Winter camping in a caravan or motorhome – how to get through the cold

It is half past eight on a January evening when the car turns into the campsite below the lift. The thermometer in the car says minus eighteen. The children are asleep in the back seat, and the caravan behind you has been out in the same cold all the way up. Inside the caravan it is as cold as outside.

The first thing you want to do is fill up with water, so you can make tea and brush your teeth. It is also the first thing that can go wrong. The water heater has a valve that opens by itself in the cold, and the water runs straight out into the snow.

The order of things in that first hour decides almost the whole weekend. This guide is about exactly that, and about everything else that is different when the caravan or motorhome is standing in snow.

Winter only

Swilderness has already written about caravan life in summer. In caravan holidays and motorhome life you'll find packing, food on the road and destinations, and in our caravan and motorhome tips the question of whether to rent or buy. What it can be like for real with a one-year-old in the caravan is the story we tell in from south to north with a caravan, which was our first caravan trip, in summer.

This page is only about winter: water that freezes, electricity and gas that run out, condensation that drips and icy roads. If you would rather sleep in a tent in the snow, everything about that is in winter camping: camping and sleeping outdoors in winter.

The model to remember: four checks

Think about four things, in this order.

1. The road. Winter tyres, chains and a caravan that gets there and stands steady.
2. The water. Nothing must freeze in the pipes, tanks or water heater.
3. The heat. Electricity and gas that last the whole night, and a battery that keeps the fan running.
4. The ventilation. Moisture out, fresh air in, fumes out, and vents and flue clear of snow.

The first two are what most often break. The last two are what most often go wrong with safety.

Is the caravan winter-rated?

Dealers and manufacturers use words like "winter-proof" and "winter-rated". They refer to the testing in the standards EN 1645-1 for caravans and EN 1646-1 for motorhomes, and there are two levels.

Level	The test	What it means for you
Grade II	The caravan must go from zero to plus 20 degrees inside in two hours	Copes with a chilly autumn and milder winter conditions
Grade III	The caravan is chilled to minus 15 degrees for at least ten hours and must reach plus 20 degrees in the middle of the caravan within four hours	Built for winter camping, with pipes and tanks that are meant to work in the cold

One detail of the test says a lot. The water tanks are only filled after the caravan has been heated and has held plus 20 degrees for a while. Then it is checked that water comes out of every tap. That is the same order you should follow at the campsite.

If your caravan is not winter-rated you can still go winter camping, but expect it to use more energy and the water to be more vulnerable. Start with a weekend at a campsite with electricity and a service building, not a week in the mountains.

The road: tyres, chains and snow on the roof

Winter tyres on the caravan. From 1 December to 31 March, a trailer towed by a car must have winter tyres in winter road conditions in Sweden. That means snow, ice, slush or frost on any part of the road, and a little frost on a shady bend is enough. The tread depth must be at least three millimetres.

Studs on the car mean studs on the caravan. If the towing car has studded tyres, the caravan must have them too. The reverse is allowed: a car without studs may tow a caravan with studs.

An exception until 2028. Up to and including 30 November 2028, tyres marked M+S may be used on trailers up to 3,500 kilos, provided they are specifically designed for winter driving. So an ordinary summer tyre that happens to carry the marking is not enough.

Heavy motorhome. A motorhome over 3,500 kilos generally counts as a class II car and must have a tread depth of at least five millimetres during the winter period.

Chains and Norway. In Sweden you may use snow chains when the road requires it. In Norway, vehicles over 3,500 kilos, which includes a heavy motorhome, must carry chains from 1 November, and in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark from as early as 16 October, and always when there may be snow or ice. Practise putting the chains on at home on the drive, not for the first time on a hill with a caravan behind you.

Snow on the roof. Brush the roof off before you drive. Snow and ice that come loose at speed can hit the car behind. Also clear the snow off the lights and number plate.

The weight. Load heavy things in the car, so the drive wheels get grip on the road. It helps when you are reversing the caravan into place in the snow.

When the caravan is parked

• Release the handbrake and put chocks by the wheels. Otherwise the brakes can freeze on.
• Put boards under the corner steadies, so they do not sink into the snow and freeze in.
• Do not park the caravan under snow-laden trees. Falling snow and ice can damage roof lights and fans.
• Turn the hitch towards the road. MSB, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (now MCF), gives this advice so the caravan can be towed away quickly if a neighbour's catches fire. Keep at least four metres to the next caravan or motorhome.

The water: the first hour

Many heaters with a water heater have a frost protection valve. According to one manufacturer's product sheet, it opens automatically when it gets colder than about three degrees, and the water runs out through an outlet under the caravan. It cannot be closed again until it is around seven degrees. The valve saves the water heater from freezing and splitting, but it also empties the water you have just filled.

