Caravan / Motor home Travel and Storage Advice
Winterization Services: Drain Your Caravan Water System Properly
One of the most crucial steps in caravan winterization is ensuring all water is drained from both the fresh and waste water systems. Any water left in the pipes can freeze and expand during freezing temperatures, potentially causing the pipes to burst.
Here’s how to protect your caravan for the winter:
Taking these steps ensures your caravan is winter-ready and prevents costly repairs in the future!
One of the most crucial steps in caravan winterization is ensuring all water is drained from both the fresh and waste water systems. Any water left in the pipes can freeze and expand during freezing temperatures, potentially causing the pipes to burst.
Here’s how to protect your caravan for the winter:
- Open All Taps: Set all internal and external taps to the open position to allow water to fully drain from the system.
- Use Anti-Freeze: Pour a small amount of anti-freeze down the kitchen and bathroom plugholes to prevent any remaining water in the U-bends from freezing.
- Drain and Clean the Cassette Toilet: Thoroughly clean the cassette toilet with fresh water and drain the system completely. Apply a maintenance spray like Thetford to the cassette seal and blade to prevent corrosion or sticking during storage.
Taking these steps ensures your caravan is winter-ready and prevents costly repairs in the future!
Fight Damp and Condensation in Your Caravan This Winter
Preventing damp during the winter months is critical to maintaining the condition of your caravan. Condensation and moisture buildup can lead to mold on soft furnishings and carpets, and if left untreated, it can cause severe damp issues in the caravan's woodwork and body shell. Here’s how to protect your caravan from damp:
By following these steps, you can ensure your caravan stays dry, mold-free, and in top condition throughout the winter.
Preventing damp during the winter months is critical to maintaining the condition of your caravan. Condensation and moisture buildup can lead to mold on soft furnishings and carpets, and if left untreated, it can cause severe damp issues in the caravan's woodwork and body shell. Here’s how to protect your caravan from damp:
- Remove Soft Furnishings: Take out all soft furnishings like cushions, curtains, and bedding, and store them inside your home to prevent mold. For items that stay in the caravan, prop seat cushions up to promote air circulation.
- Leave Cupboards and Drawers Open: Keep cupboard doors and drawers slightly ajar to allow fresh air to flow freely, preventing dampness inside storage areas.
- Clean and Air Out the Fridge: Thoroughly clean out your fridge and freezer using a solution of bicarbonate of soda and warm water. Leave the fridge door propped open to keep the air circulating and prevent mold.
- Use Moisture Absorbers: Place bowls of salt or moisture absorbers around the caravan, particularly near windows and on surfaces. These will help soak up excess moisture from the air and prevent condensation buildup.
By following these steps, you can ensure your caravan stays dry, mold-free, and in top condition throughout the winter.
Guard from the elements
Whether you are storing your caravan at home or on a storage site it is a good idea to take precautions to protect your caravan from high winds, or the worst of the elements. One way to protect your caravan at home might be to build a caravan porch. These can be built relatively cheaply and will protect your caravan from direct exposure to rain and snow over the winter months.
If you don’t want to splash out on the building of a caravan porch (or if you store your caravan away from home in an outdoor storage location) then a breathable caravan cover is another good way to protect your ‘van from the elements. It’s vitally important that you opt for a breathable, waterproof cover that lets fresh air in but keeps the wind, rain and snow out. Never use a plastic cover that doesn’t allow air to pass through as this will cause a build up of condensation on the inside of the cover (and in the van), undoing all your hardwork to avoid the dreaded damp!
Protect your wheels
Being stood in the same position all winter puts a lot of pressure on one area of a tyre, and can cause it to become cracked, warped or damaged. If your caravan is going to be left pretty much in one place for the duration of the winter, then you need to take some simple steps to ensure the tyres are in good working order come spring.
One simple way to spread the load across the entire tyre is to move the caravan periodically over the winter months, so that a different part of the tyre is in contact with the ground when moved back into its storage location.
It’s also a good idea to ensure tyres are inflated to the correct pressure, so check now and after every two months of storage.
Another option are “winter wheels” which completely replace your caravans existing wheels with square metal holders. These have the added benefit of making your caravan more secure as it cannot be towed away.
Please note: Providing the tourer’s normal wheels are stored securely away from the caravan then a Caravan Guard insurance customer would obviously not need to fit a wheelclamp when “Winter Wheels” are being used.
