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Top 5 Winter Park Maintenance Tips
As the colder weather begins, we advise to anticipate the winter issues which can arise and prepare in good time. With more sites staying open for most of the year and some even operating all-year round, winter preparation is critical to prevent operational failures of vital equipment and facilities, ultimately costing you more money in the medium and long term.
Some simple measures that can be taken that will give you piece of mind to keep things running smoothly no matter what the British climate throws at you.
Lag pipes
Wrapping pipes in insulation will delay the freezing process – and hopefully avoid it altogether. Recommended best practice is to turn off heating and hot water first so you’re lagging cool pipes. The advice is, every 30cm or so, use duct tape to deal the tubing along the areas you already lagged. Some lagging has tapped affixed alongside the opening which you can seal as you go.
Drain down
Emptying vans, pods and lodges of water completely can save some very nasty surprises over winter – such as burst pipes and leaks. This can be done by hand or by using a powered pump, the latter speeding up the job considerably, also allowing for vans to be reused and drained repeatedly over winter if visitors return.
Heating & Ventilation
Ventilation is crucial for avoiding damp and mould forming. Taking cushions away from benches, cleaning thoroughly and leaving blinds open are just some of the steps you can take to allow air to circulate over winter.
For those vans still in use, heating is going to be required – consider stocking small, portable heaters for customers to buy or hire in case their heating is unreliable or inadequante for the chillier weather. And if your properties have log burners, make sure you have a good stock of fuel in too.
Store Equipment
Tidying up the site not only looks better from a customer’s point of view – putting any gardening or pool equipment away for the winter will help your team be more organised come spring. It’s also a good time to assess this equipment – will it need replacing in Spring? If so, you can plan ahead accordingly.
Get snow and ice ready!
Stock up on grit and salt before the inevitable winter rush. If you’re opening for longer into October and even later in the year for the first time, you may not have had a large number of people onsite during the frost or early snow.
If you’re prepared with snow shovels and plenty of grit placed at road bends and near well-used footpaths and steps, then you’ll be ready for anything!
@Caravan Industry & Park Operator – Winterisation 2022
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