Cold cold cold

[RVific]

My Ventana 3412 manages temperatures in the upper 20s with no problem at all. Just how low can I go? Christmas night will be down in the mid teens. I think it will be fine but I worry about my washing machine line mostly because I don't know where it runs. Somebody reassure me that Newmar has this covered.

[ThunderRidge]

I have been down below zero for over a week with no problems. As long as your furnace is running you should be fine . The washing machine line if it’s like my Dutch Star will also be fine.
One thing about winter camping is that I am always prepared to winterize the coach if the heat fails and I have no way to keep the lines from freezing. I carry the 9 gallons of RV antifreeze that it takes to winterize the coach.
I did have my Oasis go out on me last winter at -2F. I was able to keep the wet bay from freezing by running a cord into the wet bay and running a disk heater. Kept the coach at 60F with the floor heat on high and the fireplace on. It was colder than I like inside the coach but, nothing bad happened.

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by ThunderRidge

I have been down below zero for over a week with no problems. As long as your furnace is running you should be fine . The washing machine line if it’s like my Dutch Star will also be fine.
One thing about winter camping is that I am always prepared to winterize the coach if the heat fails and I have no way to keep the lines from freezing. I carry the 9 gallons of RV antifreeze that it takes to winterize the coach.
I did have my Oasis go out on me last winter at -2F. I was able to keep the wet bay from freezing by running a cord into the wet bay and running a disk heater. Kept the coach at 60F with the floor heat on high and the fireplace on. It was colder than I like inside the coach but, nothing bad happened.

Carrying antifreeze just in case makes a lot of sense. I'll add that to my basement.

I have a couple of the large davis dryers, but I also carry a boat bilge warmer. It's a dual fan/dual heating element, 700 watt heater that is temperature controlled and designed to be used in an environment with fumes, so probably about as safe as it gets. It puts out a large volume of warm air vs. a small volume of very hot air that a regular ceramic heater puts out.

Anyway, that's my backup plan for my wet bay/basement, but I'm going to add antifreeze as the backup for the backup.

Here's the bilge heater if anyone is interested. It kicks on when the temp drops to 42 degrees and then turns off when above that temp.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F996452

[jbikes1]

Originally Posted by tnedator

Carrying antifreeze just in case makes a lot of sense. I'll add that to my basement.

I have a couple of the large davis dryers, but I also carry a boat bilge warmer. It's a dual fan/dual heating element, 700 watt heater that is temperature controlled and designed to be used in an environment with fumes, so probably about as safe as it gets. It puts out a large volume of warm air vs. a small volume of very hot air that a regular ceramic heater puts out.

Anyway, that's my backup plan for my wet bay/basement, but I'm going to add antifreeze as the backup for the backup.

Here's the bilge heater if anyone is interested. It kicks on when the temp drops to 42 degrees and then turns off when above that temp.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F996452

When I read posts like this about using auxiliary heaters, I wonder about the wiring of these motor coaches..... the heaters can draw a lot of amps = overheating the wiring. I am not sure of the gauge of the internal coach wiring. Does anyone have any input to this?

[RVific]

OP. Thanks guys that was exactly what I was looking for. I too carry pink antifreeze for an emergency but even 3 gallons is painful in my 35 ft. I haven't ever actually winterized and it would likely be an unpleasant experience in the cold.

[Luv2go]

Originally Posted by jbikes1

When I read posts like this about using auxiliary heaters, I wonder about the wiring of these motor coaches..... the heaters can draw a lot of amps = overheating the wiring. I am not sure of the gauge of the internal coach wiring. Does anyone have any input to this?

Wiring of RV's is similar to wiring of mobile homes. Wire gauge, breaker boxes and wiring methods met code requirements, at least on my coach. The weak link IMHO is the outlets as they are "quick wire" types where the wire is pressed into a connector.

Having said that I ran a total of 4 heaters. All were run at "half" power most of the time (about 600W). One heater each on two circuits that came with the coach and two on a dedicated circuit installed for the purpose.

Never had any issues with anything, including wiring or the Newmar-provided "quick wire" outlets. I did check/tighten connections in the breaker box and transfer switch annually (learned that lesson with the previous RV).

[Rev. Roy]

Originally Posted by ThunderRidge

I have been down below zero for over a week with no problems. As long as your furnace is running you should be fine . The washing machine line if it’s like my Dutch Star will also be fine.
One thing about winter camping is that I am always prepared to winterize the coach if the heat fails and I have no way to keep the lines from freezing. I carry the 9 gallons of RV antifreeze that it takes to winterize the coach.
I did have my Oasis go out on me last winter at -2F. I was able to keep the wet bay from freezing by running a cord into the wet bay and running a disk heater. Kept the coach at 60F with the floor heat on high and the fireplace on. It was colder than I like inside the coach but, nothing bad happened.

I have a question about staying in that cold temperature. Do you add fuel stabilizer to keep diesel from gelling? We spend Christmas in northern North Dakota with our grandson and have seen -25f occasionally. We've never taken our KA there in the winter because I worry about the supply to the Oasis and generator gelling and clogging the filter. I was told they don't have heat in that area.

[Fefanatic]

Originally Posted by Rev. Roy

I have a question about staying in that cold temperature. Do you add fuel stabilizer to keep diesel from gelling? We spend Christmas in northern North Dakota with our grandson and have seen -25f occasionally. We've never taken our KA there in the winter because I worry about the supply to the Oasis and generator gelling and clogging the filter. I was told they don't have heat in that area.

If you buy fuel in North Dakota today it will have anti gel additives in it. It might not hurt to add additional but you should be fine.

[ThunderRidge]

Originally Posted by Rev. Roy

I have a question about staying in that cold temperature. Do you add fuel stabilizer to keep diesel from gelling? We spend Christmas in northern North Dakota with our grandson and have seen -25f occasionally. We've never taken our KA there in the winter because I worry about the supply to the Oasis and generator gelling and clogging the filter. I was told they don't have heat in that area.

Living in Minnesota and having done a lot of winter camping with the cold temperatures you mentioned, I find that even though the diesel fuel is already winterized it just has never seemed adequate enough to keep the fuel from gelling in the generator or Oasis filter in constant below zero temperatures.
I always add Power Service products when I fuel. I usually start adding this in late October depending on temperatures because I know I will be using my coach for at least two weeks in November and then again when we leave for Florida in January.
I use Diesel Fuel Supplement + Cetane Boost as well as Diesel 911. Read the labels as if you are fueling with BioDiesel then you use more. These products are Cummins approved. Ever since I started using this I have never had a fuel gelling problem.

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by jbikes1

When I read posts like this about using auxiliary heaters, I wonder about the wiring of these motor coaches..... the heaters can draw a lot of amps = overheating the wiring. I am not sure of the gauge of the internal coach wiring. Does anyone have any input to this?

In addition to what Luv2Go mentioned, the bilge pump heater I mentioned is only 700 watts, so only about 6 amps plugged into a 15 amp outlet. Not much concern with that.

The Davis Dryers I mentioned are only 130 watts each, so even with all running and assuming they are on the same circuit, is only 8 amps, so still tons of headroom on a 15 amp circuit.

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by Rev. Roy

I have a question about staying in that cold temperature. Do you add fuel stabilizer to keep diesel from gelling? We spend Christmas in northern North Dakota with our grandson and have seen -25f occasionally. We've never taken our KA there in the winter because I worry about the supply to the Oasis and generator gelling and clogging the filter. I was told they don't have heat in that area.

I'm in the south, and not only don't I know if they are adding anything to the diesel, but also I'm often going to be a mixture of summer fuel, so when it gets cold, I play it safe and add treatment.