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Ahh our first appliances have arrived our Evakool fridge and Camec washing machine! What an exciting feeling getting home and seeing them on the front veranda. It’s like shopping for appliances for a house, just on a smaller scale. Our Toyota Coaster renovation is going swimmingly and having some new items to put in will make it that much more like home. So let’s get into it and tell you a little about them.
Evakool Platinum DC Upright 175L Fridge/Freezer
After plenty of research, Shane and I decided on this beautiful beast of a fridge for a few reasons –
Power –
We chose a 2-way 12/24 volt fridge instead of a 3-way, as we found a lot of people online who had 3-way’s mentioned they were using a lot of gas to run and had to run them on 12 volt often. When being used on 12 Volt, they were less efficient than a 2-way fridge. Most people recommended just going 12 volt, so that’s exactly what we did. 2-way fridges are also cheaper so it was nice to cut some costs.
Size –
Shane and I like food. And when we decided to build a home in our bus, a decent fridge/freezer was a necessity. We didn’t want a small bar size fridge as we knew we would want more space. We found that the Evakool 175 litre worked well for us – not too big and not too small. Standing at 1.3 metres tall and 60cm depth, it will fit in well with our bench space and overall design.
Weight –
Weight has been a big consideration for us with everything we purchase. Wanting to keep our bus under 4.5 tonne fully loaded so can drive it on a car licence, another influencing factor was this Evakool fridge’s weight – 50kg. For it’s size, it is relatively light.
Style –
When does style not come into it? The platinum, satin grey, metal finish works well for our style and will fit in well with our interior design ideas.
Unfortunately, this model is no longer available for sale. For other fridges, check out Caravan RV Camping here.
Camec 3kg Top Loader RV washing machine
A washing machine is definitely not a necessity but for us, we decided it is something that will make our time on the road a lot more comfortable. We did a lot of research and decided on the 3kg Camec Top Loader RV washing machine.
Cycles –
The Camec has multiple cycles, including short wash, hot wash and regular. It does not require hot water as it actually heats the water itself. We may not ever use this function due to power consumption but it is good to know we have it.
Size –
A few others we looked at were 2kg, 2.5kg or twin tub and we thought for us, we would prefer something a tiny bit bigger but also easy to use. Its dimensions means we will be able to place it under the kitchen sink and access it either by a fold up bench or put it on rails to wheel out and back under. It also only weighs 18kg – this is important when you have weight restrictions on a bus. We found that a lot of front load washing machines were much heavier which is again another reason we decided on a top loader.
Water consumption and energy usage –
This was a big one. Living on the road we want to try and save as much water and energy as possible. On a low cycle it only uses around 20 litres which you can actually reuse for the next load if you want, or on a high load, it uses around 26 litres. This is one of the lowest ones we could find. With its power consumption, it uses 240 volt and on a cold wash only uses around 235 watts of power.
Price –
We are on a budget and are trying to make sure we can get the best quality and value but also at a good price. We shopped around and ended up getting this for under $300. Some places had it for over $400 so we were happy with the savings. We also decided the costs associated with using a laudromat or shared laundry at a caravan park would eventually add up and we would be more beneficial with our own from the beginning.
Review –
We decided to test it at home first before putting it in the bus so we get an idea of how it works but also get used to using a smaller washing machine and having smaller loads. At first we had an issue where it was leaking. We worked out we didn’t have the hoses connected properly and the tap was on too much. Once we fixed these issues, we have had absolutely no problems with the washing machine. It washes well and on a regular cycle only takes around 38 minutes. It has a lint filter which we check regularly.
It fits approximately 8 pieces of clothing a wash, or two big towels, or 1 sheet and two pillowcases, which is enough for two on the road every few days.
Overall we are really happy – size, ease, comfort, price.
As we purchase more items for our bus, we will take you through them and tell you about our reasons for picking them. Check out the list of ‘What’s in the bus‘ here. After we finally get them into our bus and live on the road, we will do a second review letting you know if they live up to our expectations. Let’s hope that day isn’t too far away.
Check out our video here and let us know your thoughts on our choices!
Shane and Claire
You mad some good purchases – great info about the fridge – I would have just got a 3 way!! How long will your powerpack run it, or do you need to use some “bus power”? I was not going to instal a washer, but you convince me – those days in a park with power and water – would pay for itself – well done. Where did you get the fridge / washer.
