USING A SPACE HEATER IN YOUR RV

I think it's time that we challenge the misconception that space heaters are dangerous to use in your RV.  Instead, let’s focus on the limitations your RV's electrical system has. Which actually poses the bigger danger when it comes to the safety issues of portable heating in cold weather

Pay attention to wattage! ⚠

🠊 There’s a reason why your electrical system views space heaters as the enemy! One fallacy is that a small heater is safer than a large one. The reality is that it doesn't matter whether it’s a teeny tiny heater or a massive clunker.  If the sticker says 1500 watts, it’s drawing the exact amount of power, no matter it's size! 
🠊 Big or small, a space heater consuming 1500 watts of energy is a strain on your RV's wiring system.

🚙 RVs Are Different from Houses 🏠

🠊 The danger falls less on the space heater and more in the fact that the components used in RV construction really aren’t the highest quality. 
🠊 Most RV manufacturers use "wirecon" surface mount outlets which is a type of self-contained device. Unlike the outlets in a traditional brick and mortar house that sit inside a housing box, wirecons are designed to be installed directly unto the thin flimsy walls of an RV.  
🠊 Wirecons create loose connections that often lose full contact with the wire. This is a problem because a loose connection acts as a restriction. When electricity fights to get through that loose spot, it creates heat, which ultimately melts the plastic and may start a fire. 

❓But won’t the breaker trip...

🠊 False logic answers the question: "If a breaker is 15-amp and the heater is only 12.5-amp, there shouldn’t be an issue, right?”  Wrong!  
🠊 It’s really about the continuous load. Electrical code and manufacturers say you should not run more than 80% of a breaker's capacity for anything over 3 hours. A 15-amp breaker’s safe continuous limit is about 12 amps. A 1500-watt heater draws about 12.5 to 13.5 amps, putting it immediately into the "danger zone" for any type of long-term use in an RV. 

Alternative solutions to staying warm. 🔥🌡

🠊 Lower the wattage: Purchase a heater with multiple settings. A heater running at 500–700 watt is significantly safer for your RV's wiring.
🠊 Consider oil radiators: Yes, they are a bit bulkier, but they are great for maintaining steady and efficient heat. 
🠊 Desktop heaters: Smaller 400-watt heaters draw far less power and usually offer plenty of comfort for small RV spaces.
🠊 Layer it up! Protect your head and feet (even indoors). Wear/use naturally insulating wools like merino, alpaca and bison.
🠊 A heated throw blanket (50'x60") uses only 50-100 watts. You do not need a heated blanket the full size of your bed!

An ounce of prevention... 

🠊 Remember that in an RV multiple outlets are often on the same circuit. If you have a space heater on one and a crockpot on another, chances are you are already overloading the system!
🠊 Check your outlets by simply feeling them throughout the day. If they are warm to the touch, unplug heater or appliance immediately. 
🠊 Inspect your cords. Unplug throughout the week to look for signs of melting or prong damage. Space heaters should never be run on power strips or extension cords. 
• 🠊Avoid heater units that plug directly into the wall socket without a cord. This puts too much weight on flimsy RV outlets and loosen wiring connections.

Looking for low wattage portable space heaters? 

Check out what B4B has listed in our Amazon Storefront!

The saga of B4B's One-Pot Pasta Fagioli (Recipe Included)

Some people camp just to creatively cook, others merely choose to survive on PB & Js for the weekend. I guess you can call me a middleman.  I love the experience of cooking over the campfire (or camp stove), but as soon as the sun starts setting, I realize what a hassle the prep work, serving, and cleanup is probably going to be. I'm a big fan of foil packs... but pizza/beer at the local pub is great camp food too! I do get a laugh (maybe agitated) at many pictures on these so-called camping profiles/accounts on Instagram... not that there's anything wrong with a loving couple in designer clothes lounging comfortably on a colorful Navajo blanket...eating a 5-course meal by the light of a lantern's glow.  I must argue that a real-world scenario is much different, especially for families. 

What you’ll need!

Is there such thing as a relaxing meal when your camping crew numbers four or more? Our one-pot Pasta Fagioli might make that a reality.  The recipe is easy to half/triple by buying the 15oz. can size. Like more garlic?  Go for it! Watching salt intake? Buy low sodium items. Ground turkey and turkey sausage could even be used! Lots of prep options too! 

