Aluminum Zinc Anode Rod – We started using this one after we had some “rotten egg” smells from our water heater. Since we’ve been using these, we haven’t had the issue since. This works better for us than the regular magnesium anode since we had such hard water at our house. We also noticed many of the places we visited in Michigan had very hard water and this came in quite handy!

Water 90 degree fitting – This works well when you’re using your water filters off the spigot and the spigot is a bit short. Many times the hose can’t bend that quickly. This has come in handy at least 3 times in the past 6 months.

Camco Bag – We currently have three of these bags: 1 for the main electrical cable, 1 for our main 50′ water hose, and 1 for our spare hose and extra 50′ 15A extension cord. They keep our stuff organized and can pull out just the bag of stuff that’s needed.

Clear20 Water Filter – We tend to use this one instead of the normal blue water filter when we can get our hands on it. Better filtration and works well in tandem with the other 1st level filter from Clear20 (next on the list).

Clear20 Larger Particulate Filter – This is our 1st line of defense when it comes to water filtration. This filters out a lot of the larger sediment that typically will clog up your main filter quickly. This works with the 1 micron filter I show above but can also work with the standard blue ones.

Shurflow Silencer Kit – As many say, the reason behind the pump noise isn’t as much the pump as it is the vibration of the lines. We did purchase this to see if we could better tie down the lines and reduce noise. It improved it but I was hoping for more, honestly. Maybe my expectation was a bit too high, though. (Sept ’22)- When we went back to the OEM pump, this silencer kit did a decent job of quieting it down. Still louder in the bathroom but not obnoxious outside (which was my main concern when camping near tenters). I don’t think our quiet pump journey is over yet… to be continued!

Zero-G Water Hose – This was the first hose we bought before full-timing. We still have it and it works well, but we do seem to like our new AquaJoe Water Hose

Acuva ArrowMAX2.0 – After a year of full-time travel, we wanted a better solution than our Brita water filter for drinking water. This definitely fits the bill! The water is slower than your regular kitchen spigot but SO MUCH faster than our Brita filter. So glad we did this – and the water tastes remarkably better. Note: If you have a higher than 3.5 gal/min water pump, the reduced flow through here will cause the faucet to spit. It will pulse with the standard 3.5 gal/min pump but won’t spit everywhere. Link to our installation video!

Aqua Tank II – Aqua Tank 2 Water Bladder – We used this for the first time in this video and it worked surprisingly well! We bought this as a backup plan for water storage. The video goes into greater detail on how we hooked our spare water pump to get the water into our tank

Titan Black Hose Kit – Nice to have a black hose with a 90-degree fitting that is *not* clear. There are some things you just don’t need to see…

Camco Water Bandit – We have used this at several campgrounds for black tank flushing when the water hose had a bad connection or didn’t even have a hose connection. Works great with the twist clamps

Adjustable Hose Clamps – We keep 2 of these on the water bandit to be able to clamp down to a campground’s cruddy black tank wash hose.

HepvO Valve – You have NO IDEA how happy this little gadget made me. We were having a periodic black tank odor emanating from our bathroom sink for a LOOONG time. Not all the time, but enough that I was worried about people coming into the camper!

We did everything – replaced those in-line vents, used chemicals in the tanks, multiple clean-outs when dumping, etc. but it always seemed to come back.

Well, we found this item on Amazon and thought we’d give it a try. And to this day (a good 6 months after installing), it’s working like a CHAMP! We also put one in our kitchen sink we liked it so much.

We (not surprisingly) put a video together about this installation in the bathroom and another one for the kitchen install.

Unique RV Digest-It Holding Tank Treatment – We bought this last summer when our gray tank sensors were not working well (even on the SeeLevel). After discussing with SeeLevel, it was likely that we had some coating on the tank that was interfering with the sensors. We used this stuff for about 3 dumps and it started working again!

The chemical has a light minty smell and you didn’t have to use a ton for it to work. But I didn’t really like carrying a liquid around with me. We bought this 3-pack and just didn’t have a good place for it.

I see now that they have a gallon option now which seems like a better idea and should last a really long time (you use 4 oz initially then 2oz every dump). I love that this does not contain formaldehyde or bronopol and did a fabulous job un-coating my gray tank. This also removes the concern with the Happy Camper granules caking up in the tanks and not doing anything (see episode 102). – Note: the gallon jug fits nicely behind the toilet and I don’t have to worry about it moving around – bonus!

Thetford Toilet Rubber Gasket Kit (34117)- This is the kit we used when we had to replace the rubber seal on the toilet. Make sure to try plumbers grease before you go through this endeavor. See our video about our installation

Though in hindsight, a bit of this plumbers grease below would probably have fixed our original issue!

