Winter RVing

[rodggang]

Hello all,

We love our Excel and know that it is a 4 season coach with a guarantee for -10, but we are nieve about winter RVing....

I am thinking about taking a travel nursing job in Missouri and have found some RV parks that are year round camping. We have questions on how you can do this without having thing freeze up when temps drop into the teens and 20's. We know that you have to have your furnace running for the guarantee to be honored, but doesn't the LP tanks run out quickly? How do you keep your water from freezing from the hookup to the RV? Do you use heat tape for that? Is there anything special you have to do with the sewer hose? Do you just unhook things when you know it is going to get below freezing? Does anyone use those electric heaters that can heat a large room? (and I suppose this would not heat your basement for the below freezing guarantee)

Any other advice on this would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Endeavor2BnC]

First, from two former nurses to another, Thank you for your service.
Now on to your question, make sure you wear warm clothes outside. No really, we use a small ceramic heater to spot heat areas when it's needed. For the most part we are very comfortable w/o it. We use a tank of propane about every 10 days. We keep the temp @ 68 @ night & 70 during the day. We have covers for all the ceiling vents and skylight & door window. We open them up when it's sunny. We also open the shades when the sun is out to gather the heat. We are very comfortable. The coldest weather we've been in is 18 degrees.

If the park would allow it, I'd be putting hay bales around the basement and some kind of screen around the front end. Hay bales around the whole thing wouldn't hurt my feelings.

Water hose, I'd have foam insulation & heat tape. Make sure that the pipe and water regulator is also coveered.

Drain hose, I'd make sure that I got it as dry as possible after a drain.

Hope this helps some. Good Luck.

[Still Working "NOT"]

The only thing I can add to this is you could also fill your fresh water tank and use it instead of having the water hose hooked up. Yoiu would need to drain the water hose or store it where it will not freeze up. My first choice would be heat tape and insulation since you talking long term.

Ditto on everything else on what Tim said.

[Westerner]

For the propane, you could see if there is a local propane supplier which would rent you a very large stand-up tank to hook up to the rv (the ones I've seen look like they'd be about 80-100 gallons-?) and keep it supplied- don't know how the pricing works out, but sure easier than lugging the tanks around.

[RVDude]

This may help your planning.

Essex and General info on Sub Zero temp coach use

[ChiefJohn]

Folks have covered the major concerns -- we've found that a mattress pad/warmer makes for a nice warm bed during those 'chilly' (i.e. freezing) nights. Ours has individual settings so we can select our own comfort level -- for Marilyn, that's too warm for me!

[rodggang]

Thanks for all the great info......rodggang

[BDunlap]

You might find small electric heaters will help to keep the propane bill down. If you have a 50 amp hook-up, you should be able to run two electric heaters. I am not sure of your storage area configuration but if there is an opening that leads to the tanks, you might want to put a small electic heater with a thermostat control to keep that area warm. Several remote temperature senors (Oregon Scientific) are available to monitor temps. Vornado and Pelonis (disc models) are some of the best electric heaters. Camping World and other rv stores sell insulating cushions that are designed to be put in roof vents. This will help heat loss since warm air tends to move to higher areas of the trailer. Electic heaters are usually the safest method but if you use portable propane heaters be sure to get ones with an oxygen senor - (Mr. Heater & Oplympian models). The advantage of the propane heaters is they are very quiet without the fan noise of the furnace. I would definitely get at least two Carbon Monoixde detectors if you decide to run propane inside and keep two windows just cracked open for cross ventilation.

