Winterisation

Hi,
Would welcome some advice. We've now had our Devon for a few weeks, having sold the Trooper.
I know for larger coach-builts that are perhaps going to be stored for winter the advice is to drain everything-boiler, hot & cold water, grey waste & toilet flush water etc.
However, I use the Devon daily as a 2nd vehicle & we have a couple of overnights planned for November & may book a Christmas Rally in UK. The van is parked on the drive in South Lincolnshire where it's not too cold most of the time, but obviously we get frosts & in a fen blow it's perishing!

Should I drain everything & then fill up when we are staying overnight? I seem to remember reading about special antifreeze to protect the drainage pipes? When we're staying in the van we'll have the boiler on for heat & hot water so presumably the cold water should be OK?

Apologies if these are daft questions, but with our Trooper I didn't drain anything & everything was OK!

Thanks,
Roger

HI Dr,
The answer to should I drain down is yes, unless the water system is in regular use the water will get stale and of course freeze inthe winter but in addition look at my comment on winter lay up in general chat forum. I

Hi DrRogerRam.

I used my Exec last winter and you know how cold that got in the midlands. All I did was drain down the systems when at home. And fill up when arriving on site but not to its maximum capacity. Then if the tanks do get to freezing point the space allows the ice to expand there and not split the tank. Have never used antifreeze as I dont think its a good idea to put chemicals through the systems glycol and such like can have some bad effects. So its pretty much use your common sence as you did with your Trooper.

Whisky.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

We do similar to Whisky , old habits hard to break as current van has inboard fresh water tank

Thanks to Murph, Roli & Whisky,
That's very helpful indeed. When we had the comprehensive handover from Marquis the importance of draining the boiler was explained. However, I think I should have taken notes-there was just so much info. Had to call them to discover the button to put the awning light on! Then the light for the step was on all the time & it took our 3yr old grandson, who has a habit of pressing all buttons in view, to press the perspex cover to turn it off!
The advice on the practicalities of when to drain & to travel empty & part fill on arrival in winter is just what I needed to know.
Thanks,
Roger

Hi Roger,

I agree with all the above but sometimes you cannot drain all the water from the pipes and system so I use an oil filled radiator on frost setting and also a trace heating cable around the pump as the pump is expensive to replace.

Regards,

Graham

We had our habitation check at Marquis Northampton a couple of weeks ago where they also drained our system down ready for winter and the run home also helped any odd drops of water to move out.
If we do decide to have a weekend away we will just take some containers of water instead of re-filling the system , but at the moment its all parked up with the internal blinds in place also some covers on the inside of the windows and roof lite to keep any sun out without having the window blinds pulled down over winter.

We have our habitation check at Marquis Northampton in a couple of weeks. They've asked us to fully drain it prior to that so that's my first job today.
However, just like our old Trooper I will continue to use the Devon daily. We have an old Honda Accord but my preference was to use the Trooper & now is to use the Devon. It's far better for my back! However, the width of the Devon is an upward learning curve-Tesco's or Rainbow in Deeping are easy, but Stamford can be trickier with the narrow streets-I also had to watch the height when street-parking next to some scaffolding where the top bits poked out!
I'm hoping Marquis can also sort out some irritating noises-microwave squeaks on its mounting & shower door rattles. After that service we're staying over hopefully at Elvaston Castle prior to workshop in Derby. Have yet to try parking in the Harvester at Pride Park (as we did with the Trooper) when going to see the Rams.
Must say we all love our new van, including the dog (!) she just goes to sleep on the settee.
Thanks again,
Roger

Hi doc
One other thing about driving a coachbuilt compared to a van conversion is the extra rear overhang, in tight places dont forget that when turning left the back of the van moves to the right and vice versa.

having drained the water heater in the hab area from the outside i believe where do you fill the heater again

I havent seen a heater drain tap on the outside, someone correct me if I am wrong, they are usually internal adjacent to the heater in among the plumbing, I suspect the tap you have opened is the drain tap for the water tank.
When you fill the water tank again the heater should fill but with some designs you may have to switch the pump on and open a tap to clear the air out.

Hi there,

My Carver hot water heater drain is on the outside on the bottom left hand corner. There is also a small safety valve located at the top left corner. It can be 'lifted' to allow the heater to drain completely.

My own winterisation system takes some beating - go to southern Spain and stay near the coast!

