Staying Warm

MinWin wrote:
Just bought our first motorhome: 1998 Winnie Winnie 31'. Can we travel in this vehicle in winter and stay warm?

Yes.!It will keep you warm up to some extent,but not for too long.I also have a motor home.I have bought this from a normal vehicle showroom as all use to bought.Then, later we modified its interiors as we have to travel long in winter and for that it is necessary to us to be warm.So,we have just given our vehicle to Heating repair Queens and told them our requirement,what we need and all, and finally when it comes in front of us,I bet no body can make that except them .So,You can also go for this if you want.

Calisdad wrote:
I supplement our heating requirements with my 'winter silks'. Comfortable, work great and I even wear them when I ride my motorcycle. I'm surprised more people don't talk about them.

Yes,that one is also nice.But it is good for bikers man.And every bikers in winter use to wear a jackets and all such stuff to look cool from outside and warm from inside.And in my opinion bikers are always ready for such things.;)

Yes, you can either plugged in or dry camping. We RV in sub freezing temps. There are lots of tricks to make life easier in cold temps. Search the forum and you will find lots of info.

Just out of curiosity ... I wonder how many days some of you have gone, or heard of others going, drycamping in the extreme cold in a non-expedition-type (i.e. "regular") Class C?

For starters .... I guess that with our Class C that would be the number of continuous days until the propane ran out and then add to that the number of continuous days that the built-in generator could be run off the main engine tank and still leave us enough fuel to get out to a gas station. That's assuming we start out with a nearly full main fuel tank and that a 4000 watt generator can supply enough BTUs to keep the RV warm 24/7. We don't have solar, so that's not a consideration ... but probably solar is of only marginal use in the extreme cold anyway - as it is in the extreme heat.

I always find extreme heat or extreme cold dry-camping discussions more interesting because self-containment capability, when needed, is why some folks spend the $$$ for a Class C in the first place - at least for camping in the Western U.S. with it's extensive dry camping opportunities. Many extreme camping situations are easily dealt with when on FHU ... but when dry camping in the cold things can get really challenging (and interesting).

pnichols wrote:
Just out of curiosity ... I wonder how many days some of you have gone, or heard of others going, drycamping in the extreme cold in a non-expedition-type (i.e. "regular") Class C?

For starters .... I guess that with our Class C that would be the number of continuous days until the propane ran out and then add to that the number of continuous days that the built-in generator could be run off the main engine tank and still leave us enough fuel to get out to a gas station. That's assuming we start out with a nearly full main fuel tank and that a 4000 watt generator can supply enough BTUs to keep the RV warm 24/7. We don't have solar, so that's not a consideration ... but probably solar is of only marginal use in the extreme cold anyway - as it is in the extreme heat.

I always find extreme heat or extreme cold dry-camping discussions more interesting because self-containment capability, when needed, is why some folks spend the $$$ for a Class C in the first place - at least for camping in the Western U.S. with it's extensive dry camping opportunities. Many extreme camping situations are easily dealt with when on FHU ... but when dry camping in the cold things can get really challenging (and interesting).

I have a standard issue rig - no solar, 2 automotive-type batteries for the coach and a generator.

I would measure the cold camping days in propane. When it's below freezing, electric heaters don't touch the cold in a "standard" rig (not permanently parked and insulated). While my generator is 6,500 watts only 30 amps of it (27.4 to be exact) is available for heaters, split between 2 circuits. The 1500 watt box-store heaters don't come close to cutting it. My front furnace is 35,000 BTUs and the rear is 18,000 BTUs. Based on recent experience, I can probably get between 5-6 days of heat with ambient temps around freezing (32 degrees F) out of my 80 lb. propane tank.

Both furnace fans run the batteries down in a hurry - less than 24 hours time. The generator uses a little less than a gallon an hour with a light load (like the furnace fans). It will charge the batteries up to full within an hour while powering the furnace fans (I did upgrade my converter from the 1984 one that came with it). With an 85-gallon fuel tank, I could run the generator enough to keep the thing heated for as long as the propane lasts.