1.  Make the whole meal at home and just reheat at camp. Dole out the bowls and spoons.  Dig in!

2.  Brown meats and chop/dice veggies at home then throw them in a gallon ziploc with the needed seasonings. Pack up the remaining ingredients (which doesn’t take up precious cooler space)- a pot, a large mixing/serving spoon and a can opener.

• I often precook my pasta separately in the broth and drain it right into the pot, and then set pasta aside to mix in later as needed. If you don’t eat the whole pot in one sitting, the pasta swells as it sits. Mushy pasta is so gross!

3.  Break out that dutch oven and make it all at camp! This recipe is worth the hour wait!  Ready, set…GO!

• First, drag in from the day's adventures, unload the car, organize campsite, sit for a minute or twenty to gain a second wind, attempt to get a fire going, corral the kids that took off on their bikes, get kids showered/cleaned/dressed in pajamas, attempt to keep kids out of fire, retrieve dog that kids let loose, run to camp store for more wood, make rude comment to significant other who's still relaxing, yell at kids to stick near campsite, start prep work for dinner, start cooking, yell at kids to get out of the marshmallows because they're starving, go to grab ice out of the cooler because you just burned yourself, go to camp store for more ice, set up picnic table while trying to cook, shut down generator because neighbor just yelled "quiet time" … is it 8:00 pm already? Time to finally eat, in the dark.  Grab the lantern. Now force a smile, say "cheese" for that REAL camper photo and throw it up on Instagram and Facebook!

The overall jest of the recipe; Brown meats, sauté veggies in, add spices, add tomatoes, broth, sauce & pasta when time to. Cook till done. Voilà! Whichever way to choose to prepare this dish, it's a crowd pleaser!

 

Camper's Favorite One-Pot Pasta Fagioli

In a large pot, brown:

• 1/2 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 lb. loose sausage (sweet or hot)
• Hot gives an extra burst of flavor!

Add and sauté over medium heat for 7-10 minutes:

• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic

Add and cook over med-high 20 minutes or until vegetables are near tender:

• 1 carton (32oz) chicken or beef broth
• 1 can (28oz) tomato sauce
• 1 can (28oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. heaping of sugar
• 1 heaping tablespoon Italian seasoning

Add and cook 11 minutes until al dente

• 1 1/2-2 cups dry ditalini or tubettini pasta

Add and cook over medium 5 minutes more:

• 1 can (15.5oz) white cannellini beans, NOT drained
• 1 can (15.5oz) red kidney beans, NOT drained
• salt and pepper to taste

Before serving (optional):

• grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• fresh chopped parsley
• Slice up a loaf of fresh Italian bread

PRINT RECIPE HERE:  B4B's Camp Cooking Page

More camping recipes like these are on the Bound4Burlingame.com website on our "Camp Cooking" page. 

 

* The above blog post many contain affiliate links which allow B4B to earn from qualifying purchases. *

BEHIND THE B4B LOGO...

Believe it or not, It took me about 10 years to finalize the very simple Bound4Burlingame(B4B) logo! For years I sketched, scribbled, and copy/pasted, often spending days on end experimenting with fonts, colors, shapes and graphics. In the end, I reverted to the simplest of logos. Despite the fact that many campers outside New England probably don't realize that Burlingame is a camping destination near the beaches of Rhode Island, it was still pretty important that my logo portrayed B4B's underlying identity and stood apart from RI DEM and/or the RI State Park Department logos.

When it all finally fell into place, it was like an "Oprah Ahh-ha Moment". I can't believe I wasted so much time and effort when the answer was passing me by on every road trip I took. What would be more obvious for a brand/social network logo, then one that closely resembled what most people already recognized as the universal symbol for campground? And so I ran with it. Okay...skipped.  That was right after I jumped for joy. Took long enough! I patted myself on the back and called it a decade. I wanted the B4B social pages to expand beyond the Burlingame camping population, to include all outdoor enthusiasts, so originally, I expanded the logo as well. I stuck with the simplicity and immediately settled on a "ROY G BIV" scheme. If you didn't attention in art class, its the color of the rainbow...Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.  If its good enough for Mother Nature and the Olympic Rings, it's good enough for me!  I fell in love with these crisp, vibrant and bold colors as a kid, and never outgrew them. (Kind of like my love for camping). I've since realized that a solo circle makes the biggest impact, but you'll occasionally still see colorful icons on our pages.

