People tend to think of caravan only being used during summer. Although summer is a great time for a getaway in your caravan, there are also plenty of caravan users who enjoy winter camping in their caravan as well. However, if you want to stay in your caravan over the winter months, its important to ensure that your vehicle is properly insulated. Without the proper precautions, freezing weather, rain and rapid drops in temperature can leave your caravan prone to cracked taps and pipes along with water damage. To prevent any of these things from happening to your caravan, you must ensure that your caravan is completely insulated and warm.
Fortunately, there are some ways you can insulate your caravan for extra warmth and protection. Lets take a look at these in more detail.
The blog post below will explain the following ways that you can insulate your touring caravan for winter:
- Switch to propane gas
- Leave heating on low
- Use insulation bags for external water
- Use curtains, blinds or draught excluders
- Switch to double glazing windows
Switch to propane gas
Butane gas doesn’t work in temperatures lower than five degrees Celsius, so during winter, you will need to switch from butane to propane cylinders. This is because propane operates at a higher pressure and you can still use them even if temperatures plummet. Many modern appliances can run on both butane or propane, however, can also be used all through the year which means you shouldn’t need to switch back to butane. This means that in order to start using propane in your caravan, all you need to do is change the regulator.
The regulator that I use is the Kampa Propane Regulator with Handlewheel. This is a useful piece of camping equipment for those opting to cook with gas and is designed to fit all propane bottles by any suppliers that use a female screw thread fitting on the bottle.
The Kampa Propane Regulator with Handlewheel is available on Camping world. You can find out more information about it and purchase it here.
Leave heating on low
A lot of caravan users d tend to avoid using the caravan heating, even during winter. This is because it is rare that the heating will be needed. as a well insulated caravan combines with a good quality duvet or sleeping bag usually provides enough heat during the cold winter nights. However if this is not that case for you, you will need to consider using the caravan heater for extra heat. You can use a fan heater that is thermostatically controlled. All you need to do is make sure that the fan heater is plugged into the mains hook up. You can also use an oil-filled radiator they can be good at providing a bit of background heat. However, they can use up a lot of energy so you may want to look for a cheaper alternative.
If you plan to stay outdoors for most of the day, you may want to consider leaving your heating on low. This will help to ensure the caravan’s interior is staying at a gentle warm temperature and will be just the right temperature by the time you get back.
Personally, I use the Outdoor Revolution Eco Compact Electric Heater. It has been engineered to warm small spaces extremely quickly. One great thing about this heater is that it is quite small in size which allows the heater to be packed in travel bags and transported easily.
The Outdoor Revolution Eco Compact Electric Heater is available on Winfields Outdoors. You can find out more information about it and purchase it here.
Use insulation bags for external water
Every external water carrier out there is prone to becoming frozen in the winter months. The good news is an insulation bag can make a world of difference. If you do not have or don’t want to purchase an insulation bag simply wrap it in old coats or duvets or even bubble wrap.
External water carriers can be vulnerable to freezing in winter weather. Investing in an insulation bag may help to prevent the contents from freezing. If you don’t have time to purchase one of these you can try using bubble wrap, old duvets or quilted coats. It’s also a good idea to keep a small container of freshwater inside, too. This way if you get desperate, you’ll have an emergency supply until you can get more/the larger container unfreezes.
You can insulate your wastewater pipes using a wide range of different fabrics to wrap around the pipes. Adding salt to the wastewater container is also a good way of preventing it from freezing.
External water-carrying pipes should also be insulated using anything like old blankets to form a layer of protection from the cold weather.
Use curtains, blinds and draught excluders
A lot of warmth can be lost through windows, especially if you caravan is a few years old. So it is a good idea to hang curtains over the windows or even invest in some thermal blinds to keep your caravan as warm as possible. The curtains and blinds work to deflect some of the cold trying to get in and adds a few more layers to keep all the heat in.
A caravan can lose a lot of heat through wheel arches and the gaps in the caravan door; you can minimise this by adding padded insulation like carpet, polystyrene, pillows or a draught excluder. You can even make your own draught excluders which can prove to be very effective for keeping the heat in. You can easily make these from old duvets or blankets to save on money as they will do the job just as well.
If you would like to purchase a draught excluder, then I recommend the Dometic Dual Fix Draught Skirt. This is a great piece of equipment to protect your caravan against draught winds entering your caravan from under the vehicle.
The Dometic Dual Fix Draught Skirt is available on Camping World. You can find out more information about it and purchase it here.
Switch to double glazing
Many modern caravans already have double glazed windows fitted, to reduces the amount of heat that is lost through the windows. Although this may be a more expensive solution compared to others in this blog post, It is a great way to keep the heat in your caravan, especially if you plan on keeping your caravan for many years and like to go camping in your caravan all year round.
Switching from single-glazed to double-glazed windows add an extra barrier to the cold outside. As a result, this reduces the amount of heat being transferred. Double glazing locks in the heat, which is great for winter but might make the caravan stuffier in summer, this is something you will need to consider when deciding to get double glazing.
Conclusion
Here I have listed just a few of the effect ways you can ensure your caravan stay well insulated during winter so you can enjoy camping in your caravan all year around. I have also suggested some amazing products that can help keep your caravan warm. There are some relatively easy ways for you to insulate your caravan for the winter, so it important to do what you can to protect it so you can keep spending the cold winter months somewhere outdoors.