directly on the plastic water lines.

In less than two minutes, I had heated up the plastic water line so well that it became soft and with the water line pressurized from the pump … It formed a bubble just like bubble gum and popped.

I was lucky, my dad had just been remodeling his kitchen and had just the right size plastic water line on hand. So, all I had to do was finish thawing things out, slowly, and then fix the popped water line. That was just two fittings, about 8 inches of new plastic water line, the heat gun to warm the ends and it all screwed together in less than 30 minutes. Like I said, I was lucky to be where I had the tools and supplies to fix it myself.

It easily could have been a hundred hundred dollars of repairs if I had to have a repair shop do it.

In Conclusion: Motorhomes, 5th Wheels and other RVs can handle below freezing temperatures. You just need to use a little common sense and have a back up plan for when things do not work out.

• Do not let the colder weather stop you from enjoying your RV year round.
• Do test it's cold weather abilities close to home or family, just in case.
• Keep extra incandescent lights & insulation handy for backup & repairs
• Always thaw frozen pipes and tanks slowly – To fast and think can break

As we travel year round, we'll keep you up to date on what we learn (the hard way) and how you can avoid the same mistakes (the easy way).

Source by Wes Waddell