What was this noise?

[Lzzyisgod]

I went away last night to a local site for a trial run of my (new to me) campervan.

All good van wise but several times in the night I was woken by a great whirring noise from a nearby tent. Is this one of these self inflating mattresses I've heard of? And is it new camping etiquette that it's ok for them to go off at 3.04am? And also many times during the night ......

Obviously I rolled over and tutted to myself but if it was a sim how do people sleep through that!

Earplugs for the first two nights, by the third night you’ll be so tired you’d sleep through any siren, overhead storm, or even the noisiest animal on the planet; a bunch of angry seagulls.

Sims don't make a whirring noise. Are you used to general countryside noises, birds, animals etc? Are you mistakingly thinking its the tent inhabitants when it's actually wildlife, just rustling or calling?

If not, then I guess it's possible that someone in the tent had a CPAP machine or something? But hard to believe that would be so loud that you could hear it in a sealed campervan, since generally partners in the same bed sleep through it.

Any fields nearby being harvested? The farmers sometimes do that at night.

Could it have been guy ropes whirring in the wind? When we had a tourer the ropes on the awning made a right racket in the wind.

Definitely not a cpap machine or guy ropes - much louder than that and more mechanical- maybe more generator - ish? Too inconsistent for harvesting (we get harvesting noise at home)

I'm quite a seasoned camper and usually not much wakes me. Maybe I need another night away to double check it wasn't my van 😁😉

Did you go on your own?

SIMs don’t make a noise but could be a pump for a normal airbed that keeps deflating. Most people wouldn’t blow it up in the middle of the night in a tent but I suppose if they think all others are in vans and they are sleeping on the hard floor I can understand why they did.

Considering the weather recently... a fan of some sort?
Or a camping fridge?

If it was periodic id be thinking something related to temperature with a thermostat that kicks in. Fan/fan heater/electric cool box maybe? None of these feel like they'd be particularly loud though?

SIMS don’t whir, they have no mechanical bits apart from a small valve. Could it have been an electric car motor?

Air bed pump, fridge? Air conditioner?

As a PP mentioned you’ll sleep better the longer you’re away. I always struggle the first few nights and then by night 3 my van could get washed over a cliff and I doubt I’d wake up 🤣

It's a mystery! More vaccum loud (lower in pitch though) than car engine. I assumed it was some kind of air bed reinflating - I just hadn't heard of one going off throughout the night before

I usually sleep like the dead in a van but I think i was being super concious of "new van noises" so was a bit lighter sleeping than normal

We had this, intermittent whirring noise, which seemed very loud in the dead of night.
It turns out it was the fridge.
I discovered that it has a quiet mode for night time.
I’m glad I found out just before I went around to complain to the van next door!

air pump for an inflatable tent is my guess

When we camped in May half term, the tent next to us was an inflatable one which they had to reinflate frequently.

Adult time with accessories

Could be worse OP, I was away for a long weekend earlier this month and the road just beyond the campsite was closed for repairs. Obviously that was then done between the hours of 8pm and 3.30am on two of the nights. I came home more knackered than I went, wishing I’d done the same as some of the other campers and packed up early.

Fan or fridge

This is why I avoid sites that have EHU and generators. The ways people use electricity to create noise is endless.