ONE OF BOUND4BURLINGAME'S FIRST LOGOS (2011):

THEN:

NOW:

It's doubtful B4B will ever be a known brand like Nike or Pepsi, so I have freedom to change it up a bit.  However, I found the key is to stick with easily recognizable icons across social media, the internet and advertising. Some early B4B devotees may remember when our tent was square, and our identity was a bit more complex. One of our early t-shirts featured an "eat-sleep-camp" design... a popular slogan which will return soon, I promise. Sometimes I do a little logo tweaking on our Pinterest, Facebook, Amazon storefront, and Twitter posts/accounts, so it grabs the attention of the followers and alerts them to a great gift idea, a neat DIY idea, or a product that B4B loves! All B4B YouTube videos are copyrighted with our logo too.

I love our B4B #redtentdistrict logo! (even if the tent is actually white and the circle red). As we grow and more campers join our B4B community, I wanted everyone to know what the B4B logo stands for and why it's the color/shape it is.

  **THE COLOR RED** Red is a strong, stimulating color that represents protection, excitement and energy. This color can create physical effects such as enhanced metabolism, increased enthusiasm, high levels of energy, and increased confidence. Red is assertive, daring, determined, powerful, enthusiastic, impulsive, exciting, and aggressive. Red represents physical energy, lust, passion, and desire. It symbolizes action, confidence, and courage. The color red is linked to the most primitive physical and emotional expressions needed for both survival and self-preservation. In feng shui, red is the most powerful color and supersedes all else. Pretty much sums up the soul of a camper!

**THE COLOR WHITE**  White creates a sense of space and is an inherently positive color. White is often associated with mental clarity, purity, innocence, light, goodness, calm, safety, brilliance, illumination, understanding, cleanliness, faith, beginnings, spirituality, possibility, humility, sincerity, protection, softness, and perfection. White refreshes one's soul. White is the feeling of camping.

**THE CIRCLE**  Roundness implies an idea of movement, travel, and symbolizes the cycle of time, the perpetual motion of everything that moves, the planets' journey around the sun, the circle of the zodiac, and the great rhythm of the universe. It symbolizes potential, or the embryo. It possesses a protective agent and indicates striving towards a psychic wholeness, self-realization and completeness.  For B4B, it also represents a campfire ring (our place of solace) and togetherness.  The joined circle is our camping community, a roundabout of friends bonded by the spirit of camping.

Did you know that we have group decals available at a minimal cost? Our B4B decals are 3" x 3" matte UV resistant vinyl. Waterproof & tearproof for outdoor/indoor use and will adhere to most surfaces. Peel and stick application. We have garden flags too! When new B4B swag becomes available, we announce it in the Private Facebook Group.

You'll notice that I've incorporated the B4B logo on our Facebook, the Private Facebook Group, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Blogger. I like to find clever ways to include it in posts and the graphics I create for our social media pages. This is for your entertainment (but mostly mine), but also a way to deter others from copying our content. Its FREE to belong to our community of campers. I just ask that you find, follow, like, comment, participate in, and share our Bound4Burlingame pages. Make sure your friends/family arrive at the correct pages/places by using the invite/share buttons and by mentioning our #redtentlogo and B4B directly. All links can can be found on the bound4burlingame.com website.

DID YOU KNOW? Many people have trouble remembering BOUND "4" BURLINGAME.com, so B4B owns all of the following domains and you they will redirect you to the right place!

• www.bound4burlingame.com
• www.boundforburlingame.com
• www.burlingamestatepark.com

Please take a couple minutes and visit the "About Me, About B4B and our non-affiliation disclosure statement on the website page: https://bound4burlingame.com/about-bound4burlingame. If we haven't met in person yet, it will give you a little insight into who I am and how/why Bound4Burlingame was created.  And read through one of my very early blog post here of how it started: http://bound4burlingame.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-concept-of-bound4burlingame.html 

See you round the campfire!

#forcampersbycampers