↓Episode 172 – Innovative Heating Solutions for RVs: An Interview with Heat Line

In staying on the road.

Today we're gonna have an interview with Matthew from Heat Line, which makes heat cable for RVs and other applications.

Great interview.

So stay tuned for that.

And in enjoying the RV life, we're gonna talk about RVing in the heat.

And then the next stop, we're gonna go to Carson City, Nevada.

And then in the shadows of the past, the towns that once were, we're gonna go right next door, not too far away, to Virginia City and an RV Envy today.

Well, we're not gonna have one because the interview is gonna go a little bit long, but it'll be well worth it.

Let's jump right into this.

This is Eric Stark with the Smart RVer podcast, your trusted source for tips and insights to embrace the RV lifestyle without worries.

So let's talk everything RV.

And today is episode 172, and Alexis is back for some more fun.

Woohoo.

Woohoo.

You see?

Yeah, she's still trying to get over the last episode.

Yeah, the instant pot had a lingering effect.

Yeah, it did.

All right, so now I don't have a rant today, but I do want to remind everybody, if you have an rv, if you have an rv, why do you be listening to the show if you didn't?

So, so when it comes to your RV furnace, if you have pets in the rv, this is probably more so for people with pets to make sure you take your furnace, get to where you can, and vacuum out the area where the furnace is in front of it.

If a do comes off that you can access, vacuum it out, because all that pet hair and other stuff that's going to collect in there can stop the furnace from working.

It can ruin it, it can slow it down or just bring it to a screeching halt.

Then in the middle of the night, you ain't got snow heat, and that doesn't work right.

We got to have heat.

You wake up and it's freezing cold.

You go, wow, where's the heat?

So that's probably more so for people living in the rv or if you have pets in your RV and you use your RV a lot.

So it's just a nice remind.

All right, so now another part of the show we don't ever talk about is our hot boat ropes product.

Oh, yeah.

You know, we sell a ton of this stuff online.

So if you have a boat and which, you know, a lot of RVers have boats, go to our website, hotboatropes.com and you can check out our line of floating ropes.

We got anchor line Stock lines, fender ties, this, that, the other.

And yeah, it sounds kind of weird.

We have.

We've been making this stuff for years.

It's a great product.

So check that out again.

It's hotboatropes.

And of course there'll be a link to it in the description of the podcast.

Now we're talking about boats.

Nice, cool water.

So now we're going to go to enjoying the RV life.

Leave the water and go to the heat.

That's right.

So Alexis is going to help us to learn how, if we don't already know, to RV in the heat.

I am.

I'm gonna yell at our listeners today.

Actually more involved in that than I really thought thought about.

I just think an air conditioner, you know, but there's a little bit more to it.

There's more.

I've got a whole.

I've got a whole spiel for you listeners.

Okay.

Yeah, she does, man.

Service your AC unit.

I don't think I can say that enough.

Do not wait until the last minute.

Eric will tell you the same thing.

So this requires some organization on your part.

Make sure you head over to your RV storage area or wherever your RV is and turn your AC on to see what condition it's in from the time you parked it.

If you park it, it could be doing something weird.

So you need to service it and you need to check it often.

So that would be the filter on the inside and clean the condenser on the back on the outside.

Do not wait on that either because you're going to get stuck right behind the line of getting it fixed if you need to.

Also, to keep cool, There are portable 12 volt fans that can make life so much easier.

So check out your local RV parts store.

If you're in the Hamilton to Missoula area, come to us in Victor.

They'll probably have what you need.

You know, we definitely will, but others will too.

So you'll want to talk to the experts about what you'll really need.

Another tip of staying cool where it's hot is make sure to barbecue or cook your food outside.

This is a huge deal when it comes to keeping small spaces cool.

You don't want to cook your food inside.

You'll make it all steamy.

Actually, whenever I cook, I set our fire alarm off.

That's how steamy and smoky and hot it gets in there.

So I do it every time.

And it's so loud.

And then shade, shade, shade.

Keep your RV shaded in any way that you can.

We sell awnings and Slide outs just letting you know, you know that.

But we'll plug where you can buy them from.

But it's such an easy way and lastable way to make sure your RV is going to be shaded.

Cause you might be in a park where there's no trees, there's no shade, you need that shade.

And one obvious one too is dress for the heat.

So obviously you know you're gonna plan where you go.

Make sure you bring clothes that are cooling or and have a lot of sunscreen too.

That's a big, that's a big one.

So my takeaway is be prepared for where you're going to go.

Try to find somewhere shady, but if you can't, then make sure you bring the shade with you.

All right, Very good advice.

So that entire list is on our website as well under enjoying the RV life smarterver.com and one other reminder is if you are driving a motorhome, make sure the cooling system in the motorhome, the engine cooling system is up to snuff and it actually works so your engine doesn't overheat.

