Looking for cold weather tips

[RvFairyLady]

We're driving up North to visit family in Oregon. It's not supposed to snow.. but we may see a dusting. Forecast is for lows in mid 30's. We've never stayed in the motorhome in weather below 50 or so.., so we're just looking for tips. Anything you've got.., from technical fun warming tips. From tire tips to winterizing musts that should be done before we go..., or even a great discussion about the perfect dog sweaters.

We will be dry parking on way for sleep only... then we'll be staying in our Brother's driveway... but sleeping and preparing our meals in the coach.., and using our bathroom. 88 Bounder, gas 454, lots of windows. No TOAD this time. Our coach does not have heated tanks. What can we do about the water tank not freezing? Could that damage the fresh water tank? I hear condensation can get really bad.. any helpful hints with that one? We'll be sleeping in the coach for about a week. Also, we have a 10 gallon propane tank... how much propane does a heater usually use? Should that keep us warm for the week without running out?

 

[rolling condo]

There is  alot of information available on winter camping, but time is short to be working on it now. If you can plug in at your brother's house plan on using an electric heater to help supplement your furnace. Use your onboard fresh water tank, fill it and then remove and drain your fresh water hose. Plan on blankets, quilts to sleep under and  use one or more to block off the drivers area. All that glass = alot of heat loss. You want to have empty drain tanks, then dump a gallon of RV antifreeze each down your black and gray water tanks FIRST! Reason is to allow the antifreeze to drain down to the outlet pipes. if you have long pipe runs it might take more than 1 gallon per tank. You don't want the pipes to freeze and break.
You want your furnace to run some as it will help heat your water lines and possibly help heat your tanks as well. Keep your lower cabinet doors open so that the heat from the electric heater can help warm the water lines. If your wife has a hair dryer, make sure you have it. Very helpful to thaw frozen water lines or sewer valves.

 

[glen54737]

Rolling condo has a lot of good ideas if you are in extremely cold weather they will all be necessary.

If it's above freezing (32f) for lows and 50's during the day such measures probably won't be needed i would empty the tanks and fill the propane. keep the water disconnected and fill the internal fresh water as necessary.
It won't freeze because it's inside the MH.

 

[AverageBOB]

Make CERTAIN your heater works before the temp drops below 50.... When I would young our family went on a trip, the weather was cooler where we were in the mountains and we found out the hard way our heater wasn't working....

 

[RvFairyLady]

Thanks Bob... Good tip... we thought about that too and today we were going over basics... checking headlights. windshield wipers, and basic systems.. and the heater was not working. We had to work on the heater for over an hour before it would start. The scary part is we're still not sure why. Propane was working for stove and hot water heater, but the furnace fan wouldn't even come on. We figured we must have a blown fuse or had a bad thermostat or ???? We were just about to start pulling out manuals and getting upset when I took the cover off the thermostat and blew on it and said, "Oh please just work!" And it worked.  ???

I think it was dusty and the thermostat was just not making good contact so no tripping. I'm going to bring an electric heater just to be on the safe side.

 

[R. Wingate]

I live in my motor home year around in the panhandle of Idaho.  In the past few days, the temperature has dropped to -1?F to 15?F and my sewer hose line has frozen up.  The sewer hose is made of Polyolefin/wire and is to long to heat up with a hair dryer.  In researching a possible solution, I have found that bleach, calcium chloride, or salt will melt the ice.  I am considering pouring bleach into my black water holding tank via the toilet hoping that this will solve my problem.  I'm not sure how much bleach is needed or if this will cause any other problems.

If any of you fine folks have any recommendations or experience a similar problem, I am all ears.  I will be checking this site, or you can email me at [email protected].

 

[rolling condo]

Thanks Bob... Good tip... we thought about that too and today we were going over basics... checking headlights. windshield wipers, and basic systems.. and the heater was not working. We had to work on the heater for over an hour before it would start. The scary part is we're still not sure why. Propane was working for stove and hot water heater, but the furnace fan wouldn't even come on. We figured we must have a blown fuse or had a bad thermostat or ???? We were just about to start pulling out manuals and getting upset when I took the cover off the thermostat and blew on it and said, "Oh please just work!" And it worked.  ???

I think it was dusty and the thermostat was just not making good contact so no tripping. I'm going to bring an electric heater just to be on the safe side.

