Living in a cold environment

Question

At times people will post on here about living in fifth wheels in a cold environment. We came to the Denver area on October 27 to help our daughter move and do some remodeling in her new place. We figured we could stay for all of November without getting too bad of weather. Surprise, surprise, it's zero degrees right now and still snowing. We had been going about 4 days on a 30 pound tank but since Sunday we are burning 30 pounds a day and supplementing with an electric heater.

Yesterday I bought a few 4x8 panels of that fiberboard that is used to sheath houses and enclosed the area under my holding tanks and placed another electric heater in there. That heater ran all night on my Honda 3000.

I'm not stepping out the door until I have to so I dont know how much fuel the Honda burned but I would guess 3/4 of a tank. So just say $8.00 for gasoline, $22.00 for 30 pounds propane and $3.00 for electric for a grand total of $37.00 a day. Like the lady at AAA propane said......cheaper than a motel and still warm and cozy. :)

I also have 3 gallons of RV anti freeze on hand just in case we had to bail out. I also put reflectix on most of the windows.

This is a 2000 Coachmen 30 foot with a large slide.

c-bears · Answer

You are slightly colder than us currently, but I just looked outside and it is snowing (which was not in the forecast).

We are running 3 ceramic heaters (2 smalls box and 1 tower). We keep one of the small box type ceramic heaters in the basement. I only let the furnace run about once every hour during the day, at night I set it up so it runs a little more often.

Since you have RV antifreeze I would start putting a gallon in your black holding tank. Last year when we stayed in central Illinois during December my black tank valve froze shut. Once I got it thawed out and the tank dumped I started adding the antifreeze and never had another problem.

donn0128 · Answer

Last winter we were using 25 gallone a week of propane and a 150 dollars worth of electricity to stay warm in the Columbia river gorge.  So I feel your pain.  Cold is cold and it is darn difficult to heat a tin box with little insulation.

hitchup · Answer

I take it your not in an RV Park. Otherwise, you could use an extension cord from the electric pedestal or your unit to run a heater in the enclosed space.

We are in NE Indiana and so far it's a balmy 35 degrees. We're stuck here until Feb.

Usually, DH will bring 100# tanks from his project that they rent to keep the inside of the store warm. Last Winter, the RVP in KS rented us 100# tanks for the cost of propane only. But DH had to haul the tanks himself and he didn't want to do that again. So we ordered a larger LP tank and had it hooked up. Propane Co will refill as it gets low when we call.

sturgeon-phish · Answer

Better get heat tape on the hose and waterlines.
On a previous 5er when I lived in it over winter I applied heat tapes to the waterlines in the basement and wraped them with foam insulation. I located the temperature sensor at the door where it would be coldest.
Jim

azrving · Answer

Thanks for the additional ideas. We are plugged in and its only a 30 amp 5er so I can only run one electric heater. I put all my water through the tank and then double filter it so I never have a hose connected to city water. I fill from their freeze proof faucet. I ran 30 ft of 3 inch pvc to their septic connection. I remove the flexible connector hose each time so their is no residual left in it. Right now I have moved two of the electric heaters to in front of the grill my Dodge diesel so starting it wont be so torturous.

By the time we arrived here I could hardly walk because of right leg/knee pain. I ended up at a specialist who said it was sciatic nerve l4 issue so I'm in physical therapy twice a week until the end of November. My leg has done much better in the last week so I'm still able to hang drywall. The other day someone asked if I was retired. I said I think I am but wondering? :)

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Living in a cold environment

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