Steamy Windows

It’s that time of year again where I get questions about windows steaming up. It happens at the beginning and end of the season when we see the sunshine either start to get a bit of power behind it, or when the temperature starts to drop at the end of the season. 

The plastic windows that we have in caravans do not have a vacuum inside them. If this was the case they would be flat with no space between the panes, think of sucking the air out of a plastic bottle.

 Air is a fantastic insulator but will always have a water content within it, because of this, in certain situations this water can condensate on the cold outer surface of the window when the temperature inside the van is warm due to the greenhoues effect we get in a caravan.  

This is what Polyplastic say.
Acrylic has the property that it is very slightly permeable. As a result of this the air in the cavity can contain an amount of moisture. Conditions may cause this to condense. This is a natural phenomenon and does not mean that the window has a leak. This condensation will always disappear after some time.

Condensation can be prevented by properly ventilating the vehicle.
The key to the above statement is that the condensation will disappear after some time when the conditions change. 

If the condensation does not disappear after some time then that window could have 'blown'.

There is a difference between the look of the two different situations.
Condensation will form a fine mist of water vapor on the outer pane of the window between the panes. It will normally form in the center of the pane and fade out towards the edges.

Where as, is the window seam has came appart allowing air to freely pass into the void between the panes, the water that condensates on the inside of the window will form in larger droplets and will run down the window and start to pool in the bottom.

It will also cover the whole pane and will not clear.

If this does happen there are two choises, either drill a small hole in the bottom of the window to let the water out, but this will not cure the problem, or replace the window which can be ordered from Miriad through a caravan accessory shop. 

  

Towing electric..

At the recent caravan show I spoke to two customers who expressed a concern in the attention grabbing headline  "Ban on all diesel and petrol vehicles by the year 2035" and this was a contributing factor on their decision to buy a new caravan.

 My understanding of this headline was the the sale of new diesel and petrol vehicles would stop in 2035 but all current vehicles in use would still be able to be used, and this is indeed the case.

So that means that the car industry will still be producing diesel and petrol vehicles for the next fifteen years. Then add into the life expectancy of vehicles, even these days, and I think we will not have to worry about what we can tow our caravans with for another 30 years.

The drive behind the headline is the plan to remove all diesel and petrol vehicles from the roads by 2050 and the original ban on new D and P cars of 2040 made this difficult with the life expectancy of vehicle as mentioned above of fifteen years.

And after actually reading the story behind the headlines there are a lot of noncommittal type words and statements used such as 'if possible' and 'subject to consultation' so the date is kind of a hope date if the technology is there to support it.

What will the technology be like when we get to 2035? (I hope to be flying around on anti gravity hover boards by then), they could have cracked hydrogen flue technology by then rendering the electric car as redundant as the compact disk and even the DVD player.

 But things are being done, we have recently seen ALKo's plans to add a 48 volt electric motor to the caravan chassis to aid the range achievable when towing and to even use the braking kinetic energy generated to recharge the vehicles battery.

 The caravan manufactures are also looking into the issue. I tried to tap up one of Swifts chief designers at a recent dealer event to see what they had on the agenda as they are currently looking at the caravans we will be seeing in five years time.

I had heard that the move to electric vehicles and the challenges this will bring is at the top of their list, but unfortunately he remained tight lipped.. but he did insure me that they are working hard on it.

So bearing in mind that the ban was brought forward in a particularly volatile political climate where the shift to green policies is a headline grabbing look at us doing the right thing type scenario, the fact that the total ban on diesel and petrol vehicles isn't planned until 2050 and the use of noncommittal language even on the 2035 date, do we really have to worry about what we will be towing our caravans with?

Add to this the global economy being heavy reliant on production and sale of fossil fuels I can't see the people who make their wealth in such markets not using their substantial sway on the powers that be just sitting back and just letting it happen, unless we all vote with our buying power. 

Also and I have to have to break it to everyone as I had to do to the customers that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog who were both in their late sixties, the likelihood of a great number of us having to worry about the problem in the first place is fairly slim. 

Check out ALKO's plans here