31-07-2022, 06:36 PM
The things that limit how long you can stay off grid are mostly related to water, waste and power.
How long you can manage without water depends on how big your water tank is and on how much water you use. Two of us in our van can manage about ten days between fill-ups, though we have stretched it to more than a fortnight at times.
How long the toilet can manage is another limiting factor. We find that a standard Thetford C200 cassette lasts two of us four to five days. So we have three of them, keeping two in a sealed plastic box in the boot. That way, the toilet lasts as long as the fresh water supply.
Domestic rubbish and "grey waste" (used washing-up water and the like) are generally not a problem. You can usually find somewhere to empty the grey waste tank, and if there is nowhere to get rid of rubbish, we simply put it into a bin bag in the boot.
Power can be an issue for many people. We have Truma blown air heating running off LPG, so it doesn't use a lot of 12v power. If you have a diesel-powered "night heater" or you watch TV for hours on end, you may find that batteries struggle, especially on long winter nights.
The other big consumer of 12v power is compressor fridges. They are cheap to buy, easy to install and need no maintenance, but your fridge will use more 12v power than everything else put together. High-end motorhomes generally use three-way fridges to avoid this load.
How long you can manage without water depends on how big your water tank is and on how much water you use. Two of us in our van can manage about ten days between fill-ups, though we have stretched it to more than a fortnight at times.
How long the toilet can manage is another limiting factor. We find that a standard Thetford C200 cassette lasts two of us four to five days. So we have three of them, keeping two in a sealed plastic box in the boot. That way, the toilet lasts as long as the fresh water supply.
Domestic rubbish and "grey waste" (used washing-up water and the like) are generally not a problem. You can usually find somewhere to empty the grey waste tank, and if there is nowhere to get rid of rubbish, we simply put it into a bin bag in the boot.
Power can be an issue for many people. We have Truma blown air heating running off LPG, so it doesn't use a lot of 12v power. If you have a diesel-powered "night heater" or you watch TV for hours on end, you may find that batteries struggle, especially on long winter nights.
The other big consumer of 12v power is compressor fridges. They are cheap to buy, easy to install and need no maintenance, but your fridge will use more 12v power than everything else put together. High-end motorhomes generally use three-way fridges to avoid this load.