There’s still plenty of time left to enjoy your static caravan this summer (we hope!), but before the cold weather sets in we want to get people thinking about how they are going to prepare their static caravan for winter.
Do you use a professional service to drain the water from your static caravan before winter or do it yourself? Is it something you’ve ever thought about? We’d love to get your vote on our community poll to the bottom left.
If you would like information on how to prepare your static caravan for winter then you can read our article here.
Have your say with one click in our Community Poll.
We like to use our static at any time of the year so over the winter months the caravan is drained down a number of times. What would be really useful is instructions from the manufacturer on the drain down procedure. With a bit of guidance from our friendly park staff we have made up our own set of procedures but it would have useful if the manufacturer included instructions with the caravan when we bought it. (we have a Regal).
It would also be very useful if all manufacturers took a bit more care with the position of drain down points and not forget where decking is likely to be fitted!
I have always done my own drain down for the last 40 years. It is very simple. just a matter of undoing a couple of connectors. The first question you should ask on purchase of your van is “Where are the drain points”
Yes I agree with your suggestion about manufactures putting drain valves and stop cocks in appropriate places easy to access, also they should consider this with anchor points for insurance purposes as ours was not fixed at the front section due to the decking being there,the insurance says to be anchored ay 4 corners ,but we can only access 3,but put an extra one to the side oposite the decking,hope this does not affect the insurance,What do you think ?
I used a plumber’s services and paid him to drain down but one year we were left with a tap not working and a really noisy airlock. He refused to sort it out, so I didn’t pay him! I then paid the park people to do it, but found out that they actually didn’t do anything except look. This is because you cannot drain our lodge down because the decking is in the way. So we now turn off the water and leave the GCH on low, and hope for the best. Still got the air lock though.
I read with interest people enquiring about caravan/holiday home winterizing/draining down. The proper way is to shut off your main water supply coming into your caravan you then disconnect the main feed pipe into the caravan, you then go to the tap furthest away, start in the toilet then your shower, remembering to drop the shower head into the shower tray and onto the kitchen sink.
You do the whole process by using a cylinder vacuum cleaner that has a blow function on it. When starting, open each tap in turn, starting from the furthest away tap and when you open up at the beginning of your new season remembering to turn off the taps when the water starts to come through.
I hope this will be of help your many readers
Yours truly Sydney A Russell
Thanks Sydney. We also offer some tips here: https://www.leisuredays.co.uk/winter-weather/
Hi , I’ve just purchased a Victory static van for the first time and I’m really confused/worried over getting the drain down procedure correct. Does anyone know where the drain points are on this van and where the heating points are that I do NOT touch ? Many thanks if you can point me in the right direction.David
Hi David
They should be underneath the caravan and detailed in your handbook – there’s a copy here: https://www.victoryleisurehomes.co.uk/victroy-cms/uploads/downloads/Victory-Handbook.pdf. Or it’s worth speaking to your park operator to see if they can help and do this for you.
Many thanks Liz. I appreciate your pointers and thanks for the handbook 🙂
Best regards David