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 Topic: Draining system for winter
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02/11/2017 at 5:50pm
Location: Harrogate Yorkshire.
Outfit: Skoda Octavia 4x4 & Compass Omega 482
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Depends on which type of water heater, if a Carver there is a screw plug on the outside near the heater flue / vent, just loosen it and the water drains away. Or there maybe a lift up tap near the water heater inside, also open all taps to help drain the water. My previous Sprite also had some plugs (red top) in the pipes under the caravan, just pulled them out to drain any water left in the pipes.
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Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0TDi 4x4 (2012) towing a Compass Omega 482 (2014)
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02/11/2017 at 7:48pm
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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When draining down for the winter, remember also to completely flush out any remaining water in the toilet top tank into the waste tank and then empty the water. Some people on this forum often have problems with toilet flush pump issues but quite often it could be related to frozen water left in the pump that expands during extreme cold spells.
As for the fresh water, follow the advice that 'Octavia4x4' (above post) has stated.
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06/11/2017 at 12:55pm
Location: County Durham
Outfit: Explore 304
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The other thing I found helpful was to raise and lower the front of the van as much as possible (using the jockey obviously) with the drain plug open.
I was shocked how much more water poured out of the drain hole and the waste water pipes at the back of the van, this was after I had already drained the system.
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06/11/2017 at 1:17pm
Location: Sheffield
Outfit: Sterling Eccles Sport 636
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We open the drain tap and leave all the taps open before we drive home on our last trip. The movement of travel ensures all the water is removed.
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06/11/2017 at 8:58pm
Location: Leicester-shire
Outfit: Bailey unicorn madrid Landcruiser
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The only safe way to make sure you have removed all water in the system is to use the Floe drain down kit, I always used to drain down as stated by previous posts but still suffered from frost damaged so purchased a floe kit and found that it removed approximately 1/2 a litre of water even after draining down prior to leaving site. Great piece of kit well worth the money, if only for piece of mind.
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Rod
To old to die young
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07/11/2017 at 7:22am
Location: N Wales
Outfit: Hymer Nova 590GL
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Caravans used to survive the winter before people had to spend getting on for £50 on a floe system. The key is to find the drains and as others have said open the taps and shower. Then even if a tiny amount water freezes then as the system is vented it has got somewhere to expand and no harm will be done.
Also don’t forget if we have a really cold winter then other liquids can freeze. We one year had coke and beer freeze and blow the cans. We even had a shelf that was nailed down lift because drink cans under it froze and expanded.
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07/11/2017 at 3:31pm
Location: Leicester-shire
Outfit: Bailey unicorn madrid Landcruiser
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Further to my previous post ,about 5 years ago we were away for our first outing of the year and having done the usual winterising duties at the end of the previous year and when getting ready for bed I retrieved the bedding from the bed lockers and to my shock horror found them to be wet, on investigating I found two of the whale pipe connectors were leaking slightly this I was told by my local service engineer that he had often come across this problem and was caused by a small amount of water getting trapped in the connector and being pushed away from the pipe slightly due to the water freezing ,with this in mind when I purchased our new van I noticed that most of the water pipes were not so visible as the ones in the old van and was concerned as to the amount of damage that could go unnoticed if the same problem occurred, with this in mind I purchased the flow drain down kit for £43.00 like I said for piece of mind and to try and protect my £21k purchase a small price to pay I thought.
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Rod
To old to die young
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28/11/2017 at 11:48pm
Location: Durham
Outfit: Bailey pageant burgundy
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Love the old socks tip
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29/11/2017 at 6:48am
Location: South Wales
Outfit: Elddis Majestic 155
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Hi,
Good tip from Jeff.
Also pays to unscrew the shower head and leave the shower hose hanging in the tray.
Even if it hasn't been used amazing how much water gets trapped in the head.
Regards,
Greg
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Growing old is not for sissies
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