Cleaning your caravan, motorhome or leisure vehicle, especially when you have pets is time-consuming, and brushing creates more dust in the air to settle on your furnishings – what you need is a vacuum cleaner.
Something doesn’t seem right having to clean with a dust pan and brush when you’re on holiday and want to relax or go out for the day. And trying to clean pet hair with a brush, well, forget it, that’s just impossible.
Now you might think that you can bring the vacuum cleaner you have at home and use it as a caravan vacuum, and fair enough you could. But there are some differences between a vacuum cleaner with a power cable you plugin and use around the home to the one you need for the tight spaces and awkward crevices you have in your caravan or motorhome.
It’s also much easier to choose a vacuum cleaner for the home; all you need is the best vacuum cleaner for your money with the best suction. It’s a lot trickier when you want one for the caravan or motorhome your power options are problematic. For example, you have 230V, 16A or 12V, and if we’re talking about a caravan or motorhome specifically, the size and weight of the vacuum cleaner is a consideration.
There’s always masses of choice with vacuum cleaners and who wants to spend hours poring over different vacuum cleaners checking the features of one against another’s features. Unless of course, you enjoy that work. If you don’t, then this buying guide is precisely what you need.
We’ve done all the groundwork for you, all you have to do is pick one vacuum cleaner from our list that suits your needs and price range.
Just before you delve into our buying guide for caravan vacuum cleaners a quick word of advice, you might think that buying a cheap one will be good enough because the vacuum cleaner will only be for the caravan or motorhome; we agree it’s tempting.
But, cheap often means lack of suction, and the battery dies before you have a quarter of the caravan or motorhome clean. Making this mistake is beyond frustrating and will cost you more money in the long run. To justify the cost of buying a more expensive quality vacuum cleaner, you could argue that it will be just as useful back in the home.
Table of Contents
Best Hoovers For Your Caravan
The 2-in-1 Vax OnePWR Blade 4 is well built, excellent quality, robust and doesn’t have any weak links. The motorised head is solid and well designed.
Only four main sections mean putting the Vax together is straightforward and quick. Four clicks and ready.
The caravan vacuum cleaner has four power modes, normal, motorised head with normal power, and boost and motorised brush head. The motorised brush head mode (powered brush-head) is perfect for thick pile carpets.
The suction power on regular is powerful enough, and if you have pet hair boost the suction power to full to pick those up. The vacuum does a great job of pet hairs without having to unwrap them from the roller continuously.
By removing the long nozzle, you have the perfect handheld for your caravan or motorhome complete with attachments, including a crevice tool. Doubling as a stick vacuum makes it ideal for home use.
Removable ONEPWR 4.0 Ah detachable battery generates up to 45 minutes run time, more than enough to clean the largest caravan with battery to spare. Remember you will get less time using it on boost mode.
The dust vault three-stage filtration and dual-layer electrostatic filter capture 98% of dust particles as small as 0.3 microns; the removable bin makes emptying a cinch, no dragging the whole vacuum to your waste bin.
Key Features
- Weight: 3.1Kg.
- No suction loss even when the battery is low or the dirt bin is full.
- Quick and straightforward to assemble.
- Three-stage filtration and dual-layer electrostatic filter.
- CaptureS 98% of dust particles down to 0.3 microns
Cleaning your caravan or motorhome is effortless with the large and powerful Hoover 3in1 cordless vacuum. The cleaner might seem large at first glance but is still lightweight at only 1.5Kg. It is an upright for house cleaning but converts into a handheld model.
If you’re looking for comparable power to a Dyson, this is it, only at a more affordable price.
Power delivery is by way of the 22-volt lithium battery providing up to forty minutes of continuous use; the handheld version will last not quite as long, but still a credible twenty-five minutes. It’s perfect for the caravan because there are no cords to get in the way when you’re trying to get into the smaller spaces inside a caravan.
The various tools fit nicely on the main body of the vacuum. A nice touch and convenient to have the tools with you when you need to use them, and there’s no forgetting where you last put them down.
Hoover’s flat and drive nozzle will lie perfectly flat for easy access under furniture. There are plenty of accessories, and as we mentioned, they fit snugly on the vacuum body. An adequate size bin at 0.7 litres means you won’t need to empty every time you use the vacuum.
Because it’s a Hoover, you’ll find spares of parts and batteries easy to come by and overall very manoeuvrable, lightweight with plenty of suction.
Key Features
- Weight: 2.6Kg, which includes both body and stick.
- 12-month guarantee.
- Forty minutes non-stop run time as a handheld, twenty-five minutes on floors.
- Trigger control.
- Handy wall-mount for convenient storage.
The VC8 is an upright 2-in-1 vacuum cleaner, and there is no loss of suction when you use either the handheld or upright version of the cleaner. If dragging a heavy vacuum around the caravan, motorhome or house is getting you down then this lightweight and manoeuvrable cleaner will suit you down to the ground.
If you have a pet or small child, accidents happen, it’s no hassle to clean up the mess quickly. Perfect for caravan use or a second one in the home. Use it on carpets, wood and laminate.
