Breakdown Insurance

You just never know what you are going to get with breakdown companies. Especially in a motorhome. The AA and the RAC are just set up for cars and small vans. Anything bigger, they subcontract to a local, and they can vary from awesome to awful.

I know that ADAC have a great reputation, and I have heard more good stories about them than bad, but if you are usually in the UK I think it just adds an extra layer of complexity. However they do seem to be good if you are touring europe. I was once with a couple in Morocco in a van who had terrible problems, and I remember the service and support they got from ADAC in Germany was awesome.

Quite a few owners in the UK, myself included, use Britannia, which is also known as LV. Having had problems with size in the past, I have always checked with them that size isn't a problem, by clearly asking for confirmation on the phone - they record everything, and I have never had a problem. The last time I needed a recovery they sent out a 20 tonner! They also appear to me to have a decent control room and reasonably well trained staff.

I am also not a fan of breakdown cover that is bundled with insurance. Quite often the cover is inadequate or size restricted, and also there can be problems of communication - there is often an extra layer of people from the insurance company claims office between you and the breakdown company. All the insurance companies ever do is just do a deal with a breakdown company and take a commission off the top. However I do accept that some bundled deals are very attractive, especially for 3.5 ton vans.

I was with Saga for years, and although they got there in the end, I do remember occasions where it took a while to even identify myself as a policy holder, before they even took the details of the breakdown. With Britannia, they don't care who you are insured with, you just give them your number and away you go.

Other things to remember are that some bundle deals have age restrictions, so it is absolutely important when setting up or renewing cover that you clearly state the size and weight and age of the van, and also check how many days abroad you are allowed if that is important to you.

After years with Saga I decided that I could do a lot better elsewhere. I ended up insuring both my car and my van with the local NFU office, and I arranged my own breakdown cover with Britannia. The total is about £300 a year, and they haven't asked for an increase for 3 years. From what I have seen from the experiences of others, £300 a year for breakdown and insurance is about average for an old Hymer.

Fridge not performing well on gas in summer?

Come the summer, that's when classic fridges start to fail! Quite often it is the performance on gas that suffers. The reason for this is that the gas system is a more complex mechanism than the electric one. The 240v mechanism is a simple heating element in the chimney, and basically it either works at peak efficiency for life, or it just fails completely and is easy to diagnose.

The gas system on the other hand relies on the gas being metered through the tiny hole of a jet, and then burning cleanly in the burner. There is also an ignition system, and a safety thermo couple, all of which can go wrong.

But the commonest fault in summer is that the fridge simply doesn't perform as well on gas as it does on 240v, and this is a reasonably sure sign that the gas system is not generating as much heat as it should, or that the heat is not being convected away fast enough because of the hot weather. A camper 3 way fridge is a very different animal to a domestic compressor fridge - ambient temperature and heat movement is much more important.

If it was working reasonably ok before the hot weather, then that's a definite clue. A small computer fan mounted on the inside of the top vent, blowing out, is a great improvement. Also try and see what side of the van the sun is shining on - it gets really hot in there - any sort of sun shade you can rig up is a good temporary fix. The other thing to do is to check the fridge early in the morning - if it has cooled nicely overnight, then that's another clue. Repositioning the van in the shade is often a good idea if it's possible.

If you are still sure that it is working better on mains than gas, then you need a burner service, to make sure that there is a decent flame. Usually the commonest fault is that debris is resting in the burner and interfering with the flame. That's why many people are suggesting blowing out with an airline, but for this to be effective you really need to take the tin box off from around the burner. The next most likely cause of a low flame is smaller debris becoming lodged in the jet, which has a tiny hole in it, which restricts the flow of gas. In order to get at the jet to blow it with air, you need to remove the gas feed pipe, and on no account should you touch the jet with anything metallic like a pin - the hole in the jet is precisely engineered and enlarging it by accident leads to carbon monoxide tragedy. 

