Measuring caravan Electricity consumption. MeterMaid 16A. Caravan electricity costs.

[Malx]

Has anyone experience of these? It’s a non- resettable electricity meter in your hook up cable. Read it at the start, plug it in and read when you leave. The difference is the KWhr you have used.

Originally intended for boats moored in a harbour with electric hookup. This one seems too costly. I have found another supplier, but currently out of stock.

has anyone got figures of “real world” electricity running costs of a van, perhaps in a range of circumstances. I was at a site at Easter that had MCBs with meter included. We were charged a standard fee - pitch with electricity. I worked out we were using about £2.50 a day. Our household costs are, on average, about £1 a day.

 

[otherclive]

Has anyone experience of these? It’s a non- resettable electricity meter in your hook up cable. Read it at the start, plug it in and read when you leave. The difference is the KWhr you have used.

Originally intended for boats moored in a harbour with electric hookup. This one seems too costly. I have found another supplier, but currently out of stock.

has anyone got figures of “real world” electricity running costs of a van, perhaps in a range of circumstances. I was at a site at Easter that had MCBs with meter included. We were charged a standard fee - pitch with electricity. I worked out we were using about £2.50 a day. Our household costs are, on average, about £1 a day.View attachment 2688

Our household costs are not dissimilar to yours although we don’t use direct electric for any heating or water. Except for the washer.

 

[Buckman]

At home we have electric heating via air source so £2.50 a day is quite reasonable.

 

[Hutch]

I would not bother using one of those cables, you have to pay the cost of your electric, whatever they decide to charge you. £2.50 a day is very reasonable, at home we use about £ 2.50 a day electric and at this time of year £4.00 of gas.

 

[Buckman]

Forgot to add that consumption depends on time of the year as in summer you would use less electric, but in winter it more than doubles.
A site we used now charge a flat rate of £3.50 a day for metered electric and what you dd not use is refunded back to you within 48 hours of leaving the site. We were there is Sept 2021 and got a refund of over £20 for 7 days and we had the air con running on some days. The charge at that point was £2.50 a day.

 

[JTQ]

I was at a site at Easter that had MCBs with meter included. We were charged a standard fee - pitch with electricity. I worked out we were using about £2.50 a day. Our household costs are, on average, about £1 a day.

With a caravan on a site where EHU is available, any use of space heating is very likely to be from that rather than using your gas; in making your comparison with your domestic electrical usage have you accounted for how that is heated?

 

[JTQ]

A site we used now charge a flat rate of £3.50 a day for metered electric and what you dd not use is refunded back to you within 48 hours of leaving the site.

Can you clarify please, as "flat rate a day" and "metered" seem to imply quite different pricing systems?

 

[Buckman]

Can you clarify please, as "flat rate a day" and "metered" seem to imply quite different pricing systems?

No problem. For 10 you would pay £35 upfront for electric. This is then loaded onto the meter. If you do not use the £35, then they refund you the difference and meter is set back to zero. https://www.stonebridgefarmcaravanpark.co.uk/bookings.html

 

[otherclive]

No problem. For 10 you would pay £35 upfront for electric. This is then loaded onto the meter. If you do not use the £35, then they refund you the difference and meter is set back to zero. https://www.stonebridgefarmcaravanpark.co.uk/bookings.html

What was the rate if you exceed the £35 and would it cut the electric until topped up.

 

[JTQ]

No problem. For 10 you would pay £35 upfront for electric. This is then loaded onto the meter. If you do not use the £35, then they refund you the difference and meter is set back to zero. https://www.stonebridgefarmcaravanpark.co.uk/bookings.html

Thanks, but it leaves me no wiser of what they are recharging for selling electric energy; how many "Units" do they load per their charge of £3.5 a day?

 

[Buckman]

What was the rate if you exceed the £35 and would it cut the electric until topped up.

If you exceeded the £35 you went to reception to top up, but you would need to be a seriously heavy user to use £3.50 a day as they are closed over the winter period. We did have to use some heating in the evening on a few days even though some days the temperature was higher than expected, but is Sept for you.

A couple of years ago we got "caught" on a metered site where we felt we were using excessive electric for our stay. Luckily I had monitored the electric and found that during the night when heating was lowered and everything else working off gas, our consumption actually increased. We approached the owner about this with our findings and record of consumption who then apologised and offered a refund. We left the same day and have avoided metered sites.

However in this case the way the site was metered was acceptable.

 

[Buckman]

Thanks, but it leaves me no wiser of what they are recharging for selling electric energy; how many "Units" do they load per their charge of £3.5 a day?

I am not sure what you do not understand? I have supplied the link so why not phone and ask them although it seems obvious they are charging the same as what they pay per unit. They are not allowed to make a profit on a unit as they do not have a supplier's licence. Also since we visited there has been a massive jump in the price of electric.

 

[JTQ]

I am not sure what you do not understand?

