Anyone help a Newby
We bought our first Motorhome this summer (an Elddis 130 Autoquest 2010 model) and I am panicking now about what we need to do to store it over the winter. It will be kept on our driveway at home. Anyone got a checklist we can follow to make sure we don’t forget anything. We have lost the grills off the back of the fridge vent and the cooker vent but we have a cover to put over the MH itself. Do I need to get replacement plastic covers for the vents.
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It might be better just to keep (if possible) keep it warm without the need for any covers by plugging into the house with a small heater
Just empty the water heater and open the fridge door
Unless you are also going to Sorn it ,take it for a run at times when not being used on sites or even better go away in it
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Of course we'll help if we can.
Personally, I’m not a fan of covering MHs. They are motor vehicles and benefit from being used to keep the oily bits turning over. However, that’s your choice.
If the MH is not going to be moved, you will benefit the tyres by blocking the van up on axle stands, or whatever, to take the weight off the tyres.
You will need to keep all the batteries charged by some means.
For the habitation side, it is most important that you thoroughly drain all the water from the van - the tanks, boiler, toilet cassette and flush tank if you have one. If you cover the van you won’t really need fridge vent covers as well but I would still get some as there are other occasions when they could be needed. Cooker vent covers? That puzzles me.
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Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring !!
You shouldn't need a cover for the motor if you get it thoroughly cleaned and polished !! Modern polishes can leave a top coat like armour plate !! as for the covers for vents -- you should find them at your dealers so take a walk round their display areas & earn bonus points for looking to see what the display models have on
should you buy vent covers ensure that they are correct ones for your vehicle, and check out how they work !!As JVB & Tinwheeler have said above ~~ a motor vehicle can only benefit by being taken to see your local sights / sites occasionally especially if you have given it a human type name { Come on Priscilla Peugeot, lets go and feed the ducks
} Honestly, you would be surprised at the improvement in performance as well as m.p.g. 
and your smiles will be wider as well 
. actually you will be doing the tyres a favour, since the vehicle wont be bearing down on the same point for four to six months, but if it is standing for lengthy periods think about covering those tyres to avoid the rubber cracking.1 -
I’d swerve the heater, not only for the 6months of extra bills but the fact it’s better to do the move it & use it for what it’s designed for suggestions, it’s logical👍🏻
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back to your orignal question on fridge vent winter covers...you only require these if going to use the fridge when the external temperature is below around 10 degrees, this figure does vary but basically winter holidays..
We use our caravan all year - give it a try.
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Have you come from caravanning? If so, did you stop touring at the end of 'the season' for any particular reason?
with a MH, especially one parked at home, it is so easy to use all year compared to going to storage and collect a caravan etc...
as others suggest, MH like to be used. Perhaps try a bit of winter touring, you might like the relative ease and the actual being away a bit more.
One point about batteries, as mentioned earlier...it's unlikely the Elddis will have a solar panel but if it does and it's factory fitted, it's unlikely it will charge the habitation battery AND the vehicle battery.
similarly, I doubt the on board charger will charge the vehicle battery when hooked up.
If you don't have a user control panel that can confirm the above, both these scenarios are easy to verify with a voltmeter across the cab battery terminals which should show a raised charge of over 13v if being charged.
if you confirm neither EHU cable nor solar is charging the cab battery then you'll need to take action to prevent it from going flat after a few weeks...
either a manual car type charger used periodically OR remove the load by disconnecting the cab battery....however this will perhaps cause other issues and disable and alarm, immobiliser etc.
it's relatively easy to add a 'battery master' to move charge from the leisure battery to the cab battery...simple wiring and a fairly cheap little device.
good luck.
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Fenwicks do an "over-winter" coat to spray on at the end of the season, it works brilliantly on our caravan so I guess it works on MHs too.
Fridge vent grills can be found in most caravan/camping shops.
One other point, it's worth buying a couple of moisture traps to prevent damp inside your van
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The moisture trap matter is debatable. Vans are vented so any dehumidifying action is drawing in moist air from outside. NB do not block up those vents.
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What do you mean by "drawing in moist air"? If air is coming in through vents, surely it's just normal air from outside and not specifically "moist" air - once it's in the caravan, the moisture trap will simply be absorbing any mioisture that happens to be present.
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