Hi im thinking of using the van in the winter this year ,was wanting to know will the filter freeze up as i take it out most years when winterising the van ,any tips please.
yes it will,everything can freeze if you do not take precautions.take out the pump at night and filter.keep a large bottle of water inside.even the waste carrier can freeze so empty this too.buy a jacket for your water barrel.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
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I'm not so sure? I've never took the filter out and had no problems in storage, in use the filter itself is inside the van so is being kept warm to some extent.
Freezing has been blamed for cracks in Carver Crystal filter housings and I've never agreed with that!
I thought the cracks were a result of over tightening the filter past it`s stop, well I know because thats how I cracked mine, I hold my hands up to that.
we have been using our van over the winter for the last few years. we have temperatures down to -10 and never had a problem with the filter at all, as for the pump i use the foam stuff for piping and cover the hoses that are outside with that, if the barrel is full then i really doubt that its going to freeze the pump, if it could then we could do our own version of ice road truckers as the ice would be over 8 inches thick then!!
having first hand experience of cold weather in march at keswick.pump froze solid all the way up,pump socket froze up solid blocking any water from going in anyway,waste pipes froze solid on the underside of the van,waste container froze solid,water barrel froze up half way from the top down,toilets on site froze solid and closed,water pipes to the all the taps froze up making them useless.to top it all the lake froze up and we walked quite away on it.all the pump and pipes were covered on the outside.so in my book anything containing water WILL freeze if cold enough.the day after we drove down the motorway that was down to one lane all the way home due to snow. FROZEN LAKE
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Post last edited on 11/09/2009 21:43:16
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
We had a bit of a freeze-up in december 2008 in Bearsted caravan club site. Water pump and pipe and fresh water froze solid despite being wrapped in an old high tog quilt. No filter in our van but would have made no difference as the water pumps pipe was frozen anyway! Waste stayed semi-unfrozen (went like snow slush) because i squirted a load of washing up liquid down the sink before it got too cold overnight. To top it all, the sites water supply froze too! The 4 pint carton of milk left in the car overnight froze so although we were smart enough to keep some water in the kettle and in bottles inside the van, we could not get the milk out of the stupid bottle to make a cup of tea !! Our blue calor gas stopped working so we were really lucky that our van has an electric hot plate for cooking, and thankfully electric water and air heating. From our experience, do not be put off of camping in the cold. We had a lovely time and were nice and warm all the time we were inside the van. But a few tips from us - keep your milk in the fridge and not in the car, keep some water in bottles in the van, and make sure you have a red calor gas bottle so it will work in the cold (really annoying looking at an oven that will not work because the gas does not work lol).
------------- Why am i doing this instead of camping??!!