Headed North in Winter (Eastern Washington)
So instead of being one of the snowbirds, I'm doing just the opposite. Headed north. Suggestions as to what I should be prepared for are welcome (besides cold weather :) ) Temps will be in the teens....
Forum Discussion
Wind is your enemy. We use insulated tarps to skirt our MH. (The kind that truckers use.) We just open the bay doors, put a screw inside to match up with the grommet and close door. Leave enough hanging down so we can anchor them.
Propane will only work down to a certain temp. Research that - plenty of info on it if you look.
Rubber insulated curtains over the windows or at the very least... bubble wrap.
You can hang a plastic shower curtain over the front door to try to keep the draft down.
Electric blanket on the bed sandwiched between wool blankets... keep it on all day long and that will keep your mattress warm - and if you have cold air coming up from below, put one or two exercise mats under your mattress - the old ones that fold up are thicker and better than the ones that just roll out.
your entire floor is going to be cold. You can cover with rugs with wool content or you can get those puzzle pieces for shop floors and piece them together.
Heating tapes ... just be prepared to have them stop working. Keep an extra on hand. We use a gadget that comes on at a certain temp and off at a certain temp... and we plug an extension cord into that with a light at the end - and hang it where we can see it so we know when that gadget turning the heating tapes on. If the light is on... the heating tape should be on. (Home Depot has it.. it's $12 appx... I can't think of what they call it.)
Indoor/outdoor thermometer... so you know what temp it is outside or by your water hookup. You can get one or more outdoor sensors that "talk to" one home base. Set the home base inside.
We hang a heating pad inside the compartment where the water hookups and valve handles for the black/gray tanks ... in the TC.
In the MH we have a heater with a thermostat for inside that bay area.
If your valves freeze up, you won't be able to pull them to dump.
Condensation on the windows is a real pain... wipe them down every morning. Water can drip into the "E" tracks and if it doesn't drain out, it will get moldy - I use Mold Rid - Mold Blocker - in a spray to spray the places where water wants to collect. Keep a vent open all the time - even if it's just a little. Keep some kind of fan going inside.
Propane will only work down to a certain temp. Research that - plenty of info on it if you look.
Rubber insulated curtains over the windows or at the very least... bubble wrap.
You can hang a plastic shower curtain over the front door to try to keep the draft down.
Electric blanket on the bed sandwiched between wool blankets... keep it on all day long and that will keep your mattress warm - and if you have cold air coming up from below, put one or two exercise mats under your mattress - the old ones that fold up are thicker and better than the ones that just roll out.
your entire floor is going to be cold. You can cover with rugs with wool content or you can get those puzzle pieces for shop floors and piece them together.
Heating tapes ... just be prepared to have them stop working. Keep an extra on hand. We use a gadget that comes on at a certain temp and off at a certain temp... and we plug an extension cord into that with a light at the end - and hang it where we can see it so we know when that gadget turning the heating tapes on. If the light is on... the heating tape should be on. (Home Depot has it.. it's $12 appx... I can't think of what they call it.)
Indoor/outdoor thermometer... so you know what temp it is outside or by your water hookup. You can get one or more outdoor sensors that "talk to" one home base. Set the home base inside.
We hang a heating pad inside the compartment where the water hookups and valve handles for the black/gray tanks ... in the TC.
In the MH we have a heater with a thermostat for inside that bay area.
If your valves freeze up, you won't be able to pull them to dump.
Condensation on the windows is a real pain... wipe them down every morning. Water can drip into the "E" tracks and if it doesn't drain out, it will get moldy - I use Mold Rid - Mold Blocker - in a spray to spray the places where water wants to collect. Keep a vent open all the time - even if it's just a little. Keep some kind of fan going inside.
