What do you do with your winter cover once it's off?
Hello there!
We're are caravanning novices and every day is a school day for us! We're going on our very first two nights away today. Our van is in a storage yard and we covered her with a breathable winter cover from Maypole in early December. We took it off yesterday and it was relatively dry and clean, but very awkward to try to wrestle back in its original bag, so we didn't. Just bundled it up in a massive plastic sack and took it home. It's currently drying in our spare bedroom but I'm thinking as it becomes more dirty and if it is ever 'sopping wet', I wouldn't want to dry it in the spare bedroom! Have any of you any advice around how you manage the winter cover? Could you just pop it in the garage/shed 'as is' and hope it doesn't get too mouldy? Also, having the van in storage means if the cover is on, there is always going to be 2 trips to the yard, one to removethe cover and one to actually go off and away! As I said, you live and learn. Many thanks in advance!
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@Maplesparents I have never used a cover for our caravans or motorhomes but imagine they need to be dry whilst stored to keep it in good condition? However years ago we had a cotton awning and if it was wet when we took it down we used to put it in the conservatory when we go home, or even drape it over the rotary washing line. OK not everyone has a conservatory but I would have thought a garage would do providing you can spread it out safely. I know the weather can be difficult at this time of year but if you get the chance to remove it on a sunny day half the job of drying will be done. Other tips would be to lay it out on a patio or driveway at home if its sunny, I think you will be surprised how quickly it dries. Once dry I would always fold it up and store it safely, if you leave unpacked there is a danger of damage.
David
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@DavidKlyne Thanks for the tips, David. I think we were very 'trigger happy' with buying stuff for our caravan before taking time to think things through, I guess. With hind sight, we could have managed without that cover, as we are planning to go out with the caravan pretty much all of the year, except for the school holidays over the summer, as we feel sites would be too busy and as our boys have grown up now, no need! So if we use the cover then to protect from UV and any adverse weather, it probably won't be too bad to make sure it's dry. Have a good weekend 😃
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When ours comes off I loosely fold it so it can lay on the garage floor and dry out.
I have to admit our van is always covered when not use as we live down a country lane with lots of trees. Over winter the cover is fully tied into place, but the rest of the year it is simply pulled over the top and no straps done up unless I know it is going to be windy. As a result our van is always clean or easy to clean.
Colin
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@Maplesparents - quite frankly, I wouldn't bother with a cover. Here is our van - now 6 years old - pic taken this Christmas - and although I have a towing cover - it has never had a full cover over it. We use our van, all year round and having to faff about removing and re-fitting a full cover would just be too much. I don't think it looks too bad. I'd be inclined to put the purchase down to experience, and flog it😀
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@Maplesparents we have caravanned for over 40 hrs and have never ever used a storage cover. Is it possible for you clean your caravan, with the appropriate cleaning product, when you return from a trip, be it in the storage area or before you take it there, as this will help protect the van against the weather. Using something like Fenwick's Caravan Cleaner, followed by their Bobby Dazzler make it much easier to keep clean. We do use a towing cover whenever we tour which certainly helps to keep the front of the van clean and limits the effects of stones marking the van.
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@eribaMotters Thanks for your comment, luckily she is stored at a yard without any overhanging trees!
@richardandros Wow! You caravan looks stunning! Thank you for the insight re a cover. We said that if it is not used for more than 6 weeks in winter, we will cover her up but won't bother in the better months. We are hoping to take her out as much as possible :-) As you say, we probably could have done without, but you live and learn! I think once this cover is knackered, we won't bother with another one. We've got the towing cover from specialist covers and that thing is a joy to use! Managed to get out for our maiden voyage on Friday and it was a breeze to fit the towing cover.
@nelliethehooker Thanks for your comment. We have used the Caravan shampoo and Bobby Dazzler and it certainly brought her up lovely!
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@Maplesparents good to read that you were able to get away on your maiden trip. Hope you had a good time and everything work as it should. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask them, there are lots on here with many years of experience, and who still occasionally need bits of advice.
