Pastiche Put Through a Chilling Test
Posted: 07/03/2013 Author: Jackie ShipleyAt Coachman, we rigorously test our caravans to make sure they’re as comfortable as possible at any time of the year.
Even the recent harsh weather wasn’t enough to push the Pastiche 520/4 to its limits, so we took the caravan to Truma’s new climate centre in Burton upon Trent, where it was placed in a huge refrigerator and cooled to a temperature of -15 degrees. We left it there for 10 hours with all doors and windows open, thoroughly “soaking” the van with cold air.
Next, the doors and windows were closed and the Truma Combi heater turned on. Well within the target time, the Pastiche 520/4 was warmed to 20 degrees ambient, proving that Coachman’s outstanding insulating properties are among the best in the industry.
Truma’s test equipment includes a thermal image camera to highlight cool and hot spots. One of these even caught a window mistakenly left open during a test – and showed that much of the heat was still retained and distributed around the caravan.
Industry standards rank caravans and motorhomes on thermal performance, with Grade 1 being no heating at all, and Grade 3 meaning the van can reach 20 degrees from -15 degrees in four hours. So imagine how pleased we were to find the Pastiche reached the highest grade 90 minutes before the target time!
We’re really warming to the challenge now, and are planning more tests to see how we can make Coachman caravans’ insulation even better. So if innovative design, high quality and keeping warm count, make time for Coachman!
