Community Forums

RV Wanderers · 02-22-2019, 01:39 PM

New to the ‘17 Entegra Insignia 44W as we have recently upgraded from a Holiday Rambler gas Class A coach. We will be full timing it here in CO between the Denver area and Colorado Springs area.

Tonight they are calling for 2-6” of snow. What preparations do you guys make for this amount of snow? I am specifically concerned about the slide toppers and that amount of snow.

Any recommendations you guys can provide would be appreciated.

Graybyrd · 02-22-2019, 01:44 PM

A tall ladder and a good broom, especially on the slide-outs.

FL420 · 02-22-2019, 02:04 PM

I'm up in Longmont now. I watch the Weather Channel app, local TV news and especially out the window for any signs of snow and especially for freezing rain. Any signs of precip and I pull all 4 slides in immediately. If any is forecast overnight they all come in when we go to bed. Our entire coach is accessible with all the slides in but I do have to crawl over my DW's feet to get to my side of the bed and my La-Z-Boy recliner.
Our only hook up is the electric leash. Otherwise we are winterized or operate off our 100 gallon fresh water tank and pump. Our water bay heater works great and I use a 75 watt heat lamp there on an extension cord from the 20 amp outlet on the pedestal for back up in sustained OATs below freezing. When winterized we use campground water in gallon jugs for flushing and washing and refill jugs with highly filtered water at Walmart or grocery stores for coffee, drinking and cooking.

RV Wanderers · 02-22-2019, 02:42 PM

We have been here a little over a week and nightly temps are in the low 10’s. That being said, I have a thermometer in the wet bay, basement and a few other “key freeze zones”. All of those temps remain over 50 so not too concerned there. Have a heated drinking hose along with electric element on the water hook up. All of those areas have been good so far where the high has been 34. Mainly looking for advice about the snow, but seems like the best thing to do is bring the slides in. The forecast is for overnight, so I will plan to bring them in before bed. Thank you in advance for all of the assistance.

brobox · 02-22-2019, 02:56 PM

Just posted the other day, same question with some good answers. http://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/cold...ns-431012.html

oatmeal · 02-22-2019, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBuchanan77

Mainly looking for advice about the snow, but seems like the best thing to do is bring the slides in. The forecast is for overnight, so I will plan to bring them in before bed. Thank you in advance for all of the assistance.

You won't go wrong doing that, but it's not necessary if you're not planning to leave in the next couple of days. Any snow that lands on the toppers will be light and fluffy if it's the same as in the last couple of snowstorms, and will melt in no time because the temperature is going to rise and the sun is going to shine (got to love that Denver sun shovel).

FL420 · 02-22-2019, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oatmeal

You won't go wrong doing that, but it's not necessary if you're not planning to leave in the next couple of days. Any snow that lands on the toppers will be light and fluffy if it's the same as in the last couple of snowstorms, and will melt in no time because the temperature is going to rise and the sun is going to shine (got to love that Denver sun shovel).

True but often unreliable. When the sun goes behind a cloud or below the Flatirons the temps can drop like a rock.
I had a very light dusting of snow on my slides earlier this week with more coming soon. One of my bedroom slides bound up with a light amount of ice from the melted snow and broke loose with a helluva bang.

royals1212 · 02-22-2019, 08:43 PM

We just got to Telluride this afternoon, not in the coach. The snow today was on the wet side not the normal powder stuff we normally see. This type of snow could easily stick to the slide toppers. I would pull the slides in tonight

brobox · 02-23-2019, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FL420

True but often unreliable. When the sun goes behind a cloud or below the Flatirons the temps can drop like a rock.
I had a very light dusting of snow on my slides earlier this week with more coming soon. One of my bedroom slides bound up with a light amount of ice from the melted snow and broke loose with a helluva bang.

Having lived in Denver for 20 years, what you said is true. Being a mile closer to the sun, snow melts fast, but freezes just as fast when the sun disappears.

FL420 · 02-24-2019, 02:00 PM

I don't want to sidetrack this thread but I came across a website I think many who live near mountains will find interesting. Since moving to Boulder, CO years ago after living for years near the beach in San Diego I became aware of what I call local mountain sunset time as compared to official local sunset time. I just never knew how much sooner the sun went below the terrain when you're nestled up close to the mountains than if you had flat terrain to the west of your location.
A website called suncurves.com allows you to enter any address and it will calculate local mountain sunset(and sunrise) time for that address along with local sunset(and sunrise) time for that address as if it were located in flat terrain.
My first house in Boulder was right up next to the Flatirons and the sun set there 26 minutes earlier than it would have if the mountains weren't there. My last house about 5 miles to the east gets one more minute of sunshine before the sun slips below the mountain tops.
Apparently this kind of information is very important to photographers hoping to capture the perfect sunrise or sunset photos.