Let's Talk Consumables: The Things in My Van I Can't Live Without

From lubricants and thread locker to wipes, gloves and an apparently endless appetite for PH2 bits, these are the unsung heroes living in my van.

I talk a lot about tools.

Wera screwdrivers, hex keys, spanners, my tool bag, test equipment. They're the things that naturally get the attention because they're tangible, beautifully engineered and, if you're anything like me, strangely satisfying to organise.

But there's another category of kit in my van that gets nowhere near enough appreciation.

Consumables.

The stuff that gets sprayed, squeezed, wiped, worn out, stuck down, flattened, emptied, lost and replaced.

Individually, none of these things feels particularly important. Collectively, they're the supporting cast that keeps a field engineer moving.

So here are some of the things I genuinely don't like being without.

WD-40: The Blue and Yellow Army

There's always a can of WD-40 Multi-Use Product somewhere in my van.

It's one of those products that barely needs introducing. Freeing something that doesn't want to move, displacing moisture, cleaning up a component or dealing with the little mechanical annoyances that appear during a service visit.

But alongside the classic can, I carry a good selection of the WD-40 Specialist range.

That distinction matters.

WD-40 isn't just one magic blue can for everything. The Specialist range gives me products designed for much more specific jobs, including things such as penetrant, silicone lubricant, white lithium grease, degreaser, dry lubricant, spray grease and contact cleaner.

Rather than reaching for the same product regardless of what's in front of me, I can pick something that actually suits the material, mechanism and job.

It essentially turns one shelf of the van into a tiny mechanical apothecary.

• Something seized? There's a can for that.
• Something filthy? There's a can for that.
• Something needs lubricating? Which kind? There are several cans for that.

And yes, I probably have too much WD-40.

No, I'm not changing.

Muc-Off Dry Lube

This is one of those products that crossed over beautifully from the cycling world.

Muc-Off Dry Lube is useful when I want lubrication without leaving something swimming in thick grease.

In a commercial environment where dust, fluff and general gym-floor debris somehow find their way into absolutely everything, sometimes you want something considerably lighter and cleaner.

It has become one of those bottles that doesn't necessarily come out on every job, but when I need it, I'm very glad it's there.

Rocket TT 100% Silicone Treadmill Lubricant

Some consumables are general-purpose. Others have a very specific reason for being in the van.

Rocket TT 100% silicone treadmill lubricant sits firmly in the second camp.

Working around fitness equipment means treadmills are inevitably part of life, and having a proper silicone lubricant available is one of those simple bits of preparation that makes sense.

There's also something deeply satisfying about a lubricant called Rocket having a little rocket on the can.

Excellent work, whoever made that decision.

BtAS Dielectric Grease

Mechanical problems are only half the battle in field service.

There are electrical connections, plugs, terminals and connectors everywhere, which is why BtAS dielectric grease has earned its little corner of the van.

It's not glamorous. It probably isn't going to feature in anyone's dream tool haul. But protecting appropriate electrical connections from moisture and corrosion is precisely the sort of preventative detail that can matter later.

It represents something I've become increasingly interested in as an engineer:

Blue Medium-Strength Thread Locker

Then there's the little blue bottle.

Medium-strength thread locker is another consumable I always want available.

Fitness equipment spends its life being pulled, pushed, stepped on, run on, vibrated and generally subjected to thousands upon thousands of repetitive movements. Fasteners therefore have a fairly eventful existence.

Where specified and appropriate, a medium-strength thread locker gives threaded fasteners additional resistance to working loose while still allowing future servicing.

That last bit is important.

I'm a field engineer. Future Lewis may have to take this thing apart again.

Heavy-Duty Double-Sided Tape

This might be one of the least exciting things on this entire list.

It might also be one of the most useful.

A good heavy-duty double-sided tape is one of those consumables with seemingly endless applications.

Securing, mounting, replacing adhesive fixings, tidying things up and dealing with those strange little problems where drilling, screwing or permanently modifying something would be completely unnecessary.

I keep some in the van because the moment I remove it, I guarantee I'll need it the following morning.

That is simply how vans work.

OB1 Heavy Duty Wipes

There are dirty jobs.

