Facilities in cv east?

[daclown28]

So having got a campervan east ticket now.i have to buy a camper. I understand that it must have EITHER cooking or washing facilities and what I buy will probably have both, however I just wanted to know are there plenty of toilets? Are there any showers? Food vendors ? Shops ?

 

[Youtopia]

Plenty of porta loos, no shops, no showers, some food vendors (burger van, coffee place, sweet shops)

[semmtexx]

Turdises. Couple of coffee vans etc. No showers or shops. Not enough water points!

[Penrhos]

CV has to have cooking or washing facilities and a bed installed - NOT A mattress or inflatable bed chucked in the back.

There are Turdises in all the fields but avoid the ones at the top of the hill of death as they quickly become minging...

Multiple Burger & Tea vans (but they were more expensive than on site and quality wasn't great) - Personally I'd avoid them and stick to brewing your own in the CV and eating inside the festival if not cooking in the CV.

Only CV field showers are at Bath & West - in the toilet block!.

Fresh water points are scattered around the CV fields but there's only a few and can get busy.

There's a chemical toilet vat in each field (usually by the Turdises) this has to be the worst bit.

BTW don't forget to press the release button on the toilet cassette so you get a smooth empty or it sploshes everywhere.

Edited November 1, 2018 by Penrhos

[clarkete]

3 hours ago, daclown28 said:

So having got a campervan east ticket now.i have to buy a camper. I understand that it must have EITHER cooking or washing facilities and what I buy will probably have both, however I just wanted to know are there plenty of toilets? Are there any showers? Food vendors ? Shops ?

 

I stay in a rented caravan in East.

There are tons of folk who have tables and chairs who get up and make themselves breakfast, then do their washing up. We just have a lie in, then a brew and maybe a cereal bar then go on site for proper food. We don't need to think about what we take and can follow our palates, which I like. 

The burger vans I just use for either buying an overpriced pint of milk or a drunken emergency bacon buttie on the way to bed. 

Most of the loos are pretty good, the taps will have slower queues in the morning due to folk filling big containers. 

 

[H.M.V]

Related question I hope. Do the veterans have advice about battery life seeing as no hook ups. Do you keep a spare or will a leisure battery be enough for the week? For fridge and lights and charging phones etc. 

 

[Cooter]

Hi HMV, if that's the only things you're powering from your leisure battery then it'll just depend what sort of fridge you have as to how long your battery will last. If its a 3way {12v,240v or gas} fridge then you'll be better off running it on gas and saving your battery power for other things. Running a standard 12v fridge will flatten an average sized leisure battery in probably less than a day.

When me and my family are there we have several leisure batteries powering lots of things from speakers and amps to fridges and freezers etc etc. Its a good idea to connect a solar panel to your battery to keep it topped up from the sun, if indeed there is any! If you're not familiar with these, they're quite simple, just connect to your battery with crocodile clips and point the panel at the sky.

[StoneCircle]

45 minutes ago, H.M.V said:

Related question I hope. Do the veterans have advice about battery life seeing as no hook ups. Do you keep a spare or will a leisure battery be enough for the week? For fridge and lights and charging phones etc. 

 

Your fridge should run on gas, electric will flatten the battery in hours. We have 2 leisure batteries as we have a motor mover which can use up a lot of power, if you are relatively careful 1 should last. Avoid using the pump for water apart from the shower, a 5 litre container is helpful in doing this. We also have a 20w solar panel, one of these days we will upgrade to a larger one, highly recommend getting one. 

[Nice hymer]

37 minutes ago, H.M.V said:

Related question I hope. Do the veterans have advice about battery life seeing as no hook ups. Do you keep a spare or will a leisure battery be enough for the week? For fridge and lights and charging phones etc. 

 

How long is a piece of string?

How big is your battery, do you have solar, if so how big is your panel?

A fridge running on gas will consume virtually no electric (not much gas either), whereas a compressor fridge will burn through the available amps quickly.

Do you have a shower, if so how often and how many people? How long will you be running the pump each day - how will you manage your water needs?

Phone charging doesn't consume many amps but listening to tunes everyday or watching tv will.

Lighting is another important one. Halogen bulbs will consume energy quickly, LED lights hardly any.

Not trying to be awkward here but there are lots of considerations and variables.

Assuming we could get water, we could be independent for maybe six weeks before the gas ran out, we have a 180amp leisure battery, 150w solar and LED lighting, so power's not really an issue for us. (Been doing this a long time, so have gained the knowledge).

Others might be dead in the water within a day or two.

Get the biggest battery and solar you can fit and/or afford, swapping halogen bulbs for LED is the best and most cost effective thing you can do.

Arriving with a full bottle of gas will ensure the fridge, cooking and hot water is taken care of.

Give me an idea of your set up and expected usage and I'll suggest how to improve it.

 

 

 

[H.M.V]

Thanks both. We're going away for a night for the first time in the van so have a lot to figure out. Thankfully the site also has an accessory shop which is why we chose it. 

