As a newbie to caravaning in a eriba in winter I have slight concerns. There’s a good gas fire which could have it toasty warm in minutes not that I would ever normally have it hot but am I going to have condensation problems round the edge of the pop top where there is an aluminium strip. Some months ago I had condensation on it and it wasn’t winter?
Question 2, just woken up this morning at home to the sound of neighbour scraping ice of windscreen, no doubt only a light frost but I haven’t drained my caravan pipes & water heater, the water heater barrel is under the seat but what does anyone do when caravaning in autumn/winter. It hasn’t started yet really but having to drain the entire system every time or if you’re on site & have gone out for the day!! and it’s cold do you start and drain?

We always used to use a small [700 w] oil filled rad to keep the chill off, we have woken up to- 7c a few times with no problems, [apart from shivering] our present van has the electric element so we no longer use one.
Dave

We tour all year whatever the weather and find that condensation On the alu strip Is something you put up with. A quick wipe round in the morning with a piece of kitchen roll seems to do the trick. We never drain tanks during the day however our van is fairly new and well insulated. We are also usually on hook-up so the thermostat set low keeps any frost off. When we leave her for any length of time we drain the tanks - don’t forget to set the taps to “open” when you do, to get all the water out.

Regarding the aluminium strip, i was just checking i wasn't doing anything wrong as we didn't really have the caravan particularly hot one time when we had condensation on the aluminium. Unfortunately my gas fire doesn't have the extra electric element added to it. Regarding age, its a 2015 320. I had wondered about cutting some of the 6mm silver bubble wrap into a band to go round the canvas on the inside but the other way of getting rid of condensation is ventilation.
For what its worth the bubble warp i have is some stuff called "2L2" which is two 3mm layers of silver bubble wrap joined to make one 6mm layer & i was told its the equivalent of four & a half inches of cosy wrap. I actually bought it some years ago to line my garage doors

Hi Monoboard

We have used our Troll a couple of times in freezing weather, both times in York. The condensation on the aluminium strip certainly happened both times. Like Colin we keep an oil filled rad with a thermostat to keep the background heat up. I wiped the strip just before lights out but the main drip seems to be right above my head and the drip is nice and chilled. I did wear a beanie hat one time but got too hot. Constant wiping with paper towels was the main success.

I was really tempted by the Eriba insulation for the pop top until I found out the price. Kath said that my heavy a wet head was a small price to pay in comparison....! I did toy with the idea of a bit of DIY with some silver insulation material - I'm sure someone posted a picture of their DIY solution a few years ago.

We also have the internal water tank and the twin water heater, which we used to keep a supply of warm water in the van. So we didn't really have any real problem camping in the frost and wouldn't dream of draining anything during the day when we are out.

However you have to remember that this is the idiot who took his winter cover off too early this year and managed to get frost damage in both of his taps that cost a king's ransom to get replaced.............................................!

MikeT

Quote: SOULBLUESMAN68 wrote in post #6

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Hi Monoboard
I was really tempted by the Eriba insulation for the pop top until I found out the price. Kath said that my heavy a wet head was a small price to pay in comparison....! I did toy with the idea of a bit of DIY with some silver insulation material - I'm sure someone posted a picture of their DIY solution a few years ago
MikeT

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Thanks PopTop320 - this is the one I was remembering

MikeT