energy saving

[max1979]

hi
we bought our 1st caravan 2 years ago and had it permanantly pitched on a site, with water electric and drainage all included in the site fees, but due to increased site fees we are moving to another site which doesnt include drainage or electric in the site fees, the electric is on card meters so im looking for advice on how to save electric and gas so im not going to be spending a fortune as we stay at the van every weekend all advice greatly appreciated thaks

 

[waffler]

It depends on how much mains you use. I have looked at the relative costs of using non EHU sites. The ones I use mean between 3 and 5 pounds a night saving. Against this you have to pay for gas to run fridge and boiler. Also heating in the colder weather. Gas is dear and i reckon for all three uses costs about 3 a night on average. (We are out all year.) A decent solar panel at 60 watts costs 350 so at the best it would take 175 nights to recover that cost. If you run mains equipment you will use more battery than if you use 12 volt because of the inverter.
To save on gas buy bigger bottles and also look at different suppliers.

 

[Surfer]

Depends on what theya re going to charge you per unit. Average price is about 14p per unit and without heating you will probably use about 8 units a day, but this includes heating the boiler. This is based on our consumption when we were on s seasonal pitch. The moment you use electric heating this goes through the roof and expect to pay at least £2.50 - £3.00 a day making elecric heating nearly £100 per month! A 19kg Propane bottle will last about two weeks using it for heatingt he caravan. The last time we bought a 19kg bottle it was ablout £32.00. Obviously during the summer the consumption will drop down drastically.
You need to work out whether the increased costs at your rpesent site is worth the hassle of paying for electric seperately. If it was us I woudl avoid a site that charged for electric seperately as consumption is difficult to monitor and open to abuse. Maybe while you are away the neighbour plugs in their electric into your socket. Also nothing worse than running out of electric in the middle of the night when the warden's office is closed.

 

[max1979]

the site we are currently on has put his site fees up to £2400 per year and an extra £200 per year for a gazebo which we cannot afford with the general cost of living these days so we have chosen a site which charges £900 per year then you pay electric on top

 

[Surfer]

That is a good enough reason to move!

 

[forestgump]

what area are you in maxi

 

[max1979]

we live 2 minutes from j24 of the m1 east midlands

 

[mich2]

I changed by now most of my lighting for LEDs and save quite a lot of energy on it. The ones I installed a year ago roughly, already returned the difference in price compared to a halogen bulb which I kept throwing away. I happened to buy all from LEDcentre, and I highly recommend them, but there are many UK suppliers of LED bulbs.

 

[caravannewbie]

I have also been looking at changing my MR16 halogen lights to LEDS. I have been using www.kolighting.co.uk/savings-calculator for savings that can be made by moving to 3W bulbs. I think I will take the plunge and update you how I get on.