Parking up in cold wet winter, what to do?

[TobyQuest]

Im parking my van up for winter in a couple of days. This will be the first time storing it outside in the cold and wet, normally its garaged.
Wondering what to do.
a) use my van cover and cover it completely
b) just lock it all up uncovered and hope for the best
c) leave it with the roof vent slightly open to ventilate
d) something else

 

[Pausim]

I do not cover my motorhome, it would block the ventilation that the manufacturer provided. It might also chaff away at the paintwork in windy weather.

 

[Lenny HB]

Nothing, just take it for a drive every few weeks.

 

[The Old Man]

Don't forget to make a Drain down.

Empty all foods.

 

[Roby2008]

Opposite view, I cover mine, if you are unsure then at a minimum cover the cab / bonnet area so you don´t get scuttle drain issues.

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[Lenny HB]

Opposite view, I cover mine, if you are unsure then at a minimum cover the cab / bonnet area so you don´t get scuttle drain issues.

A pain when you need to take for a run every few weeks to keep it in good nick.

 

[Roby2008]

A pain when you need to take for a run every few weeks to keep it in good nick.

Living down near the Austrian border with 18" of Snow and right now -7 to -12 C, it can stay covered up, I will have to uncover it the first week of Feb to go and have the levellers fitted but I am hoping the snow has buggered off by then....

 

[starquake]

Im parking my van up for winter in a couple of days. This will be the first time storing it outside in the cold and wet, normally its garaged.
Wondering what to do.
a) use my van cover and cover it completely
b) just lock it all up uncovered and hope for the best
c) leave it with the roof vent slightly open to ventilate
d) something else

So far we worked out we don't need to c) as the van itself has plenty of ventilation wihtout a vent open via two of the vents which always allow a suitable amount of ventilation.

The key bit as other poster has put is to ventilate as the van cools as that is the moist air -> by doing this in October, when we laid up until 23rd December we didn't have any damp in our soft furnishings. So ventilate AS initial cooling occurs to get rid of moist air, THEN close the vents once cooled to below the dew point.

Key piece is stopping rodents by removing food. We trie, failed as we had a bottle of water even in the van and that had mice teeth marks, so I'd also reccomend removal of water containers., and hate to say we had a little visitor in storage, so have been adding more detterants before we take it back next week. Luckily there was no damage in our case but we have failed to identify entry point so far but have cleaned up all the droppings to allow us to chase back if they reoccur. The dog is in the van regularly which does seem to deter the mice.

 

[Pausim]

When I bought my Carthago I was offered a long list of options. A winter cover was not on the list and I can’t help thinking that there must be a very good reason why they don’t offer this. The only answer I can come up with is they know it is a bad idea.

 

[Gina M]

I connect the electric from the mains in the house and keep a small oil heater in there. I also go in most days to check it's warm and for mice. Like Lenny says, take it for run out every few weeks to keep things ticking over. That said, we left our for 9 months but it started up first time a few weeks agowe have a caravan storage place near to us and the covers are flapping like mad and constantly flying off in the strong winds. I have noticed that some have not been put back on.

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[RobbyMClark]

We leave the loo window ajar - on the clip.
Leaving a roof vent could that not let rain in ??

 

[Tombola]

No cover... Slight crack at the front and slight crack at the rear for ventilation. Parked on a slant for roof drainage.

Though I do use it most weekends even in deep winter.

 

[LithiumConvert]

Parked alongside the house with EHU connected and heating on at 10'C.

I know I am in the minority, so expect points of view against.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Gave mine a gokd wash on Sundayyesterday drove the 18 miles to Southampton to top up the gas tank, obviously Mrs CC stood guard with her gun to make sure we still had wheels left on it
Escaped by the skin of our teeth and drove home, now we are having a few minus temperatures at night I leave the heating on about 10 to take the chill off probably overkill as the van is well insulated but for a few quid it will cost better safe.

Will give it a few weeks and on a dry day give it another 20 mile run.

 

[bobnick]

Gave mine a gokd wash on Sundayyesterday drove the 18 miles to Southampton to top up the gas tank, obviously Mrs CC stood guard with her gun to make sure we still had wheels left on it
Escaped by the skin of our teeth and drove home, now we are having a few minus temperatures at night I leave the heating on about 10 to take the chill off probably overkill as the van is well insulated but for a few quid it will cost better safe.

