Running an RV in the cold, What is there to know and do

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Assuming the outside vent is hooked up properly, the cold outside air would really go to the inside of your dryer and a small amount of that would permeate into the area behind. We have been full timing since 1997 in all kinds of weather including last January which was spent in CO with even temps near and below 0. We do keep the heat to be bays going and the interior heat goes to all open areas including the space behind the washer.
The only time I did have an issue with really, really cold weather was a few years back when the cold air entered the outside access to my refrigerator. The fridge has an ice maker and that line is completely "out there" in that cold opening. The line froze and split. There is a separate shut off for that water line which solve the problem until I could repair the line (but I had no ice). You might want to look at this setup in your coach but otherwise, I really can't think of anything that will cause you issues as long as you keep the heat running. Just remember that the only time you might have issues is when the temps really drop. If you have temps in the high 20's / low 30's you would have temps above freezing in your bays with only the slightest amount of heat in those areas.

The vent was just upgraded from a cheap HomeDepot house vent to a true RV vent is drier vent hose it tightly clamped to the neck on the vent. When I was in the access area I was concerned about cold because there was no insulation between the metal access plate and the water lines for the washer/drier other than air. The washer/drier is fully enclosed in a cabinet so I am not sure how much heat gets to the rear of the drier. I would call Fleetwood, but the current owners were not the owners when this coach was built. Our ice maker is a stand alone unit in a cabinet below a set of draws across the isle form the refrigerate/freezer.

WyoTraveler wrote:
If in question put a temp monitor in that area. I put one in my wet bay.

The information I get from the gauge might be to late to be off use.

When we travel in the cold to go south we leave the coach winterized. We carry a couple of jugs of water to flush the toilet and use bottled water for cooking. My idea is that if it is winterized and you happen to break down it won't freeze up on you. When we get far enough south we flush it out and travel normally.

American coaches are pretty high end so suspect you have some heat ducted to your wet bay (where your domestic water pump resides). If you are running your heat sufficient to be comfortable in the coach, you should be fine. If your water heater has the heat exchanger attached to it that lets hot engine coolant to heat the water while you are driving down the road, that will be fine.

Do you have a LP furnace or Hydro Hot? If Hydro Hot (hydronic heating system), you probably have a heat exchanger in the wet bay. Run the Hydro Hot and that should keep the coach interior toasty plus prevent freezing in the wet bay.

Assuming the outside vent is hooked up properly, the cold outside air would really go to the inside of your dryer and a small amount of that would permeate into the area behind. We have been full timing since 1997 in all kinds of weather including last January which was spent in CO with even temps near and below 0. We do keep the heat to be bays going and the interior heat goes to all open areas including the space behind the washer.
The only time I did have an issue with really, really cold weather was a few years back when the cold air entered the outside access to my refrigerator. The fridge has an ice maker and that line is completely "out there" in that cold opening. The line froze and split. There is a separate shut off for that water line which solve the problem until I could repair the line (but I had no ice). You might want to look at this setup in your coach but otherwise, I really can't think of anything that will cause you issues as long as you keep the heat running. Just remember that the only time you might have issues is when the temps really drop. If you have temps in the high 20's / low 30's you would have temps above freezing in your bays with only the slightest amount of heat in those areas.

If in question put a temp monitor in that area. I put one in my wet bay.