And if you're pulling a trailer, the same thing.

Make sure your truck cooling systems up to date and working good.

And also make sure your air conditioning works because you know if you're driving down the road, it's hot out, you have the AC on.

The AC puts more of a load on the engine so it's going to overheat.

So make sure everything's good and make sure you got plenty of free on to make the AC work.

Because driving in hot weather with the windows down, man, that's for a 16 year old with a 12 pack of beer going to the Colorado River.

Sounds like someone else experience.

Keep the windows up, use that ac.

You're an adult now.

Right?

Right.

All right, so in our money saving tip, you know today's world everybody can buy the cheapest stuff in the world online.

Especially at the jungle website.

You know, you can get stuff for, you know, I don't know, sewer hose for 38 cents.

But is it a good sewer hose?

Is it gonna last?

No, it's not.

There are so many product brands out there that really don't exist as a company because everything floods goes online.

There's not real companies behind the products.

And we know this for a fact.

There's a company selling on Amazon, they were called SunPro USA and they sold these pinwheels, little cheesy things for your garden, man.

And they sold a ton of them.

But what I'm getting at here is they had our phone number for customer service.

So everybody that placed an order and I think it's everybody.

Yep.

They were missing pinwheels because the package comes from Taiwan, I mean China.

They don't open it because it's, you know, shrink wrapped and everything.

So it's missing all these parts and pieces.

Then they're calling to complain.

They call us now, you know that isn't us.

Call Amazon.

And we talked to Amazon, they gave us your number.

See, and that's right it right there.

We talked to Amazon, they gave us your number.

That's customer service.

We don't sell that junk.

You know how many phone calls we get?

Oh, so many.

Yeah, it went on and on.

Couldn't get rid of the number.

Even the company, they're like, we don't know anything about that email.

And back and forth.

And the emails are always on that 24 hour cycle.

When an email's on a 24 hour cycle, you know they're in another land far, far away, you know, or they are when gotten some instant pot, I don't know.

But knock that off.

Here we go again.

So don't buy things on the cheap unless it's just a throwaway thing and you know what you're getting and you know you're going to use it for a week and you know it's not last.

Buying it two or three or more times is a waste of money.

Just buy it a good product one time.

If it in anything else, go to your local stores to explore, see what's out there.

Because they carry the brands that are quality usually.

So just check that out, think about it.

And I know we kind of hit on this a lot, you know, like buying on the Internet, being cautious.

Yeah, descriptions can be very misleading.

You know, like it's original domatic, it doesn't say, it's dramatic, you know, it work, it fits the original domatic or something.

They word it where it sounds like you're getting a dometic part but you're not, you're getting cheap junk.

In fact, one of our customers just the other day bought a toilet valve.

40 bucks.

It should have been 80 or $100.

And it didn't even work one time.

It leaked in the story.

There's no warranty on that because they bought it on the Jungle website.

Exactly.

So there's no warranty.

So don't go cheap, buy it.

And he was in Texas so I couldn't help him.

But he called me for my great wisdom.

I think I know who this is, but I won't say any names.

Buy it once, don't buy it twice.

Now, again, we've brought this up.

If you have any experiences out on the road, RVing with pictures, without pictures, we want to hear from you.

We love the experiences and if we can, we try to share them if we can.

Or maybe we'll put them on the website.

You know, we just, we love to hear these things.

We get emails and sometimes they're not the experience we're looking for because it's more of a technical question.

But just like where you're.

A journal, just send us a day's worth of information.

You know, a journal writing be great.

Yeah, we'd love to see it, hear it, you know, whether you're by yourself, your family, whatever it is.

So just share your experiences with us, go to our website and use the contact us page.

Now, in staying on the road today we're going to interview Matthew from Heat Line.

All right, so in this staying on.

The road, we have Matthew from Heat Line.

He's their resident expert and he knows everything there is to know about heating cable.

And today we're going to bring him into the conversation because of Heat Line's familiarity with the RV industry and keeping water lines from freezing, water heaters, water pumps, valves, whatever it might be.

So Matt's here.

And Matt, I'm going to jump right in because of.

Yeah, we just got to get into it.

So many questions here.

Well, first, welcome to the podcast.

Great to have you.

Thank you.

Now, you know, heat tape is the.

Common term that's being used that everybody uses for keeping a water line from freezing, let's say.

So what's the difference between heat tape and heat cable?

Okay, well, that's an excellent, excellent question, Eric.

And let me just get started by saying I do know, or I feel I know a lot about heating cable heat tape.

I've been doing this for a long time, probably longer than I'd care to count.

15 plus years.

I don't consider myself an expert in every facet of heating cable because like any individual that wants to better themselves, there's always more to learn, right?

So, you know, I'm always learning every day as well, just like anybody else.