Good luck,

Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes, CA

[rockintom]

I can add a couple of things.....1. when it gets real cold make sure you also use your regular propane furnace in conjunction to your electric heaters as this is what heats the basement and holding tanks. 2. Don't leave your grey valve open all the time as it can freeze in the sewer hose and create a mess. Wait till in warms up a bit to drain the grey. HTHs. Of course, your talking with a guy who's never winterized a rig in my life and hope I never have to!!! I just think I'm a "Know it all"!!!! rockin'

[Lindaxtwo]

Hi There...Lots of good info in the other posts. Our first winter in our Excel was spent going through a tough Pennsylvania winter with two snow storms of over a foot each time and a 10 day period of wind chills of -10 to -20 daily....it was brutal but we learned alot about our rig. If you have really cold temps wrap the pedestal with one of those insulated blankets you put around hot water heaters. The wind is the killer in the winter. Don't leave your grey valve open as the water will freeze in the drain hose AND if you let the water drip (in your rig at the faucet)to try and keep it running it will make a frozen mess in the sewer line and freeze the valve open. As suggested, fill your tank with water before a bad snap then wait till decent temps to dump your grey tank all at once.
The large propane tank is a really good idea as we had to fill our tanks about every 7-10 days during the really cold times and sometimes the valves are stubborn in the really cold temps.
Heat tapes/foam wrap...put heat tape around pedestal where water spigot is and then wrap with the insulated blanket.
Hope you don't have to go through any of that...wishing you decent temps and sunny skies !! Enjoy your BDO...we love our 2007 RDO..

P.S....Linda B is a nurse too !

[Endeavor2BnC]

One of the things we've found to be very comfortable is on our air bed we've placed a Temperpedic 2" foam pad. That helps keep the body heat over the night without overheating. We then use a silk comforter for our blanket. Talk about snuggly warm. It's great.

I've also heard of some people pulling in the bedroom slide to conserve the heat in the room. I'm not so sure I'd do that. I'd probably kill myself getting out of bed in the AM.

We found when we stayed in Deming last winter that our cost for using propane to heat was less than using the electric heater. We only have one small 1500 KW heater and it works fine.

Ya Virg, 99 was at it again.

A friend of ours has a catalytic heater and loves it. She's very careful with the ventilation though. She NEVER runs it during the night.

Our solution this year is to JUST HEAD SOUTH and hopefully stay in shorts.

[BookIIRoadtrash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodggang Hello all, We love our Excel and know that it is a 4 season coach with a guarantee for -10, but we are nieve about winter RVing.... I am thinking about taking a travel nursing job in Missouri and have found some RV parks that are year round camping. We have questions on how you can do this without having thing freeze up when temps drop into the teens and 20's. We know that you have to have your furnace running for the guarantee to be honored, but doesn't the LP tanks run out quickly? How do you keep your water from freezing from the hookup to the RV? Do you use heat tape for that? Is there anything special you have to do with the sewer hose? Do you just unhook things when you know it is going to get below freezing? Does anyone use those electric heaters that can heat a large room? (and I suppose this would not heat your basement for the below freezing guarantee) Any other advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks

Rodggang, I am in northern Iowa right now and I think everyone has pointed out everything for you. I my self will get out of my coach for the months of December, January and February. The reason I don’t want to have a dang thing to worry about. I know it is not fun after work and in the dark checking propane tanks or emptying the holding tanks. This will be the first time I have ever winterized any rig. Instead of using antifreeze I am using vodka, I have very sensitive skin and don’t want the worry of having some antifreeze in the lines when I have my first shower in the spring.

I am renting storage where I can run a small heater through out the time in storage. The reason is when you take an unheated coach in below zero temps and either bring it in a heated building or start the heater one gets condensation. I don’t want the inside to get damp from that. Now I must be HS lucky today a friend called me and told me about a cabinet marker that has a four stall shop and only uses two of the bays. I am calling today , it is a heated building and he has a toilet and shower in it. That be the case I will live in my rig and have no worries.

Here are some extra heads up. Put a little RV antifreeze in your holding tank to keep the cable valves from freezing. I have an eight foot hose on the right side of the trailers propane regulator. This allows me to hook up to an external tank very easily. One thing not mentioned that I would do if staying all winter in my coach is build my sewer line solid with PVC. The reason with all the hills and valleys in the plastic hose moisture builds up and freezes more easily. I have never done this or talk to anyone that has so I can not tell you how to make the first connection to the trailer. Good Luck and let use know what you learned to make it easy for the next one of us.



Mandys M