We'll only find out how to use stuff and what we need when we go away. Also olenty of people about to help if needed. 

[H.M.V]

Thanks @Nice hymer hopefully be able to answer questions next week. Never been away in the van or any for that matter so massive learning curve. 

[Nice hymer]

No problem @H.M.V I'll be checking in here regularly, feel free to ask any questions in the next few months!

[H.M.V]

1 minute ago, Nice hymer said:

No problem @H.M.V I'll be checking in here regularly, feel free to ask any questions in the next few months!

Thanks a mill. ?

[carlosj]

Following on from @Nice hymer
  @H.M.V

 do you have any solar power charging? There are ways to calculate how long items can be used on leisure batteries, and that is without the batteries being recharged. A quick Google search like this can help, as it's beyond me generally https://m.gooutdoors.co.uk/expert-advice/powering-your-appliances

If the battery is new and you use it sparsely, you should be OK with phone charging, showers and lights. If you have solar recharging then you're sorted.

General things I've done are change all bulbs to led, minimise lights being on without electric hook up, short showers (get wet, turn shower off, wash, rinse), keep the gas tanks full and power from them instead of 12v.

With your caravan, weight distribution is the thing I guess, coupled with minimising weight. I don't mean fat yeti, but unloading unnecessary weight and using plastic and lighter stuff. We had a steep learning curve with our van but it's great to use. Have you got flags sorted yet, and fairy lights for the pole?

 

@Nice hymer

 what have you got? We're in an 05 655.

[Nice hymer]

20 hours ago, carlosj said:

Following on from @Nice hymer
  @H.M.V

 do you have any solar power charging? There are ways to calculate how long items can be used on leisure batteries, and that is without the batteries being recharged. A quick Google search like this can help, as it's beyond me generally https://m.gooutdoors.co.uk/expert-advice/powering-your-appliances

If the battery is new and you use it sparsely, you should be OK with phone charging, showers and lights. If you have solar recharging then you're sorted.

General things I've done are change all bulbs to led, minimise lights being on without electric hook up, short showers (get wet, turn shower off, wash, rinse), keep the gas tanks full and power from them instead of 12v.

With your caravan, weight distribution is the thing I guess, coupled with minimising weight. I don't mean fat yeti, but unloading unnecessary weight and using plastic and lighter stuff. We had a steep learning curve with our van but it's great to use. Have you got flags sorted yet, and fairy lights for the pole?

 

@Nice hymer

 what have you got? We're in an 05 655.

Current van is a 05 B524 (5th year), previous van was a 98 B544 (4yrs), can't believe that we've had a Hymer for nearly ten years now.

Re batteries - it's best not to discharge them below 50%. So an 80amp battery (common size) will provide 40amps of usable power.

12.7v or thereabouts is a full battery.

12.2v is around the safe limit, if you go lower, you might shorten the battery's lifespan.

An LED bulb will draw around 0.3 amps per hour, whereas a halogen bulb will draw 3 amps per hour, so the LED lasts 10x longer.

A typical phone (connected to a cig socket for example) will take around 2-3 amps to charge.

Water pumps vary, usually 3-6amps per hour but chances are you're not using them much (will run out of water long before power consumption becomes an issue).

Fridge draw (when running on gas) will be negligible, perhaps 0.2amp per hour

As a rough guide (weather and season dependent), each 10w of solar will top up 0.5amp per hour in clear UK sky. So a 150w panel will charge around 7.5amps per hour (15x0.5)

This does mean that a small panel (say 20w) will only provide 1amp per hour in clear sky. It's obviously worth having but need to be mindful that your probably not replacing all that's being taken out.

I'll also say that running the engine 'to put some charge back in' is unlikely to work. Even running the engine for an hour will only put a few amps back, the first 20min will just replenish the energy needed to start the engine.

 

Simply fitting LED bulbs will mean that most can survive the week with one battery.

It's when you've got six people charging phones daily and lighting with several halogen (or strip) bulbs that things can quickly become a problem....

[Upside down frowner]

You’ve got some time before the festival, maybe have a dummy run in spring. See how long you can last on the fridge using gas (ages) and limited electrical use; lights, water pump for shower.

I did a few 3 night festivals to make sure our old caravan could do it, Glastonbury worried me and i was over cautious but the battery lasted the full wed-Monday. You’re not in it that long really.

I would get a battery pack for charging your phones, relatively cheap on amazon and get 8/9 charges. 

If it’s a caravan, would the plug sockets work if not plugged into a EHU?

[H.M.V]

56 minutes ago, Nice hymer said:

Current van is a 05 B524 (5th year), previous van was a 98 B544 (4yrs), can't believe that we've had a Hymer for nearly ten years now.

Re batteries - it's best not to discharge them below 50%. So an 80amp battery (common size) will provide 40amps of usable power.

12.7v or thereabouts is a full battery.

12.2v is around the safe limit, if you go lower, you might shorten the battery's lifespan.