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@nelliethehooker Thank you! We are so grateful for all the kind members on here. Thanks to you guys and YouTube, as well as studying the user manual of the caravan, we think we got there. The only thing that boggled our minds was the Truma Hot Air heating. It is very warm! We were afraid we might be freezing during the night but during the first night we were absolutely boiling! We had it on the Winter setting. As the hot water boiler is underneath one of the benches, it radiated so much heat that it was very warm to lie on. So last night, we set the water temp as 0, the manual said that it will protect the tank from freezing but nothing more, when you need hot water just put it back to 60 (this is only possible in the winter setting according to the manual). We set the heating to 15 and the temperature over night was much more bearable. This morning, the water was still nice and warm to use, and the tank was warm to the touch, so it must be very insulated. We are a bit worried about the summer months, as it would be very uncomfortable to sleep on a hot bench if you wanted hot water. Any advice from 'seasoned' Truma users gratefully received.
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@Maplesparents - glad that all went well for you and thank you for your kind comments re our Knaus. I don't know which Truma heating system you have - ours is the Combi 6e - and I am really pleased with it, especially with regard to how quickly it heats up from cold. We also run it at 15 degrees overnight and put the hot water onto "Boost" in a morning before we need showers. It takes about 40 minutes to heat the water. The only downside that I have found is that the bathroom doesn't get that hot - being at the end of the run - but I have installed a heated electric towel rail and if it's really cold we sometimes use a fan heater for a few minutes.
With regard to keeping the van clean - and this advice was reinforced by Paul from "Tourershine" when he came to professionally clean and polish our van two years ago - I only ever use old fashioned "Stardrops" to wash it. There's no salt in it, as there is with many detergents, and therefore it doesn't degrade the previously applied polish. Then I use Autoglym resin polish - two or three times a year - but don't get it on the windows - it will leave swirl marks in the plastic - only use Autoglym Fast Glass for that.
One other tip - and forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but it's so important and often disregarded - when hitching up and the hitch clicks onto the towball - wind the jockey wheel down to make sure the caravan starts to lift the car - and really put some pressure on it. I've had a couple of occasions when I thought it was locked on but it's suddenly sprung off. I also know of a certain dealer (ours!) who - despite being in the business for over 30 years - has managed to damage two caravans and cars, by failing to do this🙄
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@richardandros I've just had a look at the manual, and it says we have a Combi 4E/or 6E, I guess I'd have to look at the actual unit to see which it is, but that's back in the storage yard atm. We were very impressed with its heating ability, it was about 3C outside and within half an hour of hooking up, we were toasty warm. We also noticed that that the bathroom does not get much heat, but when we closed the two front butterfly valves as they were cooking our feet anyway, things became more even. Installing an electric towel rail sounds like a good investment. We did pack a small portable heater as well, in case the heating packed up. As we have only used it properly once, we were wondering if just using the mains to operate the heating and hot water is advisable for the long run. We just thought it would safe the gas for just cooking. The manual said in winter, you should use gas to run the heating system, do you do that? Sorry for all my questions! I have made notes for cleaning our 'van next, thank you so much for taking the time to write all this. And you will be pleased to hear that we do always check the hitch connection by raising the jokey wheel to see the car gets lifted too. We did a towing and manoeuvring course prior to going out first time and the instructor told us about it.
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@Maplesparents Although we do not have a Truma heating system, but have Alde heating in our caravan, I can't see the logic in them advising that you use gas instead of your EHU for heating, especially if you are on a site where the electric is included in the pitch price. There may be good reasons to use both at the same time when you first arrive at a site and it is very cold so as to heat up the van quickly but that is not something we have ever done, instead we just take the dog out for a short walk while the van warms up!
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@Maplesparents and @nelliethehooker - having lived with the Truma 6e for the last six years, I will do my best to answer your questions. Apologies for the lengthy post and somewhat off-topic - this is where the private message facility would have been useful @Rowena😀
Please don't be put off by what I am about to say - the Truma boiler is excellent - just too complicated for what it is supposed to do. It has all sorts of fancy electronics and fail-safes - which do work but also make it more prone to failure as compared with the Alde system. There are no two ways about it - the heat output on gas is significantly greater than on electricity and it will warm our 8m van up from cold in about 15 minutes. I use Safefill re-fillable gas bottles - so my gas is cheap. I tend to run it on gas for about 30 minutes to start with and then switch back to electricity and keep it 'ticking over'.
However, there is another important reason. My experience - and that of many others reporting on the internet - is that the electric heating elements have a limited life span. Someone did quote how many thousand hours it was - but I have found that with us - it equates to about two years. That's with using the van for a week every month, throughout the year and for two weeks, two or three times a year. Plus, I use the van as my 'man shed' when at home and have the heating on for an hour or so, on most afternoons during the winter - so it probably gets more use than most.
