Hope someone can offer some advice, we have recently moved house and one of the advatages of this is that our caravan is now stored at home, therefore we want to take advatage of this and have a few winter weekends away with the children. We don't want to go away in the depths of January or February because we simply don't have the time but we would like to use the caravan right up until the early weeks of December. The advice i'm after is about heating, someone has suggested that we use a lowish wattage oil filled radiator (about 800w) as opposed to a fan heater because of the noise during the night. We only have the basic truma gas heater, which is fine during the day, but I don't want to leave it on all night because of safety. Secondly we are running on Butane, which I know will freeze during really cold weather but do you think we will get away with it during early December. (I do carry a propane pigtail with me just in case). And is there anything else i've missed.
I don't know if I would use an oil filled radiator as they can be heavy and quite cumbersome in the limited space of a caravan. I would suggest maybe a small fan heater which has a thermostat control or why not use the blown air on propane gas. The fan heaters give off a very low noise output and the blown air fan is barely noticeable....Floyd.
hi we use one from argos 415/9139 £19.99 convecter heater with thermostat.just need to take care when in use,ie turn off to use the kettle.see also www.bags4everything.co.uk (see miscellaneous) they do a insulated cover for the water barrel and pump pipes.but if its very cold we take our pump inside at night.make sure ALL waste pipes are empty,had a pig of a job unblocking mine in march.ice expands 8 to 1 and can damage all pipes containing water.take a large water bottle for fresh water for teeth and brews and hand washing. www.argos.co.uk
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
We were away last new year in -9 temperatures, we also used fan heaters but did find ourselves waking up with it being to hot, this is down to buying a cheap fan heater with too much play in the thermostat so it meant that it would stay on for too long.
A cheap alternative for your aquaroll is to buy a hot water cylinder lagging jacket or even cheaper is an old coat, the sleeve then gives insulation to the pump pipe as well.
We have now done a fair bit of winter caravanning, always used butane, never insulated the aqua roll, never had a problem.
Clearly if there was a really cold spell you will have to take precautions but in December I simply wouldn't worry. If it is that cold you won't choose to go away that week-end anyway!
If you are really worried about a cold snap you can just empty the aquaroll overnight and put the gas bottle in the car boot or awning.
I personally wouuld be much more concerned about a slight sprinkle of snow which would scupper my chances of getting off a grass pitch.
Bought first van and couldn't wait to have a weekend away. We went to Derbyshire in March this year, with sprinkling of snow on the ground....goodness knows what temperature was below zero with a chill factor making it feel like Siberia. Being a novice had butane bottle plus on getting water all filled up never gave it a thought about freezing. During the first night had to switch the blown air heating off...too hot. Had no trouble with the gas or the water. Second night had heating on until bedtime. How long does it have to be outside and at what temperature to freeze? This coming winter will take more care though, already changed to propane and have priced covers for the water, going to take no chances.
Vulpecula
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A mystery of life - why do learner drivers always learn in front of you?
Thanks for your advice, its always reassuring to hear what people have to say from the real world, which as far as i'm concerned carries more weight than so called advice articles. We probaly won't have a problem with water because our Adria has an on board water tank in the front locker so it is well up from the ground. But because it is a basic van we don't have blown air heating, just the basic Truma, hence my questioning about the night time heat. Thanks for all your replys and heres to cosy nights and frosty mornings,
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Topic: Winter Caravanning Advice
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