Wintering sub zero in northeast.

I am a pipe liner lived in ND in winter in a 24 ft cougar for two years fro0ze up about 6 times We purchased a new jayco pinnacale 31 rlts we love it. my sugjestion to wintering in north east is put in floor heat in pole building then leave at 55 to 60 degrees if you want more heat use electric hot oil heater in rv it will keep you nice and warm with no fumes from your gas heater I spent one winter in a heated building with a electric heater in rv I am building a new pole building to do the same as you but I am not building house untill I retire in 9 years I hope I don't have to spend another winter in ND

pa traveler wrote:
Good ideas,cant go south yet maybe in 4 or 5 yrs. A garage or pole barn might be an option,what about co2 build up in a garage? If the camper is in there. Just crack a window in garage? Not sure how much need to watch with propane furnace? Any ideas on how to vent furnace out of garage?

I cannot imagine you building a polebarn tight enough that some air would enter to clear out the CO2. Keeping the exhaust in would help keep the barn temp up.

But if you want to vent it, use 4" or 6" PVC or wood stove piping to pick up the exhaust and run it up and out. I would incorporate a couple 90 degree curves to help capture some exhaust radiant heat inside pole barn.

Consider installing a Co2 monitor in the pole barn.

Good ideas,cant go south yet maybe in 4 or 5 yrs. Between 2 house dogs and 4 hunting dogs kinda stuck for awhile.Dogs are getting up in age. Plus wife is still working. Im off in the winter. Want to wait until house sells then start a new project,smaller house. A garage or pole barn might be an option,what about co2 build up in a garage? If the camper is in there. Just crack a window in garage? Not sure how much need to watch with propane furnace? Any ideas on how to vent furnace out of garage? Skirting and heating underside sounds good if its outside. Just trying to come up with a game plan. Garage would come in handy for storage after house sells until new home is built.

Would the new home have enough room to build a pole barn to park an RV in? You'd have to figure out how to exhaust the furnace to the outside; but our pole barn was insulated with 1-1/2" foamboard on the walls and drywalled ceiling with blown insulation overhead, and it never got below freezing inside. And that was in Michigan.

golf_bears wrote:
If you get a 5th wheel just go South for the winter. If the winter is really bad, as it is now, you'll not be working on the house building project anyway. Just go where it is warm enough for you and return in the spring to work on the house project.

That's why 5th wheels have wheels!!!!!!

Best idea is go south! If you just can't head south, build a garage/shop first. Put the trailer in the building. This will keep the wind off the trailer, and you can low heat the building so the trailer only really sees about 30 degrees.

There are a couple guys here on the forum that over-winter in North Dakota, the steps they take are, well....
1st having a rig that is designed for cold weather helps
Then lots and lots of both propane and electrical
Skirt the trailer, put a thermostatically controlled heater under there (set to say 35 to 40)

Use good heat tapes or blue hoses with heat tape built in. Add or build steps to cover fold up steel RV steps so you wont fall on ice covered days. We use an oil filled electric heater to help keep warm. We also have a 500 gal. propane tank plumbed into the 5th wheel, using the 30 pound tanks will break you. Our home base has a fresh water well and septic as well as rural electric to draw from so no RV water tank to worry about, however the knife blade valves for emptying the galley, gray and black tanks have frozen and stuck a couple of times and we do have the unit skirted. A hair dryer fixes that issue very quickly. With all the heat tapes and electric heaters we now have the highest electric bill we have ever had but it's only for this one winter so we are not going to cry over that as we will winter in warmer areas until we get off the road and build our country home here. The people on this site are great and will help you a lot! Good luck and keep us all posted.

We spent almost 2 years in our fiver when we were remodeling a home we bought. Winter was tough, but can be done. Only freezing occuerred at single digits once I figured were to put some heat lamps in belly. Usually only took a few minutes of a salamander heater going and we were back up and running. I had heat tape on supply line and never left drain line hooked up, always unhooked, drained it and rehooked when the wife told me her feet were getting covered by shower water. We did also have a toilet in the house for the number twos. LOTS of propane was burned.

Many pipeliners are living in their fivers around this area in north east Pa while working in the natural gas industry. I haven't had the chance to see how they are making out, but all of skirting around their units. It can be done. And I will admit it is handy to stay at the job site when you are doing a home project.

Although, I was told that we will never do it again.

If you get a 5th wheel just go South for the winter. If the winter is really bad, as it is now, you'll not be working on the house building project anyway. Just go where it is warm enough for you and return in the spring to work on the house project.

That's why 5th wheels have wheels!!!!!!

nelson wrote:
I am sure it could be done but it will be hard and costly keeping everything warm. I have spent short time in freezing temps in a 5th wheel and MH. (5-8 days) you will need big lp tank, heat tape to keep drain open and an a way to get fresh water, Just to name a few. It is not something I would want to do if I could avoid it.

Very true something will always find a way of freezing up its a real pita...
Ask me how I know !! Never ever again..