Community Forums

wrtundra · 12-06-2016, 06:35 PM

Hey!

I'm preparing to winter camp in my Magna. Its a 2008 Magna.

At times it will be -20c and normally averaging about -5 to 0 celsius.

Besides warming the fresh water hose with heat tape, making sure the sewer hose isn't leaking, and sealing obvious holes in the water bay to avoid mice is there anything I should be aware of?

When not using the coach I'll retract the slides. I plan on leaving floor heat and aquahot on 100% of the time.

Any other tips? Are the roofs prone to leaking? Should I skirt the rig?

I'm driving it up to the mountains tomorrow - its dry outside but will be -17C.

Triboy · 12-06-2016, 08:19 PM

We used our 09 Allure Crane Prairie for 3 seasons at Whistler where the temperatures during the season were very similar to what you mentioned. In addition to the heated floors and the Aquahot we used a 1500 W portable heater which helped take the edge off. We used reflectix insulation on all the windows and found that it made a big difference when the temperatures dropped. Found drafts coming in through the front chassis a/c defrost vents and plugged them up. To cut down on the condensation we always tried to keep one of the roof vents open a little bit. All in all it was very comfortable and had we skirted the rig up I'm sure it would have been even more comfortable. You may want to try and search previous posts by Scott Muniac, he had some great suggestions and a few pitfalls with winter use.

Good luck, hope you have a great ski season.

Graeme Arnott
07 Allure 31500

dons2346 · 12-06-2016, 08:58 PM

I would not leave any hoses out exposed to the weather. Fill your fresh water tank and then roll up the hose and stow it. Work off of your on board tank. Keep the sewer hose in the bay until you need to dump and then break it out. When finished, stow the hose. If it is going to snow, bring in the slides. The roof snow will melt and then the water will run off onto the slide toppers creating a huge piece of ice and then you can't get the slides in whenever you want to.

BrianGlenn · 12-07-2016, 08:49 AM

I recommend an air Dehumidifier if you are in an area that is humid. At -5 to 0 Celsius the humidity in the coach can cause condensation in the areas where cold air may seep in/pocket - around slides seals, in bedroom around slide (not great air circulation).

And dryer air feels less cold, relatively.

Keeping air moving so there are no thermal pockets helps.

Brian

Smitty77 · 12-07-2016, 09:33 AM

All good tips! (And ask me how I know that the caution about ice on the slide topper is sound

! Up the roof with the DW's hair dryer for about two hours, to get just two slides in

! Learned that one!)

You may also find a need to keep a few cabinet doors open, if it is really cold, as that helps keep the in the wall water lines from freezing. (Though, our coaches are really well insulated, compared to say our Bounder where we did have water lines freeze before opening the cabinet doors. And note, we did like our Bounder - so not a slam, it did what it was supposed to do for that price point!

And don't forget the vital need of personal antifreeze of your choice. (And oddly, over ice, does not seem to cause any additional body cooling

!)

Best of luck to you,
Smitty

dons2346 · 12-07-2016, 12:23 PM

"And don't forget the vital need of personal antifreeze of your choice. (And oddly, over ice, does not seem to cause any additional body cooling!)"

Woodford Reserve served neat is best. Warms you up real quick

pumper9x9 · 12-08-2016, 10:33 AM

All of the above are great tips. Here's a few more to consider. Make sure that the vents and exhaust for the generator, refrigerator (if not a domestic one), hot water heater (if separate from Aqua Hot), Aqua Hot, vents for waste tanks, vents for washing machine/dryer are all clear of snow and/or ice. A note on the 1500 watt heater. I had one and ran it a lot and found out that the inverter was not designed to handle that kind of load all the time after the inverter got fried. I had two outlets installed that are only energized when plugged in. One in the bay next to the water bay and one in the front of the living area. Make sure you have a good operational smoke/CO detector. Make sure you make some arrangements to refuel your coach, your Aqua Hot will probably stop working when your fuel tank hits 1/4 to leave you enough to get the gas station. Consider putting some extra insulation on the inside of basement doors. If you use heat tap follow the installation instructions exactly, improperly installed it could cause a fire.
Have a great winter.

CC Driver · 12-09-2016, 05:30 PM

So, currently in PA, and plan on wintering over due to new job. Had a comfort hot added by Rixen, so all electric now with my hurricane. I hardlined the waste connections, heat taped and insulated all the way into the valves. Have a heated fresh water hose, same waste line heat tape covers auxiliary water filter and connections. I keep 3/4 tank fresh just in case. I have a 4 sensor temperature monitor system to watch. Currently 28 out, 49 in plumbing bay at hook up locations, and 53 at water pump. We don't pay for electric, so 75 inside. Can't say enough about the comfort hot system. Wish I would have done it years ago.

BRex45 · 12-16-2016, 09:26 PM

Consider putting a winter-blend fuel ( or additives) in your fuel tank so, if you need to move or escape or just run the generator, your fuel system won't be gelled up from the extremely low temps.

CC Driver · 12-17-2016, 04:36 AM

Great idea. I didn't think of that. I am rolling out every other month or so depending on road conditions.

Bigd9 · 12-17-2016, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC Driver

Great idea. I didn't think of that. I am rolling out every other month or so depending on road conditions.

Hi Tom,
How do you like that Acurite Temperature and Humidity Station you have? It looks like the perfect thing to have. Any problems with it? Do you recommend it?

CC Driver · 12-17-2016, 02:45 PM

Love it except screen went dead. Returning to Amazon, getting replacement. The new one I'm getting allows me to monitor on my phone or tablet also. When it worked it worked great. My wife is the one that misses it the most.

CC Driver · 12-17-2016, 02:49 PM

As a follow up to above, I've lost a couple of items to power in the coach. Don't know if it may be intolerance to a square wave inverter.

Bigd9 · 12-17-2016, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC Driver

As a follow up to above, I've lost a couple of items to power in the coach. Don't know if it may be intolerance to a square wave inverter.

Modified sine wave losses:
...two electric blankets
...1 coffee maker (keurig, one work just fine, but the other blew its electronics! Our original Black and Decker drip did just fine with it)
...Floor heater, again two we had worked perfectly, but one started to smoke and make noises
...Slow cooker (one of ours did not play well with the modified sine wave,but the one we have now seems to be OK)
Digital clock (The clock did OK if you didn't care for accurate timekeeping. It would speed up)