By Kevin L. Vaughn
Full-timing alone in a 45 Entegra Aspire, I am very conscious about keeping my house clean and in order so I don’t have to waste time later cleaning up. I do all the normal things like treat my leather, clean the inside glass, washout the screens and filters, wash my floor once a week, keep the sinks and toilets clean, polish my cabinets, and keep my clothes wash current. Damn that sounds like a lot, on top of doing all of the logistics, shopping, pet care, maintenance and teaching stuff. By the way single ladies…, “I am for Rent long-term.”
Anyhow back to the point I am trying to get to. It frustrates me to notice a layer of dust anywhere and everywhere in my coach. My windows are normally closed, and the only other contributors are my two parrots. Granted, one of my parrots (Duncan) is an African Grey which are notorious for producing dust/dander… but he is only one little 10 inch bird that runs the place.
The dust in my RV is your typical fine-light grey stuff that seems to stick to every leather piece of furniture, electronic device and horizontal hard surface. Taking a moment to actually think “Where does it come from?”, has to show you how much it is bothering me. So I looked it up on Google and here is what “Someone” has determined:
Dust is primarily caused by a combination of dead skin cells, pet dander, pollen from outside, hair fibers from clothes, dust mite droppings, mold spores, and other small particles that enter the home through air vents, open windows and doors, clothes, shoes, and pets, all accumulating on surfaces due to poor air circulation and often trapped by carpets and furniture.
Hmmm, that is all stuff I have kind of heard before, but the key there for me was “poor air circulation.” My RV has three roof top Air Conditioners like any other big rig, and they run off and on every day. The intake vents have filters and I clean those out every 30-days. I vacuum my floors about every 2-3 days based upon the bird messes that are generated.
So, I decided to throw a little money at the problem, even though I would love a maid three times a week. I visited my favorite online shopping experience (Amazon) and picked up two different air purifiers (aka filters), both with replaceable filters.
First, I decided to hit the parrot room directly with a small and quiet 12v filter that I could allow to run off 7×24. It was a $40 compact TOBYWAE which was a low-risk investment if it didn’t work. It is a low profile and compact unit that fits directly on top of the pet cages and doesn’t vibrate. So far, the parrots have not complained at night that it keeps them awake, while it provides them soothing white-noise to drown me out.
Then for the big gun, I purchased a $65 Provirtec unit, which can accommodate 916 sf of space, which is perfect for my 600 sf RV. It has several modes, it is light-weight and I can move it from front to back based upon where I am seeing the dust build-up. This bigger unit had to be something I could store easily in my limited storage areas when I am rolling down the road 7 months a year.
The last thing I updated prior to this purchase was that I found my RV had a cabin filter behind the dash, nestled up over the generator that had never been changed in 5 years. Granted, this does me no good now since the dash components are off when I am parked for months. After contacting Entegra, they advised me there is no replacement for the filter and I was forced to buy and modify a larger filter costing over $80. It troubles me when RV companies know they are not going to continue to carry a “consumable product” that your RV relies upon, and don’t bother to help their consumers make a easy transition to a replacement part. Great customer service!!!
In closing, since there is only ONE of me shedding dead skin cells here, what else in my coach might be big dust contributors. I have NO carpeting, NO wallpaper, and NO curtains. So if leather does not shed, it has to be my bedding blankets since my closet doors and drawers stay closed. So…. Isolating those this summer might be more fruitful rather than dustful. We shall wait and see. Good luck Dusters!
Just keeping it clean and hope to see you down the road or up the pike in Maine!
Safe Travels and Jacks Up!