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Water will take longer to boil as the altitude increases.
Its due to the drop in air pressure, not the outside temperature !
Its the same principle as feeling light heated when you get off the chair lift at the top of the mountain !
The air's thinner so you need more of it.
Likewise, with the drop in air pressure water will 'boil' at a lower temperature, hence your boiler thinks it has boiled the water, but relative to what you call 'hot' it doesnt. But its not the boilers fault.
If your vans' like mine and fitted with only a 40-60 water temp switch then you are stuck with accepting the water temp may not be quite what you want.
Thanks for the other info though, as I am heading off this weekend for my first 'mountain' trip so am not sure how my van will perform in the cold yet.
I've spent 5 weeks in the French Alps so far this year. 2 weeks at Les Arcs (stayed in Les Lanchettes campsite - recommended) then a week in Val D'Isere followed by 2 weeks in Meribel.
I have a 2000 Benimar 5000ld - which being Spanish built isn't what you would call winterised. Me and my missus have been to the Alps several times and each time we've learned to do something else to aid heat retention. This time we lagged as many pipes as possible, and used bubble-wrap to insulate inside cupboards etc.
The best advice I can give is to get a good quality generator 1000+ watts, and a screen for the cab. I have one from Silverscreens. The cab area is where you will lose most heat. Use the generator to keep the veh batts topped up (even if you have solar like me, often the sun won't peep over the mountains into the valley in Dec - Feb), you can also run a electric fan heater to really dry your van. Cooking will create a lot of damp on the walls. Plus you can run a hairdryer, TV, toaster or kettle etc.
Get a small beer crate or something similar to use instead of your usual step. This allows snow to fall off your feet before you enter the van. Although the temp in the van may feel warm, at floor level it will be freezing and snow will not melt.
If your not using Propane already, make the switch; Butane freezes at 0 Deg Cent, Propane at -40 Deg Cent.
Gas consumption: Expect to get through a 13 Kg cylinder every 4 days when temp is -5 and below. Keep your heating on at all times or all will freeze up. If it does don't despair. Use 5ltr water bottles for cooking etc, and go to the public baths for your shower..it's a good excuse for a swim and is a good way of stretching out muscles after a hard day on the slope.
Many people are switching to LPG and I'm considering it too. Store frozen goods (meat/veg) in an outside locker. This way you can keep your fridge on tick over thereby saving on gas.
Take a high TOG duvet or two and have dedicated footwear for inside the van. We use tent slippers so as not to wear out the carpet.
Snow chains are mandatory, and also come in useful in UK on slippy grass sites! Have an old jacket you can slip on when putting on /taking chains off. You will get dirty from the tyres, take a matt to kneel on too. Practice putting the chains on at home before you go. Doing it for the first time on a snowy mountain pass at the end of a 2 day drive is not the time...trust me.
Don't use an awning if its snowing. It could collapse and rip it off the side of your van. Not me, he was dutch.
Brush snow off the top of your van. It may look cool for the folks back home, but the layer next to your roof will melt and could make it's way inside. It will also eventually become ice and once it freezes again it could split panels etc.
Wear more clothes than you normally would at home.
Try to start your veh engine every day even if only for 10 mins. This will stop the oil in the engine block from going gloopy/freezing. It will also stop moisture from freezing in the fuel system. A certain show stopper.
Take a portable BBQ with you. The sight of some peoples faces when they see you BBQing in -20 is comical! Most importantly retain a sense of humour. You'll need it when something fails at 0200 and it's snowing hard.
If you want info about the places i went to recently then PM me.
Hiya.
I stayed in the coach park at Val d'isere Daille, which is just short of Val Main village. I was there 3rd week of Jan for 10 days. From what i could understand from the OT, there is a dispute going on about the Daille car & coach parks so in the meantime they have closed the main carpark which also used to double as the Aire. The OT told me to park up in the coach park but warned me to keep out the way of buses and not to empty grey/black water into the river. There are no facilities. Once i'd chatted to several seasonaires i was told that the skipass hut at the bottom of the funicular is where to get water and empty the thetford. Basically the authorities prefer to "leave" the toilets open rather than risk people emptying tanks into the river or drains. The unwritten rule is that you do it under the cover of darkness once the slopes have cleared and you clean up after yourselves.
There were approx 7-9 vans there during my stay and no-one once bothered me. The Skiing is fantastic, the Espace Killy area is awesome.
It was -15 for most of my 10 days and my water froze, so I took to having an evening dip in the municiple pool followed by a shower.
Other than that slight inconvenience, it was brilliant. I'm going back for xmas later this year.
Time to resurrect this thread I think as coming up for ski season.
I went to Verbier last xmas in the motorhome, and found its "accepted" to stay in the main car park by the municipal swimming baths / ex nuclear bunker which is now a hostel. However we didn't sleep in the van.
We spoke with one couple who had 700 (yes, seven hundred) litres of water with them in their van for their trip !!!!
I couldn't see where to empty grey & toilet waste, or get water. So does anyone know where can go in Verbier for this?
May I suggest that you start a new thread here or move the post? It's just that Verbier is in a different country never mind different area, so by titling it such you may have a higher chance of a useful reply
having said that the original thread did digress, and I played a part in that by asking for more info from someone who mentioned Val d'Isere but I'm sure you'll see what I mean. Sorry I can't help about Verbier. Might post a Q about Switzerland myself. Happy ski-planning!
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but I'm sure you'll see what I mean. Sorry I can't help about Verbier. Might post a Q about Switzerland myself. Happy ski-planning!
