Cold weather use

I have been told to make sure that if I buy a Symbol, to make sure it is winterised!!!! Do they come already prepared for cold weather use? Not that I am planning any 'artic' trips but my wife does feel the cold.
Thanks in advance

Wingrider8368 wrote:I have been told to make sure that if I buy a Symbol, to make sure it is winterised!!!! Do they come already prepared for cold weather use?

No they don't!

It's a van with very little in the way of insulation. The roof for example has a very thin layer of insulation and (AFAIK) there is zero floor insulation other than carpeting. Both the fresh and waste water tanks plus piping is also not insulated so these can freeze up in certain conditions.

Thanks for your reply, it gives me some more to think about!!!
I wonder if there is anything, about the same size, that would be better insulated then?

If you are really serious about a 'winterised van' then you will almost certainly have to look for a continental van. Most of the A/S vans are good for 3 season use. We've camped in low temperatures and snow without any problems in smaller A/S coachbuilts, but we are always on the move and the van is not just sitting on a site (except overnight). It sounds like perhaps you just want to keep warm and the heaters on most of the vans these days are pretty good. If you think a Symbol is for you then don't be put off that its not 'winterised' unless you intend to camp in all 4 seasons.

John

Its only the water which will be an issue. You can put a bowl / bucket under the grey outlet and leave the tap on, so any water just drains straight out of the tank, keeping the system empty and if its going to freeze, its in the bucket. Fresh water is another different issue, in extreme cold the water in the tank can freeze. so it would be sensible to drain the tank and use an internal water carrier / bottles.

If tanks are only part full its unlikely to be an issue as the ice will just form on top of the water and as long as theres space it'll be fine. Its the pipes and the water heater which could have problems. You could just drain the heater and pipework before going to bed and prime the system again when you get up, or leave the water heater on. If you've got hook up it'll be on electric.

I used my previous camper in freezing conditions in England and never had a problem. With both water heater and space heater on it would need to be extremely cold (below minus 5?) to have issues with pipework / tanks.

Depends what you call cold weather, I would think you would be ok in general UK weather. If you re planning to go away when the weather is down to zero or below than no would not , like most vans in the UK. If you are planning to away when down to zero , follow the advice of others., who have posted a reply. My first few months of ownership of a Symbol and my partner feels the cold badly , so until we have tried it in the colder weather of autumn and winter I cant really say if it is ok , but with diesel heater should be fine. Gary

When people talk of winterization I’ve always assumed they mean preparing for the vehicle to be laid up over winter. I can’t see that there is much you could do to a Symbol to make it warmer. There’s no space for significantly more insulation and being made mostly of steel it’ll tend to lose heat quickly. The same applies to any vehicle with this type of construction so I don’t think you’ll find anything much better and of a similar size.
Having said that, we regularly use the Duetto in the dead of winter and have never had a problem heating it. One of the good things about travelling at that time of year is that you can nearly always find a campsite with an electrical hook up, even at short notice. We carry a 1kw heater (Dimplex MPH1000) that can be left on all night. The onboard blower heater is quite effective but noisy.

matchlessman wrote:
I used my previous camper in freezing conditions in England and never had a problem. With both water heater and space heater on it would need to be extremely cold (below minus 5?) to have issues with pipework / tanks.

I Concur

If conditions are really cold I drain the freshwater tank, turn the gas to the water heater off and carry a plastic drum for fresh water. The only source of hot water then becomes a kettle – perfectly adequate for making tea and washing up.

mikethebike wrote:it was important to drain the cascade heater .It has a screw point on the out side for this operation.
mike

Good point. Ignore that = expensive mistake.

mikethebike wrote:it was important to drain the cascade heater .It has a screw point on the out side for this operation.
mike

It should also be mentioned that it needs 'blanking off'. A/S used to issue a blanking plug with all A/S vans but they are no longer available. However all it is is a cylindrical shaped piece of aluminium (plastic will do the same job) which is inserted into the drain plug hole so that water by-passes the hot water tank.

Easy to get one made if you know someone who has an original blanking plug.

You can have electric tank heaters fitted to both waste and fresh water by Autosleepers. We have had these fitted on our Symbol but as yet they have not been required. Agree with comment about carrying a small oil filled heater as blower can be a little noisy. We have found our Symbol to be warm and comfortable in autumn/winter but we haven't experienced Arctic conditions!

Lancslad wrote:You can have electric tank heaters fitted to both waste and fresh water by Autosleepers.

Interesting. I’ve been trying to think of a way of doing that. I’ve had several ideas – ranging from not very practical to downright daft!


Do you know what unit they fit? Is it mains or 12V (12V would probably take quite a bit of current but the heater wouldn’t need to be that powerful).

Can the unit be fitted from the outside or do they have to remove the tanks? Sounds like a daft question but in a previous job (more years ago than I care to remember) I used to fit fuel heaters that had an internal sealing washer that scrunched up and twanged – to give it the technical term – out so that it could be fitted through a hole in the tank without access to the inside. I have Googled it but can’t find anything similar nowadays.

Is it expensive (daft question really)?

Hi there,

If you are big into DIY then check out:

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They have everything that you would need to do a pukka job.

Best regards,

Dutto wrote:Hi there,

If you are big into DIY then check out:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

They have everything that you would need to do a pukka job.

Thanks Dutto. That’s a really useful site. Funny how it’s never come up in all the searching I’ve done.
Perhaps they don’t pay Google enough – cynical old git aren’t I?

Heaters are 12v. Cost not known as part of the purchasing package via Marquis.

Lancslad wrote:Heaters are 12v. Cost not known as part of the purchasing package via Marquis.

Thanks Lancslad.
I was a bit concerned that 12V heaters would need to be of a wattage that would put too much load on the 12V system – clearly not. Thinking about it mains heaters wouldn’t be much use anyway. Apart from the extra safety precautions needed to comply with the regs , they couldn’t be used while driving. Looks like 12V is the way to go. Some more investigation needed methinks.