Community Forums

airduds · 01-15-2014, 01:13 PM

I have little personal experience with single digit temperatures. I have zero rv experience in weather that cold.

We are looking at taking a four-month assignment in WI where looking at the long range forecast overnight temps are predicted as low as -1F. I've been working on my Hurricane heater and have it running great. Back before xmas we spent a night at 21F with no heat at all after 5:00 pm and had no issue keeping warm inside. Left water dripping and no issues there either.

Couple of things bothering me. Will the Hurricane heater be able to keep temps in the 60s at night in 5F weather? And the main thing, suppose we leave for work at 5:00 am and the furnace quits shortly thereafter. Would our dogs be in jeopardy of freezing during a 10 hour absence?

2003 Magna C12 Cat

sdennislee · 01-15-2014, 01:30 PM

Check out links #4 and #5 in this thread http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/its-...rv-106134.html they cover camping and driving in winter weather. The thread is not just about winterizing. Link #4 provides a lot info in camping at sub zero temps.

airduds · 01-15-2014, 02:33 PM

I read the links and there is a lot of good info there. We will be in a campground on 50 amp but I've had Hurricane heater issues (hopefully resolved now) and I worry about it going off and of course the heat pumps not doing anything.

Not worried about wife and myself and if something happened to pipes, oh well. But can't risk the pups being in trouble. I guess I could install a surveillance cam and point it at the thermometer.

Cat · 01-15-2014, 09:13 PM

I also worry about losing power and not being to our pups either cool-Tucson Az- or warm so I purchased ,Temperature Alert USB. It works with our Wifi and sends me temperature status email as often as I want. I have set to every 30 minutes - so I know it's working- it will also send a emails if the temperature get above the set point I set or below the low temperature that I set, I have it set so if the temperatures are too high or too low it emails me every 15 minutes. I have had it for several years and it works well. Gives me peace of mind. Check it out and it's not very expensive?

Cat · 01-15-2014, 09:16 PM

Heres the address Temperature Monitoring | Temperature Alert

mikebrls · 01-15-2014, 09:18 PM

40 is to cold for us Florida folk

airduds · 01-16-2014, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat

Heres the address Temperature Monitoring | Temperature Alert

Thanks for the tip. I'm definitely getting one.

airduds · 01-16-2014, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikebrls

40 is to cold for us Florida folk

I know. It was a little cool in shorts walking the dogs down here this morning.

Maxout · 01-16-2014, 11:26 PM

What kind of pets do you have. Many breeds of dogs would be fine at zero degrees inside MH especially if they are in smaller carrier that they can warm with body heat.

**pasdad1** · 01-17-2014, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airduds

I have little personal experience with single digit temperatures. I have zero rv experience in weather that cold. We are looking at taking a four-month assignment in WI where looking at the long range forecast overnight temps are predicted as low as -1F. I've been working on my Hurricane heater and have it running great. Back before xmas we spent a night at 21F with no heat at all after 5:00 pm and had no issue keeping warm inside. Left water dripping and no issues there either. Couple of things bothering me. Will the Hurricane heater be able to keep temps in the 60s at night in 5F weather? And the main thing, suppose we leave for work at 5:00 am and the furnace quits shortly thereafter. Would our dogs be in jeopardy of freezing during a 10 hour absence? 2003 Magna C12 Cat

Why not get a quartz type portable electric heater, and set the thermostat on "low". That way it only comes on as backup heat if your main hurricane heater fails ?

If you have auto generator start feature, this can be programmed to start generator if shore power fails, for an additional level of redundancy.

airduds · 01-17-2014, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pasdad1

Why not get a quartz type portable electric heater, and set the thermostat on "low". That way it only comes on as backup heat if your main hurricane heater fails ?

If you have auto generator start feature, this can be programmed to start generator if shore power fails, for an additional level of redundancy.

Thanks for the tip. Yes, we have a silverleaf with provisions for autostart on the generator though I've never used that feature.

airduds · 01-17-2014, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxout

What kind of pets do you have. Many breeds of dogs would be fine at zero degrees inside MH especially if they are in smaller carrier that they can warm with body heat.

14 y/o cocker spaniel, four y/o yellow lab, and 1 y/o soft coated wheaten.

Maxout · 01-17-2014, 11:26 AM

Wow a whole gang! Living in SD I'm used to cold weather. If you are hooked to the grid there are a lot of things you can do to keep them warm. heating pad under their boxes, heat lamp etc. Just not set up in a manner that they can chew or knock over and start a fire.

airduds · 01-17-2014, 12:48 PM

We have almost new 2 8D deep cycle house batteries and I will program the silverleaf to to start the gen if power is lost and the batteries draw down too far.

But what is this I've heard about not letting heaters run off the inverter? Hooked to shore power I can turn my inverter off and let the heaters run straight through but if I do that they won't be powered if the shore power goes down. Maybe I'm over-analyzing. Cold weather is new to me.