Winterising Caravan

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Getting a Static or Touring Caravan Ready For The Winter

Winterising Caravan

When your sure your not going to be venturing out in your caravan during the cold winter months you do not just park it up and that's it, as part of caravan servicing first you should perform a few simple tasks, then when the time comes to set off on another touring adventure or your ready to make your first visit of the year to your holiday static caravan you will be happy you did and everything will be in working order.

Draining Caravan Water Systems

A simple but very important task is to turn on all taps both inside and waste water tank drain taps outside this is to ensure that when temperatures plummet to below freezing no water is in the pipes that could expand during thawing, when ice is thawing out it expands and that can cause cracked water pipes and or burst joints which in turn can flood and damage the caravan. Read our cleaning caravan water system page.

The number one priority is to ensure that all water is removed from the caravan’s fresh and waste water systems, as if left in the pipes this water could freeze and expand when the temperature drops below zero, causing the pipes to burst. Set all of the taps inside the caravan to the open position and open up any exterior water taps as well, to ensure all water has run out of the caravan.

A neat tip is that after you have done the draining operation you may want to use a little anti freeze down the the bathroom sink drain and kitchen sink drain this is to stop any water trapped in the u bend does not freeze for the same reasons.

Before you do the draining it is good practice to send send plenty of water down the caravan cassette toilet and empty it then give it a good flushing to ensure it's clean (use cleaning fluid if preferred) next a proprietary maintenance sprayed on any rubber seals and strips will ensure you don't get sticking or corroded seals.

The Fight Against Damp

Static Winterising Caravan

To stop damp being a big problem due to condensation within the caravan a good idea for winterising caravan is to take all soft furnishings in to you home for the winter to keep them dry along with seating cushions, these precautions will help in the fight against damp building up in the walls and floors of your caravan.

Warm water mixed with a little bicarbonate soda should be used to wash the fridge and freezer compartments and shelves then the caravan fridge door left open along with all the caravan cabinet doors to allow circulation of air during winter.

Another winterising caravan tip is to have the odd plate sat around the inside of your touring caravan or static caravan with salt on this will allow the salt to soak up dampness which in turn helps to stop condensation on windows and cold surfaces(you could consider those window sill condensation trays as well)

Protecting From The Elements

Wherever you intend keeping your caravan over the winter outside on your drive or at an out side secure caravan storage facility you should do what you can to protect it from storms and such like. Some people are fortunate and have moved into a house with a covered drive where the caravan can be stored or have had one built this is an ideal storage situation.

For the less fortunate who have to leave the caravan out side we strongly advise the purchase of decent quality breathable caravan covers if you can't buy a breathable caravan cover which will allow air flow as well as keeping the elements out then we do not recommend non breathable covers such as plastic as that is worse than leaving the caravan uncovered as condensation will build up between the inside of the sheet and your caravan and undo all the good preparations you have just carried out.

Protecting The Wheels of Your Caravan

Winter wheels are our best advice if you can afford them at the time of writing I could find them on ebay at £15 second hand and £69 new, these are square metal and replace your normal caravan wheels so they are protection against theft as well as allowing you to store your wheels inside.

Other options are moving the caravan a little ever so often keeping the weight on different points of the tyres this will prevent cracking or damaged tyre walls which will occur if the caravan is stood in one place for the entire winter period. (Always keep tyre pressure correct during storage)

Keep The Caravan Clean and Empty

The interior of the caravan should be given a real deep clean and all food or anything that could attract vermin such as mice or worse still rats should be removed, all caravan cupboards and storage units cleaned leaving no crumbs of any kind. Personally I use this time of the winterising caravan process to polish both inside and out of my caravan, it sometimes feels like a chore but then when the weather warms up and I'm thinking about the first outing of the year it is satisfying to know that I have already done this task.

The exterior I usually give a good waxing even if it's going to be under cover or covered by a breathable caravan cover, you will find lots of excellent caravan cleaning and caravan polish products on the market in my opinion they are all good for the job. Come the next season you will be glad you did this.

Last Checks and Keeping Secure

As I'm sure you will know (I'm going to tell you anyway) it is very important to comply with all the terms and conditions of your simple caravan insurance companies, these steps such as making sure all doors windows and security devices you have declared to your touring caravan insurance or static caravan insurance provider are adhered to remember a tracking device will need power so make sure it has it or your caravan insurance could be void if you have to make a claim.

For those who don't need to have power in the caravan during the storage period we recommend taking the caravan leisure battery indoors and have on a trickle charger to keep up to scratch.

All gas bottles must be stored safely with all gas connection turned securely off, this is a major fire risk if a hose, heater, fire or tap should spring a leak during storage. We have a caravan interior make over page also that you may want to read.

Hope this winterising caravan article was helpful and thanks for visiting caravan-breakers.com.

After reading our how to get wifi in a caravan page check out our instructions on the winterising caravan page then cleaning caravan water system and caravan interior.

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Winterising Caravan

Getting a Static or Touring Caravan Ready For The Winter

Draining Caravan Water Systems​

The Fight Against Damp

Protecting From The Elements​

Protecting The Wheels of Your Caravan

Keep The Caravan Clean and Empty

​Last Checks and Keeping Secure

Draining Caravan Water Systems

Protecting From The Elements

Last Checks and Keeping Secure