Static caravans: an icy blast from the past?
After the hottest summer on record and holiday homes in the UK seeing a surge in occupancy, 2011 was considered a great year for static caravan owners.
However, we can all remember the recent harsh winter with shocking conditions that brought most of the country to a standstill. This not only affected travel and homes, but also had a massive impact on unattended caravans.
For those who recently purchased static caravans, it has hit hard. With water leaks and broken pipes, as well as boiler failures, the cost to unprepared caravan owners was immense.
Many should have learned a lesson, that winterizing your static caravan is critical to ensuring costs are reduced. However, it seems that many will still forget about what happened last year and will not exhaust their static caravans.
For many caravan owners, the start of the 2012 season has been a difficult one. They started their season with costs stemming from broken pipes which in some cases could be as high as £1000. Winterizing is something owners can forget about, but they need to learn lessons from the past and make sure they empty their caravan before winter.
Some caravan parks offer a year-round maintenance plan to help owners make sure their caravans are in tip-top condition. This allows them to help owners spend quality time when visiting their holiday home and for those who can’t get to their caravan in time for winter or aren’t sure what to do.
It is critical that before extreme weather conditions begin and after purchasing a static caravan for sale, it should be checked that the large investment is protected as the owners cannot afford or it will be damaged.
With many worried about their investments, it seems that investing in your vacation home is something they sometimes forget about. As with any harsh winter, preparation seems to be the key to ensuring there is as little impact to holiday homes as possible.
If your RV park doesn’t offer this service, there are a few things you can do.
1) drain all pipes
2) disconnect from the main water supply
3) disconnect any electrical equipment
4) turn off the electricity at the fuse box
5) turn off and disconnect your gas supply
We would appreciate your feedback on this as it appears awareness is the key to ensuring the holiday home industry starts 2012 on a positive note rather than in pain and worry over broken pipes and freezing conditions.