Space heater in coach during winter

[Cat320]

I'd pump RV A/F through out the coach and dump it in all the P traps. I would not be comfortable leaving a heater running in the coach with nobody in it.

[gemini5362]

Originally Posted by Papa_Jim

Yes, -40 is REALLY cold! When we stay home for the winter, we have to store our coach in our uninsulated building. Temperatures do get down to as cold as -40.

In the deep cold of the winter, I found there was no way that I could heat the inside of the coach. I simply had to let it experience the deep freeze. After several winters of that, there has been no perceivable damage to anything.

I do properly winterize the plumbing, unplug all electronics (one winter I forgot to disconnect the power to the front TV, which didn't seem to hurt it). I do have the coach hooked up to power so the converter keeps the batteries fully charged.

In later winter as the temperatures begin to rise and fluctuate, humidity can then become an issue. Then I use an electric heater to stabilize the interior temperatures and run a de-humidifier to control moisture levels. Once we see above freezing temperatures during the day, I move the coach outdoors, because the temperature fluctuations cause condensation moisture underneath the coach.

To prepare for the long winter storage, I top up the fuel tank with winter fuel and add a container of fuel anti gel additive. I change the fuel filters, engine oil and filter, generator oil and filter. I add a little brake line anti freeze into the air system.

Jim

He is saying the same thing I said. I do not think that a space heater will make that much of a difference at -40. Due to my wife taking a contract job we have lived in our MH for two winters. The coldest temp we have seen was -7 that is a long ways from -40. At about 35 degrees the heat pumps quit warming the coach. At that point we kick on the electric heaters. We have one that is a series of Infra red tubes. It advertises that it will heat 3000 sq ft. We use that in the living room/kitchen area. We have a smaller ceramic heater that we use in the bedroom. Those will keep it warm down to about +9. At single digits the heaters cannot keep up with the heat loss from the MH. We put up the 1/4 silver sided insulation in all of our windows when winter starts. When the temp gets to single digits we use the propane furnaces and they do a good job of keeping it warm. In -7degree temps the furnaces still kept it comfortable in the coach. I do not believe that a single 1500 watt or even two 1500 watt space heaters will make a difference.

If you do decide to go that route. Make sure you get space heaters with manual thermostats. If you lose power and you have electronic thermostats or even electronic ( push a button to turn on and the same button to turn off) power switches when you lose power the heater will have to be physically reset. Manual switches and thermostat the heater will just come right back on when the power does.

I also agree I would not leave a space heater unattended. We even turn the one in the living area off when we go to bed at night.

[Fiesta48]

For $5 get a compressed air blow out male fitting connected to your city water connection to get all the water out of your system. Use about 50 PSI. Open 1 faucet at a time until all water is out. Drain Hot water tank & Refrigerator ice maker.
Why waste energy for months?

[Easyrider]

We've stored RVs for years without heaters and have seen no bad effects. I'd be concerned about leaving a space heater on unattended all winter. We store ours in an unheated building along with many other people and nobody has any heat going. RV dealers and manufacturers have RVs parked all winter without heat. The only thing we do to prepare is unload the RV, winterize the water system, and remove the batteries. I keep the batteries on battery tenders in my garage for the winter.

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by gemini5362

...... I do not believe that a single 1500 watt or even two 1500 watt space heaters will make a difference.

Not trying to warm it enough to live in.....just warm it enough so the fine woodwork doesn't see -40 F. Even if you could keep the coach 40 degrees warmer than outside it would help. It's the extreme thermal cycles that causes wood joints to loosen and crack.

Electronics don't like such extremes either.....can cause solder joints to crack and fail also.

Here, Philips is advising that their LCD TV should only be stored in temperatures between 5 F and 122 F

http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/c...scy=US&slg=AEN

[twojayhawks]

To the OP
If it helps you sleep better sure run a heater. Having a electric heater running in a stored coach would keep me from sleeping well. I am also curious to hear if a 1500 watt heater makes any difference in temps that extreme.