Plumbers Grease – This is what we use to regularly grease our toilet gasket. This helps to keep a good seal so the small layer of water you keep in the bowl stays there and keeps the odors in the black tank and not in your RV!

Camco Rhino 28 Gal Portable Waste Holder – Well, this was an unexpected purchase. We ended up being in a camp spot without sewer hookups (typical for us) but then had to take our truck in for service. For over 3 weeks! We typically can go about 12 days before having to dump tanks so… in comes this purchase! Though still not sure how we’re going to store this (since our bikes are on our ladder). To be continued!

We did get this one specifically for the features of having a waste gate on the side and having a sedcond outlet at the bottom (to make sure everything is out). So far, we’ve used it successfully (one black, one gray tank dump each time). We talked about this one on episode 101.

Shurflow Pump (Repurposed) – This is the pump we purchased instead of the OEM offering. We believe it’s a bit quieter (not as much as I’d want to but…) but also wish the flow amount was closer to OEM. I *THINK* we go through more water than before because of the increased flow. Other than that, the pump is working well. (Sept ’22) – We ended up putting our old 3.5gal/min OEM pump back on since this pump was too high of a flow when we added the Acuva water system. It made the faucet water pulse pretty bad. And with us trying to save water, the added volume didn’t align to our needs. We did end up using it to transfer water from our water bladder to the fresh water tank in episode 101!.

(Tossed) Brita Water Filter – With the Dual filters outside and filtering our drinking water inside with this, I think we’re in pretty decent shape! We did start purchasing the longer-lasting filter replacements. Update (Apr’22): after using for 12 months and going through both the standard and longer-lasting filters about every 4-6 weeks, we decided to get a more permanent system. The time to filter a container of water would take from 2-15 minutes depending on the age of the filter. Too much time to wait for water to make coffee! See our Acuva system!

(Tossed) Brita Water “Advanced” Replacement Filters – We started out with the standard filters and moved to these longer-lasting ones. They do seem to last longer and I feel better about having less plastic waste. Update (Feb’22): After trying these, we’re not seeing anything significant difference frequency of changing these filters vs the basic one. The significant cost increase for these isn’t worth it to us – use the standard white ones.

Tossed (6/2022) AquaJoe Water Hose – This is similar to the Zero-G but it seems a bit more robust to us. We actually found this at Walmart in white, but the same specs for a similar price.

2022-06-09: Didn’t make it through one season without springing a leak. Guess we were wrong about that one! This one was a lot more annoying to coil as well (did kink in several areas during the winter which is what I suspect was it’s demise). We did blow out all water during the winter to help, so it wasn’t due to freezing water. Bummer.

Thick Gloves (no longer use) – After several complaints from Gary with the standard white gloves ripping on the regular, I tried these from Amazon. No more complaining!

Update: We (Gary) decided to go with reusable gloves due to difficulty getting gloves in 2020-2021. This seemed to be a better idea also with reduced waste. The reusable gloves are a bit larger but still fit in our black tank area just fine.

In-Line Vent (Tossed) – These would be a great item to keep in your “spare parts” bag. These do go out regularly. In a pinch, you may be able to clean it out and get them to work. But for us, since they are inexpensive enough we just keep a spare.

Update: We ended up purchasing the HepVo Valve (see above) that replaced these, yay!

Campa-Fresh Toss-Ins (Tossed)- I started using these after I read about problems with some holding tank treatments causing problems for campground holding tanks. Apparently, you want ones with no formaldehyde and no bronopol. This one fits the bill now (though I recommend adding with warm/hot water to help the outer casing dissolve). Update: I’m still using these, but looking for something that’s scoop-able. Trying to put one of these down for the gray tank is not ideal (pod casing gets stuck and your hands become blue with the crud in there).

Update2: Not fond of the blue color that gets everywhere. Just using until these are gone and will go back to the Happy Camper until I find something better.

(Tossed) Happy Camper – I bought this size once and keep the smaller container in our bathroom sink cabinet. I’ll just refill it from the larger one as needed.

Note: If you do use this, make sure you are using enough water to dissolve the powder. I usually fill the toilet bowl and then add this in there, then flush. Ideally for the gray water you’d have some old jar you can use to dissove before throwing in. Or make sure you have a lot of water. This stuff can cake at the bottom of your tanks and basically do nothing for you if you don’t have enough water.

Also, be aware if that you’re in colder climates you may actually have to combine with warm water before putting in your tank. Not sure if it was just one of the batch I got, but the treatment actually became hard as a rock (I’m actually wondering if I just got a bad batch)!

Update: this was not available on Amazon for some time and now has wording that it’s not California compliant. Which means it’s potentially harmful to campground septic systems. Changed to Campa-Fresh toss-ins which are compliant but didn’t like them. Now moving to the Unique liquid treatment (see above)