Empire Caravans Questions & Answers

Hi. Thank you for contacting me. I am a customer of Empire Caravans and therefore am not qualified to do any repairs. I suggest you contact Bill or Dina at Empire and I'm sure they will look after you. Regards. John.

We were lucky enough to have the correct opening side door in our microwave right from the start.
We had to have the fridge and freezer doors swapped, which was quite an easy exercise,,,,, BUT make sure that all spacers are correctly positioned when swapping fridge and freezer doors.
L+B

Thanks L&B your answer is appreciated. Gerard

We never had any trouble with fridge when on battery and detached from vehicle. We no longer have van as regrettably had to sell but the 4 years we had it never had a problem. Enjoy

Hi John, It doesn't matter what brand of caravan you have with this particular problem. The way the electrics are set up on your car to van, is that when the car is turned off (motor not running), electrical current to the van ceases. It is designed this way to ensure you don't flatten your car battery, so it can't start your vehicle (especially if you are remote, and without mobile phone reception!!!)
Some vehicles are specially set up with 2 batteries to run auxillaries (such as a fridge) for a period of time, but keeping the main vehicular battery free for starting the vehicle.
If you have a single battery in yur vehicle, and are not going to be too long without the car running, this is OK for the fridge to be left. If you at a free camp, or are going to be a long period of time, it is best to turn your fridge to gas mode. A tip here: the cooling from gas is stronger than 240v or 12v, and you may need to slightly adjust your temperature setting to a slightly warmer setting, your your lettuce will freeze!
Hope this is of assistance.
Happy carvaning. Bob

Thank you Bob for your input. My question is about the 2 batteries embedded in the van and charged with a solar panel. Why do these batteries not take over when the car is detached from the Van, and keep the fridge going on battery if that is our choice . I note your comments about the efficiency of gas, and we will no doubt go this way most of the time when camped. Obviously there is something wrong with the settings given we have a red flashing light indicating the fridge is malfunctioning.

Hi Trevor, we are the agents for Empire Caravans in Perth, excessive sway is usually caused by too much weight at the rear of the caravan, its a good idea to buy yourself some ball weight scales that retail for $85 so you know exactly what your ball weight is when loaded, if you have added a tool box to the rear of the Caravan this can sometimes cause the problem and its a very dangerous situation that can have you off the road in no time .The caravan will have the ball weight stamped on the compliance plate in the boot area, if you can move as much of your weight forward of the axles as possible even by simply loading the van differently this may make it tow much better. The problem is caused by the van see sawing back and fourth from too little ball weight which in turn becomes a sway condition, it is very important that when this is happening you break the habit of jumping on the tow vehicle brakes and activate the electric brake control override button which will activate the caravan brakes without the car brakes, this will then pull the caravan back and immediately stop the sway from happening.A very worthwhile addition to your caravan is to add an electronic stability devise that will automatically activate the caravans brakes before you even realize there is a sway condition happening, i recommend the Dexter unit but alko has one as well. There are a few other areas that can be an issue that i haven't touched on but i would check the things i have mentioned first you can call me for some more advise if you like 0408792466 Daniel Applied RV Services and Affordable Caravans

Don't forget also that it might be a factor that you do not have the water and other goods in the van at the time of pick up. Therefore the weight is unevenly distributed.