Dumbo question

[nuevoboy]

Well, we've been given a delivery date (Oct 8) for our first Motorhome.

So, I'm looking for our first venture and have decided on a Caravan Club site.

I've looked at the site map and notice that there are 5 or so service points dotted around and just one Motorhome Service point.

I take it that there are EHU's adjacent to each pitch and I assumed that there would be a water connection there too.

Would this be the case or are the service points where one tops up with water? And is the Motorhome Service point the only place to empty the toilet cassette?

There's an awful lot to learn!

[flicka]

Hi Nuevoboy

Usual definition is:-

"Service Point" will be for fresh water supply & for emptying waste water (think Caravan, for emptying Waste container)

 

"Motorhome Service Point" will enable you to drive the Motorhome OVER the waste water drain & usually have a fresh Water Tap also.

 

Toilet Cassette should be emptied at the "Chemical Disposal Point" normally close to the Toilet Block.

 

The No. of EHU does not necessarily correspond to the No. of Pitches.

 

"Fully Serviced Pitches" should have EHU, Fresh Water Tap & Waste Water Drain (you will need a waste hose) & sometimes a TV Booster, but NOT a Chemical Disposal Point for the Toilet Cassette.

 

Hope this helps.

[Brian Kirby]

Your motorhome will have a fresh water tank on board.  Just fill it before leaving home, and empty the waste water and toilet cassette before leaving the site.  Saves an almighty load of faff.  :-)  Then drain off any remaining  fresh water when you get back home (these drain points are often small diameter, so draining the fresh at the site would keep you on the service point for an unreasonably long time).

It is probably unwise to drink the water from the tank, unless boiled, or treated to keep it free from organics.  Some do, but in a new van you don't know what may remain inside after manufacture.

Flushing and chlorinating before use is the obvious answer, but do carefully read any instructions regarding chlorine in the water heater.  Generally, because the heaters have stainless steel liners, it is strongly advised not to allow chlorine based compounds into contact.  Chlorine eats stainless steel, and heaters are expensive!

[dikyenfo]

You may also find that some site managers are fussy about where you put your MH as they worry about pitch states. Buy some good quality drive on mats with good thickness and gripper studs on the underside.

Take some squares of thick plywood for the non-drive wheels to avoid that sinking feeling.

As regards the water tank take off the large filler/cleaning plug open the drains and flush out the tank and sides with a hose to get out all build residue. Pop in a boots water tab and organics should not be a problem.

One last thing ; CC is just that and some take MH's on sufferance so be prepared to be treated as second best sometimes. Above all enjoy.

[breakaleg]

Is it me, or do others find the waste water drain a waste of time, for example, the one at Blackpool you need to have a pipe extension to get anywhere near it, and others have a hinged lid, where our drain tap is (just behind the rear wheel on the off side of the van, means you have to drive over it, before you could lift it up, but it fouls the body work of the motorhome, or am i missing something?

In France, they seem to have a gully about 7foot long and a foot wide, doesn't matter where your waste tap is, you can't miss the drain.

Pete

[mel wood]

dikyenfo - 2010-09-27 11:18 AM

 

 

One last thing ; CC is just that and some take MH's on sufferance so be prepared to be treated as second best sometimes.

 

You may of course, be talking from experience but, in my opinion, I think you are being unfair.

 

We are in our 8th year of membership of the Caravan Club and have never been treated "second best". In most cases we have found the normal procedure is to choose your own pitch and then inform the office. (ONLY ONCE were we offered an unsuitable pitch - sloping on grass when there were level hardstandings available. The warden was quite happy for me to decline that pitch and have one of the others.)

 

We do find there are many advantages in being in both CC and The Camping and Caravanning Club.

 

 

[nuevoboy]

Thanks for all the replies folks.

We will be driving straight from the dealers onto our first site, so will have to fill up with water on site.

In my ignorance, I assumed that once on our pitch, we would connect up to the electric and then be able to fill the fresh water tank (if we remember to buy a hose!) as well.

I don't think that there are any fully-serviced pitches where we are going, so I now imagine that we will have to fill up with water from the service point. Is this correct?

We're hoping to stay on site for 3 days, so hopefully we'll have enough water to last, but if not, it seems we would have to leave the pitch to top up. Correct again?

I do have an old water container that I could use to empty the grey waste tank every so often and dispose of wherever necessary.

Thanks for your patience in explaining all this.

[Brian Kirby]

Don't know how you will get all your clutter from your home to the dealer, to load into the mh before you leave but, assuming you have cracked that nut, you will proceed to the mh service point at your first site and use the hose there (or preferably the nice clean new one you take with you), to fill with water.  This will not facilitate flushing out any build debris from your system, however, and if you start trying to do that on site you may end up getting cursed for hogging the service point.

Me, I would be strongly inclined to take the van back home, sit down with the owners manual and make sure I had understood where everything is, and how it works.  Next, with manual to hand, I would crawl all over the van looking for faults the dealer has missed, flush out, and then part fill the tank with water, bleed the air from the system, and then check for leaks, using all taps etc, and checking for proper operation and freedom from leakage on pipework and at pump, and then check that all waste drains are leak free and draining freely.

Next, I would connect/turn on the gas, and check operation of everything that runs on gas (except the water heater because that is liable to still contain air). 

