Irons, Toasters, Kettles ???? Wattage????

[DanPaula]

Can anyone help?

We take delivery of our caravan in January (Bailey Ranger) this is our first caravan and we are glad we have a few months to get to grips with everything.

We are buying bits here and there to kit out our caravan and have come across a bit of a dilema.

Does anyone know if we can buy standard appliances like normal kettle from Argos? Or does it have to be a low wattage one from a caravan shop?

Also what about hairdryers? The power of the hairdryer is all about wattage? Do they do low wattage hair dryers (this is for my girlfriend not me)

Thanks everyone Danny

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Daniel

You are obviously aware that you only have a limited mains supply in a caravan, hence your question.

The caravan electrical circuits are designe to be able to handle 16Amps at any one time. With simple formula Watt = Volts x Amps (w= VxA) then as the UK standard mains supply is 230V then in theroy you can handle 3680W = 3.68kW.

Unfortunately many caravan sites (Especially continental ones)are not able to supply the full 16A so using the formula above you can quite quickly work out how much power you can use, but as a quick guide 3A=690W 6A=1380W 10A= 2300W.

Based on those figues you can see that on some sites you may not be able to use a normal domestic 2.2Kw kettle, so a low wattage one could be a solution.

What you must also consider is the power used by the other items in the caravan - for example your fridge may be using 1Amp (230W), the water heater depending on teh model may use 3 to 4 amps, The battery charger could be 1A, so you can see that all these little bits add up and swallow the available power capacity.

If you wanted to use a domestic kettel then you might have to turn some other items off to free up the power needed for the kettle, so a low wattage model may be appropriate.

Alternatively, consider using Gas for the jobs that basically need heat, so the kettle, space heating etc are prime candidates.Keep mains power that cannot be easily done by other fuels, so lighting, and the tele are good examples of such devices.

The fridge should work well on either gas or mains.

Most appliances no have to have a data plate that shows power consumption either as Amps or in watts. It is esy to add the amps and then deduct you appliance totals from teh availble supply. You must aim to keep your caravan figure below teh available power on the pitch.

 

[LadyMaureen]

Daniel,

If your girl friend uses the site facilities,most have hair driers installed.....free of use on Club sites,often to be paid for on commercial sites.

I carry a small travel hair drier with me ,plus a small travel iron for occasional use.Irons in laundry rooms usually have to be paid for.

If there are only 2 of you,a small travel kettle would do,otherwise a larger low wattage kettle is a must.

Any toast required is done under the grill.....can't be bothered carrying too many extras.

Hope you enjoy your 'van when it arrives.

 

[Lol1]

You have been given good advice so far, Daniel. John L and Lady Maureen are quite correct in what they say, however a little forethought and investigation may be all you need.

You will find that the cheaper the normal domestic product is, the less power it consumes (general rule, with exceptions), so buy cheap.

When you book your site, find out what the supply is. If it's 16 amp you should have few problems during summer. During winter you could always make use of the gas for boiling water or making toast.

We have caravaned for some years now, we always take a domestic kettle with us and an electric toaster, we also try to get 16 amp pitches. We don't use high drain appliances together so toaster and kettle go on one after the other, up to now we have never tripped the sites 16 amp breaker switch.

By all means, buy low wattage equipment, but don't pay the earth for them because you don't need to.

 

[chrissie2]

You have been given good advice so far, Daniel. John L and Lady Maureen are quite correct in what they say, however a little forethought and investigation may be all you need.

You will find that the cheaper the normal domestic product is, the less power it consumes (general rule, with exceptions), so buy cheap.

When you book your site, find out what the supply is. If it's 16 amp you should have few problems during summer. During winter you could always make use of the gas for boiling water or making toast.

We have caravaned for some years now, we always take a domestic kettle with us and an electric toaster, we also try to get 16 amp pitches. We don't use high drain appliances together so toaster and kettle go on one after the other, up to now we have never tripped the sites 16 amp breaker switch.

By all means, buy low wattage equipment, but don't pay the earth for them because you don't need to.

We use a low-wattage travel kettle, purchased from Argos, which is much better, and cheaper, than the 'proper' caravan one we used to have. Our toaster is also low wattage, a cheapie from Sainsbury. We also have a fan heater, bought in Argos, which we use on the 1KW setting if we don't want to put on the blown-air heating in the caravan e.g. if we want to heat the awning rather than the 'van. On the whole, we have found that the specialised products offered in caravan accessory shops are both more expensive and of poorer quality than the items we have found by searching around ordinary outlets.

 

[JamesFrance]

Hello Danny,

Yes if you tour abroad you frequently only get 5 or 6 amps which will power a travel kettle or toaster (but not both together) as long as you don't use an electric water heater at the same time, but the fridge should be OK. We also have a small electric hotplate to use outside.

I would aim for things below 8 or 900 watts.

Nearly every site toilet block will have sockets for the hairdryer. You would need one with a 2 pin plug like a razor one and low wattage ones are cheap to buy in European supermarkets.

 

[allen1]

Hi buy a cheap kettle from Tesco around

 

[MONKEY1]

We brought a cheap kettle from Sainsburys and it has been great. Except when were on holiday recently in Holland and we had a 6 amp supply and it kept triping out. But on the whole in the UK every site is 10 or 16 amps.

MH