Suppose you decide to use and store in the caravan at 2.5Kg and only 110.5 x 20.8 x 26cm it won’t take up much size or weight allowance.
This is small and versatile enough to give you the choice of cleaning your caravan with either the handheld or upright and the power comes from a 600W HEPA filter motor with an A energy rating. The HEPA filter is easy to clean and is reusable, but spare filters are available if you do need to replace.
Convert the vacuum from an upright stick vacuum to handheld with just the push of a button. A bagless in-built dust container catches dirt and dust, that’s straightforward to remove and empty.
For such a small light cleaner at a budget price, this vacuum sucks as well as.
Key Features
- Budget price.
- HEPA filter.
- Powerful suction.
- Lightweight.
- Compact size.
- A energy rating.
The Gtech Multi MK2 weighs only 1.5Kg, and that includes the nozzle. Perfect for caravan and motorhome cleaning and you can store comfortably in your caravan without any concern for additional weight or space the Gtech vacuum cleaner will take.
There’s plenty of little nooks and crevices that need cleaning in a caravan, and the crevice tool attachment on the vacuum makes short work of them. Gtech has fitted an LED light to illuminate the area you’re trying to clean making dirt and dust highly visible. Now you can vacuum your caravan or motorhome at any time day or night.
When you finish vacuuming there’s the easy empty bin. To release the dirt and debris you’ve collected just flip a latch and empty straight into the waste bin.
You don’t have to perform any balancing act with a heavy vacuum on the stairs, with this handheld vacuum.
The Gtech vacuum’s power comes from a 22V lithium-ion battery, providing twenty minutes of run time from a four-hour charge. But you will not run out of power because of the LED battery indicator display; something that is missing on the Dyson and Vax vacuum cleaners.
Key Features
- LED Battery indicator light.
- Lightweight, only 1.5Kg, including each attachment.
- LED light to illuminate dark areas.
- Four-hour battery charge.
- Twenty-minute run time.
- Crevice Tool.
The VonHaus 2-in-1 Stick and Handheld Vacuum cleaner is within a budget price and is small and lightweight enough to store away in a caravan, motorhome or leisure vehicle storage space. Even allowing for the fact it comes cheaper than most other vacuum cleaners of this design has excellent suction power.
This vacuum cleaner is versatile and highly efficient. The versatility comes from being a 2-in-1 handheld and stick vacuum cleaner, capable of cleaning different floors such as carpets, laminate, vinyl, tiles and wood, covering all floor types found in caravans.
A bagless design 0.2-litre capacity dust tank will empty at a single push of a button.
The VonHaus vacuum cleaner features a HEPA filter system, standard on many vacuum cleaners, but necessary to trap microscopic particles—particularly for people with allergies. The filter prevents bacteria and dust from circulating inside your caravan or motorhome. The vacuum cleaner has easy-glide wheels and a 5M power cable to give the Von Haus a comfortable operation.
Key Features
- Two-year warranty included.
- HEPA filter system to trap microscopic dust particles.
- Five-metre cord.
- Easy-glide wheels.
- The price point at the budget end.
- Weight: 2.2Kg.
The Black & Decker PD1200AV-XJ is a compact handheld vacuum cleaner with 12DC that fits a cigarette lighter. The 1.5-metre flexible hose will allow you to reach most small crevices and challenging to get to places in your van. There is a 5-metre cable that conveniently stores inside the body of the vac.
The excellent flexible hose that is part of the vac comes with extra attachments like the long crevice tool and the flip-up brush. Perfect for those cobwebby corners in the Caravan when you’re giving it a spring clean.
The vacuum cleaner’s cyclonic action maintains maximum suction power enabling the dirt spin away from the filter. A quick look through the dustbowl window will tell you when the vacuum cleaner needs emptying.
There’s a useful storage bag for the vacuum cleaner and attachments and the whole thing will conveniently fit in a storage space in your van.
Key Features
- 1.5-metre flexible hose.
- The vacuum cleaner will work from your cigarette lighter.
- Includes attachments such as the crevice tool and flip-up brush.
- A convenient 5-metre cable.
Conclusion
As you have just read, caravan vacuum cleaners vary tremendously. There are some essential points you should consider before making your final choice.
The size of your caravan or motorhome will help you determine what exactly you need. For example, if you want a cord or not. If you own a small 2-berth van you might not need such extensive battery life, then again if you own a 6-berth van then run time will be much more important to you.
Will you be able to reach all areas of your van easily? If you choose a corded vacuum, this is essential information. Remember you need to plug it in, which means electrical outlets’ locations play a significant role in your choice.
If you’re confident you can reach all areas of your van, then a corded vacuum might be your best option, of course, there’s no danger of the battery dying in the middle of cleaning your van.
A wet and dry vacuum might be your choice, but we don’t advise those because they are not generally powerful enough to clean wet spills; unless you have a large and powerful version. But with weight and space at a premium in a caravan, you are more than likely to leave that at home.