Complete Guide To Keep Your Caravan Awning Warm
Are you wondering how to keep your caravan awning warm? Well, you’re at the right place! My family and I live in a caravan throughout the year, so I know what works best to keep a caravan awning warm.
You keep your caravan awning warm with a heater that heats the entire surface. As a general rule, 1kW of heat heats an area of up to 32 square feet. Also, a waterproof groundsheet and EVA foam tiles ensure dry and warm feet. And it’s essential to have the correct awning type for your camping season.
I’ll share everything you need to know about how to keep your awning warm more in-depth in this article. So continue reading!
#1 Choose The Right Heater For Your Awnings
As a general rule, 1KW (1000watt) of heat output can heat up to 3 square meters when heating an outside area like a caravan awning. Depending on the size and shape of your caravan awning, you can easily calculate how strong the heater must be to keep your caravan awning warm.
As you might know, caravan awnings come in different shapes and sizes. The caravan awning size depends on the length of your caravan and how wide your awning is.
Let’s say your caravan is 5 meters long, excluding the drawbar. Your caravan awning would be 5 meters long as well. Most caravan awnings have a width of 2.5 meters, this can vary, but we use these measurements as an example for this explanation. So, your caravan awning is 12.5 square meters (5 x 2.5). To heat your caravan awning, you’ll need a heater that can produce up to 4,1 kW of heat output.
However, this is challenging for most campsites since the average campsite only has ten amperages (2300 watts) of electricity on the pitch. So to fully heat your awning, you might need an extra electricity output on the campsite, choose a gas heater, or heat only a part of your caravan awning. Since an extra electricity output on the campsite isn’t always available and when it is, probably very expensive, we look further into the second two options to keep your caravan awning warm.
Use a Heater in a Selective Part of Your Caravan Awning.
Most people use their caravan awning to relax, but they often create a sitting area in one part of the awning. So, it’s probably unnecessary to heat your full caravan awning. You can heat the area you are sitting in to stay warm and comfortable.
Let’s say the sitting area in your caravan awning is 3 square meters. This means you only need a heater that produces a heat output of 1kW, which, as we discussed earlier, equals 1000Watt. Most campsites have a ten amperages electricity output on the pitch, so it’s easy to install. Also, you’ll have enough wattages left on your electricity output to use other electric devices simultaneously.
Use a Gasheater to Keep Your Caravan Awning Warm.
Gas heaters often can heat more square meters, they can warm up a caravan awning faster, and you don’t have to use electricity.
So, if you want to warm up a caravan awning of 12.5 square meters, it’s easier to use a gas heater since many gas heaters can quickly reach a heat output of 4200 watts or higher. However, there are a few things you need to be aware of when using a gas heater;
- Gas heaters often get much warmer than electric heaters, which means you can burn when you touch the surface. So you need to have extra attention when camping with younger children or pets. The best thing is to keep them away from the gas heater or place the gas heater at a level they can’t reach.
- You need to make sure you have enough gas bottles to use the gas heater.
- Since gas heaters emit carbon monoxide, you must always ensure you ventilate your caravan awning with fresh air flowing in when using a gas heater.
This gas heater that’s available on Amazon is recommended with good reviews.
#2 Built-Up Your Awning Floor Correctly
You must built-up the awning floor correctly to keep your caravan awning warm. You can easily avoid moist and cold coming into the tent with the right awning floor.
So building up your awning floor might take some time, but following the following steps will help keep your caravan awning warm.
The right basis for your caravan awning floor consists of three or four layers;
Groundfloor (also known as garden ground cloth)
The first layer of your awning floor is always a garden ground cloth. You put this on the ground before you built up your caravan awning. The garden ground cloth makes sure that the grass doesn’t rot. So it helps to avoid nasty smells. Also, it saves a lot of time cleaning your groundsheet because the garden ground cloth is directly in contact with the ground instead of the groundsheet).
I wouldn’t recommend using a standard plastic groundsheet, especially when you stay longer in one place. The plastic groundsheet has the effect that the grass will rot away and thus expose nasty smells. You don’t want to when relaxing in your caravan awning. So the best thing to do is use a garden ground cloth!
Groundsheet
Standard caravan awnings have mud flaps but missing a fixed groundsheet, which means you need to use an extra groundsheet. It’s recommended to go for a PVC groundsheet. These sheets are durable and waterproof. Similar to the material of your caravan awning.
Tent Tiles (Optional layer for an awning floor)
If you want more luxury in your caravan awning, you can use tent tiles to create a veranda-style floor in your caravan awning. However, this option is quite expensive and only recommended if you stay several months at one place because it can take up a lot of time to built-up these tent tiles.
We use a cheaper variant of the tent tiles. We’ve put pool tiles between the groundsheet and floor carpet in our caravan awning. It’s an extra layer to keep things warm, but it also creates a softer floor, perfect for young children running around in the caravan awning! You can get the cheaper pool tiles we use here on Amazon.
Floor Carpet
To make things more like at home it’s recommended to put a floor carpet on top of the groundsheet. Choosing the right floor carpet can do a lot for your awning interior and is also an extra layer to keep your caravan awning warm.
#3 Pick The Right Awning For Your Intended Use on the Campsite
To keep your caravan awning warm, you must choose the right awning for your intended use on the campsite. For example, when you’re camping on a seasonal pitch and during colder months, you want to choose an awning that can withstand cold, rain, wind, and maybe even winter days. These awnings take more time to put up and are often sturdy and heavy.
However, it’s probably better to pick an awning that’s not so heavy and easier to build up when you’re touring. Because caravan awnings can take up a lot of space and weight in your caravan or towing car, it’s essential to think about your intended use before buying an awning.
We use an awning that’s suited for every season. Because we stay on seasonal pitches and only change locations 2 or 3 times a year, we chose an awning that can withstand heavy weather conditions. We use the Isabella Commodore North awning and are very pleased with it. Even on colder days, it’s convenient to relax inside the caravan awning. Sometimes with a heater on, but most of the time, that’s not necessary because when there’s a little bit of sunshine, the awning will warm up quickly. The awning can be warm during the summer months, but we can open all the side panels for extra ventilation, creating a sun canopy-like setting. So, ideal to use all year round!
If you want to know more about choosing the right awning for your intended use, I recommend reading this helpful guide.
Best Caravan & Camping Equipment
There is always a need for new products when it comes to camping. Either to maintain your caravan or to make your camping setup more comfortable. As digital nomads, we are on the road a lot. We tried out many different online camping stores.
However, we feel that Amazon still offers the best value for money, quick and easy delivery, and easy returns when necessary. We really like that we can use Amazon at almost every location in the world! You can find the best caravan & camping equipment on this page (links you to Amazon).
