As an addition to preparing for winter and now being obsessed with not losing my taps to frost damage again, I'd like to ask people about taps and bubble wrap.

Kath has suggested that we wrap both the kitchen and bathroom taps in bubble wrap as a way of insulating them and she sees this as a simple no brainer, rather like insulating the outside water tap in the garden.

Has anyone else tried this and if so did it work for you? Or is it not a good idea?

Thanks
MikeT

Is there a known issue with these vans holding water then ?
I have always opened the drain and taps in my old vans, when leaving site. The water is fully discharged by the time I get home, so never had a problem with frozen water. I did the same when we left Burford last month and think the water has completely emptied, well I hope so.

hi Colin & John

After Colin mentioned this we fully intended leaving ours open on the return Journey from the Knaresborough site at the end of October, however then Lancashire was declared a Tier 3 and C & MC cancelled our booking. This means we have not had chance to try this tactic out & lockdown means that we will have put our 540 to bed before we can try to use her again.

Such is life..............I cleaned it yesterday ready to polish and then put the cover on in the fine weather that was forecast for us today, but instead we have had almost a full day of rain in the beautiful Ribble Valley.

Will the sun shine tomorow?

MikeT

Caravan taps are designed to hold a small quantity of water in the body despite draining the pipes. This is to ensure that the tap manufacturers get lots of orders for replacement taps in the spring because frost damage ruins the originals.

To avoid damage, you should blow and suck as much water out as you possibly can. I have also thought of the possibility of running some antifreeze (a strong salt solution, not the car stuff which is highly toxic) through the tap to replace the residual water.

Once you’ve drained the water, I always blow up a balloon, slip the end over an open tap and let it deflate. This gentle pressure pushes out the last remaining remnants of water without damaging the system.

Thanks for this Aaron .

Will study it in detail when I have had my hot morning shower....................

MikeT

I have also thought of the possibility of running some antifreeze

Not such a daft idea. You can get antifreeze which is suitable for drinking water systems (non toxic). This is often used on boats.

one example .... https://www.marinesuperstore.com/winteri...NQaAs7JEALw_wcB

I have just had another quick check of our Eriba. Managed to get some residual water out of the system by blowing down the shower hose. Also had to put new batteries in the smoke alarm as it started beeping as soon as I had fitted the cover. My modified cover comes in handy for giving the van a quick air out without having to remove the cover.

cover_mod.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

I drained our water system yesterday, removed the Caravanstore and fitted the cover......

....and rolled it into the garage for the winter. Like Colin I am fortunate to have a large enough garage for the Eriba. Not a lot of room left for much else but at least we don't have to worry about storms or frost.
The daft thing is fitting the hitch lock and wheel clamp to satisfy the insurers, with the van behind solid wooden doors secured with six bolts, and protected by the house alarm system.🙄

That sounds bonkers Colin