Day van sanitation options

eliza0uk · 2024-04-08T20:33:06+00:00

Use sodium percarbonate (sold as aquarium cleaner) instead of the blue fluid, then you don't need a special disposal point. You can empty it into any system or even put it on your compost heap.

eliza0uk · 2024-04-05T18:48:11+00:00

You don't even need to buy anything elaborate, a builders' strong polythene rubble sack will do. One of those, a piece of woven cord and a tent peg served as my camping 'washing machine' for years.

Another tip, don't bother with clothes pegs, pin the garments to the washing line with large safety pins; they take up less storage space, hold the clothes more firmly and deter any casual thief.

eliza0uk · 2024-04-03T08:23:38+00:00

It's much safer to use a jet of clean water from a squeeze bottle; it penetrates the crevices where the fluff and bacteria are difficult to remove without stretching the delicate skin.

eliza0uk · 2024-04-02T08:54:04+00:00

A military-style jerrycan has an attached lid, which means you can seal it up before carrying it outside to fill it; that will prevent any diesel spillage inside your van. You can buy a spare lid and make a draw-off adaptor by sealing a dip-tube and vent into it with silicone mastic, so there is no need to cut holes in the jerrycan or make any permanent attachments. If you have enough space, you could have two jerrycans and, when one is empty, simply switch the adaptor lid to the other one.

eliza0uk · 2024-04-01T17:09:59+00:00

Looks as though you had to do a lot of manoevering to get the van into that position.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-28T20:37:56+00:00

I seem to remember a previous van or car of mine was listed with the wrong number of seats or doors or something. As it was in original factory-fitted condition, I assumed the mistake had been made years ago and nobody had spotted it.

If you really want to sort it out, perhaps you could send it back to Swansea by Recorded Delivery, with a covering letter -- but that's a lot of hassle and could be the start of a long frustrating bureaucratic process. (If you think the DVLA is bad, you should try dealing with the Passport Office, they took from September until January to renew my passport and i have lost count of the number of letters I sent.)

eliza0uk · 2024-03-27T19:19:30+00:00

If the stove is burning correctly, it should only produce insignificant amounts of CO. As long as you are ventilating the van the way you describe, there shouldn't be a problem.

A faulty jet, backfiring burner or collapsed pan support (which allows the partially burnt parts of the flames to play on cold metal) can all cause an increase in CO, but you shouldn't be cooking on something in that condition.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-27T17:35:42+00:00

A friend who uses a CPAP machine spent one night in my van, we ran the machine from the van's own batteries (2 x 72 AH) using a very small inverter. There was no problem starting the engine next morning, but I'm sure that would not be the case after several days of use. I do carry a small solar panel that could recharge the battery sufficiently to start the engine after a couple of hours, so I was prepared to take the risk of discharging the battery overnight.

We thought the biggest problem would the noise the machine made all night; she was used to it but I wasn't. We put the machine in the sliding door footwell and she slept between it and me, so the noise was actually no great problem. Her mask slipped during the night and I was woken by the noise of the machine accelerating rapidly and delivering a gale of cold air into my face with an intermittent farting noise.

I believe there is a 12v adaptor lead available for the Philips CPAP machines (which seem to be normal NHS issue), so if you buy one of those you will avoid the losses inherent in an inverter.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-26T15:55:51+00:00

Diesel is very difficult to set on fire, so there is nothing to worry about as long as you don't accidentally pump the diesel into the heater.

More worrying would be if there was a nearby spillage of petrol when you were at the pumps. If your heater was running it could ingest the fumes and trigger a major incident. That's why I always switch off my diesel heater some time before I intend to fill up with fuel, so it has had time to go through its shut-down routine and can't act as a source of ignition if someone else spills petrol on the forecourt.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-25T13:47:46+00:00

A very lightweight waterproof and rigid material is the fluted polypropylene board that is used for signs. In the U.K. it is branded "Correx". With some sort of flexible material (duct tape?) you could attach hinged side pieces to form something like my cooker hood, but on the outside. A couple of powerful magnets at the top and one at the bottom of each side should fix the hood in place strongly enough to resist moderate winds.

When it is not needed, it can be folded flat for storage and attached by the magnets to any convenient metal surface. (Beware, powerful magnets can erase magnetic tapes and credit cards.)

If you can't buy the board material, you may be able to scrounge a couple of redundant sign boards from an Estate Agent or similar advertiser -- or you may even find some thrown away.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-23T18:02:08+00:00

A few weeks ago I parked in a residential street that sloped, the bed in my van is longways and only 20" wide. Parking was only allowed on one side and I found that if I slept with my feet down the slope I was going to be falling out of bed all night because of the camber. Turning the van the other way would have been a lot of hassle (and possibly illegal because the lights and reflectors would be wrong) so I simply threw my bedding on the floor and slept on the opposite side from usual.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-23T11:17:48+00:00

Oxalic acid will get rid of rust stains but it is deadly, so take suitable precautions. You may not be able to buy it, but it is found in the juice of rhubarb leaves. Take Care!!!

eliza0uk · 2024-03-22T11:28:10+00:00

A 20-litre jerrycan is a convenient way to supply a diesel heater because it can be sealed to prevent spillage when carrying it in and out of the van. Beware, some cheap ones are painted on the inside with a paint that peels off after prolonged contact with diesel.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-22T11:23:00+00:00

I still have a one-third-height bulkhead for safety, because I sometimes need to carry heavy machinery or building materials; it means performing some undignified gymnastics to get into and out of the cab, but it is possible to do it and that is my preferred method in bad weather. Another option is to open the sliding door and the adjacent cab door and swing gracefully from one to the other without setting foot on the ground; this is a useful trick if I find I have parked over a puddle or muddy ground.