Then I would turn on the fridge on mains, shut the door and leave that to cool down for a couple of hours while I filled the fresh water tank fully, re-bled the water heater, and turned it on, leaving that to reach full temperature.  (This will get rid of the first use smells that can be a bit worrying on site.)

While the fridge is cooling and the water cooking, check and operate everything electrical, including all mains sockets and all lights.

Then, assuming all is OK, I would start packing to see how what fits best where, and checking my inventory to be sure everything that is needed is in.  By then (but ideally overnight on max), the fridge should be cold, so can be loaded with food, and the water hot, so all the hot taps can be re-tested with hot water, to see if that provokes any leaks.  Only then, with everything understood, tested, and loaded (and by now the following morning), would I go to a campsite to use the van in anger, and then only if no faults have emerged.  Hope you're not picking it upon a Saturday, because if you are, you'll get no response from the dealer 'till Monday morning!  :-)

Bit tongue in cheek, and I hope it doesn't put you off, but I really do think going straight from dealer to site just a bit premature.  Vans aren't rocket science, it's true, but they are a lot more complex than cars, and there are many things that can give trouble on first use which dealers, bless them, don't always fully test before handover.

[nuevoboy]

Brian, thanks for your message and I can see where you're coming from.

However, it's where we are going to that is the problem.

We are travelling around 150 miles to our (almost nearest) dealer to collect the Motorhome (which incidentally is used not new).

And yes, we will be taking a fairly well-loaded car to get there, where we can leave it while we embark on our maiden outing.

From what we've read in the mags, it is thought a good idea to stay fairly local to the dealer in case there are problems.

Hence, we are just moving on 30 miles or so for a weekend to get used to everything. If there are problems (hopefully not) we can return to the dealer and either get them sorted, or if worst things happen, can leave the van there to be sorted while we drive back home.

If all goes well, we may even drive to the east coast to visit our new grand-daughter before trekking all the way back to our home in the Wild West.

Living where we are, we thought long and hard about investing in a Motorhome, given that it will take almost a day to get out of the Principality (a clue for you there) to most places we want to visit.

But then, as we now are supposed to have all the time in the world on our hands, we are hoping to drive until we find somewhere nice to stay, rather than drive until we drop!

Again, thanks for your helpful comments and we appreciate you taking up time in your responses.

[flicka]

Hi Nuevoboy

One solution.

Before collecting the Van from the Dealer, give him a ring & ask them (the day before your arrival) to fill the Fresh Water Tank, Hook-up to mains putting the Water Heater & Fridge on mains. (He would need to do this anyway, when you collect the Motorhome to give you a proper hand-over).

 

This will remove your problem & you will know if everything is working (or not). Leaving you to test the Gas Operation & better understand how things are working.

It will also give the Batteries a boost if it has been stood.

[davew]

dikyenfo - 2010-09-27 11:18 AM

 

You may also find that some site managers are fussy about where you put your MH as they worry about pitch states. Buy some good quality drive on mats with good thickness and gripper studs on the underside.

Take some squares of thick plywood for the non-drive wheels to avoid that sinking feeling.

 

One last thing ; CC is just that and some take MH's on sufferance so be prepared to be treated as second best sometimes. Above all enjoy.

 

Ah, I now remember why I stopped using CC sites - what a load of messing about!

[rolandrat]

The Caravan Club and the Caravan and Camping Club sites are well layed out and professionally run for our enjoyment.

[oldlowie]

dikyenfo - 2010-09-27 11:18 AM

 

One last thing ; CC is just that and some take MH's on sufferance so be prepared to be treated as second best sometimes. Above all enjoy.

 

Eh?

 

Not my experience; CC Wardens are invariably helpful, whatever your 'unit' happens to be.

 

Some have even saved us a hard-standing in foul weather. Yes it prevents me from ploughing up the grass :-( , but it's also a thoughtful gesture.

 

You've made a wise choice to use a CC site as your first stop, just make sure the Wardens know you are a novice motorhomer and they will bend over backwards to help you, I'm sure...

 

Oh, and don't forget a hosepipe to fill your water tank (food-grade not necessary - see other posts ad nauseam re this topic) *-)

 

Agree with dikyenfo on one thing though - enjoy :D

[Mickydripin]

One thing to remember is not to use the hose pipe at the service point if it is close to the casset dump I was in France for three months and I was parked across the way from the motorhome service area and some of the things that they did with the hose pipe made me want to thro up they thought nothing of sticking the hose pipe in the casset to clean them

Disconect the hose pipe if you can and put your own pipe on if not fill a container with fresh water for your van from another sorce do not put there hose pipe in to fill your tank.

[Neil Hunt]

Used CC sites for the first time this year and apart from the problem of some of them being fully booked at peak times, and some of them fully booked at all times, the sites have been absolutely great and the staff friendly and helpful. Plenty of motorhomes on sites too.

 

Have found same with the C&CC (although not the booking problem) and have been with them for over ten years.

[StewartJ]

First time motorhomers since Sept 1st and agree with other posters, just back from 23 days touring north Scotland stayed on several CC sites and well impressed (TV cable hook ups absolutely brilliant in zero reception area's, might pay you to make yourself up a 25 metre coax lead if your going to be in an area of poor reception, many sites sell them aleady made up for £11 to £15)

 

Don't be concerned you'll be given full instructions on each site often a printed idiot list which explains all and as said the wardens are brilliant.

 

Great hobby so enjoy.