But when it comes to when people say to me, what's the difference between heat tape and heating cable?

For me, when I hear the word heat tape, the first thing I think about is your common hardware store, off the shelf, bulk packaged heat tape.

And the real primary difference with that product versus what we offer is that, number one, anything that we offer Is a professional grade product.

Okay.

So, you know, it's designed with quality installation professionals, People who seek the need to install things that last a long time.

That's our primary audience.

Second to that, it's going to come down to the technology.

So hardware store heat tapes are commonly what we refer to in the industry as constant wattage.

So with a constant wattage heating cable, your energy output or your heat output per foot is as it sounds, constant.

So what I like to say to clients is, you know, think about it this way.

You install a 60 watt light bulb, you turn that light bulb on, it's using 60 watts.

It doesn't matter how cold the room is, how warm the room is, how much light there is in that room, it's using 60 watts of energy.

Same idea with a constant wattage heating cable.

If it's rated for 5 watts a foot, when you plug it in, it's 5 watts per foot all the time.

The difference with the technology that we employ in our professional grade products is that we use heat line self regulating heating cable technology.

So what self regulating heating cable does is it actually varies its output microscopically along the entire length of heating cable.

And I have a piece of heating cable with me here today, and you'll see here too, just in terms of the physicality, the dimensions, the rigidity, a much higher end product than your common hardware store heat tape would be.

But with the self regulating technology, it gives you the ability to install it in environments where the heating cable can, on its own, vary its output.

So what I like to tell clients is, let's say, for instance, I had this heating cable energized here in this room right now, it would be just warm to the touch.

Because self regulating heating cable, it can never shut off completely.

It can only idle down to a minimum amount.

And most often at its most efficient state, it can use as little as half a watt per foot.

So, you know, it would be going along here.

Great, because this room's 70 Fahrenheit, it's not using a lot of energy, Just warm to the touch.

And then I go outside, because we've got about six feet of snow here in the last week, and I grab a handful of snow and I bring it in and I put it on the cable right here.

Okay.

Only that section where it's in contact with my hand and the snow would increase its output to melt that snow.

So it's very versatile.

It gives you the ability to install it in regions where the pipe isn't exposed to consistent temperatures.

So say Maybe you've got to start the heating cable up inside your rv, then it has a point in a hose where it comes down below where it's really exposed and then it comes up above.

Well, that hose is in three different environments, right?

So how could you expect a common hardware store heat tape where it puts out consistent energy to properly heat that entire line?

What you end up getting is what we refer to in the industry as hot or cold spots.

So you get uneven heating, which one can lead to pipes that get too warm and potentially melt, or two pipes that aren't warm enough and freeze.

Where with the self regulating heating cable technology, its heat distribution would change along that entire length to ensure that it prevents freezing while not getting too warm at the same time.

So I know that's a big long answer to a very short question, so I'm going to let you get back in there.

No, that's actually a good answer because I didn't realize that about your product either.

I thought it was the, you know, the whole line would be warm all the time and didn't self regulate in different areas where you had that hot and cold like you described.

So that makes that product even better as far as I'm concerned.

Because yeah, heat tape is just always hot, it's always on.

So that's very cool.

So that makes a huge difference.

So that being said, now in an rv, you know you have PEX water lines, you have flexible like nylon reinforced water lines, you have the abs, you have, you know, the waste valves, you know you have brass fittings, plastic fittings.

Can this heat line be used on anything?

Does it matter in an rv?

Yeah, that's an excellent question.

Very, you know, a great question.

Can you use it on pretty much any and all materials?

The answer is really yes, because of the self regulating technology, because it has that ability to decrease its heat output, you never have to worry about it potentially overheating and creating a fire hazard or melting a material.

So we recommend it for use on metallic piping, whether it's copper, you know, galvanized steel, iron pipe.

We also recommend it for use on PEX polyethylene.

You can use this on PVC hosing.

If you've been to our website, you'll notice we do mention in some areas in there not to use on a garden hose.

Well, the reason we say that isn't because it's by any means a danger.

It's more so because of the fact that when clients install it on a garden hose, they expect that hose to still be as Easily maneuverable as it used to be, which can lead to over manipulation on the cable or they can try to kink it or twist it.

So you know, technically speaking, you can even install our product on a garden hose.

You just can't expect it to still maneuver and coil as a garden hose would.

And you know, we've, we've installed this on, you know, an array of different materials, including plastic tanks.

Plastic tanks is a, is a great example.

And the thing you have to watch out for about plastic tanks or non metallic tanks is that when they get empty, you don't want heating cable that could overheat on that section of the tank which no longer has water in it.

Because you will notice with a lot of hardware store heat tapes or a lot of low cost online retailers that move heat tapes that are constant wattage, they'll mention right on them, you know, do not use on a dry plastic pipe or do not use on a dry plastic tank.

