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!