Found out ADR2 does not apply to motorhomes, so the side door does not need to be ADR approved – MD4 vehicles (a Toyota Bus are excluded under ADR 44, as are most motorhome vehicles)
As for me, my wife’s twin brother (yes twin girl/boys run in the family), is in ICU in the Royal Melbourne going downhill fast – heart / liver / kidneys / gall bladder infection / lungs – not much else to go wrong, so the Coaster is in the street untouched.
Well, not really – I pranged it. Last Sunday night left it in Woollies car park without a handbrake and not in gear – it rolled and just touched a car on the other side – destroyed her passenger mirror, and left lots of white paint on rear panel and back door – did not seem any panel damage, but she is insisting on going through insurance – pain – they will want to replace half the panels on the car and paint the lot of it!! The mirror is only $150 and the paint would polish off – but she would not have that.
I have found there is a lot of white paint on the coaster – little undercoat and no clearcote!! Thankfully my neighbour restores cars for a living, so panel work and paint are not a problem!!
On a positive side, got my seats from Autotechnica today – they look great and he gave me such a good deal. Also found a place called Coaster Parts in Moorebank (near Liverpool), who know all about Coasters, their wiring and how to modify them. I think his name was David – but what a Fountain of Knowledge. He has all the bits to mount my seats, seatbelts etc. – even told me where to find 12 volt access in the dash (RHS of the radio) – I can feel a Sydney trip in the near future.
Trust you guys are well, lots to instal now – get to it. Our long / long dryspell ends tonight, so working on the bus may have to be inside. (We have only had 0.2mm rain since the beginning of Feb. Expect 50 mm over weekend.
Happy Coastering
Hi Gavan,
So sorry for the delayed reply! We only just realised you had messaged, we haven’t been getting notifications so hopefully now we have fixed the issue.
Thanks, we are happy with our fridge and washer and glad we bought them. The fridge we bought on sale at the Newcastle caravan and camping show and it was shipped from Evakool. The washing machine we bought online from Caravans plus. We thought that too, wherever we are staying it will be convenient for us to have a washing machine.
That’s helpful to know about the ADR approval, good job! Now we don’t need to worry and know our new door will be fine.
I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s twin brother, I hope that he is improving and the infection is getting better. It’s always a hard time.
Wow! Sounds like a crazy accident you had with the Coaster as well. Even though there is some cosmetic damage, at least no one was injured and you are so lucky to know someone who can fix your paint up for you.
We might have to look up the Coaster place you have found in Sydney, sounds like they could be a great go to when we need it. Your seats sound amazing! One day we might replace ours too when the budget allows.
It has been a bit crazy with the weather lately and this has put a bit of a hold on continuing with our Coaster too. We have just recently purchased most of the larger items left so are keen to get a move on again.
Was good hearing from you Gavan, happy coastering!
Claire
I find the lint filter on the camec washing machine to be totally useless, there is never anything in it, the lint just stays on the clothes. The previous machine I used, a lemair, had a very efficient lint filter that collected lint every wash. I’m wondering if there is anything I can put inside the camec one to trap the lint?
Hi there,
We have been using the Camec washing machine regularly now since we purchased it a few months back. We have been using it maybe 2 or 3 times a week at home to try it out while we get our bus ready. I have found that when checking and emptying the lint filter regularly, we have not noticed any issues with the lint and it has always picked up the lint. We were not over loading the machine and only placing around 8 pieces of normal clothing (shirts etc) in at any time. I found washing larger items, we put less in – maybe only 3 pairs of pants for example or 2 towels. How many pieces of clothing were you putting in it? Maybe that could be a reason it is not catching the lint if their is too much in it. Or maybe there is an issue? We have contacted Camec before and they are quite helpful via email. Maybe give them a call and see what they say. Let us know how you go!
Thanks, Claire
Bought one for our last motorhome, contacted EvaKool on the Sunshine Coast for our next project and they advise they are no longer making them !!
We have just found the same for our new build! We ended up going with a “Bushman DC190l-X”. Supposedly they perform pretty on par with the Evakool so hoping it will be good! We really liked the Evakool’s performance.