Community Forums

lostone65 · 08-09-2009, 09:20 AM

any of you full timers stayed all winter in a very cold area. we have a new monaco diplomat and my wife have a new job in boone, nc. hear the winters are very cold due to the winds and snow. any thoughts as to whether it is possible would help us make a decision. we are going to be in a part of the park that is geared for cold weather but with the 4 slides i don't know how warm we can keep. all feedback will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance lostone65

Jim Stewart · 08-09-2009, 10:49 AM

I have not stayed a full winter season where it is cold, but I have stayed where it is cold for a few weeks. The newer motor homes are meant to handle it. Most have heated bays for holding tanks, heat pumps and furnaces for heating along with proper insulation.

A few things need to be added, heat strips for exterior water lines, a way to get more propane for the furnace (you run through the coach tank quickly), insulation pads for skylights and fans for nighttime and supplemental electric heaters.

If nights are really cold, below 32 degrees, leave doors open at night under sinks to allow for the heat to enter(prevents pipes from freezing), leave a window opened slightly to allow air exchanges and prevent humidity (moisture) build up on walls and windows.

We also found that you need to either leave some space open on the windshield privacy curtain of if there is room, place a very small electric heater between the windshield and curtain. Make sure the curtain does not touch the privacy curtain. The windshield transmits a lot of cold but if blocked from the heat, can ice up and produce lots of moisture.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Goat Brain · 08-09-2009, 12:31 PM

In addition to Jim's good advice you may want to buy a wireless remote thermometer and install in the utility bay to monitor the temperature from inside the coach. I have found that the factory installed 12 volt heater in the bay is almost useless. I have put a small ceramic heater in this bay to help keep the pipes etc from freezing. Also, if you have an ice maker in the fridge you may want to insulate the water line or consider draining it for the winter. I have the PDQ floor plan and found the the water line to the ice maker is routed through the propane tank compartment, which is open at the bottom--not too smart. Your storage bays are not heated so anything you have in there that can be harmed by freezing should be removed.

In my opinion the Diplomat is not very well designed for cold weather and not very well insulated, but you should be okay if you are set up properly.

Meandering Retiree · 08-09-2009, 09:07 PM

Be careful of the ice that may build up on the covers on top of your slides. They may cause your covers to sag and cause problems when you pull in your slides. Voice of experience from Williams, AZ.

danes-on-tour · 08-10-2009, 02:08 AM

If you prevent the wind from blowing underneath the coach you will reduce heat loss, and also aid your efforts in keeping the tank and wet bay from freezing.

We have successfully done this using snow when in Breckenridge Colorado during winter. A better way is to take a tarpaulin and cover the gap between the ground and the underside of your coach. We have seen some fulltime "cold weather campers" make a really professional job of this.

Don't be tempted to use any type sticky tape and tape a cover to the side of your coach. It could be near impossible to get off later on.

GG1 · 08-10-2009, 06:17 AM

Here is the other side of the spectrum. I am just trying to be practical. Living in an rv in very cold winter weather is A LOT OF WORK and sometimes a hardship. Prevent the fresh water line from freezing with heat tape,,your gray water line will have to remain closed until you dump and then the valves often freeze closed even with heat in the compartment,,you will be using a lot of lp gas,, you will need to make arrangements for gas deliveries,,breaking down in the snow and cold is not fun,,you will need to remove snow from the roof and slide toppers frequently,,keep the rubber seals flexible putting the slide in and out in extreme cold is a strain on them,,probably you will have condensation in the interior get a dehimidifier,, protect your floors unless you can leave your shoes outside or on the steps. The winter weather will beat up your floors. If you anticipate very cold weather gets a comfortable winter rental store the coach and enjoy it until late fall and start again in early spring. Its a beautiful coach cold winter living may beat it up. Just trying to be practical,,,I hope no one gets insulted.

Olive · 08-10-2009, 06:59 AM

You may want to consider a campground down off of the mountain for the winter. There will be a drive to Boone every day to deal with but the temps in an area like N Wilkesboro to the east will be 10 degrees warmer than in Boone.

I spent a winter there (in N Wilkes) a few years ago and had no problems in my Winnebago. I filled my fresh water tank to use for the nights the temps got below freezing. There weren't that many tfreezing nights that winter in N Wilkes so I didn't wrap hose, just disconnected it for the night. There were some days it got down to 10 or 12 degrees though. Not uncommon for nights to be in the teens in the winter in Boone.

Jmyers · 08-12-2009, 12:14 PM

Lostone65 -My wife and I spent all of last winter in our 2007 Diplomat sft with the full wall slide. We had NO problems even with some mornings with a temp. of -4 degrees. I added an extend a stay so I could use multiple propane tanks and just took them to get them refilled as needed. I covered my fresh water hose with the black or grey foam insulation ( split type) and then threaded it thru another piece of foam rubber that I got at a plumbing supply store, it fit very snugly into my water bay and never froze. I did put heat tape on the campgrounds water supply and like others mentioned a remote sensor in the water bay to monitor the temp. My bay heater would kick on at about 31 or 32 degrees and go of at 52 to 56 degrees. We were in the Freeland MD area, on the border of PA and Md. Had no problems staying warm spent a lot less then it would have heating my former house with natural gas. will do the same this year (wife has one more year till retires) then I'll go where its warmer.
jmyers
2007 Monaco Diplomar SFT

Flagelpater · 08-12-2009, 01:23 PM

You have had a lot of good suggestions. We spent all of last winter in my friends driveway next to his barn. The barn did give some protection from the wind but also blocked the Directv signal to my roof, used a tripod with no problem. We did not have septic hook-up but did have 50 Amp and water. I filled my fresh water tank and stowed the hose in the warm wet-bay. I did not need to worry about his water supply freezing up. Having electric heaters is a very good idea because of the noise made by both the heat-pumps and gas furnace. I put the remote temp sensor readout for the Wet-bay in the bathroom. That way I could check it as I got up, several times during the night! The bay heater was more than adequate for us, down to 4 degrees, but I have had 3 of them fail! Do Not trust the idiot light, check the temperature. It would be best if you can drive the unit up to operating temperature every couple of weeks. We could not do this and I ran the engine and ran it through the gears with the brake on every other week. This caused the PacBrake to completely seize due to rust on the outside! Make sure you give everything a very good greasing before you park. We had to relocate to dump because we could not quite reach his septic from where we were parked. With just two of us it was quite comfortable. We only used the electric heaters while we were in the coach. Heat pumps down to 25 degrees then the gas furnace. One unit I had was advertised as insulated wet bay including the tanks. However they was a gaping hole as one end was not secured properly, take a look underneath. Good luck.