Main Mechanicals

The majority of the mechanical items are located inside the driver's side bed cabinet. Here's what's included:

1.   21 Gallon fresh water tank and 21 gallon grey water tank.

2.   Fresh water pump and filter and electric ball valve drain for grey water tank.

3.   Automatic transfer switch for 120v shore power to inverter power switch over.

4.   2500w pure sine wave inverter. Remote control is located over microwave.

5.   4 gallon electric hot water heater. Hot water in about 20 minutes.

6.   20 pound propane tank in sealed compartment with vent to the outside.

The propane tank is only used in the winter to run a catalytic heater.  In the summer, this space is used to haul a BBQ and single burner butane stove for outdoor cooking. The total fresh water capacity is 25 gallons counting the tank and hot water heater. Both tanks are located inside to prevent problems during winter travel.

Hookups and Switches

Shown here are the fresh water hookup for city water and filling the fresh water tank as well as the 120v 30a shore power hookup.  These are located on the driver's side of the van. 

At the bottom of the van in the same area is the grey water drain that allows a garden hose to be used instead of the typical bulky sewer drain hose.

Finally, the dashboard switch for the grey water electric ball valve is shown. This makes draining the grey water tank easy and controllable from the driver's seat.

Not shown is a "high idle" switch on the dash.  When switched, this raises the engine idle to about 2,000rpm.  This allows the engine battery plus the alternator to contribute to the 12v system during times of heavy loads such as cooking or heating water. By adding these two sources in parallel with the 3 house batteries, all 5 sources pick up equal parts of the load.  That means that a 120 amp draw from the microwave at full power only presents a 20a draw to each component.  This minimizes battery drain.  Running the engine for only a few minutes past the high current load also quickly adds charge back to both the house batteries and the starting battery.  Over the past three years I've found that this completely eliminates the need for both a generator and solar panels.