So the first hour looks like this:

1. Plug in the electricity and turn on the heating, ideally on both electricity and gas if the caravan allows it.
2. Wait until it is warm inside, including in the cupboards and under the beds where the pipes run.
3. Close the frost protection valve once it can be closed.
4. Only now fill up with water, and run all the taps to test them.

Meanwhile, the children can have a hot drink from a flask in the car and keep their jackets on. It is a good hour for shovelling around the caravan.

What freezes anyway

• The hose from the campsite tap freezes quickly. Fill a water container in the service building instead, or fill the tank and put the hose away straight away.
• The grey water freezes in the pipe and in a tank fitted under the floor. Put a bucket under the outlet and empty it often, or do the washing-up and shower in the service building when it is really cold.
• Tanks and pipes under the caravan are the weakest point on a caravan that is not winter-rated. One winter accessory is a heating cable laid along the waste pipe.

There is a simpler way too. One heater manufacturer points out that the heating can be run without fresh water in the caravan. Many winter campers leave the tanks empty, fetch water in containers and use the service building for showers and washing-up. It is the safest option for a caravan that is not built for the cold.

The heating: electricity, gas and the battery

The electricity

At a winter campsite, the caravan is plugged into a hook-up post. The fuse decides how much you can draw at the same time.

Fuse	Approximate maximum power
10 amps	2,300 watts
16 amps	3,600 watts

The electric element in an ordinary combi heater can draw up to about 1,800 watts. Add a kettle, a hairdryer or a heater in the awning, and the fuse trips. Take turns with the things that draw a lot.

The cable is a safety issue:

• The right cable. Swedish campsites only accept cable with three cores of at least 2.5 square millimetres, a yellow-green earth wire and a CEE plug, with no joins all the way to the caravan. Choose a rubber cable that is made to lie outdoors. Some mountain campsites require it, because the sun is strong in the mountains.
• No more than 25 metres. MSB advises against longer cables, and campsites do not accept them.
• Unroll the whole cable. MSB warns that a coiled cable can get so hot that the insulation melts.
• Hang it up. The cable must not freeze into the ground or get damaged when you shovel. An easy way is a line behind the caravan and a few plastic hooks to hang the cable from.
• Residual current device. MSB advises bringing your own, to be on the safe side.

At some winter campsites the electricity is included; at others it is metered and charged per kilowatt-hour. Ask when you book.

The gas

LPG is a mixture of propane and butane. That matters in winter. Butane stays liquid below about zero degrees, while propane vaporises down to around minus 40. So a cylinder with a lot of butane can give poor heat on a cold morning even though it is full. Ordinary Swedish LPG in steel cylinders is mostly propane and copes with the cold. Watch out for pure butane cylinders, such as small camping canisters and gas bought abroad.

How long does a cylinder last? Nobody can say exactly, but you can work it out. One heater manufacturer states that a heater giving an average of 1,000 watts uses about 80 grams of gas an hour.

Average heat output	Gas per day	An 11-kilo cylinder lasts
1,000 watts	about 2 kilos	just under six days
2,000 watts	about 4 kilos	just under three days

How much heat the caravan needs depends on the insulation, the cold and the wind. Weigh the cylinder when you get home after the first weekend, and you will know what your particular caravan uses. You cannot tell from a pressure gauge how much gas is left, because the pressure depends on the temperature.

A few rules from Energigas Sverige, the Swedish gas industry association, and MSB:

• The cylinder always stands upright, otherwise the safety valve does not work.
• Leak-test the system every time you change cylinder and at least once a year, with a leak detector or leak spray.
• The hose must withstand the cold. Gas hoses must be able to cope with minus 30 degrees and be marked accordingly. Bend the hose before the season, and replace it if it cracks.
• Have two cylinders. It is when the first one runs out at three in the morning that you need a spare. There are automatic changeover valves that switch to the full cylinder by themselves.
• The flame should be blue-green inside. Yellow in the flame is a sign that the burner needs servicing, and poor combustion can produce carbon monoxide.

The battery

Many people miss this. A gas heater with a fan needs 12 volts to run, and without power the heating stops even if the gas cylinder is full. If the hook-up post's fuse trips during the night, the battery takes over, but not indefinitely.

The cold makes it harder. A lithium battery generally must not be charged below zero degrees. A lead-acid battery copes better, but with a lower current. Read what your battery's manufacturer says, and keep the battery in the warm part of the caravan if possible.

