Necessary Fifth Wheel Safety Equipment
Fifth Wheel Safety Equipment Articles from Country Road RV
People who live in their fifth wheels and use them to travel both need to consider the value of good safety equipment. An RV is designed for you to eat, sleep, and spend hours at a time in it, which means that it has many of the complex systems you find in a house. This means that those systems are susceptible to damage, which can create hazards, such as fires and gas leaks. Along with that, since a fifth wheel is meant for the road, you need to equip it with all the necessary gear to keep safe while driving for miles at a time. There’s obviously a lot that goes into fifth wheel safety, so with this guide from Country Road RV: Sundre, we’ll talk about the basic gear that every fifth wheel owner should have on their vehicle at all times. If you need any additional assistance or would like parts and repairs before your next trip, feel free to come visit us at one of our dealerships in Sundre and Olds, Alberta.
Fire Extinguishers
Fires are one of the first emergencies that you’ll need to safeguard against, as they can be such a tragic emergency if you’re not prepared. A fire will quickly spread in an RV if it has the chance, so it’s important that you stock up with at least two fire extinguishers. One should go in the kitchen, since this is the most likely place for a fifth wheel fire to occur. However, you should also keep one on the other side of the RV, as well as in an outdoor storage compartment. That way, you’ll have easy access to an extinguisher at either end, and you can also douse a fire if it starts spreading from outside.
Appliance Surge Protectors
A faulty powerbox can cause electrical damage to your appliances. When you have a residential refrigerator or range, as is frequently found in a fifth wheel, that can be an extremely expensive fix, so we recommend getting a surge protector. This will block off faulty powerboxes with a stopgate, which can save you money and provide a little more peace of mind about your safety.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
Tires are pretty unpredictable components for most people. Sure, you can inspect them before you take a trip and make sure the tread and sidewall look good, but it’s simply impractical to get out of your vehicle every ten minutes to stop and look at them. That’s why it’s a good idea to equip your fifth wheel with a tire pressure monitoring system. This will give you updates by the minute, so you can notice a problem long before it becomes a dangerous blowout.
Controller for Your Brakes
Finally, trailer RVs don’t have braking systems like the ones you have in your car. They accumulate stopping power the longer you hold the pedal down, but don’t respond to increased pressure on the brake pedal. This can make towing them incredibly difficult, and it can be flat out dangerous if you find yourself in a situation where you have to come to a quick stop. That’s why you should have a brake controller installed, which links up the input from your vehicle to the fifth wheel’s braking system. This system will help you stop easier, faster, and much more safely.
Considering that a fifth wheel is meant for the road but built with many of the same systems you find in a house, you need to load up with equipment to prevent hazards commonly associated with both homes and automobiles. The items we listed here will help prevent a lot of emergencies, so if you have any further questions or need to install something, feel free to come visit us at Country Road RV: Sundre. We serve customers from Canmore, Cochrane, Lethbridge, and Edmonton, Alberta, as well as Calgary, Airdrie, Red Deer, and Kamloops, AB.
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