And then there are why-is-that-now-on-my-elbow? jobs.

That's where OB1 Heavy Duty Wipes come in.

Grease, grime, oils, adhesive residue and general engineering filth have an extraordinary ability to migrate from the component you're working on to your hands, tools and apparently every nearby surface.

Having proper heavy-duty wipes immediately available means I can clean things as I work rather than carrying half the job around with me for the rest of the day.

BIG WIPES Pro+

Alongside the OB1 wipes are BIG WIPES Pro+.

There's deliberate overlap here.

I'd much rather have plenty of cleaning options than discover halfway through a filthy repair that I've used the last wipe.

Field service vans have their own version of Murphy's Law:

The likelihood of needing a consumable increases dramatically immediately after you've run out of it.

Heavy-duty wipes are therefore one thing I happily duplicate.

Microfibre Towels by the Roll

Possibly one of my favourite simple additions to the van.

A roll of microfibre towels.

Pull one off. Use it. Move on.

They're brilliant for cleaning equipment, wiping surfaces, removing dust, tidying up after a repair and leaving the machine looking better than when I started.

That last part matters to me.

A repair isn't finished simply because the fault has disappeared. If I've had panels off, tools around a machine and my hands inside it, I want to leave the equipment tidy afterwards.

The humble microfibre cloth is therefore doing considerably more work than its place in the engineering hierarchy would suggest.

Kaygo Microfoam Nitrile-Coated Safety Gloves

Some consumables aren't about the machine at all.

They're about me.

My Kaygo microfoam nitrile-coated safety gloves give me protection while still retaining the dexterity I need for screws, connectors, clips and smaller components.

That balance is important.

A glove can offer fantastic protection, but if it turns your hands into two oven mitts when you're trying to manipulate a tiny connector, you're probably going to take it off.

Good work gloves need to disappear into the background while you're working.

These pretty much do.

SabreCut PH2 Magnetic Impact Driver Bits

I don't know where PH2 bits go.

Nobody does.

There is presumably a parallel universe populated entirely by 10mm sockets, PH2 bits and the pens you definitely just put down there.

So I keep SabreCut PH2 magnetic impact driver bits stocked in the van.

PH2 is such a common fastener that these bits get used constantly. The magnetic tip is particularly handy when you're working at awkward angles or trying to position a screw somewhere determined to reject your advances.

They're inexpensive, useful and ultimately disposable.

Which is exactly why I don't want to be rationing one battered PH2 bit like it's the final screwdriver bit on Earth.

Rechargeable 9V Lithium Batteries

This is a relatively small change that just makes sense.

Rather than repeatedly working through disposable 9V batteries, I keep rechargeable lithium 9V batteries available.

Test equipment and other bits of kit have a habit of choosing wonderfully inconvenient moments to announce that their battery has had enough.

Having charged spares means I can swap one out and carry on.

Rechargeable also means the cycle becomes:

rather than:

use → bin → forget to buy another → regret everything.

The Consumables Shelf

None of this stuff is the star of my tool bag.

And that's exactly the point.

My screwdrivers might last years. My spanners could potentially outlive me. My tool bag gets dragged into virtually every job.

Consumables exist to be consumed.

But having the right ones available changes how I work.

They let me clean something properly rather than just repair it. Protect a connection rather than simply reconnect it. Lubricate the correct component with an appropriate product. Secure a fastener. Keep my hands protected. Replace a tired driver bit. Clean up afterwards. Keep my test equipment powered.

They're tiny bits of preparedness scattered around the van.

And field service, I've discovered, is largely about preparedness.

You can't carry an entire workshop around with you.

But you can get surprisingly close.

My van consumables

• WD-40 Multi-Use
• WD-40 Specialist range
• Muc-Off Dry Lube
• Rocket TT 100% Silicone Treadmill Lubricant
• BtAS Dielectric Grease
• Medium-Strength Blue Thread Locker
• Heavy-Duty Double-Sided Tape
• OB1 Heavy Duty Wipes
• BIG WIPES Pro+
• Microfibre Towels
• Kaygo Microfoam Nitrile-Coated Safety Gloves
• SabreCut PH2 Magnetic Impact Driver Bits
• Rechargeable Lithium 9V Batteries