Winterisation

One of the painful duties that most of us have to carry out at this time of year is draining all the water from the van to protect it from freezing. I often wonder if it is really necessary given that our Starseeker has an internal fresh water tank but I still do it all the same.

The waste tank is obviously open to the elements but otherwise everything would seem to be safe. I suppose I could take the risk but the consequences would be expensive. We do use our motorhome all year round and of course when the van is in use and heated there shouldn’t be a problem and it is tempting to leave it full of water when not in use. I often wonder if all motorhome owners do the same so it would be interesting to hear your views.  It certainly makes going away for a weekend in winter harder work because you have to fill up when you get to site and then remember to empty when you leave.

I forgot to empty once when we had our Autocruise Starspirit and then panicked after a few days when heavy frosts hit our region. I shot round to the van to find icicles forming from the taps and the water in the tank not exactly frozen but very, very cold. The drain bung was at the bottom of the tank and although I pulled hard on the chain it wouldn’t budge.  I resorted to putting my arm into the tank and trying to pull the bung out to release the water but I couldn’t shift the bung and my arm was steadily freezing.  In the end I put the heating on to warm up the van and waited for half an hour or so and had another go, eventually it came loose and the water drained off.  Not a great experience that one and it made me realise just how painful cold water can be.

I must admit that the Starseeker is much easier to drain because the drain tap is accessible from the outside of the van.

Another question I have is that in the summer the advice is to close all of the blinds when the van isn’t in use, to protect against the fading of upholstery, but is the converse true for winter? Wouldn’t it be best to leave the blinds open or at least the roof ones to allow the winter sun to warm the motorhome as best it can? Do any of you have a view on this and if you do have a particular winter strategy then please share it?