Off grid

ScreenName7E44381AE7
ScreenName7E44381AE7 Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited June 2021 in UK Campsites & Touring #1

Hi everyone

Apologies in advance if this has been asked already, where pretty new to caravaning and are hoping to get set up for 'off grid' caravanning to save money on EHU site fees. 

I have found a list of CaMC certificated off grid sites which would be of interest, however would these sites give access to clean water and liquid waste disposal?

If they don't, how do people overcome the issue of towing with water or waste on board and where do you dispose?

Thank you all in advance for your help.  

«1

Comments

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭
    2,500 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited June 2021 #2

    All CAMC  CLs must provide fresh water, waste water disposal, toilet emptying, and refuse collection.

  • ScreenName7E44381AE7
    ScreenName7E44381AE7 Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited June 2021 #3

    Thats fantastic, thank you for your help!

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #4

    a key ingredient to off gridding will be the ability to generate and make use of 12v electricity...

    simplest way is a solar panel or two, a decent battery(ies) to store it, and the kit to make use of it....12v tv, 12v charging points for phones, tablets etc. your water pum will also wotk from 12v.

    however, for 'heating tasks', like for colder periods, hot water for showering and for cooking, youll need a decent gas supply.

    small refillable bottles can work out to be expensive if off gridding at times of the year when heat is required, many users have switched to a refillable system (gaslow/safefill...) where cyclinders are refilled from a pump at about a third of the price per litre....

    there are some indications (but no panic yet....) that LPG pumps are getting a tad scarcer to find....a bit subjective at the moment. a look at a apps/websites like filllpg or mylpg will still give thousands of locations.

    just a couple of points....many, many CLs (and CS from the other club) have hook up but still are half the price of a club site, say £12-£18 depending on location...

    a non ehu CL might sneak below £10 but not too many i guess.

    the C&CC also have a very extensive diary of temporary holiday sites (THS) where you can roll up with no booking and these are usually non ehu on a school playing field or local football/rugby ground, priced at around £9-£12 a night ....the great advantage is that these sites will often be close to a town centre, usually in walking distance.

    folk also put together impromptu tours, moving from one THS to the next when the mood takes them as no booking reqd.

    good luck.

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,829 ✭✭✭
    2,500 Likes 1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #5

    I remember sites without electricity 50 years ago and have no wish to relive the past. Electric hookups are a boon, mains electricity these days is from renewable sources, but gas for heating and cooking  is a fossil fuel doing no good to anyone. 

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited June 2021 #6
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • SeasideBill
    SeasideBill Forum Participant Posts: 2,112
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #7

    Just for perspective….electricity from renewables is currently less than 50% so none of us are perfect. It’s scale that matters, a few hobbyists in a field using lpg aren’t going to have the same impact as thousands of caravanners heating up their awnings (and the atmosphere) with electricity. That said, I agree with the principle of your point, just need to make sure we don’t beat ourselves up about it too much.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #8

    It was reported last year? that on several days the national grid, had only used renewable power ,to supply the whole of England, and not one fossil fuel power station was on linesurprised

  • Rocky 2 buckets
    Rocky 2 buckets Forum Participant Posts: 7,101
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #9

    Woohoo, progress at last. The Turbine maker(Siemens) on Hull dockside are running at capacity so there are plenty more on the horizon👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,046 ✭✭✭
    10,000 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited June 2021 #10

    Hello Newbie😁 (Suggest you change that set of numbers generated by Club and find yourself a proper screen name)

    Touring without using electric hook up is in fact quite easy in Summer, providing you understand how your caravan and its various components such as lights, fridge, cooking, heating and showering work. It used to be the only way of touring, although now of course you can hook up to electrics, or fit gadgetry to your existing outfit. The more electrical equipment you want to use, such as a TV, toaster, hairdryer etc.. you must have, then it gets a little bit more complicated, and you will need to get your van kitted out.

    However, if all you want to do is enjoy a cheap holiday, in some lovely locations, then gas bottles and a small solar panel will easily see you through. You can charge up phones, IPads anything that uses a USB via your car when out and about, although some CLs do offer somewhere to do this if you ask.

    Here’s a link to the Club’s CL page, suggest you scroll down to the Q&A’s at the bottom, this will tell you what to expect when you go to a CL. https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/uk-holidays/uk-sites/certificated-locations/

    Some Club Sites offer economy non electric pitches as well, some Club Sites offer hook up to electric but no loo blocks and these can be good value as well.

    The choice of how to off grid tour is yours, you could keep it simple, you could invest in some of the gadgetry, all depends on your preferences. You might need a bit more if you decide to tour in Winter, when keeping warm becomes more of a priority.

    We often go non hook up in our MH or our van in Summer, did three weeks away last year with no problems. Search the threads for more information, some folks never use hook ups and have all sorts of very good information to pass on👍

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #11

    Did you know that the blades of wind turbines have only limited lifespan

    Some of the "retired" blades  have found a new use in helping to support railway banks and vulnerable cuttings,surprised

    So there is plenty of work to keep the Hull Plant goingwink

     

  • SeasideBill
    SeasideBill Forum Participant Posts: 2,112
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #12

    Was that coal free, which certainly was the case, but excluded natural gas? In any event I think coal powered will be history by 2025.