So you really have to recognize that and be careful of it.

Right, okay, well that makes a lot of sense.

So in an RV then, man, it's covered.

Your product will do everything.

What it sounds like.

We like to say that we can do most everything.

One of the unique things about our company is that we are a small, medium sized business.

So it gives us the ability to respond to customers that have unique needs.

So, you know, say for instance, I have a customer calls me up and they say, well, I've got this hose, but it's, it's 12ft long and the power's at the other end of the RV, so I need a 20 foot cold lead and so on and so forth.

And basically what they want, Eric, is they want a lot of custom stuff.

You know, they want a custom length heating cable, they want a custom power lead.

And you'll get a lot of companies out there where they would just say, well, this is what we offer.

So you know, that's what you're going to have to buy.

Well, we don't do that.

You know, we will, we will tailor the product to their needs.

We've been doing, you know, low voltage heating cable for RVs.

I had to check it today because I didn't want to misstate it on your podcast, but we've been doing it for over 20 years.

20 years we've been making low voltage heating cable assemblies for RVs.

And although I can't mention their names, we have a lot of OEM customers in the US and Canada where we actually make custom low voltage heating cable assemblies specifically for Them that go into their RVs before they even reach the dealerships.

So we're kind of a one stop shop for everything.

Low voltage heating cable, you know, whether we have it now or we'll make it for you in the future.

Right, okay.

So that's pretty cool.

So yeah, a little humility there.

It doesn't work on everything almost though, but almost everything.

I could work on everything myself in an rv, but I'll go along with that now.

The other thing too is in my life I've experienced sometimes you buy, I'm going to call this a top tier product.

So you buy a top tier product and sometimes they're more complicated to install than just a lower end product.

Is that the case with the heat line or the compensator line?

Yeah, I'm happy to say it's not the case with our product.

But I do understand where you're coming from.

Sometimes when you get into a higher end product, they can be what I like to say, they can be over engineered, which lends itself to a highly technical install.

That's not the case with our products.

One of the great things of many things about our company, and this will give me a chance to get a plug in here for the founders.

But one of the founders of our company, Loren Heise, he was actually a practicing commercial industrial electrician before he founded this company.

So pretty much everything that we design, we don't just design it from the perspective of being a high quality functioning product, we design it from the perspective of the installer.

Right.

Because he's been there, he's seen that.

So you have to take into context how can we make this easier for the installer?

And when we manufacture or design a product, we do do that.

So one of the great things about our compensator product is that, and I'll just hold up a coil of it here so you can see it comes complete.

So when you order it, the heating cable's finished.

We have a proprietary end seal termination that we do on the heating cable.

The power connection side comes with your strain relief for your pigtails in your junction box.

One of the things that we do that you'll notice some online retailers don't is our low voltage heating cables actually have a ground braid.

So they all come with a chassis ground which is convenient to have.

So we try to take a lot of the guesswork and a lot of the difficult install work out of the hands of the installer, make it for them, make it really as simple as we can for them.

Okay, very Good.

So yeah, and that's great because yeah, some things are over engineered.

There's extra wires and things you got to do and you have to install that, maybe even have to buy stuff.

So that's great to know because a lot of our audience are do it yourselfers.

So this fits right into their wheelhouse of doing it themselves.

Very nice.

So another question would be when you're buying this, I know the RVer has to call you guys.

And you guys, by the way, have great customer service.

You answer the phone, which is a, a something that's high on my list because it's hard to deal with companies when they don't answer the phone, don't have customer service.

So you guys are a one on that.

But when they buy it, do they have to buy a roll of it and then cut it to length or is it cuttable or do you guys have to make it to a size for the RVer?

So the way we provide it is it's a finished assembly.

So you order it to the length you need.

We terminated here, just like I showed you here a little bit prior.

It comes with its end seal termination, it comes with its power connection.

Everything is complete.

You don't need to cut it on site.

And you know, some people look at that and they'll say, well, you know, maybe I want something though that gives me a little more versatility.

Maybe I, maybe I want cut to length.

And we do do cut to length, Eric, not in low voltage, but in our, in our high voltage systems.

And you know, ultimately the reason we don't offer it in the compensator is, and I think this is one of, you know, we might get into this question, but just maximum lengths.

So when you start looking at the lengths that we offer the compensator in, the lengths are so short that they don't really lend themselves to a cut to length model because now you got to buy the cable, you got to buy the power connection.

By the time you do that price, comparatively wise, you're almost the same price as a finished assembly.

And now you yourself are taking on, maybe liability is not the right word, but the responsibility of having to do those NCL and power connections.

And like you mentioned, a lot of your audience, a lot of your RVers are do it yourselfers, which, you know, even a experienced electrician may not have a lot of experience doing power and end terminations on a heating cable.

