Motor home heating

Empty the tanks in the Winter, leave taps open. After every outing in Winter. We often get temps down to -7-10c at home where we live, but we never heat MH in between trips, it just doesn’t need it. We check ours between outings, like you kept at home. Easiest way to keep a MH healthy is to use it, so if you find yourself having a few weeks off from touring, take it out for day on a run, somewhere nice and have a picnic! Keeps everything moving and working. 😁

Thanks Takethedogalong we live in cheshire, low temps around here are rare but have had 5 years ago when it hit 14 below, having said that will do as you advise, l take the motor home out at least once week even if we have been away in the month. l have noticed it has given extremely cold weather at the end of this month, not sure if to believe that but will see.

Totally agree with TTDA post.

In 40 years of owning caravans/MH we have never had heating on in winter and we live in Scotland.

As suggested, drain all the water out of the system and tanks, some will even remove the filter from the water pump, (we did after it froze solid one new year) Leave taps in the open position, leave shower head on the floor of the shower or in a bowl on the floor. 

If we were not using the van for awhile we used to pull the seat cushions away from the van walls and leave the cupboards and top boxes open to allow air to circulate. However this was only if we had a very cold damp winter. 

There is a theory that by putting on heating you cause more moisture to build up in the van. Not sure if this is true or not but I've never seen a dealer yet who heats the stock vans they have.

Just keep an eye on the forecast, as its at home if really bad weather is forecast just pop out and put a small radiator or fan heater in it for awhile.

I'm in South Cheshire Heethers but I live in a terrace so cannot run 240v into the 'van. Nevertheless I've never really suffered from extreme cold at home. I'm out in the van at least every 3 days, normally more often, and the 'van normally heats to acceptable levels within a mile, Two miles if the screens frozen ( I do clear it before driving obviously, but the residue has to be shifted !! ) What I do have is a small fan heater ( MUST be quiet  !! ) usable on site should temps drop or condensation appear 'cos it's directable onto the moisture or my toes as required  !!

I would never leave any water in the tank when the van is not being used.  Apart from potential for freezing, water goes stale very quickly. I use the floe system to blow out the water pipes after each trip.  I generally get about 3 litres. I am fortunate that the water pipe from the water tank comes out along the top of the tank and can be disconnected thus isolating the tank.  As you can see I have closed off one side of the flow by just adding a valve.

Driving home with the dump valve open empties the tank leaving all but a dribble which I soak up with kitchen roll.  There always seems to be quite a lot left in the hot water tank.  The floe clears this out.  Once, when I had to take the van to the dealer, I earned a pat on the back from the engineer for having all the taps open.

Totally agree with the drain down if van is not being used for a couple of weeks. (All taps and shower in the middle mixed open position). If only left unused for a couple of days or so I would leave the heating on tick over. Ours has the ability to heat the habitation end during travel which has proven a real bonus, we arrive toasty warm at site! Our last van even used the heat from the engine to warm the Alde system. Things have moved on so much that cold weather 'caravanning' is so very much more comfortable and enjoyable. We love it! 

Using it will give all the mechanics, engine a work out, as well as the habitation. We are lucky with our little MH, it’s a little cracker, well insulated, and a very good VW engine. It has stood for two months and fired up first time when we tried it. Bit of a one off, my OH had been in hospital seriously ill, so it wasn’t taken out, but she didn’t let us down bless her! Only niggle we have occasionally is with flush on loo, but it’s an easy fix. 

We had a holiday chum who we used to meet up with on same site each year. He lived in his big MH all year around, and used a seasonal pitch at Exeter Racecourse. He had awful issues with the MH as it just stood on a pitch most of time. Last time we saw him he had traded it in and had gone for a caravan and tug instead. Made more sense.

Agree, use the van through winter if only for days out. On the drive, we chock our rear wheels and take off the handbrake. Agree with the draining of the water system. Apart from the risk of frozen pipes when the temperature dropped unexpectedly, I would never drink water that had been in the tank more than four days.

Never heated our motorhome (or previous caravan) when not in use even when it was on the drive. There is a risk of condensation and mice being attracted to a warm van. I have put up the silver screens to keep the windscreen clear if we were using the van the next day. I would also put on the heating before we go so that we don't start off sitting in a freezing cold van. If you have the Truma Crash Protection fitted, you can drive with the gas on, and thus the heating. There are some restrictions such as not in tunnels or garage forecourts.

Much depends on the build of the van and its insulation in relation to the external temperatures.

some drain at the approach of colder weather, some dont.

some heat the van, some dont.

i dont drain our van...unless its going to be blooming cold here in the soft, warm south....(anyway we're usually somewhere a lot warmer by then).

i dont heat the van, we dont get condensation and the services are between the floors so would only get cold if subjected to prolonged cold spells....in which case i would do something about it...

leave shower head on the floor of the shower or in a bowl on the floor. 

I did that one year and water collected in the shower head, froze and cracked it