Little Van support FAQ

Taking care of people is core to why Cascade Campers exists. If our vans didn’t improve real lives, none of this would be worth doing.

At the same time, building a sustainable company matters too. Our win-win-win philosophy is about designing systems that work for people, the planet, and long-term viability—not just saying yes to everything in the moment.

Since 2017, we’ve answered thousands of questions about our Little Vans. Many of those same questions come up again and again. What we’ve learned is that if I spend all my time answering the same things one-on-one, I end up with less time to actually design, build, and improve the vans themselves—and that doesn’t serve anyone in the long run.

This FAQ is our attempt to do support thoughtfully. The goal is to get you solid, well-tested answers immediately, without making you wait—and without burning out the people building and supporting these vans.

We’re always happy to help with additional questions, and we’ll keep expanding this FAQ as new patterns emerge. Thanks for being part of something that’s designed to last.

— zach

Where’s my spare tire?

This question comes up a lot, especially since many vehicles no longer come with a spare from the factory.

While being prepared for anything feels important, the honest answer for most people is: you probably don’t need one.

That may sound a little crazy—so hear me out.

When a vehicle like the ProMaster City doesn’t include a spare, it comes with an inflator and tire sealant (patch glue). This type of repair won’t fix a sidewall failure or a full blowout, but it will handle the most common real-world issue: a nail or screw that causes a slow leak. In those situations, the inflator is faster, easier, and often safer than changing a tire on the side of the road.

Sidewall failures and catastrophic blowouts are also far less common than they used to be. Since roughly 2008, TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems) have been standard on most vehicles. Driving on an under-inflated tire is one of the primary causes of severe tire damage. If you keep your tires properly aired up and pay attention to TPMS warnings, the likelihood of needing a full-size spare is fairly low.

If you spend most of your time on paved roads—and when you do leave pavement you’re not venturing far from help—you’re likely just fine without a spare.

However, if you regularly travel far off pavement, or drive long stretches of lightly traveled roads (Route 50 through Nevada is a good example), carrying a full-size spare is absolutely something to consider.

Why not just add one?

Adding a spare tire isn’t nearly as simple as it sounds.

On these vans, the spare mounts underneath the rear of the vehicle. If the van didn’t come with a spare from the factory, it also didn’t come with the lift mechanism that raises and lowers the tire. Installing that system requires a metric riv-nut tool and sits in an awkward middle ground between body-shop work and mechanical work—making it surprisingly hard to find a shop willing to take it on.

If you do find a shop that’s happy to install one at a reasonable price, let me know and I’ll gladly list it here to help others.

My faucet stopped working

This is the most common issue we’ve seen with our Little Vans.

While the original design was intentionally simple—which made the plumbing easy—submersible pumps do fail more often than we thought they would. We use the best pumps money can buy from Bazo and Comet, both German-made and widely respected. The issue isn’t quality so much as design reality: over time, water can make its way into the pump and cause it to seize.

If your water suddenly stops working, here’s the first thing to check:

1. Pull the pump up and out of the water tank so you can see the bottom.

2. In the center of the pump’s base, you’ll see a small white impeller.

3. Using a toothpick or something similar, gently try to spin the impeller.

4. If it moves, manually spin it a few times, then turn the faucet on and see if the pump runs.

This trick works about 20% of the time—but when it does, you’re back in business with zero parts replaced.

If it doesn’t work, the pump will need to be replaced. The challenge with these pumps is that, in order to remain waterproof, the wire connection is made outside the bottle, with the wires soldered to a 1/4" jack. If you (or a friend) are comfortable with soldering, you can attempt a repair. Otherwise, a full replacement is the most reliable path.

In the past, we had folks mail their water bottles back to us for repair, but that wasn’t sustainable. We couldn’t, in good conscience, charge enough to make that approach viable for anyone.

The good news: over the last year, Dometic released a new faucet/pump combo that makes this repair self-service, cheaper, and more sustainable. We’ve fully documented that upgrade and replacement process here.

While we don’t know for sure, we are pretty sure that if you store your tank empty that the pump will last quite a bit longer. Storing it empty and leaving the lid off until it completely dries out is a great way to keep it from getting “green” on the inside as well.

My fridge is freezing everything

This is the second most common issue we’ve seen.

Unfortunately, the thermistor in the fridge has a tendency to fail—and it isn’t easily replaceable. This has been especially frustrating because we intentionally chose a big-name brand, Dometic, expecting strong long-term support and replacement parts, as is usually the case with their products.

The problem is that because these fridges aren’t considered “installed” appliances, replacement thermistors were never offered as service parts. From their perspective, the entire fridge could simply be replaced. That doesn’t work for us, since the cabinet was designed around the fridge to keep it secure and rattle-free.

That said, there are a few solutions you can try.

Option 1: Use a Fridge Thermometer (Cheapest & Easiest)

In many cases, the thermistor is still working—but reading the wrong temperature.

Several customers have had success by:

• Placing a fridge thermometer inside the fridge

• Setting the fridge temperature higher than normal

For example, setting the fridge to 55°F may actually result in an internal temperature closer to 35°F. This takes a bit of trial and error, but once dialed in, it can work very well.

This is the cheapest fix—fridge thermometers usually cost just a few dollars.

Option 2: Replace the Fridge with a CF25

Getting a replacement Dometic CF25 is another option.

For the past couple of years, this wasn’t possible because Dometic stopped production and completely ran out of inventory. The good news is that they’ve since located back stock, and as of early 2026, they still have 200+ units available.

For reasons we don’t fully understand, Dometic doesn’t sell these directly. However, any retailer that carries Dometic products should be able to order one for you. It’s worth calling around to compare pricing.

We aren’t set up to handle inbound and outbound fridge shipping in a way that would be sustainable for us, so customers will need to source these directly.

Option 3: Thermistor Replacement (Experimental, but Promising)

One customer recently tracked down a compatible replacement thermistor and successfully completed the repair without too much trouble.

I’ve ordered one myself and plan to test the repair process. If it proves reasonably straightforward, I’ll create a video and written documentation to walk through the fix step by step. My goal is to get to this early 2026.

Feel free to ping me if you want to check whether this has been completed yet—and a little friendly pressure never hurts 😉

CFX3 Upgrade Note

We also developed an adapter plate that allows the newer Dometic CFX3-25 to fit in the same space originally designed for the CF25.

We previously sold the CFX3-25 with the adapter plate for $850, but have paused this option now that CF25 units are available again from Dometic.