Anyone else use their caravan in an emergency?

[Bluetonic]

So,
Two weeks after our gas boiler being given a clean bill of health by British Gas it has decided at some point last night that it has been a boiler for too long.
It's pretty cold in the house now, so at some point I am going to drag it out of storage and put it on the drive. Will be living in it for a good few days until British Gas do their thing and fix it or tell me it's too old.
Actually looking forward to a weekend "away"
We did it in lockdown when it was used as a quarantine pod when any of us had symptoms or the actual virus, and some weekends away too to break up the monotony of the same 4 walls.

TBH I had thought about dragging it home for when/if we have power cuts over the weekend, could be self sufficient for a few days on the drive

 

[Beachball]

I hope you get your boiler sorted one way another and back firing on all cylinders but enjoy yourselves in the caravan if you have a break

 

[Mr Plodd]

I am fortunate in having my caravan alongside the house. It's a handy annexe when we have visitors and it's fully set up for use if (when?) The power cuts start. Lucky that the house has a gas cooker and a gas fire in the lounge so hopefully wont need to use tge caravan. I have the caravan awning LED strip light and an old 12v battery lurking behind the sofa in the conservatory so, in the event of a power cut will have an standby means of light.

I remember the Boy Scouts motto, "Be prepared" and we are.

 

[otherclive]

We used our caravan at Christmas time when we had visitors to stay. My wife, the dogs and I would use it. Worked out very well.

In the event of power cuts we have a gas cooker and lounge gas fire. The cooker hobs can be lit manually and the gas fire used a 9v battery. We also have three small camping cookers too plus BBQs and plenty of charcoal. For lighting we have led battery lamps and an older Camping Gaz mantle lamp plus torches scattered around the house. So we can get by if required.

 

[Buckman]

We have the camping gas stove, torches around the house and a gas heater. In addition, we do also have a gas BBQ. In the past we have had our fair share of power cuts over the winter.

Today I exchanged our 2 empty 13kg butane Flogas at Homebase at a cost of £35 each. The actual Flogas outlet wanted nearly £46 per cylinder as they include at "Market Volatility Surcharge" of £4.94 whatever that means?

Last time we refilled it was about £23 a bottle delivered to your door!

 

[Woodentop]

I am fortunate in having my caravan alongside the house. It's a handy annexe when we have visitors and it's fully set up for use if (when?) The power cuts start. Lucky that the house has a gas cooker and a gas fire in the lounge so hopefully wont need to use tge caravan. I have the caravan awning LED strip light and an old 12v battery lurking behind the sofa in the conservatory so, in the event of a power cut will have an standby means of light.

I remember the Boy Scouts motto, "Be prepared" and we are.

+1
I'll see you as we also have a gas fire but I'll raise you Andy - we have an Aga!!

 

[RogerL]

So,
Two weeks after our gas boiler being given a clean bill of health by British Gas it has decided at some point last night that it has been a boiler for too long.
It's pretty cold in the house now, so at some point I am going to drag it out of storage and put it on the drive. Will be living in it for a good few days until British Gas do their thing and fix it or tell me it's too old.
Actually looking forward to a weekend "away"
We did it in lockdown when it was used as a quarantine pod when any of us had symptoms or the actual virus, and some weekends away too to break up the monotony of the same 4 walls.

TBH I had thought about dragging it home for when/if we have power cuts over the weekend, could be self sufficient for a few days on the drive

We keep ours outside the house - we've not used it in an emergency but it's in our mind that we could if necessary - like many houses our gas central heating is dependent on the mains electric for controls and pump so we'd lose both in an electric cut.

 

[Mr Plodd]

We have the camping gas stove,

Be VERY careful if you use the camping stove indoors. Carbon Monoxide is nasty stuff.

 

[otherclive]

Be VERY careful if you use the camping stove indoors. Carbon Monoxide is nasty stuff.

Surely a gas camping stove burning with a blue flame is no different from the hob of a gas cooker. We have a CO detector near the cooker and one in the lounge too. So I have no concerns using my camping stoves if necessary.

 

[Mel]

Spare bedroom at Christmas. Left the house to the (adult) children and we slept in the van on the driveway. Spare fridge capacity at Christmas too.
Also thought we may have to decamp to the van when we had the builders in. Didn’t in the end. Shame. 😀
Mel

 

[figbat]

Same here - Christmas overflow bedsit, plus our teenage daughter occasionally uses it to host friends for sleepovers. We have no mains gas so have an electric job and oven in the house - if this went down then the caravan cooker would be a good backup. We have a log burner for heat (in the house) which could also be used for heating a kettle or saucepan if needed.

 

[Beachball]

Some years ago our caravan was outside our home and it got occasionally use when our son had his friends around they thought it was great backup

 

[Buckman]

Be VERY careful if you use the camping stove indoors. Carbon Monoxide is nasty stuff.

Thanks, but the longest it probably would be on would be about 10 minutes. We have tins of stew that only require heating up so no real cooking. Longest is probably when boiling water and you are watching it. LOL! 😆

 

[Raywood]

Some years back my wife was cooking her Christmas cake in our electric cooker when we had a power cut. I opened the caravan in the drive turned the gas on and lit the cooker and she finished the cake there. Oddly it was one of her best.