last time out for a while

[josh1]

hi
well im sat here in my van, been on site since friday and going home tomorrow, been a nice weekend although very foggy today.
anyway, its our last outing for a while, we intend to use it over winter but im just wondering whats the main things to do when we leave it parked up tomorrow.
i always drain the boiler and empty both parts of the toilet, so they will not freeze up
what else should i really do, what about water in the pipes?
any pointers are much appriceated, its our first van and first winter with it
its a swift coastline 570 if theres any specifics
thanks

 

[Parksy]

Hi Josh
After you have disconnected the Aquaroll turn the pump on and open all of the mixer taps including the shower in between the hot and cold in order to drain both sets of pipes. Disconnect the shower hose and from the shower.
Open the yellow water dump valve with the pump still running and let the pump run until all of the water is completely drained.
Practical Caravan's Doug 'Fix It' King has provided some more tips here

 

[Sproket]

Have a look at one of these so that you can make sure after every time you use the van through winter all of the water is out of the system & does not cause any damage by freezing water in the pipes...........
It could easily pay for itself..........
Watch the video & see just how much is laying in the pipes.......
Click on products & then the caravan............

 

[Surfer]

Have a look at one of these

At £45 for the unit what a waste of good money. On top of which you have to buy a compressor. We drain down by opening all the taps and drain taps. We also remove the water from the flusk tank and the filter. As these drain taps remain open with the natural motion of the caravan being towed back to storage, all water is removed without the additional expense. Being doing it for years with no ill effects.

 

[Sproket]

Have a look at one of these

At £45 for the unit what a waste of good money. On top of which you have to buy a compressor. We drain down by opening all the taps and drain taps. We also remove the water from the flusk tank and the filter. As these drain taps remain open with the natural motion of the caravan being towed back to storage, all water is removed without the additional expense. Being doing it for years with no ill effects.

I am so glad to hear that you have managed in all of those years caravaning not to have a problem,

I don't think it would be a waste of money, & neither do a lot of other people who have bought them,
Read the owners reviews & the magazine reviews

 

[RogerL]

At £45 for the unit what a waste of good money. On top of which you have to buy a compressor. We drain down by opening all the taps and drain taps. We also remove the water from the flusk tank and the filter. As these drain taps remain open with the natural motion of the caravan being towed back to storage, all water is removed without the additional expense. Being doing it for years with no ill effects.

I am so glad to hear that you have managed in all of those years caravaning not to have a problem,

I don't think it would be a waste of money, & neither do a lot of other people who have bought them,
Read the owners reviews & the magazine reviews

Surfer and I disagree on a lot of things - but I share his sentiment completely on this one - £45 is a waste of money for something that's easy to do without.

 

[Dustydog]

Make sure the fridge door is set in the ajar position and turned off so the internal light doesn't flatten your battery.
Save your £45.00. A waste of money as the others say.

 

[josh1]

ideal, thanks for the help guys, much appriecated
i took the pump out the aquaroll and switched on all the taps didnt get anything out though!
yes i put the fridge door on the little door stop so its open about an inch.

ALSO

is there ment to be a bung to put in where the pump plugs in outside the caravan or just unplug and close the flap?

thanks again guys

 

[josh1]

so do you leave the taps open/on position when not in use? or just to drain it down?

 

[Surfer]

so do you leave the taps open/on position when not in use? or just to drain it down?

Leave the taps in an open position and don't forget to remove the water filter if you have one. Empty flush tank. A cup of water or even a litre of water in the boiler is not going to damage anything as it has plenty of room to expand. There should not be any water in the pipes if you have drained down properley except for a couple of drops whijh will not make any difference if they freeze. If you store the caravan either nose down or up it would help as water on roof shoudl run off. Roof should hopefully be strong enough to take a big pile of snow. Not much you can do about that but don't worry about it.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

I have a tyre inflator and most of the bits to make my own fitment to expel water for the winter (have older van with no drain point). I think £45 is a rip-off also. Please does anybody have any suggestions what to use for the 'inflator' end, ie similar to a tyre valve?

