Hello Steve n Tami,
So glad to hear that your 3350RL shined during the storm. That definitely is a testament to the quality of the product. We are currently thinking a portable unit so we can take it to another trailer if we ever decide to purchase another trailer. Should I decide to hardwire now I know where to put it. I had hoped the Viair would be enough to blow the lines. Which model do you have, if you don’t mind my asking? Thanh you for your reply.
Good Morning. Our Viair is the 400PRV. It's 12vdc and I just clamp it on the truck battery. It came with two interconnecting air hoses that could probably stretch around the RV. It can pump air over 100 psi and I usually carry 105 psi in each RV tire. Once I completely deflated my spare truck tire that normally holds 80 psi and aired up with the Viair. It took a few minutes but it did fine. It doesn't have a tank so it does not have the capacity to blow out water lines if that is one of the functions you need it to do. Before we went fulltime, I never blow out our water lines for winterizing, I just pumped RV antifreeze through all the lines. I did install a water separator on the output to keep moisture out of the tires. Anyway it works great. I know a lot of people just get one of those pancake compressors.
On an EMS. There are several on the market. I liked the Progressive Industries hard wired HW50. One reason I didn't get the external one is that the RV connection is not waterproof. The flapper door that covers the RV plug when connected is the weak link, its not guaranteed to keep water out of the connection. Securing it to the power post would have been easy but I just didn't like the fact that it wasn't totally waterproof. One advantage of the external one is that it can protect your power all the way into your RV from the power post, through the power cord and RV connection. But then again I have read only once that someone had problems with their power cord or power connection on the RV.
Now with the hardwired one, I installed it in such a way that I can easily remove it if we were ever to get a new RV. Probably take me @ 40 minutes start to finish to deinstall it by just removing the interior coat closet back wall, 4 screws. I also installed the power monitor in the coat closet so I don't have to run outside to look at the readings. I detailed my installation on this forum so you could search for it if you wanted. I did not cut the existing RV power line to install it, I got an extra 3 foot piece of wire added to the output to connect into the breaker panel.
I would get whichever unit your comfortable with, but my advice is get one, it has saved us from low voltage at campgrounds. It will not allow power into the RV unless its stable and now with RVs having more and more electronics, the last thing we need is burned up control boards. Also running on an inverter generator, even though they are well regulated, when boondocking or in an emergency situation, EMS units really protect your RV.
Have a great day!
