There are two things I have hated about living in our RV: Carpeting and trying to broom-sweep dirt out the door of the coach.
Finally, John has relieved me of my burdens. NO, he hasn’t taken over those chores for me, but he has removed 98% of the carpet from the coach and eliminated my need to sweep debris out the front door.
Back when we first acquired our County Coach, we had wall-to-wall carpeting in the living room and bedroom. At the time, John suggested a central vac system and I refused his idea, adamantly. I have had a central vac system before, and had no desire to fight with long hoses and a heavy beater bar sweeper head. No thanks!
So why my change of tune now? John has removed all of the carpet from the RV except for a couple of spots. (The final removal was in an earlier post.) With the carpeting gone, a broom is all I need to sweep the floors, and that brings me to my next issue.
No matter how still the air seems, when you try to broom-sweep debris out the front door, much of it gets blown back in. Arg!!! Now the idea of a central vac seems quite appealing, it would just suck the dirt away.
So…
John bought a 2.5 gallon shop vac at Lowes for $30, with mounting hardware included.
Now, where to put it.
We have a narrow bay near the axels of the coach which is directly below the refrigerator and pantry area.. Coincidence, it is right where we both thought the most logical spot for the “sucker part” should go. Perfect!!
He drilled 2 holes up through the basement ceiling, into the coach underneath the refrigerator cabinet, one for the hose, one for the power switch. (Our refrigerator is elevated with a set of drawers beneath it.)
Removal of the drawer allowed him access to the just drilled holes. He found it difficult to find standard plumbing fittings to work with shop vac hoses. As it turns out, 1.25” sink tail pipe fittings are a pretty close match. He used those fittings to make the bend and the connections to the shop vac and the interior of the coach. He also fished the electrical wire up at this time.
SIDE NOTE: While we were in Ashville NC he bought a Bosch Oscillating Tool to do some work for the campground owner. To say he is in love with it is an understatement.
An opening needed to be cut through the cabinet base to the interior living space, and an opening needed cut so he could install an on/off switch.
Out comes his new handy dandy oscillating tool and presto, two openings made.
John, estimated hose lengths and mounted the shop vac using the included mounting hardware.
Now for the mysterious part, at least to me… controlling the power. Remember that there is a light switch mounted in the living area of the coach with a wire down to the basement.
There was already and outlet in the bay, so he made an “extension” and mounted a second outlet that was also wired to the switch in the coach. The switch basically is controlling the outlet, not the shop vac.
Venting the shop vac was next. He drilled a hole in the bottom of the basement floor and foamed the hole to close any gaps and hold the hose in place. He also put a screen over the opening to keep out the critters.
He attached the hose to the PVC piping he used to make the bend to the interior of the coach and wire-tied everything in place.
Now all I have to do is sweep the dirt to this hole, hit the switch and the dirt goes away.
At the time of this post, John is still tweaking the floor opening and pipe-to-hose connection. Also we are trying to come up with a decorative covering for the hole and the area where he removed the old phone jack connector.
John’s cost quote:
Shop Vac – $29.95
Miscellaneous material – $14.95
Happy wife – PRICELESS
