Hymer insulation and winterizing (1 Viewer)

fairgrace

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Sep 16, 2010
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We're new to vans and are thinking of buying a late 80's or early 90's hymer, probably one of the 500 series.

We plan to live in the van through the winter, possibly in the alps for some of the time.

My question is: are all Hymer vans similarly well insulated and winterized or do we need to be looking for something particular? With one of the standard heaters (most of them seem to have Truma units) will we be able to stay warm?

Thanks.
 

John & Joan

Free Member
Mar 30, 2010
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Darlington
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10 years this time
We're new to vans and are thinking of buying a late 80's or early 90's hymer, probably one of the 500 series.

We plan to live in the van through the winter, possibly in the alps for some of the time.

My question is: are all Hymer vans similarly well insulated and winterized or do we need to be looking for something particular? With one of the standard heaters (most of them seem to have Truma units) will we be able to stay warm?

Thanks.

We live full time in a 1992 Hymer S700 7m Motorhome.

The only exposed part is the waste water tank which is at the rear corner. The outlet from this froze on us at New Year when we were on the CC site at Spital (Berwick on Tweed). Normal winter practice is to leave this valve open and let it drain into a container.

We were warm enough inside. This van is longer than the 500 series so has two heaters one at the front (Blown air only) under the table, and one at the back at the bottom of the wardrobe. The standard front one is 2.8kw but I had to replace mine, so I put in the 4kw version instead. This is very hot. The back is the standard 3kw (e-3002) there is a 5kw version of this heater the e-5000. We normally use the rear one on blown air, but it can also be run on lower setting (up to 4 ) as a convector heater. Overnight in winter we have it on convector as the fan can be noisy.

The coldest spot in a hymer is in the cab area as it has single glazing. Silverscreens do have some benefit when parked. The cab heaters are not very good while travelling as they are designed to heat a small cab, not a motorhome body. We use a 500w convector on the dash from time to time if we have a mains hookup. This makes a tremendous difference to the person sitting in the passenger seat at the table. The sleeping area in the 500 (drop down bed) is in the front above the driver/passenger seat. I would consider getting a larger one with a rear bed.

These gas heaters can be run on the move if a Securemotion valve/regulator is fitted.

If you are thinking of full timing, I would consider getting an LPG tank fitted, mine is 80 litres (about 40kg of LPG) and is mounted under the water tank on the chassis. Use the space where the gas bottles were housed to carry a couple of extra 110 ah batteries. We have done this and the locker also houses a 1600w inverter. I also store my hookup cables in there.

Go to the full timing section for more information.

John
 

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