Sleep Safe in Your RV · The checks I do before bed in an RV

The honest math

Nobody adds up what a bad night in a rig can cost, or what the right few things cost. So here are both, priced the way it really happens.

The guessing way

A converter cooked by bad campground power, replaced at a shop$300 to $600 and up, part and shop time
A melted plug or cord end at the pedestal, fixed by a tech$100 to $300 and up
A plain surge protector bought in place of an EMS$80 to $150, and it does not guard against low voltage
A second space heater and a power strip to run it$30 to $60, and the strip is the problem
A fire, or a carbon monoxide night in the emergency roommore than everything on this page, and some things money does not replace

One bad nighthundreds to thousands, and some of it does not come back

Gus's way

A CO and propane alarm made for RVs, with the date written on itabout $50 to $90
A portable EMS (surge plus low and high voltage) at the pedestalabout $250 to $350, once
A 10-gauge 30 amp cord, so nothing runs hotabout $60 to $120
A proper ABC fire extinguisher, where you can reach it from bedabout $30 to $60
The bedtime walk-around, the soapy water check and reading the dates on your alarmsfree

The same rigabout $400 to $600, most of it once, and the checks cost nothing

Your numbers will differ. Prices change from store to store, your rig may already have some of this, and a 50 amp rig costs more to fit out. The point does not: most of what keeps you safe at night is a check, and the few things worth buying cost less than one trip to the shop.

Look inside

Real pages from the real book. This is exactly what opens on your phone, or comes out of your printer. The type is set big on purpose.

Page 153 of Sleep Safe in Your RV — p. 153. The Buddy heater chapter. What I did on cold mornings in the trailer, and what the maker's own manual says.

Page 156 of Sleep Safe in Your RV — p. 156. The fresh-air opening, in plain numbers, with the owner's manual box where makes differ.

Page 12 of Sleep Safe in Your RV — p. 12. How long each RV carbon monoxide alarm lasts, straight from the makers, and what its end-of-life chirp sounds like.

Page 280 of Sleep Safe in Your RV — p. 280. 30 amp and 50 amp shore power, side by side, so you know what your rig can really pull.

Page 297 of Sleep Safe in Your RV — p. 297. The cords and adapters I threw away, and the sizes that belong on a 30 or 50 amp rig.

Page 550 of Sleep Safe in Your RV — p. 550. From the cards at the back: what to do if the carbon monoxide alarm goes off. Made to print and tape by the door.

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What's Inside

Thirty chapters in seven parts. Every chapter ends with the checks to do, the lines not to cross, and who to call when a job belongs to a pro. The check cards at the back are made to print and keep by the door.

The Buddy heater, and what the maker's own manual says about sleeping with it · p. 153
The date on the back of your CO alarm, and what the chirp at 2 a.m. is telling you · p. 9
The wasp nest in my furnace vent, and the fall check that would have caught it · p. 26
The neighbor's generator, and the ways carbon monoxide gets in from outside · p. 44
The space heater on a power strip, and where it has to plug in instead · p. 172
The brown dogbone adapter I threw away, and the other plugs I stopped trusting · p. 296
Plugging in at a campground pedestal, and the box that goes between it and your rig · p. 277
The rotten egg smell by the stove, and the first things Donna and I did · p. 81
Lithium batteries, and why the kind in your rig matters more than the word on the label · p. 366
The fire extinguisher worth buying, and where it goes in a small rig · p. 438
The window we couldn't open in the dark, and the escape we practiced every spring after · p. 494

And that is a slice of it. Thirty chapters, 559 pages, and printable check cards at the back.

Get your copy

The book is an instant PDF, on your phone about thirty seconds after you pay. Nothing ships.

The fire, propane, heater, power and carbon monoxide checks I learned in years of living full-time on the road

Sleep Safe in Your RV

559 pages in large print, made to read on a phone or print at home
Instant PDF download, on your phone about thirty seconds after you pay
Thirty chapters: carbon monoxide, propane, heaters, power, batteries, fire, vans and tiny homes
Printable check cards for the bedtime walk-around
7-day money back, and you keep the book

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The Cold Weather RV Book and Gus's Rig Check Book

? more pages · the freezing nights and the check logs · the rest of what I learned

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Gus Harlan

I spent 28 years on a county road crew in Missouri, plowing snow and patching blacktop. At 51 my wife Donna and I sold the house and lived full-time on the road for the better part of twelve years. First a 27-foot travel trailer for about five years, then a small Class C for the last seven, with Rusty, our old beagle mix, asleep on the floor. Winters in Arizona and south Texas, summers up north. We came off the road when Donna's knees got tired of the steps, but we still take the Class C out a few times a year.

I am not a firefighter, an electrician or an RV tech, and I won't pretend to be. I'm a man who slept in a rig most nights for twelve years and learned the checks one near miss at a time. The safety facts in this book come from published guidance and the makers' own manuals. Where a job belongs to a certified RV tech, a propane pro or an electrician, I say so plainly, and I tell you what you can check yourself for free.

Gus

Questions, Answered Honestly

Is this a printed book you mail me?

No, and I want you to know that before you spend a dime. It is a PDF: a file you open on your phone, your tablet or your computer the moment you pay. Nothing comes in the mail. The type is set big on purpose. You can print any page you like at home or at a copy shop, and the check cards at the back are made to be printed and kept by the door of your rig.

I've RVed for thirty years. Will I learn anything?

Maybe less than a newcomer, and I won't tell you otherwise. I'd been at it for years myself when I found a CO alarm past its date and a campground adapter turned brown at the prongs. Most experienced folks find one or two things like that. The book is laid out so you can skip what you know and go straight to what you don't.

Isn't this all free on YouTube?

A lot of it is out there, spread across hundreds of videos, some good and some that argue with each other. This is the same ground in one place, in order, with the night-time checks pulled together and printed cards you can use at the campsite. You don't need a signal to read it, and you don't have to sit through nine minutes to get one sentence.

Are you a firefighter or an RV tech?

No. I'm not a firefighter, a fire inspector, an electrician or an RV tech, and I never will be. I lived in an RV for the better part of twelve years and learned the checks the slow way. What the book gives you is what I did, the safety facts from published guidance and the makers' manuals, and a plain line every time a job belongs to a certified RV tech, a propane pro or a licensed electrician.

I have a van or a tiny home, not an RV.

Most of the book still applies: carbon monoxide, heaters, cords, batteries and getting out fast. There is a part just for vans and tiny homes, with wood stoves and a second way out. Where your setup is different, the book tells you to check your owner's manual, because makes differ.

Will I have to buy a lot of gear?

No. Most of the checks are free: looking, smelling, reading the date on an alarm. The book names the few things I think are worth the money, like a CO alarm with a date on it, a proper extinguisher and a good cord, and it says plainly where you can skip spending.

I'm not good with computers.

You don't need to be. You press one button and the book opens the way a photo opens, with no account to make and no password. If it doesn't open, write to me here and I will walk you through it myself, or give your money back.

What if it's not for me?

Write to me within seven days and I'll give your money back, and you keep the book. I would rather that than have you feel taken.

The checks I do before bed in an RV. Twelve years on the road, written down.

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