Will give it a few weeks and on a dry day give it another 20 mile run.

I'm back in UK next week, i could take it for a run to Spain for you to save you the hassle. No charge. Thank you. Your welcome.

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[FrankNicklin]

I connect the electric from the mains in the house and keep a small oil heater in there. I also go in most days to check it's warm and for mice. Like Lenny says, take it for run out every few weeks to keep things ticking over. That said, we left our for 9 months but it started up first time a few weeks agowe have a caravan storage place near to us and the covers are flapping like mad and constantly flying off in the strong winds. I have noticed that some have not been put back on.

A warm MH will attract more visitors. Warm air holds moisture and will cause condensation, cold air is dry air. You do not need to heat and empty MH, you need to ventilate. Coldness is not dampness. Vans in storage are not heated and neither are the ones on the dealer forecourts. Just wasting energy.

 

[PaulyP]

What do you do with your car in winter if you were to go away for a month in the MH, do you put a cover over it ?
I am guessing that you just leave it in the driveway and do nothing special.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

I'm back in UK next week, i could take it for a run to Spain for you to save you the hassle. No charge. Thank you. Your welcome.

Many thanks for the offer, will have a think about it come back to you

 

[Roby2008]

What do you do with your car in winter if you were to go away for a month in the MH, do you put a cover over it ?
I am guessing that you just leave it in the driveway and do nothing special.

Leave it in the garage ..................

 

[bobnick]

What do you do with your car in winter if you were to go away for a month in the MH, do you put a cover over it ?
I am guessing that you just leave it in the driveway and do nothing special.

We often (or used to) go away for months at a time.
We leave the cars as is except the rag top that i cover.
Bertie in the garage has a trickle charger on it.

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[Richard n Ann]

My van is 10 years old in July shocking how time flies, I still think of it as new anyway it has been mothballed every winter for 5 or 6 months from new, it lives in the garage but I don't start it or even turn the wheels. It has optimate maintainers on the batteries and starts first turn or the engine in April.

 

[The Old Man]

I made a brief comment earlier but have decided to expand upon it.

My van is on a storage site about ten minutes from home and open all hours access. There is no EHU on site just fresh water and dumps for everything.

I use my van all year round.

If it is not being used;

I drain down both fresh water tanks and open all sink and shower taps so any water in the pipes can vent.

Remove all foodstuff, except cans.

Wedge the fridge door open and removethe salad tray.

Close all windows and roof hatches.

Standing in the van on a windy day let's me know that there is plenty of air flow from the fridge vent and whatever gaps are about.

I visit the van once a week and give it look over.

The site management do weekly inspection and report anything of interest either directly to the owner or a more general Facebook post. I have been notified twice that a window or roof vent was open.

Both my engine and Hab batteries have seen better days but not so and to warrant replacement yet, IMO.

Usually about every two weeks I take the van for a 20 minute drive, a loop of mostly motorway, dual carriageway and a little low gear city streets. About 15 minutes in I visit a coffee shop and then give the van another checkover before the last five minutes back to storage.

Unless it is raining the drive is made with some windows open.

I may be deluding myself but it reassures that;

Batteries get a small boost.
All mechanical departments get exercised.
The tyres get flexed.
The air in the van gets circulated.
All gaps and crevices get blown.

Back at the storage site, each pitch has a 'sausage' kerb denoting the front of the pitch, like many others I park up with my front wheels on the kerb leaving the van nose up and helps drain the roof.

Parked in first gear with just a hint of handbrake applied.

All Hab electrics switched off, shower and toilet doors opened, kitchen sink and hob covers lifted and finally in Winter months I flick the wiper blades around so that the rubbers don't freeze to the screen.

I probably do other stuff without thinking about it.

 

[cyberyacht]

I take my wiper blades off after each trip and leave them on the dash. Makes them les susceptible to UV degradation. The only other precaution apart from draining down a bit before Christmas is to fit some foam pipe insulation along the top of the bonnet gap to keep the autumn leaves out.