Using van throughout the winter

Hi all,

Have the van now from Belgium,

Alex arrived home today with it, she wrecked from all the driving.

Anyway we are planning to use it over the winter mainly at weekends etc

Question is during the week when van is parked on the driveway what should we do in terms of the water tanks etc when it’s frosty?

At what temperature should we be draining them?

Probably a load of stuff I’m missing here in terms of winterising etc so any and all advice much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Thanks for the reply, the fresh water tank is inside, middle of van under the lounge seat

Is it practical if the MH is parked at my house and has access to power, to hook up and keep it ticking over that way ?

Just checked and can only has a truma water boiler (10l) and does have any frost protection warnings on it saying to ensure to drain of going to be frosty. It’s inside under the seat opposite the fresh water tank.

The van has a 140w solar panel so perhaps could just use a low watt heater on low if it’s going to be frosty

Don't expect more than about 50w from your solar panel on a sunny winter day and a lot less on a cloudy one

Yes has the same Webasto diesel heater.

No idea how much diesel it uses as is all new to us
But yes will probably end up doing the same just turn it on when gets cold. What position on the dial are you setting it to?

Ours has a digital display but i set it to fan speed 1 for continuous running at 5 or 6 deg, so only operates the fan and heat when it gets below that.

It would need to be a long duration of really cold weather to freeze a water tank below the van. But it certainly can, even an inside tank as I found out in the last really bad winter we had.

Although anything that didn't move in that winter, froze

Not a lot would happen from one day to the next, my worry would be that it would freeze over time and you wouldn't be aware. Can you not empty and use water from a large plastic bottle if it got cold for a prolonged period? Assume its in your driveway?

The Truma can be used for heat with no water in the tank as far as i know,
check it out, might save you hassel of draining every evening etc

It is in the driveway. Yes if it got really cold that's what I would do.

Thanks to all replies here, I just leave it hooked up to ehu and the webasto heater just set to about a quarter.

Going out each morning and van is nice and warm

Again might be of interest

Some systems are controlled by a pressure sensitive switch, others by a micro switch in the tap.
Your system looks like its the latter type

Butane is no good in winter as it stops gassing at about zero (its boiling point is -2°c). while the ambient temp might be a bit above zero the local temp at the bottle could be below the -2° mark as it sucks heat from the air surrounding it. If the bottle is in an enclosed gas locker the effect is even worse.

Propane is the only gas for winter use which is why all continental motorhomes are equipped as standard to operate on that gas.
The connections in your picture look like they might go straight onto an Irish Propane bottle (same as the French one and others)

Reading

https://www.calor.co.uk/news-a…nd-propane

I see

"Butane regulators are pre-set at nominally 28-30 mbar and a propane regulator is pre-set to 37mbar."

Zooming in on the above photo the regulator I have has:



written on it. It's German but looks like it may be a propane regulator... Not sure what pressure is written here, see a p=1-16 bar

Anyone know how relevant the regulator is to whether you use butane or propane ? I suppose I'm wondering if the current regulator "fits" a propane cylinder and it works (I can light a hob ring) do I need to worry about anything else

Motorhomes built after 2004 are designed to work with a 30mbar regulator and will work with either Propane or Butane. So you should have a 30mbar one for appliances to work correctly, particularly the fridge.
The regular is also meant to be fixed to the bulkhead/wall with a pigtail to the bottle, the pigtail should have a connection at the bottle end to match the bottle.
Looking closely at your regular, while it will screw on I think it won't seal properly with an Irish propane bottle. I've found
Hamilton Gas Products in NI to be an excellent source of advice and equipment

the German regulator is a close fit but unfortunately not close enough, follow the above advice on getting an Irish one

Thanks for that link, the gas is only plumbed to a 2 ring hob and the Truma C3402 heater. Nothing else as the fridge is 2 way and doesn't run on gas. The Truma manual states:

"The operating pressure for the gas supply is 30 mbar (or 28 mbar butane/37 mbar propane) and must correspond to the operating pressure of the appliance (see name plate)."

but the current regulator and hose seems to be this set:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Dre…083KMKHZ2/

and it connects into a hard metal pipe which is attached to the locker. I looked in the other side of the locker where the internal hob/heater on/off switches are and there is no step down regulator for the heater visible there. Maybe there is one before the supply enters the heater itself but I would need to remove a panel and look. Anyway it works with the current 50mbar regulator.

A local gas supplier is recommending using:

https://www.calorgas.ie/6kg-light-weight-patio

and tells me they are readily available cylinders. Two of these cylinders would also neatly fit in the locker and preferable to the 4.5kg cylinders currently used both in terms of the extra volume and gas mix.

I'm quite happy to buy a new regulator and hose that will connect on to the metal pipe shown here (I'm assuming that the existing hose will unscrew easily). I just need to figure which regulator and hose to get for the above cylinder, the local gas supplier didn't have anything suitable, he just supplies the cylinders.

Going with Patio gas, I've never seen screw on pigtails, only hose tail type, with jubilee clips, ( nothing wrong with them but I will only use then outdoors)
The cylinders may be lighter, but I would have a serious question as to their availability during the summer on the road.
If it was me, I would be looking at 6kg propane with twin auto change over bulkhead regulator.
You would also have option of using a bigger cylinder standing outside the van, when you are using the van as an office.

Yes that it, you needed to check the size ( W+H) so they fit. And something like. this, check Hamilton gas products NI.
https://lpgshop.co.uk/copy-of-…-m20-45cm/.
But with ROI pigtails.