Frank B
Well-known member
We like to winter camp because of the peace and quiet. We will also cross country ski from time to time. One of the places we go is a full service campsite in the Canadian Rockies just West of Calgary. Decided to go camping this weekend. Weather should have been around -20 (-4F) for a low, and -15 (+5F) during the day. Too cold to ski, but nice to just sit in the sun and listen to the quiet.
First night was -28 (-18F) and calm. We did fine. Furnace worked well, and we were comfortable. I sat outside in front of my portable propane heater and read for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon when we arrived. I had a blanket over my legs to keep them from getting too hot in front of the heater, and no gloves. Was nice. We've been out in -30 before without problem. Last night was another story.
Though it wasn't quite empty, I changed out one of the propane bottles before going to bed 'just in case'. I have a programmable thermostat that keeps the trailer at +10 (50F) over night. It took the trailer less than an hour to go from +21 (70F) to +10 (50F) inside. I figured something was up, as it doesn't usually cool off that fast.
Slept all night just fine, and woke up at 7 with the furnace running steady trying to heat the place back up again. The thermostat resets to +21 at 6 AM, and the furnace had brought the inside of the trailer up to only 10.5 degrees (51F) over that hour. There was warm air coming out of the vents, but certainly not as hot as usual. And the water pump wouldn't work. We'd had problems before with the switch in the range hood which controls the pump, so I figured it had given up. We had breakfast, and turned on the 1500 watt electric heater/fan combo that we took with us, to help the furnace catch up. While making breakfast, my wife noticed that there was hardly any gas coming out of the range burners. Oh oh.
Propane freezes at -40 C (-40F). We found out later that it was -34 (-29F) overnight, by far the coldest we have ever been camping in, and FAR colder than had been predicted when we left for the weekend. The furnace had been drawing a lot of gas trying to heat the trailer up, and that decompresses the bottles, cooling them still further. I figured that we were close to a freeze up, so put the electric heater inside the propane enclosure directed at the bottles, and closed the door. In about 10 minutes, the gas pressure came back up, as did the intensity of the heat from the furnace. At least that was normal again.
However, we still had no fresh water, as the pump wouldn't. The pump itself is mounted right under the furnace, and was not even cold. The water in the fresh water tank was slightly warm as a result of my winterizing work a few years ago, so that was fine too. It appears that the low gas pressure reduced the heat from the furnace over night, and the water feed line from the pump to the rest of the trailer likely froze. It is in a heated cavity except where it runs under the tub in the bathroom. Ordinarily, this is not a problem, as one of the heat ducts for the bathroom runs under there as well. However, it looks like the reduced efficiency of the furnace over night did us in.
I plugged the truck in at the same time I put the heater on the propane bottles. Fortunately, with just an hour or so with the block heater on, it started, which is amazing for a diesel. I had replaced the two truck batteries just a few weeks ago when the old ones had frozen solid at home. They were 5 years old anyway, so were due for replacement. Had I not done that.....
So, rather than take a chance that the line would freeze further, and perhaps burst (if it hadn't already), we decided to come home. With the trailer back in our heated garage for an hour or so, and with the furnace running in the trailer, the line thawed, and is fine. No ruptures.
So, now we know that -30 (-22F) is OK, but the trailer is just not good enough for -34 (-29F). We've also learned yet again that you can't trust the weatherman.
Frank.
First night was -28 (-18F) and calm. We did fine. Furnace worked well, and we were comfortable. I sat outside in front of my portable propane heater and read for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon when we arrived. I had a blanket over my legs to keep them from getting too hot in front of the heater, and no gloves. Was nice. We've been out in -30 before without problem. Last night was another story.
Though it wasn't quite empty, I changed out one of the propane bottles before going to bed 'just in case'. I have a programmable thermostat that keeps the trailer at +10 (50F) over night. It took the trailer less than an hour to go from +21 (70F) to +10 (50F) inside. I figured something was up, as it doesn't usually cool off that fast.
Slept all night just fine, and woke up at 7 with the furnace running steady trying to heat the place back up again. The thermostat resets to +21 at 6 AM, and the furnace had brought the inside of the trailer up to only 10.5 degrees (51F) over that hour. There was warm air coming out of the vents, but certainly not as hot as usual. And the water pump wouldn't work. We'd had problems before with the switch in the range hood which controls the pump, so I figured it had given up. We had breakfast, and turned on the 1500 watt electric heater/fan combo that we took with us, to help the furnace catch up. While making breakfast, my wife noticed that there was hardly any gas coming out of the range burners. Oh oh.
Propane freezes at -40 C (-40F). We found out later that it was -34 (-29F) overnight, by far the coldest we have ever been camping in, and FAR colder than had been predicted when we left for the weekend. The furnace had been drawing a lot of gas trying to heat the trailer up, and that decompresses the bottles, cooling them still further. I figured that we were close to a freeze up, so put the electric heater inside the propane enclosure directed at the bottles, and closed the door. In about 10 minutes, the gas pressure came back up, as did the intensity of the heat from the furnace. At least that was normal again.
However, we still had no fresh water, as the pump wouldn't. The pump itself is mounted right under the furnace, and was not even cold. The water in the fresh water tank was slightly warm as a result of my winterizing work a few years ago, so that was fine too. It appears that the low gas pressure reduced the heat from the furnace over night, and the water feed line from the pump to the rest of the trailer likely froze. It is in a heated cavity except where it runs under the tub in the bathroom. Ordinarily, this is not a problem, as one of the heat ducts for the bathroom runs under there as well. However, it looks like the reduced efficiency of the furnace over night did us in.
I plugged the truck in at the same time I put the heater on the propane bottles. Fortunately, with just an hour or so with the block heater on, it started, which is amazing for a diesel. I had replaced the two truck batteries just a few weeks ago when the old ones had frozen solid at home. They were 5 years old anyway, so were due for replacement. Had I not done that.....
So, rather than take a chance that the line would freeze further, and perhaps burst (if it hadn't already), we decided to come home. With the trailer back in our heated garage for an hour or so, and with the furnace running in the trailer, the line thawed, and is fine. No ruptures.
So, now we know that -30 (-22F) is OK, but the trailer is just not good enough for -34 (-29F). We've also learned yet again that you can't trust the weatherman.
Frank.