The ventilation: moisture, fumes and alarms

Condensation

A family breathing, cooking and drying mittens fills the caravan with moisture. When the warm, moist air meets a cold wall, you get condensation. The British caravan industry association says it is normal for the outer walls to get damp in severe cold, even in a well-built caravan.

How to keep the moisture down:

• Knock the snow off outside. Brush off clothes and shoes before you step in.
• Dry things in the drying room. Most winter campsites have a drying room or drying cabinet in the service building. Do not hang wet snowsuits in the caravan.
• Air it out briefly and often. Open the windows and door for a short while in the morning and after cooking. A lid on the pan helps.
• Let the air move. Condensation collects where the air is still, in wardrobes, under beds and behind mattresses. Pull the mattresses a little way from the wall.
• Wipe the windows in the morning, so the water does not run down into the frames.

Vents and flue

A caravan has fixed ventilation openings, in the floor and in the roof, because of the gas. They must never be blocked, not even with snow.

• Shovel under the caravan. The floor vents and the heater's air intake need free air.
• The flue must be clear. If it is on the roof, it can get snowed in. One heater manufacturer sells an extension that raises the cowl by about 20 centimetres. If the flue is on the wall, condensation can freeze and block it, and there are special covers to prevent that.
• Brush the roof after a snowfall, both for the flue and for the roof lights.

The alarms

MSB advises having both a smoke alarm and an LPG alarm in the caravan. A carbon monoxide alarm is the third alarm.

• The LPG alarm goes off if gas leaks out. LPG is about one and a half times heavier than air and sinks towards the floor, so follow the manufacturer's instructions on placement, which often means low down. Energigas Sverige mentions the standard EN 50194.
• The carbon monoxide alarm goes off if combustion goes wrong or a flue is snowed in. There is a separate part of the standard, EN 50291-2, for caravans, motorhomes and boats. More about the symptoms, the alarms and what to do if one goes off is in carbon monoxide in a tent.

Press the test buttons the same evening you arrive. Never barbecue in the awning. MSB points out that glowing charcoal gives off carbon monoxide, and that also goes for a barbecue that looks as if it has gone out.

Keep a powder extinguisher of at least two kilos and a fire blanket near the door. Caravans burn fast, and MSB says a fire is often over in a few minutes.

The children in the caravan

A caravan in winter is a good first step for children who are curious about sleeping in the snow. You have walls, a proper bed and heating, and there is a door to go out of when they want to build a snow lantern.

• The floor is the coldest. Warm air rises, and by the floor and in the lower bunk it can be noticeably colder. Slippers or wool socks help.
• Bedtime. Give the children something warm to eat before they fall asleep, and put sleeping bags or extra duvets in the beds.
• Outside it is properly cold. Where is the limit for going to the lift or the slope with small children? It is in how cold is too cold on the slopes.

If the children want to try sleeping in a tent for a night, the caravan can stand next to it as a warm backup. How to set that up is in winter camping with kids.

Winter campsites at the ski resorts

The easiest way to start is a campsite at a ski resort. There you have electricity at every pitch, a service building with showers and a drying room, and often walking distance to the lift. Book early, because the best pitches go fast during the winter sports holiday.

• Sälenfjällen has winter campsites in Kläppen, Tandådalen and Lindvallen. The one in Tandådalen is large, with around 770 pitches. There is more about the campsite in Kläppen, which is open all year round, in Kläppen with children.
• Branäs has a campsite with electric hook-up pitches a short walk from the slopes, see Branäs with children.
• Bjursås has both cabins and camping within walking distance of the lifts, see Bjursås with children.
• Kåbdalis in Norrbotten has the caravans lined up in rows below the lift, see Kåbdalis with kids.
• Idre has a campsite by the ski area, and in Norway there are winter campsites in places such as Trysil, Hemsedal and Hafjell.

More resorts to compare are in all ski destinations.

Outside the campsite

The same rules apply in winter as in summer. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) says that the Right of Public Access (allemansrätten) does not include driving off-road or setting up a caravan or motorhome out in nature, and that the landowner cannot give permission for it. At a lay-by you may generally stay no more than 24 hours on weekdays. More about the rules in the mountains and in nature reserves is in where you can camp in winter.

Never park the vehicle where the snowplough needs to get through, nor where it could get ploughed in behind a bank overnight.

Four checks before you go to bed

• The road: the handbrake is off, the chocks are by the wheels and the corner steadies are on boards.
• The water: the frost protection valve is closed, the grey water bucket is empty and the hose is inside.
• The heating: the spare cylinder is connected or ready, the electric cable is hanging free and the battery is charged.
• The ventilation: the flue and the vents are clear of snow, and the alarms have been tested.

Then you can snuggle down while the snow settles on the roof again.