Another easy check is to remove the tin box around the burner, and then in the dark, examine the flame - you just can't see it during daylight, but you can in the dark! You are looking for a mainly blue flame at least the size (but NOT the same yellow colour!) as a candle flame - about 30mm. It should also be making a nice gentle sound, like an old fashioned gas light (if you are old enough!). You should also feel heat coming out of the flue at the top. A visual check of the flame at night is often a really good idea, especially if you do it before and after cleaning or service work.

There are plenty of DIY instructions online, but if in any doubt go get it done professionally.

Fridges in general ...

You can't expect too much from a 25 year old fridge. It is amazing that they last so long. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen people come online with fridge problems in summer. British summers are not particularly hot, so even a fridge in need of a gas service will work OK in spring. But as soon as the temperature gets hot - up above 25 and 30, then the fridge just won't cope. It's even worse if you are heading abroad on a well planned and anticipated summer holiday. Nothing ruins it worse than a complaining fridge. So try and get your fridge checked before you go, or at least keep an eye on it the first hot weekend you get at home.

Don't load a basket of new shopping into an empty fridge and then switch it to 12v for the journey, and expect it to be cold when you get there. Have the fridge pre-cooled on gas the day before. Only load it with stuff pre-cooled from the supermarket fridges, and keep ambient food to a minimum. The 12v system is not as powerful as 240v or gas - it's only for maintaining the temperature while travelling, not for cooling or freezing. 

Give an old fridge every helping hand you can - those blue plastic freezer blocks that you freeze and put into cool boxes are a great idea. You can freeze them at home, and put some into the fridge when you load it up. You can also re-freeze them overnight in the fridges tiny ice box, if you are lucky, and then put them in the main compartment during the day. Campsites will also re-freeze them for you.

Keep your visits to the fridge short and sweet. While you are trying to choose between gin and tonic or rum and coke with the door open, you are losing cold!

Consider buying a new fridge! After 15 years and many episodes of learning and frustration, I finally chucked in the towel a few years ago in an Austrian heatwave and bought a new fridge. It was eyewateringly expensive - a thousand euros. But I discovered that technology has moved on. The insulation is thinner, so the walls are thinner and the interior is bigger. It even makes ice - solid cubes of it, rather than pools of water with a bit of ice on top. It is so good that we have to turn it down in cooler weather. If you use your van a lot, it is a good investment, and should last another 20 years.

(Note for Classic Hymer owners - pre 95 Hymers have 50mb gas pressure - modern fridges are now 30mb - you MUST have a pressure reducer fitted if you buy a new fridge)

Grimacing Hymer Syndrome - Front Bumper Misaligned

Many classic Hymers end up looking like this.

What has happened is that the bumper has had a small collision, which has bent the mounting brackets, and moved the bumper up an inch or so, but not damaged the bumper - they are quite strong. It's not just a problem with 700's you will see many Merc classics with a similar grim expression! The remedy is quite easy, but needs tools and basic mechanical skills.

All you need to do is lie on your back and look under the front of the van, and you will see that the bumper is mounted to the front sub frame of the van with two brackets. If you look closely you will see that the bolts holding the brackets have oval holes which allow for a certain amount of adjustment. It is here that the metal has bent slightly, or the bolts have slipped in the holes. Either way the remedy is to loosen the bolts and straighten the bracket and adjust the whole thing so that the van is smiling again. It's a lot easier to do than it is to describe in words - once you see how the bumper is fixed by the brackets, it's pretty easy to work out what is needed.

Also note that on many vans, at the end of the bumper near the front wheel arches is a screw attaching the end of the bumper to the wheel arch. This screw is more of a support and adjustment than a structural mounting, but you need to know it's there.

It's an hours work for a competent mechanic. You need a socket set and spanners and a hammer. The bolts may be caked in corrosion or underseal or old age. They may have to be destroyed to get them off - but they are a standard size and easy to replace.

The take away think to remember is that despite appearances, the hardware mounting the bumper to the van is extremely simple and easy to service and adjust, unlike the wildly expensive moulded bumpers on modern cars and vans. So don't be frightened of it! 4 bolts and 2 screws!