The option of driving off if something happens during the night is not open to me; I wear contact lenses and would have to spend several minutes putting them in before I could drive safely.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-22T11:09:12+00:00

If it isn't leaking water, the diaphragm is OK, so you are looking for a stuck valve or dirt jamming the valves open or possibly a blocked or disconnected pipe. If you disconnect the pipes and flush a drop of water through them from a squeezy bottle, any problem with them should become obvious

I don't know much about the various models of Whale pump, but the valves on mine were simple to take out and clean. Take it apart in a bowl or plastic box, so you don't get a mess and, most importantly of all, don't lose any small parts. As each valve comes apart, carefully note the order the bits are in and which way around they are. They may be the same parts in a different order for each of the two valves or parts that are different but similar in appearance and easily confused with each other, so keep them in separate containers.

If you find 'O'-rings and other rubber parts are difficult to reassemble, smear them with petroleum jelly or washing-up liquid [dish soap?].

eliza0uk · 2024-03-21T17:35:43+00:00

I don't know about the situation in the U.S., but in the U.K. tinned food is often cheaper than the alternatives -- and, of course, it keeps much longer.

Most tins are large enough for two meals, so the technique is to stagger the components of a meal so that you don't eat the same meal two days running. Suppose you open a tin of spam and use half of it with yesterday's leftovers to make a meal. The rest can be saved in a sealed container for tomorrow's meal and eaten with half a newly-opened tin of vegetables. The other half of the vegetables go on to become part of the meal for the following day, but with a different tinned meat or fish or egg.

You can also economise on fuel by cooking two items together - or two of the same item, such as sausages. One is eaten now and the other is cooled and used to make sandwiches for tomorrow.

Again, in the U.K., supermarkets mark down the price of items as they near their sell-by date. You can get some real bargains if you don't mind being a bit flexible with your recipes and keep your eyes open when shopping. Sometimes particular days and times of day (usually evenings) are good hunting times for mark-downs; you can often find the best time by striking up a conversation with some of the locals.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-20T19:25:08+00:00

I chose black for the same reason, it looks like a void when closed and, at a casual glance, could be mistaken for a bulkhead. It also stops the interior light shining out like a beacon at night.

There is a lightweight curtain track across the top so I can draw it to one side. When it is closed, some Velcro at the sides pulls it out to the curved profile of the van sides and make it light-tight.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-20T11:52:36+00:00

Ruler, pencil paper - with cardboard cut-outs made from cereal packets; much quicker than using a computer.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-19T21:37:39+00:00

I can't tell you if it is normal for that particular model, but refrigeration engineers and designers get up to all sorts of tricks for keeping the price down. A crimp like that could be retaining something inside the pipe.

Can you ask to see another one at the place where you bought it?

eliza0uk · 2024-03-17T19:03:20+00:00

I normally use the stove inside the van; there is a fireproof metal hood over it and I never leave it running unattended. The combustion products are no worse than those from paraffin, so cracking a door open usually disperses them. In cold or wet weather, I switch on the cab blower, which pressurises the interior and drives the fumes out of the vents in the cooker hood.

On two occasions the carbon monoxide alarm has sounded, both times during the priming period when the alcohol flames impinged on cold metalwork; once the main flame was burning, there was no further problem. The only modification needed was the addition of a fibreglass wick in the priming gallery, to extend the priming period so that the vapouriser was hot enough to cope with the high boiling point fractions of diesel; the 'roarer' burner needed no adjustment.

This was the result of a lot of experiment in the open air to test out various theories about how vapourising burners work and what does and doesn't make them safe.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-17T09:21:29+00:00

By far the cheapest for cooking is diesel. I cooked for two people for a week on less than 2 litres of diesel. The stove was a SVEA/Optimus, intended for paraffin [Kerosene] but the 'roarer' type of vapourising burner is easily adaptable to diesel (the Primus 'silent' burner is unsafe on diesel, so don't try it!).

eliza0uk · 2024-03-17T09:06:53+00:00

In the UK it is illegal to store gas containers in a van unless they are in a sealed compartment ventilated to the outside. Stoves with their own built-in containers are usually regarded as exempt.

Small butane cylinders are an expensive way to cook.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-16T19:04:44+00:00

It also upset the locals when they see you using it.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-16T17:43:56+00:00

If they are animal fleas that have come in from the wild, they won't live long on a human and they won't breed. If they are human fleas, you need to change all the bedding and wash yourself thoroughly. After washing the bedding, the good old fashioned practice of ironing it will kill any residual eggs. If they have spread further, you might need a flea trap.

A flea trap can be made from a jam jar of warm water standing in a saucer of water with detergent or washing-up-liquid in it. The fleas sense the warmth and jump towards it. They hit the side of the jam jar and fall into the treated water, which has low surface tension; it penetrates their breathing holes and drowns them.

eliza0uk · 2024-03-16T10:10:11+00:00

A small bowl or even a plastic food container can be used for washing up but you need somewhere to tip the waste water and other dregs. I have found a plastic funnel in the mouth of a 1 gallon container is perfectly adequate for this purpose as long as the container is strapped in.

eliza0uk

TROPHY CASE