These two great Aussie inventions have been designed by campers. They are to save and monitor your water consumption whilst you are out caravanning or camping. We have these items for sale individually in the Free Range Camping Shop. But this month, we have combined them in a Water Saving Kit offering one of our premium members the chance to win the package.
Read on below to find out how each of them works and then how you can go in the draw to win one.
RAIN SAVER GUTTER
The Rain Saver Gutter is one of those products that was borne from necessity! Have you ever sat under your awning watching the rain fall and pool around your flooring and wished there was a way you could catch all that water and store it in your tanks?
Roll up the front flap of the awning to form a cutter
Michael, who is the inventor of the Rain Saver Gutter did exactly that when he was camping at Bruney Island Passage. Not wanting to relocate just to get water, and sick of filling jerry cans and caring them back and forth, he thought long and hard about it all and came up with a novel idea on how to convert an existing awning, into a gutter that can collect rainwater just as efficiently as any household guttering system.
Specially designed clips to form your gutter
We met Michael at the Brisbane Caravan and Camping show and saw his product in action. He showed us how quick and easy it was to install, and gave a demonstration of how it collects rainwater.
The video below shows how it all works.
****NOTE: Best results are on valances 190mm or more. Under this length may need modifications.
TOPARGEE WATER TANK GAUGE
Many campers will know how precious water is when out camping, especially when free camping or in some of the more remote areas of Australia. Knowing how much water you have on board can be critical, and it also allows you to plan your trip better and know how long you can stay in one location. Having an accurate water gauge can greatly assist with this. Yes, you can wait till you are empty and use that as a guide, but that could also get you into trouble.
The Topargee Water Tank Gauge has two amazing features
1. It measures water flow accurately and will tell you to the litre, how much water you have left in your tanks.
Digital readout of water remaining in tank
2. You don’t need to drill into or fit it to the tank.
Sender unit fitted after Water Pump – Not to tank
Most standard gauges work on approximate levels, full, med low, which does not give you a true indication of how much water you have on board.
Current water gauges only give a rough indication
The Topargee Water Tank Gauge fits into your existing pipework and accurately measures the water flow. It is that easy.
The added benefits are that you can start to work out your daily water consumption, and plan your trips better.
Measure your remaining water to the litre
You can measure how much water you are using per shower, or how much to do the dishes.
As the unit is not fitted to the tanks you can use it for any size capacity tanks that you have.
How it works
The unit is installed after the water pump and measures the flow once it goes through. Once fitted you just enter in the total capacity of your tanks and the device will do the rest for you. If you don’t know how much your tanks hold the device will go into negative territory and work it out for you.
See it working here
Fitting & Dimensions
Because there is no drilling involved, the Topargee unit is easily retrofitted to just about any setup. There are two models.
The Surface Mount model which has its own internal AA batteries which makes wiring very easy. (Dimensions shown in diagram below.)
The Flush Mount model that is connected to the existing 12 volt system. It has a back light when the unit activates so it is clearly visible. (Dimensions shown in diagram below.)
NOTE: Cut out approximately 55mm x 70mm (May vary depending on thickness of backing board)
NOTE: It is recommended to place the units at eye level to read the display easier. (See diagram)
Each unit comes with a reach of 1.4m, but there is also a 1.4m extension lead available if required, and you can join as many of these together as you need to.
The video below shows how easy they are to fit. We just fitted one to our motorhome. We chose the surface mount model due to restricted wiring access. The unit was easy to fit and we had it done in under an hour.
Video of installation and the unit working
What we think
A brilliant device. Gone is the guesswork.
INSTALL
The install was relatively easy. I gauged this by the number of times I swore, which in this case was only once as my head made contact with the chassis as my pump was located under the motorhome, but in most cases, pumps will be within the motorhome and easier to access. It was really a matter of just running cables, then clicking them in place. There were a couple of screw-on fittings to the sender unit, and then the pipes just pushed into the existing John Guest fittings which are standard on most caravans or motorhomes. The batteries came with the unit, so it powered up and worked accurately first time.
THE UNIT
Being a large bus we are fortunate enough to carry a larger capacity of water than most. But it is still critical for us to know how much water we have and how long we can stay in one location. The Topargee gauge allowed us to do this. After setting our gauge up, we were able to watch the water flow and flow it did, as I watched 35 litres disappear in a 5-minute shower. But, my wife assures me this was just for testing purposes.
The biggest advantage is that we have been able to work out how much we use per load when we do the dishes or use the washing machine, so it really helps to manage our usage. Now, instead of getting the red warning light, we know almost to the litre how much we are carrying.
Advantages
Win Your Own
This month we are offering all premium members a chance to win the Water Saving kit. It consists of a Big Rig Size Rain Saver Gutter Kit and the Topargee Flush Mount Gauge. The Rain Saver Kit is big enough for the biggest size awnings, so even if you have a small awning, you will have enough spare clips to last you a lifetime. To find out more on how to win your own kit, follow the link below.
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