Help me I’m just new heh heh!

[George p]

Hi all
Thanks for allowing me to join this forum,I am new to touring caravanning and ready to call on all you seasoned caravanners,I am cheating a bit as I have put it on a seasonal site this year till the obvious sorts itself out,first few bits of knowledge I would like is basic usage of the van ,mainly do I use electric or gas for the trauma water heater ? Also do I leave it on low constant or just heat water when I need it ? Also basically the same for the heating ? I have a Bailey Pegasus 534 , and am slowly getting the hang of it so hopefully next year “Time to tour” just after any tips not solely to save money (although that helps) but how to get the best out of my van,hopefully someone will take pity on me and help me out??
Thanks in advance
George p

 

[Parksy]

Hi George, welcome to the forum and congratulations on buying your caravan 😊
On your seasonal pitch is your electricity paid for as part of the pitch fee or is it metered to pay for what you use?
If you have already paid for the electricity upfront as part of the site fee you might as well heat your water and your caravan using the electricity that you've already paid for.
Personally speaking, we turn the immersion heater on just to heat the water that we want to use, I wouldn't like to leave any electrical appliance on full time in our caravan.
Similarly for the heating, we turn it on (usually electric) when we need it.
I'm sure that you'll have many more questions that forum members will be happy to answer, and don't forget that if you return to the home page there's a wealth of information on all aspects of using your caravan on the website.
Click the text on the various headings to navigate to the information and editorial content.

 

[George p]

Hi George, welcome to the forum and congratulations on buying your caravan 😊
On your seasonal pitch is your electricity paid for as part of the pitch fee or is it metered to pay for what you use?
If you have already paid for the electricity upfront as part of the site fee you might as well heat your water and your caravan using the electricity that you've already paid for.
Personally speaking, we turn the immersion heater on just to heat the water that we want to use, I wouldn't like to leave any electrical appliance on full time in our caravan.
Similarly for the heating, we turn it on (usually electric) when we need it.
I'm sure that you'll have many more questions that forum members will be happy to answer, and don't forget that if you return to the home page there's a wealth of information on all aspects of using your caravan on the website.
Click the text on the various headings to navigate to the information and editorial content.

Cheers for quick reply,unfortunately the electricity isn’t in with the site fee,hence the reason on usage and price for water heater and heating,never thought of taking this into consideration when choosing site ? Should have checked “damn” newby mistake !!!

 

[otherclive]

Hi welcome to the forum. Like Parksy the water heater is turned on when we get up and off after washing up has been done. It goes back on generally in the early evening for washing up then off overnight. Heating we use electric blown air mainly and we put it on as required but turn it off when out. We rarely if ever have used it overnight as we prefer a cool caravan even in winter. The dogs have fleeces if it’s cold. If your electric is fully or part metered check the rates as burning gas isn’t cheap. Also we use propane as butane isn’t good fir colder days when it’s near or below freezing.

 

[George p]

Hi welcome to the forum. Like Parksy the water heater is turned on when we get up and off after washing up has been done. It goes back on generally in the early evening for washing up then off overnight. Heating we use electric blown air mainly and we put it on as required but turn it off when out. We rarely if ever have used it overnight as we prefer a cool caravan even in winter. The dogs have fleeces if it’s cold. If your electric is fully or part metered check the rates as burning gas isn’t cheap. Also we use propane as butane isn’t good fir colder days when it’s near or below freezing.

Do you use gas or electric for the water heater ? Our first couple of weekends we have used the gas at 40 degrees ,turned on when we get up and of when we go to bed ,do you think it would be best just to put water heater on for a while before you need hot water ?
George p

 

[otherclive]

Do you use gas or electric for the water heater ? Our first couple of weekends we have used the gas at 40 degrees ,turned on when we get up and of when we go to bed ,do you think it would be best just to put water heater on for a while before you need hot water ?
George p

We use electric as the touring sites we use have it within the nightly rates. Like I said it goes on in the morning and on again in the evenings. Ours is set at 60 gpdeg normal but has a boost to 70 deg which is used if we use the caravan shower, again rarely.

If you have to use gas with electric being expensive on your site have the largest gas bottle that will fit in the locker. May be too heavy fir touring no but cost if gas per kilo is less.


PS we turn most things off when we go out including the water pump. But we have always turned the water heater off after use in the morning irrespective of whether the electric is inclusive or not. Same if we were burning our gas too.

 

[Parksy]

Same here, our ehu (electric hook up) is part of the nightly pitch fee so our water heater is electric.
If we were off grid on a caravan rally or a music festival the water heater and caravan heating would be lpg.
Sometimes if only washing a few cups it's easy to just boil a kettle for the washing up.

 

[Beehpee]

I’ve got a bailey and I heat the water when needed but being as im on a touring site with electric paid for I use electric unless we need it quickly to heat up then we use gas and electric together for quickness, also the same with the heating, in your case using which ever is costing the least is the best, I’m not a off the cuff expert on the heating and water usage as only had the bailey a few months but I think it’s if you have heating and water set to heat at the same time then only one actually comes on and the other stays off and then comes on when the other cuts out when reached the settings, as I said this might not be right I’m trying to get to grips with it myself but worth you checking in case your waiting for water and it’s not kicked in yet.

BP

 

[Hutch]

I am slightly different, water heater and heating on all the time, but on timer it's the Truma combie unit, in winter we have it on 8 amps and gas, as it is the most effective, at night its turned down to maybe 12 c, water and heating comes on at 8 am to go upto 18 c. Which takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
During summer, just the water heater running , but of course weather dictates. And how many Amps the suppy is 6, 10 or 16 amp. Change the water heater settings accordinly.

 

[Beachball]

Hi George p welcome to the forum i hope enjoy your caravan

 

[Raywood]

Welcome to the forum. generally I would use electric for the Truma as this is normally included in the site fee, but this may depend on the power available on site. Most sites use 16 watt hookups which should be fine but if you get 10 or even 6 then this may not be enough. Not sure what model of Truma you have, but if left on electricity alone or both the water and caravan heating ours can pull 9 amps, which is too high for a 10 amp supply. If you need both heating and water at the same time in those circumstances you need one on gas.
Leaving the water heating on or switching it on as you need it is up to you. Switching it on as needed is probably more environmentally friendly though.

 

[Buckman]

Welcome to the forum. generally I would use electric for the Truma as this is normally included in the site fee, but this may depend on the power available on site. Most sites use 16 watt hookups which should be fine but if you get 10 or even 6 then this may not be enough. Not sure what model of Truma you have, but if left on electricity alone or both the water and caravan heating ours can pull 9 amps, which is too high for a 10 amp supply. If you need both heating and water at the same time in those circumstances you need one on gas.
Leaving the water heating on or switching it on as you need it is up to you. Switching it on as needed is probably more environmentally friendly though.

I think 16 watt will battle to light up a single light bulb! LOL!

 

[Raywood]

Old age and senility strikes again!

 

[otherclive]

Old age and senility strikes again!

See if you can enroll in ActiveBrain research, excellent complement to UK Biobank. Some GPs surgeries are supporting it.