Best regards,

Dutto

thanks dutto so much to look forward to on retirement

DrRogerRam wrote:We have our habitation check at Marquis Northampton in a couple of weeks. They've asked us to fully drain it prior to that so that's my first job today.
However, just like our old Trooper I will continue to use the Devon daily. We have an old Honda Accord but my preference was to use the Trooper & now is to use the Devon. It's far better for my back! However, the width of the Devon is an upward learning curve-Tesco's or Rainbow in Deeping are easy, but Stamford can be trickier with the narrow streets-I also had to watch the height when street-parking next to some scaffolding where the top bits poked out!
I'm hoping Marquis can also sort out some irritating noises-microwave squeaks on its mounting & shower door rattles. After that service we're staying over hopefully at Elvaston Castle prior to workshop in Derby.
Thanks again,
Roger

It may be better to fore-warn Marquis you have some other things to sort as well as the Hab check as they may need more time as we did we were there 6 hours, also all compartments / lockers etc must be completely empty otherwise they will not do damp checks in area's they cannot get at easily we even removed all the seat cushions / mats /and draw above the water heater to make their job easier

Hi,
Don't worry Nuevo they've got a list!

Our Devon comes with the Ultraflow Waterline System where at home it attaches to the Hozelock-type outside tap & I've just acquired a hosepipe to Hozelock-type adaptor + a male to male connector for the somewhat random hoses on campsites here & abroad! May also invest in the Ultraflow Pump Assembly that enables you to fill up from an external container-there is a switch to do this on the inside control panel-the pump control.
This may sound a bit random when talking about winterisation. However, I've just checked with Autosleepers technical & learnt that the external container just fills the cold water tank & the boiler & doesn't bypass the water system once drained, as I hoped it did! The good news is that by draining & part filling on arrival the technical chap said he'd never known the cold water tank split due to freezing-this is when the heating & the hot water is on when winter-camping, of course. Phew...

[quote="Dutto"]

My own winterisation system takes some beating - go to southern Spain and stay near the coast!

Thats the best answer Dutto

Next year for me

Brian

Interesting thread. I noted the comments regarding shower room door and microwave rattles.
We have experienced these since we purchased the 'van new in May 2011. I found the door rattled slightly and stuck a bit of foam close to the latch. Now, when the door is closed, there is slight pressure on the latch and this has stopped the rattle.
As for the microwave, I think this is just the way it has been fitted. My wife uses some bubble wrap to wedge around the edges and underneath.

I really do wonder at times if the converters actually take a ride in their vehicles once complete. There are numerous niggles that could be ironed out at factory source and save the end user aggravation.

Finally, on the Cotswold there are heaters fitted in both fresh and waste water tanks as both are external. I shall be on a CL during the first week of December and this may give me the opportunity to see how they work. Not that I particularly like the idea of heating waste water! Just have to hope all the traps work. Once home I shall completely drain all tanks and boiler and then leave all the taps open just to reduce any water left in pipes.

Regards, Rufus.

I make no recommendation of this product but Riversway Leisure sent me an email about it and this thread has appeared on MotorhomeToday, seems expensive to me and I don't think I've anywhere where I could get enough access to fit it if I wanted to. Video goes on a bit I'm afraid. Another (cheaper) tip further down the thread.

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Any chance of a link direct to the product? The link to Motorhome Today requires registration, and the last thing I need is another forum with another set of login data..

Cheers

Tony

Hi there,

Don't want to put anyone off using their vans in winter but BE CAREFUL!!!

When building our house in Glenkindie we lived in a caravan and the first thing to freeze and burst was the Carver water heater! This was whilst we were sat in the van with friends playing cards with the air-heater chugging away!

When the temperature dropped even lower (it reached -25 degrees) it even froze and burst three bottles of 12% alcohol wine that was stored under the bed!

Basically, in accordance with Murphy's Law, if it can freeze it will.

Enjoy.

Best regards,

Dutto

PS

The other things that always froze up was the sink drain and the shower 'U' bend!

Not much point having water coming in if you can't get rid of it!

Best regards,

Dutto

Tony F wrote:Any chance of a link direct to the product? The link to Motorhome Today requires registration, and the last thing I need is another forum with another set of login data..

Cheers

Tony

Try this Riversway link, that should work
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There is plenty of other stuff around on this forum relating to preparing for winter. Perhaps we should make a 'sticky' topic of the best advice in a common area?

Anyway, below is one such topic to which I made an earlier contribution. I would draw everyone's particular attention to the 'blowing down the shower hose' technique of clearing water which I've not seen mentioned by others. Take it from me that it works very well as a means of getting water out of the system, as daft as it sounds! However it also comes with a health warning if you've got a dicky lung!

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put bowls of salt out it will absorb the moisture and is cheap at £1 for a big bag at the cheaper shops