Now you're a DIYer that likes to work on your RV on the weekends and you're putting yourself in that position.

So it just having us do it in our facility with trained technicians that have experience in doing thousands of these a month, it removes that uncertainty that you can sometimes get when you go the cut to length model.

Okay, that makes sense.

Then there's, you don't have to worry about a warranty.

Someone gets it, there's something wrong with it, it's not on them, it's on you guys.

So it's taken care of.

So that makes it a lot easier.

Just buy and be done with it.

So there's value in that, you know?

Yes, a lot of value in that, actually.

Now another thing, another question.

Now you mentioned it self regulating, but does this cable have a thermostat on it at all?

So with self regulating heating cable, you're not required to have a thermostat because you could just plug it in, walk away and it'll do its thing.

You know, I'll often when clients ask me about this, I say, look, I could take the heating cable, I could tie it in a ball of knots, I could throw it in a waste paper basket, plug it in and walk away and it'll never be an issue.

So you could 100% install it without a thermostat.

And most systems that RVers buy, they are buying them without a thermostat.

And what they do is they just wire them to a switch so they use it when they need it.

We do offer thermostats and you can buy those.

They're an optional accessory.

The.

Just to get one more point in about heat tapes, if I can just get one more shot in there, Eric, just to get one more shot.

And so when you buy a heat tape, because it's constant wattage, it needs what's referred to as not so much a thermostat, but a high limit device.

So to prevent it from overheating.

Right.

So that it's not a danger.

Well, the downside, if you look at the design is the high limit device or the thermostat is generally at the start of the heating cable near the power cord.

Okay.

So if you're plugging this in or wiring it in inside your RV where that thermostat's reading temperature doesn't represent what could be happening 10, 20, 30ft down the cable.

Right.

So you end up getting yourself into a situation there again where you can develop hot and cold spots because you can't get that thermostat where it needs to be to properly monitor temperature.

And the thermostat that we offer as an accessory to go with our compensator.

If you do purchase it, it gives you the ability.

Now the install is a little more professional grade because you have to do some electrical work with a junction box, but it gives you the ability to get that thermostat sensor along the section of the pipe where it's most likely to freeze first.

And then you would turn the system on based on where you're most likely to freeze first.

But as I said, a lot of individuals, they just go with a switch and that switch only gets energized when the RV is powered.

So they know if they leave it on by mistake, it's not going to drain their batteries over a weekend and they just switch it on when they need it.

Okay, very good.

So that makes a lot of sense.

So what comes to my mind is a lot of our customers or RVers, when they're plugged into shore power.

Power.

Drain doesn't mean anything because they're plugged in, their batteries are getting charged and so forth.

But now if they're not plugged into shore power and they're just on their 12 volt batteries, amp draw can be a concern for them or watts.

So what is the average amp draw with the heat line product or the compensator?

I should say.

Excellent question.

And a lot of individuals do ask this question because it is a primary concern of their power draw.

Because at the end of the day we are consuming power from their battery systems.

So the amount of, in what I'm going to talk about, I'll relate it mostly to watts, just because it's what I feel most people relate to in terms of power.

So from an energy draw perspective, there's going to be numerous factors that we have to take into consideration to give an average.

You know, it depends how long the system is.

What is the watt density of the heating cable?

Because we, we offer two different options.

We have a 3 watt per foot self regulating and a 5 watt per foot self regulating.

So obviously you know, the five watt's going to use more.

It depends how well the system is insulated because the more it is insulated, the less energy it is going to consume.

Okay.

It, you know, things such as how much you use the water, believe it or not, can have an effect.

Right.

Because you're bringing cold water into that pipe again and then you know, obviously how cold it is outside.

But what I would say is if you look at the average size system that we offer, Most are around 10ft.

Okay.

Because they're just doing short runs.

So if you look at a 10 foot system, I would say a 10 foot system could theoretically use as little as 5 to 10 watts total, but as much as 40, 50, 60 watts if it needed to.

So if you were to pick an average, you're probably in around a 12 volt, 3 watt 10 foot system, you're probably in around 30 watts.

Okay.

Yeah, I, as you're answering it, I realize that is kind of a loaded question, you know, because it all the variables there, but for an RVer, they just have to basically go on 12 volts, turn it on, kind of simulate being out for a weekend or whatever and see how their batteries perform is so that way they know they're not going to get caught with dead batteries.

Even if they have solar, they still need to do a little testing.

But that makes sense.

I like that answer.

It really explained it.

Well, thank you for that.

Now, from my personal experience, when I buy certain products, I like to make sure I'm getting the right thing.

I don't like to buy something based on a description on the website.

It sounds like it's right and then you get it and you're like, oh, this isn't it.

Then it's kind of a hassle to return it and stuff.