Clean and empty
If you aren’t going to be using your caravan over the winter then you’ll want to ensure that other little visitors such as mice aren’t making it their home for a few months either. Always remove all food stuffs from the caravan and clean out all the cupboards, ensuring no crumbs or dirt are left behind to attract vermin.
As well as giving the inside of the caravan a thorough clean, it’s also a good idea to clean the outside of the van and apply a protective wax or polish (AutoGlym and Fenwick’s offer a wide range of products suitable for caravans) to keep out the elements over the winter. This is particularly important if you aren’t using a caravan cover as it will give water and dirt nothing to hold on to, and make that first spring clean much easier next season.
Security and final checks
It’s important when your caravan is laid up for the winter that all windows and doors are locked and any security devices are engaged in order to comply with the terms set out on your insurance policy. If you have a tracking device or alarm which uses battery power to operate then you may need to keep an external power source connected to avoid these devices running flat, or at least give your caravan leisure battery a regular charge.
If you don’t have such electronic security devices and all power is to be turned off in the caravan then it is a good idea to remove the caravan’s battery and keep it in your house on a trickle charge, to keep it in good condition over the winter.
Gas bottles should be disconnected and removed to avoid accidental leakage of gas through the system over winter, which is obviously a major fire risk. These can be stored safely in the garage until needed, but just be sure to double check that any taps are turned to the closed position whilst in storage.
Whether you are storing your caravan at home or on a storage site it is a good idea to take precautions to protect your caravan from high winds, or the worst of the elements. One way to protect your caravan at home might be to build a caravan porch. These can be built relatively cheaply and will protect your caravan from direct exposure to rain and snow over the winter months.
If you don’t want to splash out on the building of a caravan porch (or if you store your caravan away from home in an outdoor storage location) then a breathable caravan cover is another good way to protect your ‘van from the elements. It’s vitally important that you opt for a breathable, waterproof cover that lets fresh air in but keeps the wind, rain and snow out. Never use a plastic cover that doesn’t allow air to pass through as this will cause a build up of condensation on the inside of the cover (and in the van), undoing all your hardwork to avoid the dreaded damp!
Protect your wheels
Being stood in the same position all winter puts a lot of pressure on one area of a tyre, and can cause it to become cracked, warped or damaged. If your caravan is going to be left pretty much in one place for the duration of the winter, then you need to take some simple steps to ensure the tyres are in good working order come spring.
One simple way to spread the load across the entire tyre is to move the caravan periodically over the winter months, so that a different part of the tyre is in contact with the ground when moved back into its storage location.
It’s also a good idea to ensure tyres are inflated to the correct pressure, so check now and after every two months of storage.
Another option are “winter wheels” which completely replace your caravans existing wheels with square metal holders. These have the added benefit of making your caravan more secure as it cannot be towed away.
Please note: Providing the tourer’s normal wheels are stored securely away from the caravan then a Caravan Guard insurance customer would obviously not need to fit a wheelclamp when “Winter Wheels” are being used.
Clean and empty
If you aren’t going to be using your caravan over the winter then you’ll want to ensure that other little visitors such as mice aren’t making it their home for a few months either. Always remove all food stuffs from the caravan and clean out all the cupboards, ensuring no crumbs or dirt are left behind to attract vermin.
As well as giving the inside of the caravan a thorough clean, it’s also a good idea to clean the outside of the van and apply a protective wax or polish (AutoGlym and Fenwick’s offer a wide range of products suitable for caravans) to keep out the elements over the winter. This is particularly important if you aren’t using a caravan cover as it will give water and dirt nothing to hold on to, and make that first spring clean much easier next season.
Security and final checks
It’s important when your caravan is laid up for the winter that all windows and doors are locked and any security devices are engaged in order to comply with the terms set out on your insurance policy. If you have a tracking device or alarm which uses battery power to operate then you may need to keep an external power source connected to avoid these devices running flat, or at least give your caravan leisure battery a regular charge.
If you don’t have such electronic security devices and all power is to be turned off in the caravan then it is a good idea to remove the caravan’s battery and keep it in your house on a trickle charge, to keep it in good condition over the winter.
Gas bottles should be disconnected and removed to avoid accidental leakage of gas through the system over winter, which is obviously a major fire risk. These can be stored safely in the garage until needed, but just be sure to double check that any taps are turned to the closed position whilst in storage.
