Cold weather camping!

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SargeW said:
You may be right Gary. Last night worked out fine, in fact a little too warm in the coach. 67 degrees inside the rig this morning, and 23 outside.  The water bay stayed a reasonable 50 degrees. I will have to turn down the heaters a bit tonight.  Also have a heating blanket on the bed, had to turn that off at 1 AM as it was just too warm. 

Strong winds coming tonight and all day tomorrow.  That should make the 20 degree temps interesting.
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We use an electric blanket as well, but just to warm up the bed. It gets too hot if kept on during the night.
 
Since I like to be comfy, I have a very similar setup style as SargeW.

I have two 200 W heaters in the water bays, plugged directly into shore power and remote thermometers which indicate about 50 degrees when it's in the teens outside.

Inside, a mod added two 20 amp breakers and outlets with 12 Romex to power a front 750/1500 W heater and a center similar rotating tower heater which covers the entry, kitchen, hall and rear bedroom.

When prepping for bed I turn off all the inside heaters, set the furnace thermostat at 60* and turn on the bed electric blanket. When I get into bed I turn off the electric blanket (it's just too warm to sleep under at any temp) and enjoy the weight of the electric blanket.

In the morning, I turn on every heating source as soon as possible.
 
Our coach has been doing great with the colder weather, mid 20s early in the mornings, in Ponca City. But we are heading for San Antonio on Tuesday. Its going to drop into the teens on Wednesday. Im not sure the tanks on this coach could handle that much cold.
 
Small, 4" x 6", 200 watt space heaters are available at Ace Hardware for $20 each or $15 if on sale.
 
The 1500 watt space heater in the water bay worked really well. I had the thermostat switch turned down to about the 1/4 setting. This kept the water bay at about 50 degrees even in the low teens outside.  I picked up the space heater at Home Depot for $20.  They had a cheaper one for $13, but it had no adjustable thermostat, just some set settings, like 400 and 600 watts.  I liked being able to adjust the thermostat up or down as needed.
 
Sarge, I can't imagine why that Phaeton could't handle a little cold. We woke up one January morning, in a grocery store parking lot in South Central Colorado, to -7?F. The pipes and tanks didn't freeze on our 95 Bounder. I think we did find the furnace's limits?

Richard
 
And you may be 100% correct Richard. It is partly my paranoia that causes me to take extra steps.  I just still hear my mom's voice in my head, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".  I guess I really was listening.......
 
SargeW said:
And you may be 100% correct Richard. It is partly my paranoia that causes me to take extra steps.  I just still hear my mom's voice in my head, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".  I guess I really was listening.......
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And I agree with your Mom.
What I didn't mention was the remote thermometers in the wet bays. I'm just as paranoid as the next guy/gal. Got to stay politically correct. GRIN
35K BTU Furnace was set to 70? and it run all night. Woke up to 68?.
One of my 73 year old glands wakes me 3 or 4 times a night, so I get the opportunity to check the thermometers.  :(

Richard
 
Im using 2 space heaters when I'm on the rig and letting the furnace keep kitty warm while I'm at work. I don't like to leave the space heaters going when I'm gone. I turn the tank heater on if it's going to drop below 20. I haven't had any problems or freezing. I ordered a bunch of high density foam to cover the windows and drafty areas. I haven't covered it with fabric to match the rig yet but that's the plan so looks good. The foam has helped a lot. And I stuffed the thick foam pipe insulators across the bottom of the slides outside. Helps with drafts and bugs!

This is my first winter in the RV. Hoping it goes well.
 
Yeah, I get to take the "nighttime inspections" too Richard.  I had a remote thermometer in the bay for the first few days, but when the readouts showed a steady 50 degrees, I put it back outside to monitor the outside temps.
 
One other thing I've done to help keep the heat in (?):

I cut a piece of 1/8" plywood.. the same dimensions as the A/C filter(s), and replace the filter with that.. during the Winter months.

 
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