So what I'm going to is really what I complimented you on earlier is about customer service.

So you guys want people to call you to order this and ask all the questions.

Right.

And make sure they're getting the right thing.

Well, never call me Eric.

But yes, but no, no, no.

100% yes.

We want individuals to call us, we want them to email us.

We have contact forms all over our website.

Yes, contact us, email us, call us on the phone, we can text message.

Doesn't matter what it is.

We want to ensure that you get the right product at the right length for the right application the first time because then it's more efficient for everybody.

Right.

And when you look at it from our perspective, when we're serving customers, it's in our best interest as a business to ensure that you get the right product that meets your needs.

Because that reflects on us.

It shows how well we're doing our job.

So at the end of the day, if you want to call us, pick up that phone and call us.

I will say nine and a half times out of 10, there's going to be a real person picking up the phone.

Unless it's like this year and we're in a February where it's extremely cold and we're being inundated with calls.

We'll do our best.

Or send us an email.

We always try our best to get back as quickly as possible.

Worst case scenario, maybe a couple days.

But if you feel you're not getting your answer, just pick up the phone and call.

We're here.

I agree with that.

Calling's always better.

Email sometimes just can get moved to the bottom of the stack.

There's a lot of emails coming in and things like that.

I get it.

So yeah, you guys are accessible, which is great.

And that's one of the things about your product and the company I like is there's value all the way around it.

You can buy some things online, large websites that represent the jungle and you get low quality, no customer service.

And when you get a product that's not right, it's just not right.

And sometimes you're stuck with it.

And I like the way you guys do it.

It makes it so the customer is going to get what they need the first time and it's not a merry go round of exchanging products and things.

So that's great.

Now one last question here is I know everybody's thinking this, well, how much is this product?

Is it $1,000,000?

500,500?

I wouldn't be here.

Everyone was a million dollars.

But yeah, uh, it's, you know, I, I would normally say I'm not going to tell you Eric.

It's super secret that way you have to call us to find out.

Right.

But you know, if you were to look at our most common length, say a 10 to 15 foot section, you are probably in the neighborhood of 250 to $300 by the time you buy it and it's shipped to your doorstep.

And I know for some individuals you, that, you know, it may take you back a bit, you may say, wow, that's, you know, it's a lot more than I expected.

I think I can, you know, I think I can get that from online retailers for a lot less.

But what I like to stress to people is number one, we've went over the product and what makes ours different in terms of the quality, we've gone over that.

You know, we've been doing this for 20 years.

I welcome you to go online, check out our reviews.

And then one thing, you know, another thing that you pointed to on that last comment there was about the after sale service.

So Our after sale service is huge.

We will take you through every step of the process.

We don't stop once it ships out the door.

You know, that's once you become our customer, you're a customer for life.

Our intent is to keep you a customer and keep serving you.

So, you know, you get this product, you have questions about it, you call us, you're going to install this product, you have questions about it, you call us or you email us.

Our service doesn't stop at the sale.

So there's a lot that goes into that price for us as a company.

But there's very good value in our products.

Like you've mentioned it a couple times here on this call.

Yeah, you know, it's made me think that later on in this podcast, after you're long gone, I was going to talk about that, you know, buying it once or buying it two or three times and your product is a buy at once because I think It'll last about 25 years.

Right.

That's kind of the lifespan of it.

So the lifespan of this product, the product life cycle is quite long.

This isn't something that you're buying and replacing every two to three years, you know, this is most likely.

And our intention is you're buying it for the life of your rv.

Right?

Very good.

See, that's what's important.

You're buying it once and you're done with it.

You're not having to re buy it every winter because it wears out.

Problems with it, it just fails.

So the, the money, it might seem like a lot, but really it's not.

How much did the RV cost?

How much is the value of the rv?

You know, your time, everything else, cobbling together things to make it work.

Where here you got a finished product.

So yeah, it might seem like it's a lot up front, but not really when you really rationally think about how much it is.

So yeah, I think that's great.

I think it's a great product and you know, I'm impressed with it and that's why we're doing this interview.

You know, I talked to you guys, you know, a month or so ago and just fell in love with the product is absolutely wonderful.

You know, I wish I had a use for it.

In my personal life, so I could buy some, but I don't.

Right now, even though I live in Montana, it's freezing, but my RV is winterized and put away for the winter.

But it's, it's great to know that it's there, and if something changes for me, I definitely jump on board with it.

And I know our, our listeners are going to love it if any of them try it.

And so there'll be links to Heat Line's website in the description of this podcast, and you'll be able to call him, talk to him, and like Matthew said, you're not gonna be able to reach him.

He's behind these firewalls, which we understand.

No, no, you, you can reach me.

If you must have me, you can reach me yet.

