CLefor said:
Well up here in the oil patch (Western North Dakota) there are RV all year around. Because there are no house to live in or rooms to rent. Hundreds and hundreds of them!!! and Yes it gets -40.
Have no experience at -40 but had a place at 10,000 ft one winter when I was much younger and wanted to ski and most nights it got to -10 or -15. We had propane and it always seemed to work... it was a 1000 gallon tank though and the heater was about 60,000 BTU/Hr. We had about 1300 sq ft. The tank lasted all winter which was important since there was no way a propane truck could have made any deliveries. The long post from Maine was impressive...
I think if I were you I'd get together with the other "trailer" folks and talk about the situation and what to do collectively if it really gets that cold. The straw around the bottom sounds wise and going up the sides adds some insulation and wind break. The other big heat loss is the glass, especially if it is not double pane. You gotta do something there, either Styrofoam or some way to stop the heat loss through the glass. After that, doors, and the roof/vents will be big heat losses. If you keep the water flowing/dripping it will be less likely to freeze than if it is turned off completely... even creeks don't freeze if they flow quickly. The heat tape for pipes works great because there is a built in thermostat that starts heating the pipes at about 40 deg F. If you have metal pipes you can use a DC welder to heat the pipes by running current through the metal. I think I'd buy some of the propane fuel canisters and have them handy just in case you need them for a ceramic radiant heater. Make sure your carbon monoxide detector is working though!!!!
BTW: we lost natural gas service in Northern New Mexico last winter for 7 days. It was 25 below at night several nights during the outage. We bought five electric space heaters and used incandescent light bulbs in critical areas and were able to keep the house above 60 deg F. No hot water though of course. People who had propane were fine.
If you get snow on the roof, let it stay... it provides some insulation and wind protection if it doesn't get too heavy.
Another technique is to bring some stones/bricks/concrete blocks inside and let them absorb as much heat as possible during the day. Then they will give back heat at night if your heater is not able to keep up. Of course an electric blanket is nice at night...
If the electricity is apt to go off during a storm, you will need a generator... even a 1000 watt Honda would allow you to run the heater or charge some batteries. Of course a spare propane tank will be important... one you can take to the propane station and get it filled if the delivery truck cannot get to you.
Finally, if you have the option of parking in a barn or some other enclosed space, it would be worth it just to get out of the wind. The cooling power of wind goes up with the wind speed squared so if you can block it, even partially, you make huge gains. People have lived in No Dakota for centuries so it can be done...