Changing the elements is neither easy nor cheap! It's a 'boiler out' exercise - by the dealer - and the last time the elements were changed it cost me £750!!!! It packed up again, just before this last Christmas, almost two years to the day since the elements were last changed - but with no indication of why (it wasn't the elements this time!) and it would have meant to van going to Truma for them to diagnose the fault. Since we were pushed for time and I was somewhat fed up with it, I got the dealer to swap the whole boiler for a new one - which they did in a couple of hours. At least I have now got a new 2 yr warranty. The cost was just more than double the cost of new elements, but I considered it worthwhile.
I am hoping that, since this new one seems to operate slightly differently from the old one, Truma have fixed previous problems and it proves to be a bit more reliable. Having said all of that, I do know of owners using the 6e who have had no problems at all - so let's hope you're one of the lucky ones😀
Pleased to hear that you check the hitch before setting off. It surprises me how many others I have seen on site, setting off, have failed to do this.
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@richardandros thank you so much for taking the time to write this most informative post! We bought our caravan, a 2013 Coachman VIP 460/2 from a private seller last November. A lovely couple who had her from new. They had her serviced regularly and she had her last service April 2024. Does a service include boiler maintenance? They said they used her infrequently but not entirely sure how often. We are hoping to use her for two long trips away per year, around 14 nights at a time, and a few long weekends peppered throughout the year. So our usage will be far less than yours. We will follow your advice and use gas to start off the heating on our next trip, in early March. We were thinking not to bother heating the water though, just use the heating as we are using the shower block/ washing up station on site anyway. We wondered if that meant the boiler won't get too hot, as we found it really hot sleeping on the bench the boiler is under. Or does the boiler get hot anyway because it is the source that heats the van? We did worry when we had her just plugged into the mains but not connected the water, that we would 'boil dry' the boiler when using the heating. Couldn't find a definitive answer on that! Thanks again for all your help 😊👍
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@Maplesparents - will do my best to answer your questions! From what you say in terms of usage - I don't think you will have any problems. Your usage will be far less than mine. What I omitted to say was that in addition to the use it gets when we are away, I also have the heating on overnight - set at about 8 degrees - during winter - all the time - to protect against freezing. I have water in the system all the time now (see below). That said, there is an automatic drain valve which is supposed to dump the water from the boiler if the temperature drops below 3 degrees.
The boiler wouldn't be serviced as part of routine maintenance - since there are no 'serviceable' parts. I suppose, that if requested, the gas burner could be cleaned out - but this would be by specific request and not part of a normal caravan service. That would be expensive because the boiler is 'shoe-horned' in with most installations and therefore it would have to come out of the van to be stripped down.
You will find, that even with the hot water turned off, the water will get warm on electricity and positively hot when running on gas - although nowhere near as hot as it gets when the water is turned on.
In theory, you can run the space heater without having water in the system and, indeed, one of the fail-safes I mentioned earlier is that the system will shut down if you accidentally run the boiler with the hot water switched on even though there is no water in it. However - and I have no hard evidence to prove this since the error code it threw up was no help whatsoever - when I ran it (unusually for me) without water in it, just before last Christmas, the system packed up completely and wouldn't restart at all despite clearing the error code. When the dealer plugged their diagnostic laptop into it - when it went in for the boiler change - it told them nothing and therefore that was the reason it would have had to go back to Truma for them to investigate. Since I also have a power meter installed in the van, I could see that the boiler was pulling 7.5 amps - telling me the elements were OK - but it still wouldn't run at all.
I am convinced it was an 'overheat' sensor that failed - either that or the main PCB - caused by running the boiler 'dry' - hence my cautious approach now of only running it 'wet' - even though the instructions say that this can be done safely.
The boiler will get hot whether 'wet' or 'dry'. The heat exchanger - when you see it out of the boiler is a big lump of metal so it's going to absorb heat whatever you do. All I can suggest is turning the temperature down. Fortunately, I have never come across this problem because we have two fixed single beds towards the back of the van.
Good news is - in the summer - you won't need the heating on overnight and you'll be thinking about air con😀
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@richardandros thank you so much for your reply, most informative and reassuring! I think we'll just motor on and hope for the best! If it goes kaput we'll cross that expensive bridge then! Have a great weekend despite the weather 😀
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