 

[DerekBrad]

Go to the Swift Talk forum,then caravan technical. Click back to page 3 and then the thread " water push fittings" You'll find plenty of inspiration there!
Regards
Derek

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Go to the Swift Talk forum,then caravan technical. Click back to page 3 and then the thread " water push fittings" You'll find plenty of inspiration there!
Regards
Derek

Thank you Derek.
It appears that I have to register to be able to read their pages, unlike this Forum. I got put off by the intrusive questions in setting up a profile, so abandoned the registration process. My loss I guess.

 

[DerekBrad]

Sorry to hear of the trouble encountered with the Swift site. However I have just seen that the thread regarding the Floe gadget has disappeared from the forum.I have no idea why, but can't help wondering whether the business of the maker was being affected by all the diy caravanners making their own version!
Apparently you need to buy the relevant connector for the van water inlet (the Truma ultraflow pistol connector is available on Ebay) To this you connect a piece of tube, into the other end of which is fitted a tyre valve. The chap in question had scrounged one from his local tyre dealer and had fixed it in place with a jubilee clip (I think he put a couple of turns of insulating tape round the valve to ensure a tight fitin the tube) I should think that with only pressurising to 15 psi,there wouldn't be much chance of a serious leak in pressure. Sounds as though it's worth having a crack at making one and I shall have a go shortly.
Regards
Derek

 

[Gabsgrandad]

Knocked one up in minutes yesterday, zero cost, had the bits in the garage, worked fine. I didn't need drain down yet, just wanted to try it !!

 

[DerekBrad]

That's what I love about contact with caravanners...they/we all seem to be able to find bits and bobs in our garages or sheds to make most things! This morning I made a couple of "awning stops" to prevent a porch awning from sliding along the rail. They're about £6 to buy!!
As usual the forum is good for a laugh..the vision of elderly(?) folk pottering!!
Regards
Derek

 

[josh1]

so much to learn and do

old people pottering, im only 28

do enjoy this caravan malarky though, as do wifey and kids.

 

[Sproket]

Enjoy it while you can

You too will soon become a BOF

 

[Sparks1]

I also intend making a home-made version of this device to 'blow' water from the pipes. As said, the water inlet connector can be sourced from eBay, and at around £10 will be the most expensive item. For the air pump connector I will use an old cycle inner tube which has the car type valve and enough rubber to fasten to the aforementioned inlet connector with a jubilee clip.

 

[Mel]

I am not very technically minded and O level Physics was a long time ago so please be gentle....... But, pipes burst because water freezes to ice which has a greater volume than water, the ice expands in the pipe causing it to fracture as the ice has nowhere else to go.. But as the ice forms the expansion will follow the path of least resistance , that is along the pipe. It will only burst the pipe if it cannot expand along the length of the pipe and is forced to expand across the girth. Hence if all the taps are left open the water/ice has room to expand and hence you avoid bursts.
Now I must be wrong as you are all buying or making something to extract all the residual water from the pipes, but where is the flaw in my thinking?

always eager to learn
mel

 

[Surfer]

I am not very technically minded and O level Physics was a long time ago so please be gentle....... But, pipes burst because water freezes to ice which has a greater volume than water, the ice expands in the pipe causing it to fracture as the ice has nowhere else to go.. But as the ice forms the expansion will follow the path of least resistance , that is along the pipe. It will only burst the pipe if it cannot expand along the length of the pipe and is forced to expand across the girth. Hence if all the taps are left open the water/ice has room to expand and hence you avoid bursts.
Now I must be wrong as you are all buying or making something to extract all the residual water from the pipes, but where is the flaw in my thinking?

always eager to learn
mel

Yeah maybe they can educate us as to why every last droplet of water needs to be extracted as my reasoning follows yours. Maybe every one else has loads of money to burn or give away. LOL!