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10-25-2014, 10:42 AM
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#1
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Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 51
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Using RV in Ontario winter
I was considering leaving my RV hooked up to shore power and keeping it heated for the winter as a place for friends and family to use as a place to warm up at the farm. Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? Place I am plugging into is also hooked to generator in case of power outage.
John
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10-25-2014, 10:50 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Okanagan valley British Columbia
Posts: 707
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You will be kept busy refilling propane bottles. Skirting the unit will help.
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10-25-2014, 11:46 AM
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#3
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Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 51
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Was planning on using electric mini furnaces to heat the inside and the basement with the furnace as backup only
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10-25-2014, 12:05 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 961
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Heat
Going to cost a small fortune to heat it. If you run the electric units you can run furnace on fan only mode to sirculate the air better and watch out for too much condensation on walls, windows and ceiling
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2013 Tiffin Allegro 36LA OPEN ROAD
2012 Honda CRV AWD toad
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10-25-2014, 03:50 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 14,456
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I moved to Northern Michigan in late March 2011, during the month of April the temps got down into the low teens F. I used a combination of ceramic heater in the basement along with the 12 volt heater in the wet bay to keep the basement warm. I had the ceramic heater hooked to a thermostatic plug controller which kicked on ~38F.
I used a radiant heater in the kitchen area hooked to a thermostatic plug controller.
I was able to keep the time in the motorhome ~40 F. Sometimes in the AM the coach would be ~35F, not a pleasant living environment.
If it gets much colder then 15F you will have trouble not having freezing problems. I'd recommend winterizing the water system in the coach. You always have it available with heaters etc. I would not recommend trying to keep it heated all winter.
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Jim J
2002 Monaco Windsor 38 PKD Cummins ISC 350 8.3L
2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee w/5.7 Hemi
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10-25-2014, 03:54 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 10,308
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I would not want to try what you are asking about here in Penna. , let alone where you live! Last winter we had morning temps. of -15, and wind chill factor of -40-50!
Put the family or visitor's up in a motel.........you will be money ahead.........with a lot less headaches!
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2012 Essex 4544 2011 Jeep JK, M&G Braking, 2014 MTI 27' Hog Hauler, Wireless brake control, 2006 Ultra & 1989 Springer, 2003 Harley-Davidson
FLHR Road King Anniversary
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10-25-2014, 05:19 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,138
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Here is a decent set of HOW to ready for the mission....
You can lease a bigger propane tank and hook it up using an extended stay kit that you install on your RV.
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Craig Gosselin
1994 Fleetwood 33H
1995 Fleetwood 30H (parts vehicle)
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10-25-2014, 07:29 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Outdoors RV Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Manitoba,Canada
Posts: 2,789
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WannaFTit
I was considering leaving my RV hooked up to shore power and keeping it heated for the winter as a place for friends and family to use as a place to warm up at the farm. Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? Place I am plugging into is also hooked to generator in case of power outage.
John
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I would not do this. I would winterize the coach and decide if I wanted to supply power to it to keep the batteries charged, or if I wanted to remove the batteries and store them in a warm place for the winter.
The cost to heat it will be astronomical! Plus, if you're not living in it, it's another thing to worry about. Plus, other people will be tramping in and out of it from the cold and the snow. You won't know how much the coach is damaged until you see it in the spring.
Jim
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2016 Creekside 23RKS
2012 Ram 2500 Laramie 4X4 Cummins 6.7L
Canada, eh?
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10-25-2014, 10:28 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 893
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Winterizing is going to be expensive. Your going to need heat tape and the whole bit.
1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.
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10-26-2014, 12:16 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,079
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My wife was doing some contract work for a company in northern OK last winter so we stayed in our Tiffin Allegro Bus. We used the biggest electric space heater we could find in the living room and a second one in the bedroom. Below about 10 degrees the electric heaters could not keep up with the cold temps. We say a few below zero nights with the coldest about 6 below. When we could not use the electric heaters we would go through a tank of propane in about a week. At night we would turn the temp down to about 65 to sleep in and during the day around 70. I think it would be very expensive to do what you are talking about based on my experience. We also got the silver sided 1/4 insulation from Lowes and covered all of the windows on the inside with that to try and block out some heat loss from them. The bus has double pane windows also. Another loss of heat was the steps leading to the door. We used a 1/2 sheet of Styrofoam insulation across the steps to block heat loss from that area.
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10-26-2014, 07:06 AM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,138
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Let's face it....out fitting an RV for a winter use is an investment that you make. But after the first season you not only own all the components to make the rig winter use worthy .... you have the knowledge of what works and what simply does not. Some of you have had garages built to house your rig... hmmmmmm... I am guessing that there was an investment there. Some pay other companies to store your rigs.... investment? Costs are hidden everywhere. But if this person wants some decent info on how to properly winterize for cold weather use... lets offer
__________________
Craig Gosselin
1994 Fleetwood 33H
1995 Fleetwood 30H (parts vehicle)
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10-26-2014, 07:14 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 10,308
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Investment was not the question here.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by WannaFTit
I was considering leaving my RV hooked up to shore power and keeping it heated for the winter as a place for friends and family to use as a place to warm up at the farm. Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? Place I am plugging into is also hooked to generator in case of power outage.
John
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gocoffeer
Let's face it....out fitting an RV for a winter use is an investment that you make. But after the first season you not only own all the components to make the rig winter use worthy .... you have the knowledge of what works and what simply does not. Some of you have had garages built to house your rig... hmmmmmm... I am guessing that there was an investment there. Some pay other companies to store your rigs.... investment? Costs are hidden everywhere. But if this person wants some decent info on how to properly winterize for cold weather use... lets offer
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The OP never asked "how" to get his Coach ready to survive a winter in Ontario..........He asked about pit fall's of wanting to do this. If he asks "what" he has to do, I am sure he will get answers......
__________________
2012 Essex 4544 2011 Jeep JK, M&G Braking, 2014 MTI 27' Hog Hauler, Wireless brake control, 2006 Ultra & 1989 Springer, 2003 Harley-Davidson
FLHR Road King Anniversary
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10-26-2014, 08:01 AM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 893
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Personally I found that it is much more worth it to migrate with the season. It is much cheaper than winterizing. The gas you pay to go south in the winter, will be much cheaper than the heat tape, heater hoses, space heaters, holding tank heat pads and so on. Winter RVing is very expensive, and it takes a very skilled RVier to do it right. I have lived in an RV in winter weather for short periods. It's a lot of work and very hard to keep an RV warm enough in extreme cold, and their really not made to be lived in during extreme cold. So my advice. Go south. You'll be much better off.
1979 Dodge Tioga Class C 24 foot. 1987 Fleetwood Bounder 34 Foot.
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10-26-2014, 07:26 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,079
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I also am going to point out the OP asked about the pitfalls of doing this. I replied in my post the problems I had in much warmer climate than the OP talked about. I also posted what i had done to deal with cold areas such as windows steps etc. I think the OP has some good advice on why he should not do that as well as the advice that I gave and some other advice about long term propane tanks.
It is not the investment that is the issue 300.00 for electric heaters, 125 for heated hose. 100 for extra insulation for windows, 20 dollars for styrofoam for steps. Not much money at all. The consumable costs were the big issue. 100.00 per week minimum for propane. I believe my electric bill where i was at was 175 a month when i ran the electric heaters. ( Long term payed rent and electric) And keep in mind that I only saw below zero temperatures for less than 30 days last winter. Most of the cold days were days 40 degrees and nights in the single digits. Not to mention the nights 40 days 60 we had a few weeks. me Staying in my camper in Ontario during the winter. Not happening in my lifetime.
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