All right, so, Matthew, we really appreciate the time you took out of your day to get on here with us and answer these great questions for your product.

Great products.

So we really appreciate it, and maybe we'll see you again in the future.

Yeah, no, I, I, I appreciate you giving us the opportunity.

It's been great, and I'm happy to have done this for you and your listeners.

All right, so that was great interview.

And so go to heat line.com.

you can check out the products on their website.

And also as a reminder, Alexis brought out shade.

And you can go to sunpromanufacturing.com.

and we have awnings drops there, awning shades slide out, fabrics, awning fabrics.

And we are awning rv, awning experts.

So if you have questions, call us.

We get phone calls from all over the country.

We do for stuff that people are told that's just absolutely crazy wrong.

Yep.

This isn't available.

You can't get it anymore.

How does this work?

What is it?

No one in my area knows.

We are the experts.

So if you need to give us a jingle.

And again, our phone number's on our website.

Yeah.

And it'll be in the description of the podcast as well.

So now that brings us to the next stop.

And today we're going to go to Carson City, Nevada.

Yes, we are.

I guess you could say Nevada is kind of in the desert there.

Yeah, a little bit.

It's got a little of everything, like.

That Arizona desert, but, you know, it gets warm there, so that's a cool place.

So Alexis is going to share her knowledge.

I am Carson City.

Yes, I am.

I'm going to dive right into the restaurants because I'm a foodie and I like to think about that first.

Wherever I'm going.

I always, always look up a list of the restaurants.

I just do.

So if we're going somewhere, I'm like, this is where I want to go.

And I love doing that.

I love seeing the menu and what they have to offer.

Especially if it's a local person that's had this restaurant for a long time.

I think that's so neat.

So first of all, we're going to talk about Red's Old 395 Grill.

It's very rustic, ambiance in there, hearty portions.

That's good to know if you're super hungry.

They specialize in barbecue, which makes sense.

Steaks, comfort food.

They've got their craft beer going.

And then there's the basil.

For Thai food lovers, they offer authentic dishes like pad thai curry and fresh spring rolls in a very cozy setting.

So that's neat.

And then there's Garibaldi's Restaurante Italiano.

I'm Italian, if you couldn't tell.

So this elegant Italian restaurant is ideal for a romantic dinner.

They offer classics like lasagna, seafood linguine and tiramisu.

So that sounds really good.

The rest of the restaurants of course are in that article.

Let you delve into that for yourselves.

Okay, smart RVers.

But we're gonna go to RV parks in Carson City.

Talk about that for a second.

There's three really good ones.

Comstock Country RV Resort.

Lots of amenities, full hookups, wifi, a heated pool even, which is really neat.

And then we've got our Silver City RV Resort.

They've got really large pull through sites, so that's good to know if you've got a huge motorhome or a really big trailer.

They have laundry facilities, a dog park and a fitness center there.

Then there's the Goldust West RV Park.

They've got hotel amenities like restaurants and a bowling alley, which is really neat.

They have a hotel there by the way too, along with an RV park, which I think is neat, so can do whatever you want there.

And then there's so much to do in this city.

There really is.

There's museums, there's a ton of trails.

I looked up the trails.com and there's.

There's so much to see there.

Just in the city or outside.

Lake Tahoe is just a 20 minute drive from Carson City.

That is an iconic lake by the way.

So if you're in Carson City, I say go to Lake Tahoe.

You gotta see it.

Gotta go.

Yeah.

And then you can relax in the Carson Hot Springs.

They've got some Natural hot springs there, mineral pools, and they have spa services.

So you can either just go for that or you can do.

Do more.

And then they have a railroad museum, which Sheldon Cooper would be into.

So I had to mention that it's a.

It's a real treat for train enthusiasts.

So those are just some of the things that Carson City offers.

There's so much more.

And on our article there's real life stories and outdoor adventures that people have taken.

So you need to check out the rest of the article for sure.

Yeah.

Carson City is.

It's jam packed, that whole area.

You got Gardnerville, Tahoe.

Yeah.

Truckee.

Not Truckee, Placerville.

There's Truckee up there too.

I don't remember.

So, yeah, you know the hot springs there's around Lake Tahoe.

There's a billion things to do.

Yeah.

And I remember as a kid going to hot springs there and her friend, she was from.

Oh man.

Where's that movie Sound of Music?

Oh, she had that.

Austria.

Yeah.

Wow.

Hot headed Austrian, man.

My grandpa's.

I don't know what she was.

He said there's nothing there, but I don't believe him.

But.

So I was hot springs with Erna.

With Erna.

Me and my friend, we took a bus to Lake Tahoe.

Man, what a.

Oh, man, what a trip.

So we're in the hot springs and all of a sudden this body starts floating.

It's like, holy smokes, someone just drowned, you know.

Wow, what a trip.

