FIFTH WHEEL SAFETY EQUIPMENT
You want your fifth wheel trips to be fun. But you also want them to be safe! As you travel, you could encounter various hazards. Fortunately, you can prepare with different types of safety equipment. Follow our tips below on the best fifth wheel additions to make. If you need fifth wheel supplies or maintenance, visit Campers RV Center in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Fire Extinguishers and Smoke Alarms
A stray spark can erupt into a flame in seconds. All you need is heat, fuel, and oxygen. Fifth wheels face many fire hazards, from the campfire to the propane water heater. With a fire, you need to react fast to keep the flames under control. Keep a few fire extinguishers on hand for fire safety. Place one in the kitchen, a storage compartment outside, and one near the door.
Fires don’t always start up at convenient times or when there are many people around. You need smoke alarms to alert you to fires if you’re asleep or out of the room. Each room in your fifth wheel needs a smoke alarm.
Surge Protectors
You may end up using electricity from powerful sources like a solar panel array or a generator. These could deliver intense currents strong enough to damage your electrical equipment. Prevent this damage with surge protectors.
Emergency Radio
Sometimes an emergency occurs. Maybe the power goes out and there’s an unexpected storm coming. You’ll need a way to get valuable safety information and tips that doesn’t require electricity. That’s where a hand crank radio or battery powered one becomes valuable. You will be able to get the updates you need.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
Tire pressure is an important part of fifth wheel maintenance. Properly inflated tires will better distribute forces (like vehicle load) on the tread. You’ll enjoy a more comfortable ride, better fuel economy, and longer lasting tire tread. If your tires aren’t properly inflated, it wears down your tread and increases the chance of a blowout. It’s really a safety issue.
Sure you can hand check the pressure of each tire with a pressure gauge. But this is time-consuming, tedious, and only works if you check often enough to catch issues. A much better system is a tire pressure monitoring system. This upgrade gives you updates on your tires’ pressure and temperature in real time. These updates can even happen minute by minute. The system also records this data so you can monitor it over time, helping you catch trends that could indicate a needed repair.
Water Pressure Regulator
Each campground could provide water at different temperatures. Your fifth wheel might not be well-equipped to handle that higher water pressure. The result could even be expensive pipe damage. A water pressure regulator allows the water to enter your pipes at a constant and acceptable pressure level. As a bonus, it makes the water release at faucets and showers more gentle.
Trailer Brake Control
The larger the weight of your fifth wheel, the more effort it’ll take to bring it to a full stop. Extra braking force gives you better control. A trailer brake control is a piece of safety equipment that does just that. It connects the trailer’s brakes to your tow vehicle’s brakes. They work in tandem to bring your RV to a stop, which also helps to reduce pressure on your tow vehicle’s brakes.
Ready to implement these safety tips? Visit Campers RV Center to pick up fifth wheel supplies. We proudly serve those in Shreveport, Bossier City, Ruston, and Monroe Louisiana as well as those in Marshall, Longview, and Tyler, Texas.