     

  • Rocky 2 buckets
    Rocky 2 buckets Forum Participant Posts: 7,101
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #13

    Recycling JV-even better. I love it👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #14

    Natural gas is a "fossil",fuel so I would have expected that to be included unless it was via a marketing dept when anything can be made to sound good?undecided

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited June 2021 #15
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
    10,000 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited June 2021 #16

    Apologies for this being way OT from the OP's question, but did anyone see the TV program last night about the construction of Hinkley Point C nuclear power generating plant? What a phenomenal undertaking! I suppose non-renewable resources used in its construction will be outweighed over time.

  • Rocky 2 buckets
    Rocky 2 buckets Forum Participant Posts: 7,101
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #17

    I’m no expert Tinny but I’d say nuclear power is better than fossil fuel, I think Nuclear power is so much renewable & so much not so🤷🏻‍♂️, that’s an improvement on fossil fuels 100% not so.

  • LLM
    LLM Forum Participant Posts: 1,555 ✭✭
    500 Likes 1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #18

    I think that nuclear power is just kicking the can down the street.  The amount of toxic waste, high, medium and low level, can be stored and just left for future generations to deal with.

  • SeasideBill
    SeasideBill Forum Participant Posts: 2,112
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #19

    Yes, the former residents of Chernobyl might agree. I don’t much like the idea of the Chinese dabbling in nuclear plant construction a few miles up the road from me either.

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
    10,000 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited June 2021 #20

    My feelings, too. It's far from perfect but we have little alternative🤷‍♂️

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
    5,000 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited June 2021 #21

    +1

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #22

    I installed mains electric into my caravan about 1996. Surprisingly to me the fridge already fitted was able to run on mains power despite not originally having mains electric. I found a full installation kit on a top shelf at a local caravan sales  shop. It was black with dust and sold to me at half price.

  • Whittakerr
    Whittakerr Club Member Posts: 3,472 ✭✭✭✭
    1000 Comments Photogenic
    edited June 2021 #23

    I'm not a fan of nuclear power. It leaves a massive problem for the future, which with current technology we can't deal with, apart from putting the waste in storage containers for future generations to deal with.

    Sellafield, which was the home of the first nuclear reactor in the UK has not produced power for many years and is currently being decommissioned. There is currently a 100 year plan to fully decommission Sellafield, which based on current progress will be missed by decades. the cost of decommissioning is frightening, running in to the tens, if not hundreds of £Billions of tax payers money. 

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #24

    The First caravan we had with mains power (a must have gimmick then?)single early 1970s was a Mardon and it also had real glass double glazing, and also a gas light for backupsurprised when. EHU was not common on sites and even then was 5amp up to10amp max

    The gas fire was a strange type that you llt the front of the fire  and was not vented to the outsideundecided

  • Rocky 2 buckets
    Rocky 2 buckets Forum Participant Posts: 7,101
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #25

    SB, LLM-at the mo we are destroying the only home we have(Earth) the weather patterns are getting more violent so the fossil fuels have to go. Given the time frame it’s going to be a long while to get renewables to feed us all. Nuclear is a small part of the plan. Chernobyl was an accident waiting to happen & it was country specific not the whole planets problem. Climate change affects the whole planet bar none☹️

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited June 2021 #26
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • SeasideBill
    SeasideBill Forum Participant Posts: 2,112
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #27

    Disparate folks like Albanians and Welsh hill farmers might disagree about the Chernobyl specific implications. Also, don’t forget Windscale, Kyshtym, Three Mile Island and more recently Fukushima Daiichi. If the latter was an accident waiting to happen, so is Hinckley. Accidents happen, but none with such devastating long-term implications as nuclear ones. Sometimes the risk outweighs the benefits.

  • Rocky 2 buckets
    Rocky 2 buckets Forum Participant Posts: 7,101
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #28

    So-better an uninhabitable planet than short term issues. We have only 1 planet. . .We can’t move elsewhere🤷🏻‍♂️. Win me over with your plans of what are the alternatives within the climate change timeline SB then I’m with you👍🏻

  • LLM
    LLM Forum Participant Posts: 1,555 ✭✭
    500 Likes 1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #29

    Building a few nuclear power plants in this country won't solve the global climate change problems; that's if such a thing actually exist.  Can you prove that it's not just a global cycle?  After all the ice age did not happen overnight. 

    Back to UK nuclear. If there's a serious accident a significant part of our tiny island could become uninhabitable.  How is that going to help reduce global warming?  

  • SeasideBill
    SeasideBill Forum Participant Posts: 2,112
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2021 #30

    We could debate climate change and energy strategy but I think we’re getting a big off-topic. All the OP wanted was advice on boiling a kettle in a field!

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
    10,000 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    edited June 2021 #31

    Actually, he/she seems to be happy with boiling the kettle but wanted to know if water would be available and how to dispose of the washing up water and tea bag😀. Still, it’s been interesting👍🏻