Did somebody die?

Yeah, it wasn't Jerry.

Oh, Jerry.

Sorry.

Everybody died.

Just as a kid though.

It was just a trip.

Yeah.

Like, wow.

Just added to that whole trip story.

Yeah.

So hopefully that won't happen to you if you go to Carson City.

You won't find yourself in one of those situations.

Man.

I hope not.

And don't take a greyhound up there.

That's a horrible.

Well, when you're 14 years old, it's pretty cool.

Yeah.

You know, as an adult.

Forget it, man.

And don't put your 14 year old kid on a Greyhound either.

There's a lot of things I learned on that trip.

You know, it's pretty interesting.

It shaped my future.

No kidding.

Wow.

That was a lot.

So.

Yeah.

But anyway, so Lake Tahoe is really cool now.

I spent a lot of time there because pretty much grew up there or, you know, I was born in Reno.

Yeah.

Spent some years in Tahoe but went back every year forever.

Nice.

So, yeah, pretty cool.

So now we're going to leave Carson City and we're going to go Just over a hill or through a river and through the dale over to Virginia City.

Now Virginia City is another cool place.

You got to check it out.

And while you're there, you got to go to the Bucket of Blood Saloon and see the Comstock Cowboys play.

But we have a little story.

Imagine that.

There we go.

We got a whole book of stories.

It seems like they never stopped coming.

Now this isn't on the original parchment.

This one was a reprint.

Okay, so, yeah, anyway, here we go.

Once upon a time, in the heart of the Nevazet Desert, a dusty town sprang to life.

Virginia City, they called it.

A place where silver flowed like rivers and fortunes were made overnight.

Among the wooden boardwalks, cowboys and miners bustled about.

The Bucket of Blood Saloon roared with laughter as a piano player played a lively tune.

Across the way, the Delta Saloon stood with its infamous suicide table, whispering tales of luck lost and won.

And if you were hungry, the Crown Point Restaurant at the Gold Hill Hotel served up the finest prime rib in town.

Outside, the Virginia and Truckee Railroad steamed its way through through the rolling hills carrying dreamers and drifters alike.

The Grand Piper's Opera House echoed with the voices of performers, perhaps even the great Mark Twain himself.

The Fourth Ward School Museum stood tall.

Its halls were echoing with the lessons from the past where young students once dribbled away under the watchful eyes of their teachers.

For those seeking thrills, there are many tales of long lost miners, dinners in the now abandoned mines.

At the Mackey Mansion, many a story has been shared with a wide eyed visitor.

And let's not forget the festivals.

Each year the town came alive with celebrations.

The camel races where the desert creatures dashed across the streets.

And the Rocky Mountain oyster fry, a quirky tradition that had visitors both laughing and grimacing at their daring culinary choice.

Voices.

As the sun set over the desert hills, the town lights flickered on, casting a warm glow over its historic streets.

Virginia City remained an echo of time when the west was wild and every street had a story.

So if you ever find yourself craving adventure, step into Virginia City, where history lives, the past lingers and legends never die.

So, wow.

You got to go there.

Absolutely.

I want to.

Yeah.

That would have been a time to be a lot.

Well, yeah.

Also to be dead.

Yeah, I probably would live about 20 maybe.

But no, that place is really cool.

I've been there.

Spent a lot of time there.

Been there several times.

But the, the saloons are really cool.

Like the Bucket of Blood always has live music.

Yeah, that's neat.

Comstock cowboys are Always there.

And they have some great tunes.

You know, it's.

It's western, it's country, It's.

Yeah, I'm not really into country or western, but their music just has this thing about it that kind of draws you in, you know?

Yeah, it's really nice.

Yeah, it's very cool.

Okay, there's no RV envy today because we had the interview with Heat line.

Yeah, there we go.

No RV envy.

It's just weird without it, right?

It is.

Wow.

You have to figure this one out like a whole new thing here.

As a reminder, go to sunpro mfg.com check out our products there.

Great products, great prices, and of course, you get our great service.

The best in the west.

That's true.

Waiting all week to say that one.

The best in the west.

Five star.

Like a sheriff, you know.

Five star.

Yeah.

Okay, so our next episode is going to be 173, and that's going to be in about two weeks.

So we had another great show today, Alexis.

Great information on Carson City and how to RV in the heat you don't die.

Oh, you know, speaking of RV in the heat, you know, if you just buy a Lippert Chill Coop 18K air conditioner, that problem solved.

Forgot about that.

Yeah, that's a great product.

You know, just a reminder on that one.

So you can go to Lippert or you can call us, whatever you want to do.

Go to your local dealer and buy one.

One.

All right, so that's going to bring us an end today.

So this is Eric Stark with the Smart RVer podcast, your go to guide for smarter RVing and unforgettable adventures on the open road.