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Sue at the Little Shack 4 months, 1 week ago.
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I know alot of you folks snowbird, but I’ll be overwintering where it’s going to get cold. Yes, it gets cold in Texas, lol! I’m planning on heated water hose, insulating the black hose, insulating all windows, and wrapping the screen and covering the steps with a piece of plywood when I’m home. I was wondering about the fridge. I’m thinking I might just turn it off (not much in there usually) when it gets really cold. Will that be enough? There’s no icemaker.
Lurch has an enclosed belly, but no tank heaters. I’m going to put some space heaters down there when it gets really cold (like hard freeze nights) Might put some antifreeze in the black/gray tanks as well. The furnace is ducted through all the lower bins, but I don’t want to have to run that beast if I don’t have to. I’m already paying for more electric than I use, so I don’t want to have to fork over for TONS of propane.
We had temps in the teens last year, though not in the day time and not for more than a few nights.
Any tips will be appreciated.
1996 Honorbuilt Eldorado C320 "Lurch" | Chewbacca is my co-pilot
I heard of using trouble lights with incandescent bulbs, if you can find them anymore, to heat the underbelly and storage areas. If you can skirt the rig in any way it really helps by blocking the wind. I’m sure Eddie the winter camper expert can lend some hard won advice from dealing with Wyoming winters.
LoveYourRV.comNorma,
We had our Miss Lilly out last year during the winter and were amazed at how well she performed! She came with tank heaters installed so that isn’t a concern. All of our piping (except drains) is above floor level.
We run a small electric heater to keep the chill off and the propane is a backup. Had no trouble with the fridge which used the whole time. I think the biggest problem we experienced was condensation because we had never winter RV’d before. Now we keep the roof vents open to allow the moisture an escape route!!
Sounds like you’ve thought it out fairly well. Good Luck!
Hi Norma, like Bob and Nancy said the hardest thing about fulltiming in winter is condensation. You need a path for the moist warm air to get out of your camper so you can stay warm, using your roof vents is a must. As for your RV fridge I would leave it on, once you shut it down in cold weather it takes a long time to get those RV absorption refrigerators to start working correctly until it warms up.
We heat the underbelly of our RV with a 4″ round duct off our main heater ducting into the matrix of the “Underbelly” area were the fresh water tank and holding tanks live. This, with the extra foam board insulation we added just under the coreaplast bottom of our 5er, keeps it well above freezing in the under floor area. The extra propane is better than replacing frozen/broken pipes, valves, tanks, and the mess that comes from it.
You need to keep your holding tank valves closed until you are ready to dump them, and make sure all black/gray water is out of your sewer hoses. If you hold a full tank before you dump it will keep your tanks from freezing up so bad. I also cover our black/gray outlet with a insulated cover when temps go -0, and remove when dumping tanks.
A heated fresh water hose is a wonderful thing as long as you can protect the RV inlet and the hose bib you are hooking up to.
We use 3M window insulator kits to keep the condensation down in the windows. This is a thin film plastic that shrinks with heat and makes a good air barrier, runs around $10-$15 dollars a 5 window kit. I have herd of some RVers using it on there screen doors also, we haven’t tried it as of yet.
The wave-8 cat heater I installed last month is working wonderfully and we do recommend it to those that wan’t a second form of off grid heat.
Just ask away when the cold comes your way and maybe we can get you warmed up!
Looks like we are in for it later next week with that super storm off Alaska bringing cold temps and snow our way, guess we wait and see……..?
Happy Trails Norma!!!
- This reply was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by
Eddie & Aileen.
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Also Norma, If all else fails look for your boots! Wonderful stuff inside keeps you warm!!!! Ha!!Ha!!Ha!!
Happy Trails!!!
Just exactly what I was looking for! Thank you all!!!!
(I hope I don’t see that much snow, Eddie! lol!! )
1996 Honorbuilt Eldorado C320 "Lurch" | Chewbacca is my co-pilot
You bet Norma, anytime for a friend. Just remember the “Boots”, thay may save your life!!!!! Ha!!Ha!!
Happy Trails!!!
lol, I’ll for sure fill those up before the cold blows in!
1996 Honorbuilt Eldorado C320 "Lurch" | Chewbacca is my co-pilot
This has been a very informative run of posts! Thanks so much. We will be wintering in our TT on Vancouver Island in the Comox/ Campbell River area. More rain than snow (we are leaving our mountainside home in the Okanagan to be closer to family). We plan to insulate around the trailer with blue styrofoam and possibly the foil bubble wrap, as well as ‘shrink plastic’ the windows. We are also going to be purchasing a dehumidifier to use in the trailer to avoid the dreaded condensation. Hoping this will suffice. I think we are going to be missing our wood stove though. lol…anyone tried putting a wood heater in an RV? If anyone has any advice on erecting a temporary outside porch on an RV I’d love to hear it!
- This reply was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by
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