Very simply, the unit pricing basis I requested, "how many "Units" do they load per their charge of £3.5 a day? "

 

[Buckman]

Very simply, the unit pricing basis I requested, "how many "Units" do they load per their charge of £3.5 a day? "

Then why don't you phone and ask them as I have no idea as I do not and have never managed that camp site?

 

[Parksy]

Calm down.

 

[ProfJohnL]

...has anyone got figures of “real world” electricity running costs of a van, perhaps in a range of circumstances...

The resale of electricity at caravan sites is regulated, and basically the reseller cannot charge more for the commodity than they pay for it. So that will depend on which company and which tariff they are on. To charge for the electrical power does mean the supply has to be metered, however they can charge what they like for the hire of the connection facility.

 

[Malx]

With a caravan on a site where EHU is available, any use of space heating is very likely to be from that rather than using your gas; in making your comparison with your domestic electrical usage have you accounted for how that is heated?

heating a small box like a caravan obviously bears no relation to heating a house on gas. Caravans are draughty and not well insulated (despite the makers claims,) so I would expect them to cost More than heating a single room in a house. I was told by one campsite owner that vans were costing him over £8 a day in electricity costs over the Christmas period a few years ago. I’m just trying to get a feel as to what the range of costs are.

below is a photo of our caravan using an Infra Red camera. The lighter the colours the greater the heat loss. White means lots of heat.

 

[Ern]

Caravans have fixed ventilation intended to change the air and dispose of excess humidity. Rising heat is expelled through fixed roof vents. Clean cold air is pulled in through the fixed floor vents, mixing with circulating air.
The photo shows only that the hottest parts of the side are hotter than the coldest. It is clear that the windows are losing heat, but that is quite likely considering what they are made from. Compare the weight of your home's double glazing with the Challenger's lightweight acrylic.
It is unlikely that a caravan with 16A hook up would consume £8 worth of electricity daily (about 45kWh) unless the door and windows were open and the heating was on full wack. About half of that in cold weather would be more likely.

 

[Hutch]

I know our caravan, a 2013, Coachman 560/4 VIP is lovely and warm at 0c. Outside air temp. Truma Combi system. Great.
2 weeks old, ( caravan ) woke up to 1 meter of snow in the awning in north France, Montreuil sur Mer, stayed for a month. 10 amp supply.
Fantastic caravan.

 

[Hutch]

What are you trying to say Malx ?

 

[Hutch]

Caravans have fixed ventilation intended to change the air and dispose of excess humidity. Rising heat is expelled through fixed roof vents. Clean cold air is pulled in through the fixed floor vents, mixing with circulating air.
The photo shows only that the hottest parts of the side are hotter than the coldest. It is clear that the windows are losing heat, but that is quite likely considering what they are made from. Compare the weight of your home's double glazing with the Challenger's lightweight acrylic.
It is unlikely that a caravan with 16A hook up would consume £8 worth of electricity daily (about 45kWh) unless the door and windows were open and the heating was on full wack. About half of that in cold weather would be more likely.

They would possibly use that power if the owner had the heating on electric only and was using it to heat an awning all day long, wither by the caravans heater or a plug in heater in the awning, etc.

 

[Malx]

I understand the logic of the ventilation system, but houses are not ventilated any where near the same degree as caravans. I have often thought (but might be wrong) that there is such extreme ventilation to help a flow of air and keep damp away when the van is left unused over long periods of time during the winter.

Acrilic is a far better insulator than glass. Most of the benefit of double glazing is down to the air gap between panes, this prevents direct heat conduction. An acrylic/air gap/acrylic window should be a better insulator than a glass/air gap/glass. Assuming the air gap is the same. The optimum air gap for double glazing is 12mm. I suspect the gap is bigger in caravan glazing. I had to have a front caravan window replaced because the outer pane had been deflected inwards and the panes repeatedly touching caused the plastic to have internal markings. Done under guarantee.

 

[Malx]

What are you trying to say Malx ?

Caravans are generally not very well insulated.

 

[Parksy]

Caravans are generally not very well insulated.

I'd agree with that Malx.
We no longer use our caravan during the winter, but when we used to we were out on a freezing week on a site, with snow and ice all around.
With the windows shut tight the Truma gas heater kept the caravan warm except for the front where the gas locker bulkhead let the cold in, making our feet cold as we watched TV at night.
We solved the problem with a small fan heater from Argos which cost about a tenner.
The Truma gas heating kept our top halves warm and the cheapo fan heater set to ½ kept our feet nice and warm.

 

[ProfJohnL]

The primary reason for the fixed ventilation in caravans is to ensure there is sufficient breathable air inside for the occupants and enough air for the cooker hob and oven to operate safely.

Bear in mind that the volume of a caravan is considerably smaller than a house or even many rooms in homes, and it often has to accommodate a greater number of people and oxygen consuming appliances per cubic meter so it needs what might seem a disproportionate amount of fixed ventilation to cater for the higher population density of a house.

The normalisation of moisture content in the fabric and atmosphere of the caravans is an important but only secondary function for the fixed ventilation.