An LED bulb will draw around 0.3 amps per hour, whereas a halogen bulb will draw 3 amps per hour, so the LED lasts 10x longer.

A typical phone (connected to a cig socket for example) will take around 2-3 amps to charge.

Water pumps vary, usually 3-6amps per hour but chances are you're not using them much (will run out of water long before power consumption becomes an issue).

Fridge draw (when running on gas) will be negligible, perhaps 0.2amp per hour

As a rough guide (weather and season dependent), each 10w of solar will top up 0.5amp per hour in clear UK sky. So a 150w panel will charge around 7.5amps per hour (15x0.5)

This does mean that a small panel (say 20w) will only provide 1amp per hour in clear sky. It's obviously worth having but need to be mindful that your probably not replacing all that's being taken out.

I'll also say that running the engine 'to put some charge back in' is unlikely to work. Even running the engine for an hour will only put a few amps back, the first 20min will just replenish the energy needed to start the engine.

 

Simply fitting LED bulbs will mean that most can survive the week with one battery.

It's when you've got six people charging phones daily and lighting with several halogen (or strip) bulbs that things can quickly become a problem....

I have no idea what any of that means really but can we be neighbours?  I do a great BBQ and Cocktails.

[Nice hymer]

3 minutes ago, H.M.V said:

I have no idea what any of that means really but can we be neighbours?  I do a great BBQ and Cocktails.

Cool ?

We do great breakfasts and usually have a selection of shots ?

The only thing we don't have is extra charging points - most mornings are like the EE tent....

[H.M.V]

3 minutes ago, Nice hymer said:

Cool ?

We do great breakfasts and usually have a selection of shots ?

The only thing we don't have is extra charging points - most mornings are like the EE tent....

We bring our own Ankers!  

Sounds like a good mix.

[semmtexx]

41 minutes ago, H.M.V said:

We bring our own Ankers!  

Sounds like a good mix.

Those Ankers are good bits of kit!

[semmtexx]

1 hour ago, Nice hymer said:

Fridge draw (when running on gas) will be negligible, perhaps 0.2amp per hour. 

Can I check here. Do the fridges still draw some power when running on gas then? 

Also (if you don't mind while I'm here!!) roughly (and totally get many variables) how much gas does a fridge use? 

We only got the camper this year so haven't actually used up a full tank of gas yet. We have a 4.5kg butane bottle. 

[Nice hymer]

40 minutes ago, semmtexx said:

Can I check here. Do the fridges still draw some power when running on gas then? 

Also (if you don't mind while I'm here!!) roughly (and totally get many variables) how much gas does a fridge use? 

We only got the camper this year so haven't actually used up a full tank of gas yet. We have a 4.5kg butane bottle. 

Yes, certainly ones made in the last 15-20yrs. From memory, most fridges use a maximum of 300grams/24hrs.

If you ever take the external vent off to service the fridge, you'll notice that the flame is very small...

[NancyBoyPossum]

When on gas I think the 12V is only used to control the valves that turn on/off the gas supply to he fridge.  So power drain is insignificant.  But 12V still needed for the fridge to work.

Typical Dometic / Thetford fridges use no more than 500g gas per day at about 25degC outside temp.  In practice much less.  So 4.5kg should be fine.

Even last year in the ridiculous temps, Tue - Mon, we ran our fridge constantly, plus heated the water for showers every day, and used the cooker for boiling kettle each morning, and didn’t use the 6kg bottle we had.

[Nice hymer]

2 hours ago, Upside down frowner said:

You’ve got some time before the festival, maybe have a dummy run in spring. See how long you can last on the fridge using gas (ages) and limited electrical use; lights, water pump for shower.

I did a few 3 night festivals to make sure our old caravan could do it, Glastonbury worried me and i was over cautious but the battery lasted the full wed-Monday. You’re not in it that long really.

I would get a battery pack for charging your phones, relatively cheap on amazon and get 8/9 charges. 

If it’s a caravan, would the plug sockets work if not plugged into a EHU?

Excellent advice - I've only gained the experience by having epic fails and learning how to overcome them.

Re the plug sockets - they're 240v so will only work on mains, unless you have a high end invertor set-up.

I've installed these in critical places (where the kids hang out basically ?)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-DC-12V-to-5V-3A-15W-Hard-Wired-Dual-USB-Charger-for-Dash-Cam-iPhone-GPS-DVR/183256477134?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

[BlueDaze]

2 hours ago, Nice hymer said:

Excellent advice - I've only gained the experience by having epic fails and learning how to overcome them.

Re the plug sockets - they're 240v so will only work on mains, unless you have a high end invertor set-up.

I've installed these in critical places (where the kids hang out basically ?)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-DC-12V-to-5V-3A-15W-Hard-Wired-Dual-USB-Charger-for-Dash-Cam-iPhone-GPS-DVR/183256477134?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I have looked at this 3 times and I still don’t know what it is for..... although for some reason I feel drawn to getting one ?