This may be a "duh" comment, but I found recently that closing the heavy curtains (particularly in the cab) really helps keep the heat in. I had thought that leaving them open so the sun could do its thing would be better. But no, there is a noticeable difference in heat retention with all the curtains closed. But, these are very heavy, 1984-type curtains.

Hi Phil,

My propane runs out in 72 hours in -30 weather. Tank is 60 pounds.

You make some good comments!

We also have curtains to keep the cab blocked off when camping in the cold. We also make sure to keep the dash vents closed so cold air can't enter the cab through them. We also have a curtain to block off the cabover area in the cold. We carry a complete set of window bubble-wrap for the extreme cold if needed, but have only needed the bubble-wrap once. We would have to use our generator some every day though, even if our propane wasn't low. This would be not only due to the propane furnace fan electrical drain, but because our grey and black tanks have electric pad heaters to keep them from freezing.

Some of your comments started me thinking. You say that only the propane furnace supplies the neccessary BTUs to keep the coach area warm so therefore the generator by itself powering electric heaters is not an option. This situation doesn't mean that you can only keep warm until the propane runs out using only the propane. I'll bet your propane furnace could be used more days when drycamping if you ran it at the same time as the generator and electric heaters and thus keeping the propance furnace's ON cycles much shorter. Using these two together in combination may extend your cold weather drycamping time way beyond what you could get by using only the furnace by itself with the generator/electric heaters not being used.

Just some brain-storming on my part.

Hi jimmy,

At 0 C (32 f) I could easily heat with 23 amps from my Yamaha generator--but it is much cheaper to go to where I have shore power.

I have managed to reduce the BTU needs by 50% with various modifications.

With two 15 amp circuits I'm good to about -26 C (-14.8 f) using all electric heating.

turbojimmy wrote:


I would measure the cold camping days in propane. When it's below freezing, electric heaters don't touch the cold in a "standard" rig (not permanently parked and insulated). While my generator is 6,500 watts only 30 amps of it (27.4 to be exact) is available for heaters, split between 2 circuits. The 1500 watt box-store heaters don't come close to cutting it. My front furnace is 35,000 BTUs and the rear is 18,000 BTUs. Based on recent experience, I can probably get between 5-6 days of heat with ambient temps around freezing (32 degrees F) out of my 80 lb. propane tank.

pnichols wrote:
your comments started me thinking. You say that only the propane furnace supplies the neccessary BTUs to keep the coach area warm so therefore the generator by itself powering electric heaters is not an option. This situation doesn't mean that you can only keep warm until the propane runs out using only the propane. I'll bet your propane furnace could be used more days when drycamping if you ran it at the same time as the generator and electric heaters and thus keeping the propance furnace's ON cycles much shorter. Using these two together in combination may extend your cold weather drycamping time way beyond what you could get by using only the furnace by itself with the generator/electric heaters not being used.

Yes, generator running with supplemental electric heaters would be a good idea. It sounds like there are other opinions - that electric heaters will do the job. I exercise my generator in the winter with electric heaters. After running for an hour or two they barely take the chill off. BUT, again, I haven't done any sort of special insulating or anything. And maybe 2 hours isn't enough.

It's 10F outside right now. I fired up the furnaces about 90 minutes ago from a cold start (they haven't been on since this past weekend). It's about 50 in there now. I'm headed out to do some work on the rear thermostat (it's faulty) and the radio.

I might add another counter-intuitive two-cents worth on electric heaters for use in an RV.

IMHO, 1500 watt electric heaters don't all output the "same kind of heat". We tried both a hot-air 1500 watt heater and a radiant 1500 watt electric heater in our motorhome during the fall months last year ... living in it almost full-time while the stick house was being remodeled.

Of the two types of electric heaters we tried - the radiant heat type was far superior in making us feel comfortable immediately and continuously. The radiant heater was physically much larger, but if we were to do serious cold weather camping and mix some electric heat in with propane furance heat ... I'd definitely want the electric heat watts to be of the radiant type.

It seemed to us like we were getting way more comfort per watt with the radiant heater.