Heating/using a caravan in the winter
Hello
New to caravaning ish and new to us we are going away for a couple of nights in December in our challenger 558.
Obviously its cold at the moment and I have played around with the heaters (gas and electric)
I am after the following advice please.
1) Fastest way to heat your van ? (gas/electric with or without blown air)
2) Heating a cold van will cause lots of condensation initially. I understand that airflow helps reduce this but also lets in the cold. Any thoughts ?.
3) Can I leave heating on when i go to bed or go out so its toasty when i get back ?
Any answers or thoughts appreciated and tips or advice.
In the meantime Im off to buy some slippers as I tried sitting in the van from freezer to warm and my toes are numb 
Thanks
Blakey
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Hello
Long time winter caravaner here. To heat up fast then have gas + electric, then once warmed up I just have electric and really 1 Kw keeps us toasty warm. I've never noticed any condensation at all.
We leave the heating on throughout the night, perhaps turned down a few degrees. In the depths of winter we do leave the electric heating when going out, again maybe a few degrees lower.
Caravans are well insulated and you'll be surprised how warm it can get.
There's nothing worse (to us) than coming back from a wonderful day out and sit freezing in the caravan waiting for it to warm up. This leaving on while out is a contentious issue to some but the way I look at it I'm on holiday and sitting around freezing is not the way I want to holiday/be away in the caravan.
One last thing a small simple porch awning maybe useful for shoes and jackets and helps to keep the heat in when opening the caravan door for trips to the shower block and so on.
Post edit - I think the modern control units can be linked to your mobile phone and wifi and you can turn the heating on well before you get to the caravan?
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Thanks for the reply. I didn't realise you could have gas and electric on at same time. That would speed it up
I think the only condensation I have seen is initially on glass bottles, skylights and the windows a little. This was earlier but the van was freezing inside
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No matter what type of heating you have, I would always carry a small electric fan heater as a back up, van systems can fail, and use it for a quick warm up when arriving on site.
We have Alde heating, so it takes a bit longer to warm the van from cold initially, but then keeps it really comfortable. When we arrive on a site, if it is cold outside, we turn on the portable fan heater on 2kw, and the Alde on gas, while we get set up. The fan heater gives you instant heat, while the van system warms the whole fabric of the van.
Once things are comfortable, we turn off the portable fan heater and run the van heating on electricity. When out for the day, we set the thermostat to 18 degrees, and increase it when we return. Overnight we use 13-15 degrees, as we do not like it too warm when sleeping, and have it step up to 21 in time for getting up.
Ideally, once warm, you do not want to let the van cool down too much.
The floor is always the coldest spot, we always use slippers or old Crocs in the van, and in winter we put an old, thick blanket on the floor between the front seats. Does not "creep" like a proper rug does, and weighs less.
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Never rely on just one heating source in Winter. Gas can run out, electricity can fail. Also be aware that Propane (red bottle) gas is better for Winter, it won’t freeze in bottle as quickly as Butane (blue bottle). Use gas+ electric to warm up van initially, then maintain on electric only. A small portable fan heater is sort of a Winter staple item for many, it warms inside up quickly. But be aware of power you are using, so that you don’t trip your hook up bollard.
Have a nice few days away😁
Edit, it might not be wise leaving heating of any kind on at all should you leave dogs alone in van. On the odd occasion we have left ours, even to nip to showers, we actually unplug from bollard, and turn off gas. Our most precious cargo, we take no risks whatsoever. Personal choice, and rarely left.
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I agree EasyT. If it's cold, the first thing to do is to put legs down, electric on and Alde heating on. Then set up water, waste, toilet, TV. Then go shopping after a cup of tea!!
I can't remember ever putting the heating on gas. Years ago, we used to take a small portable heater, but hardly ever used it. We haven't taken anything extra since we'vexhadxthe Alde heating.
David
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We have caravanned and motorhomed between November and February and not really experienced difficulties with keeping the van warm. We would never leave it on if we were away from the site. So even starting from cold, depending on what system, you usually have a boost which kicks in when it is starting to warm up. The newer systems like the Truma CP control panel even have a setting to boost the initial heating. If it's really cold we use a mix of electric and gas which soon gets the van up to temperature. I am talking blown air systems here as I have no experience of wet systems. We do sometimes leave the heating on overnight on electric but at a lower setting than we would if sitting watching TV in the evening.
David
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We caravan all year round and very seldom use the gas heating. On arriving on site plug in electrics and switch Alde heating on at 2kW. By the time we're all set up the van is warming up nicely. We do have a small can heater in case of emergencies but rarely use that either. Don't bother with heating on after we go to bed, unless it's a deep frost and then only set a 12degrees. We keep some, if not all, of our windows open, ldepending on the strength and direction of any wind, to prevent any condensation buildup.I've covered the floors under the seating with carpet, ensuring that the vents in the floor are still open though.
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I always found the floors of our caravan took a long time to warm up in very cold weather but the addition of some rugs on top of the carpet seemed to help so we've done the same with our motorhome. I think vans can take quite a while to heat through properly, especially if they've been unused for a while. Extra clothing helps. We leave our heating on a low setting overnight, letting the thermostat control things.
I know some like to blast the gas and electric heating together but we keep the gas for emergency heating....which we had to use last year in Nov staying on a chilly Norfolk coast when our electric heating stopped working( we bought ourselves a small fan heater too.)