If your thermostat is of the old bi-metal type there is an easy mod to replace it with a Hunter Digital model that works great. Here's 3 links that show you how it's done. http://home.roadrunner.com/~morodat/hunter_install.html and http://www.rverscorner.com/hunterstat.htm and http://www.modmyrv.com/2008/07/14/rv-digital-thermostat. You get a much better response from the digital thermostat. Gone is the wide temperature swing between furnace run cycles. 

 

[Tony_Alberta]

In researching a possible solution, I have found that bleach, calcium chloride, or salt will melt the ice.  I am considering pouring bleach into my black water holding tank via the toilet hoping that this will solve my problem.  I'm not sure how much bleach is needed or if this will cause any other problems.

Here in Alberta just north of you folks will use salt on the sidewalks to keep the ice down so I suppose that is a possibility.  I doubt very much though that it will get down into the frozen sewer pipe.

I wouldn't use bleach as that would likely kill the bacteria in the tanks.  And I'm not so sure that salt wouldn't do the same.

 

[Water Dog]

I live in my motor home year around in the panhandle of Idaho.  In the past few days, the temperature has dropped to -1?F to 15?F and my sewer hose line has frozen up. 

Having never been in your situation, I'm not sure this would work, but is insulating the sewer hose an option? Maybe with some fibrerglass house insulation wrapped with visquine or something?

 

[carson]

Allow me to explain my theory on insulation.

  Insulation is designed to keep heat from escaping or cold from entering critical areas.

  If there is no heat inside ( sewer hose) there is no heat trying to escape. Hence, the insulation material will quickly assume ambient temperature (outside) and become very cold quickly. Insulation does not produce heat. The cold will cool the insulation material and  penetrate into the hose in no time flat and freeze any water in the hose.

  I know, people wrap water pipes, which helps, but not for long. If water flows occasionally then the freezing point will be delayed. Eventually the pipe will freeze without flow. That's why it is recommended to let your taps drip/ slow flow in dire situations.

I guess the secret is not to have any water in the sewer hose/pipe during freezing temperatures and your problems are gone. Make sure your sewer hose is absolutely empty during freezing conditions.

    Best I can think of before magic takes over and someone knows the real answer.

Carson FL

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

Indiana it got 20 overnight.  We had sleet and freezing rain, it didn't accumulate though.

But we were low on propane so Tom turned it to 69 and put one of the small heaters in the motorhome, it stayed around 71 and was comfy.

I found that our tanks are heated, was cleaning the ductwork out and there was a hole in the bottom of the ductwork in the bedroom.

We didn't have the hose connected, we had added water in the tank the night before 1/3 of tank and all was fine.  Maybe just lucky. But also no drain hoses were out.

 

[Bob Maxwell]

I have an Elkhart HS Class of '59 friend that beginning in Law School spent every Christmas-NY Holiday in Telluride  Co in his motorhome. Bill told me he always dumped 25# of rock salt in his holding taks after emptying and never had a problem with it freezing. He took 50# with him as a backup.

He's spent the last 25+ years living in Hesperus just west of Durango in the San Juans and doesn't have to drive that far to ski any more!

 

[RvFairyLady]

We are back from our trip... we never had to call AAA but we started to and cancelled... twice. Once when our engine battery went too low to re-start the engine even though we only shut it off for about 15 minutes (daylight, and we forgot to turn off lights and inverter with a phone charging), and once because after we filled up with gas it just wouldn't start...

For the first mishap we just used a jumper battery although it had to sit on there for 15 minutes or so and I was concerned it something else was going on for it to drain that quick.

Then the second time when we were just stuck in a gas station.... that was not fun.

I was sure it sounded like the starter and I thought a good old-fashioned hammer thunk might help. My husband and three gas station attendants disagreed.., they were outside in the rain trying to figure it out.., after about 45 minutes and while we were waiting for AAA my daughter and I pulled off the doghouse and found a lose wire.. somehow a nut had come off (or was left off) a connection to the starter. It started right up when the wire was on right! My daughter and I were feeling pretty proud of that!

However, we do have a couple of problems I'm going to address somewhere else. The chassis batteries didn't charge, which left us without heat in the middle of the last night and the speedometer stopped working. I'm going to address both these questions on another thread. Thank you all for your kind/helpful words and your advice. Thank goodness we had so many blankets! I didn't want to get out of the bed in the morning but we were all warm enough to sleep comfortably.