Hi
Well I've managed to persuade the OH that Christmas in a caravan will be good fun, and we're booked in.
We use propane so are fine on that count, but how do we stop the water freezing? We've thought about wrapping insulation (like a hot water tank) around it, but wondered if anyone had any other tips.
Thanks
------------- Gail
March - Bamburgh
Easter - Low Park Wood CC Kendal
May - Yellowcraigs CC North Berwick
June - Wharfedale CC Grassington
I have been away in driving snow and winds (very very cold)- I wrapped an old bath towel around the water barrel and the hose to the van - secured with a tie wrap. Didn't have any problems with the water freezing. I got a bit of ice in the waste container but a bit of car anti-freeze in the waste barrel will stop this.
You can also keep a small bottle of water in the van so if it does freeze outside you can still have an early morning cuppa.
And...it might be warm at Christmas!!
it depends on the conditions of the weather on the day or night.if its freezing take the pump in and have a large bottle of water ready inside for tea,hand wash,teeth cleaning.ect.the waste water can freeze too,empty this at night.i use an insulated cover for the water barrel.if its really cold the site taps can freeze too (did for us) another reason for a water standby.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
We were at Chatsworth one October half term and had heavy overnight frosts - it was absolutely beautiful in the morning, the parkland all white! We took the same precautions as Michael, well as wrapping the aquaroll up of course, and had no problems. The van next to us hadn't realised what would happen (don't think they'd been vanning long, had trouble getting onto the pitch in the first place) and were completely frozen up. Site taps were frozen too. We gave them some of our water as we had plenty.
We also wrapped some old towels round the pipes leading into the wastemaster, which was probably overkill but what the heck!
------------- Im no cactus expert, but I know a prick when I see one!
If you have an old fleece jacket wrap that around the barrel, and feed the pump tube through the arm and you should be fine. Something else that is worthwhile is making sure that the Barrel is completely full in the early evening, the mass of water takes longer to cool down when it is full than when it is half empty.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
Bubble wrap - not the really little stuff but the bigger bubbles! Wrap it round a few times and stand the aquarolls on something so that they are not directly on the ground.
wrapping the barrel is the easy part the hose is vulnerable because of the large surface area to volume ratio of water passing through/remaining in it the bit where it actually enters the van is awkward to cover so make sure you do this as best as you can then the problem area the first few inches inside the van! you will need to do that too under the seats/bed can be very cold and that is where I have experienced icing up you can do it, but make sure you look for the vulnerable areas inside and outside the van
having learned from bitter exdperience, I always bring my pump in, even though i bubble wrap it.
The othjer good stuff is the sheet insulation you put down under lamionate flooring . It's white and quite thin . I also use it to line some of the lockers in winter as it treally cuts down on the cold and draughts . Good luck , we've had some wonderful trips away over the winter. Cheers Siobhan
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Topic: Water over winter