Other than that we've vanned all year round until this year and this is a first for us to be staying at home due to Covid.
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We do tend to have thermostat battles at home. I usually like a high temperature, but Carol is happier for a lower temperature. 12C overnight would be too low for me.... Our thermostat at home is at the bottom of the stairs, so one or the other of us usually finds an excuse to go upstairs and tweaks the thermostat on the way... 🤣🤣 Not so easy to do in the caravan without the other noticing....
David
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I can’t sleep overnight if heating is more than 12-14 degrees. Too stuffy and hot for me. We always have a window cracked open, at home and away.
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Not sure which heating system you have - but you do mention blown air, so I'm assuming it's the Truma. In normal times, we are away all year round and have never been cold - even at Sandringham a couple of years ago when the 'Beast from the East' visited! What we tend to do when we come back to the van is select the temperature on the thermostat at least 10 degrees above the ambient temperature and this will provide the 'boost' facility on the fan speed. Then select 'Mix 2' on the control panel which will give gas and full 240v power. Although the fan sounds a bit like a jet engine once it's up and running, within 10 minutes, I can guarantee you will have to turn the heating down because it's too hot! We then reduce the temperature, switch back to electricity only and turn the fan down.
We do have the benefit of underfloor heating as well but don't use it very often because the dog tends to complain that she's too hot!!
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We had Alde heating on our Bailey Cadiz . If it was cold we always set up put it on 2 or 3 kw electric and went for a walk and perhaps a bit of lunch, after a few hours the van was lovely and warm and unless it was a beast from the east scenario, 1 kw was genenerally sufficient. Possibly because we have always had solid fuel, which is difficult to rapidly turn down at night, we like it warm. So 18C at night 22C in the day. We never turned it off when we went out, just left it on the thermostat. Personally I think warming a van back up from cold can use equally as much energy as leaving it on.
Now we have a MH, even if leaving from storage it is reasonably warm when we arrive if a decent run. It has the Truma blown air system and on 16 amp sites I tend to use the electric 2 setting and eco fan. This seems to work reasonably well at keeping the van as we like it, whilst hardly hearing the fan.
Like others we periodically run it on gas for a few hours, to make sure it will work when we are not on EHU.
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Make sure you have a working Carbon Monoxide detector alarm we use a portable one as our previous fixed one was set too high in the van. They have an annoying light flash but you can turn it away from your line of vision in the dark.
We have occasionally been very cold in our van and overnight low background heating keeps condensation at bay. If we've been off EHU we've used gas but it does run down quickly in the winter.
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It seems to cost about the same to leave heating running on a low setting as try to heat it all up from very cold. That is without considering the cost should any of the water systems freeze.
Cupboard and lockers can get cold as well, so if leaving for a few hours leave the internal doors open where you can to stop getting a blast of cold air later on. We have fitted an electric towel rail in the washroom since it is the furthest point in the blown air and can take too long to heat up.
The hot water system in my caravan is both gas and electric, but only the gas has an adjustable temperature setting so we usually switch to gas when leaving for a while with the gas thermostat set to a number based on experience of what constitutes handwash warm water.
Unless night temperatures are forecast to be a few degrees below freezing we just turn off the heating at bedtime and find two bodies under a good duvet produces all the heat needed. Whoever goes to toilet first gets to switch the heater back on.
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And here's the view from the Site Owner perspective.
As the AGM of the CAMC confirmed, electricity is now the single largest utility cost to the club.
From the CL network's viewpoint this is a frequently discussed issue. Modern caravans now use electricity (rather than visitor-supplied on-board gas) for heating during colder spells. The assumption by members that their pitch fee includes as much EHU as they like, can lead to spiraling costs for unwary CL owners.
An increasing number of CL owners are therefore either
a) increasing their pitch fees for winter months by as much as £5/night or
b) installing meters on each pitch so that they can ask for a reimbursement for electricity used. This has to be at cost (as per OFGEM regulations) as you are not allowed to resell Electricity at a profit.
As the popularity of electric cars increases (and the usage of awning heaters, washing machines and electric grills to name a few), CL owners are advised to keep a close eye on EHU usage and respond accordingly.
So..how much power is being used for heating in the winter?
Here is a report from a fellow CL owner (in Wales) who has been monitoring usage recently:
The average consumption in the past few weeks was £8 per night per caravan.
Back in September one of my regulars with a new Sprite ,largest single wheeler, i monitored its consumption,the owner was aware and when they left said they had cooked by gas and not used the central heating,no washing machine. they were shocked to find that in 10 days they had used £5 per night of electric.
Consequently, next season this site (not Cholsey Grange) will increase the pitch fee by £3 and £5 for one-night stays.( motor homes spend one night ,fill up with water before they leave,empty full waste and charge their eco bikes etc).
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cooked by gas and not used the central heating,no washing machine. they were shocked to find that in 10 days they had used £5 per night of electric.
That seems a lot, so what COULD have been consuming power?
Caravan battery charger certainly, topping up use of 12v on lights, radio, toilet rinse pump, main water pump; which are all fairly minimal. Using main power directly would be heating hot water, fridge/freezer, kettle, toaster, heated rollers, microwave?, coffee machine?, electric blanket?, charging laptop and cycle batteries?, and it does start to add up.
What can you think of that I have missed . . . ?
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It would have to be a hybrid as a battery car is unlikely to be able to pull a caravan of that size as far as the next village . . .
Maybe an awning heater?
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Glade plug in.....🙄
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