Using travel trailer in winter

Very doable. I'm from the Canadian prairies and I use my TT year round for work..we see temps around -20c to -30c during the winter. obviously it's a little more prepared for the long stay, full OSB/durafoam skirting with one space heater under neath so you can keep the wind/cold from cooling the under belly so I can still use the plumbing/sewer. Durafoam'd the windows then plastic sealed them to give a double window effect . Also insulated the one slide I have..not sure how effective it is but I had left over foam

Big heat loss I found inside is the roof vents/ducts .. Fill them in with the foam and seal it up with aluminum foil tape. Reason being you don't need to hear your roof or AC unite and you don't want moisture escaping and collecting up there.

As for heating I run 2 good space heaters and my electric fireplace if it's below -25c outside. I barely run the furnace, usually just to bring up the temp on a real cold night when I get home. If you constantly run ceramic heaters they will actually dry your air out, being the only guy there for 10-12hrs a day I find that it's too dry so I shower with the roof vent closed to bring my humidity level up so my nose doesn't dry out lol.
Honestly ppl worry too much about it, if you leave a window open and a roof vent cracked and run ceramic heaters you won't hurt it. Have a towel near the windows to wipe down cause that's where it will condensate. when you go to leave you should open the doors and let the humidity that is there out so that it doesn't condensate n freeze on your walls when you shut the power off

In my experience of your dealing with temps above -10 you'll have no probably warming it up in an hour with everything going..cover your roof vents and it won't take long.
Hope it goes well for you! Cheers

Yes, moisture will be your worst problem. RVs are built backwards from houses in that the impervious (vapor retarder/barrier) is the outside skin & roof. Moisture will migrate through the interior luan walls and ceiling and condense against the outer skin/roof. You may not see anything but over time can cause rot & mold. In the worst cases of daily use over the winter without removing moisture, water can drop from the ceiling like rain and appear to be a roof leak...

In the early and late season when temps around here are a few degrees (F) above freezing, it can take maybe an hour or more before it feels comfortably warm inside. An RV has thermal mass which you will need to overcome somewhat and takes time. Temps. down to 20F will obviously take longer.

If you have a heated underbelly, a LOT of heat will be going straight to the outdoors. For winter use, perhaps you could consider blocking off the furnace ducts into the floor cavity.

I have a feeling that a dehumidifier alone won't help enough as there will be a sudden moisture buildup when everyone walks in and takes off damp clothing and if you do any cooking. You may need a dehumidifier and need to crack some vents also. A hygrometer to measure RH might be a good idea. You'll need power for a dehumidifier tho.

I installed permanent recessed electric heaters in our TT (1750 watts total) and don't use the furnace anymore. You could do something similar or have a couple of oil-filled heaters and put them on a 7 day/24 hour time switch so that say, every weekend at a preset time, you bring the interior up to a min. temp of around 15C. Then use the furnace to bring it up to a warmer temp if desired. If no permanent power available, not an option.

Ok, thanks for the responses. Sounds like it's doable, but not ideal. I'll bring the things suggested, and go from there. Then I'll air out before leaving as suggested above. Maybe I'll try not to use the cook top, and just bring food that is ready, to help minimize moisture.

Next step, find a nice 3000-4000 generator. Thanks everyone.

Your biggest problem will be moisture build up from many bodies, wet clothes and the stove if it is used. Propane flame from the stove gives off a lot of moisture. The furnace will warm up the trailer just fine but will cycle a lot, less the more bodies there are.
The only way I have found to deal with the moisture is crack open a window opposite end of your unit from an exhaust fan to get airflow through the unit. This can be adjusted as needed. Before I lockup I wipe down the windows and widow frames, open the window wider and turn the exhaust fan up higher. I have run the fan upto 20 minutes before locking and works good. Orient your unit so that any available sunlight will come through windows and even with the unit sealed up there are enough air leaks that over a few days your unit will be dryout.

DutchmenSport wrote:
I'm the nay-sayer here!

OK, first my good thoughts! There is nothing that says you cannot do as you plan. Lots of people successfully camp in their RV's in cold weather. And if you are not using water, you should have no problems. You can do it. And the more people you cram into the camper, the warmer it will get too (body heat is wonderful).

Now, the down-to-earth objection. At 7 degrees below zero, you're going to have a difficult time getting the camper heated up. 2 scenarios here:

1. Your heat is turned off. You arrive at the camper. It's 7 below zero. You will probably be in the camper for hours before you get warmed up. The inside of the camper will be about 7 below also, but at least your out of the wind. Your furnace will be running for hours to even get the chill out even with electric heat and even your propane stove, at 7 below, you're going to have a hard time getting warm. You will, in time ... but it won't happen very fast. You'll be better off to wrap arms around each other and steal each other's body heat under a blanket!

2. So, you decide to leave the furnace on while you are away. Well, actually, that's OK. You now arrive at the camper and its 7 degrees below zero. In all reality, do you know how how much propane you'll be using to keep the camper heated up? At 7 below, the furnace will be running 24x7 non-stop, probably just to keep the temperatures at 6 below! (over exaggeration here, please don't take this as gospel!) But, in temperatures like that, your furnace will run non-stop, if you are in it or not, and it will not bring temperatures up to a nice toasty 70 degrees.

But the advantage of leaving the furnace on, is, at least the walls, cabinets, floors, cushions, pillows, blankets, everything inside the camper will be warmer, and may be OK. Once you all pile in there, your body heat will warm it up a bit, and if you flip on the electric and the propane stove, you can probably bring it up to temperature. BUT ... even this will be slow.

Bottom line is, RV furnaces just down work that great. They work, blow heat, but the nature of an RV, well, it's just too spacey and airy to realistically KEEP heated without costing a fortune in fuel and expense.

Now.... if you were put one of these in the camper, you WOULD have instant heat! Really, this is something to think about. I have a different model in my 4 car garage, and it heats below zero temperatures to .... I'm just wearing a t-shirt, in about 15 minutes in that garage. These are great! If you had a heat source like this, then YES.... absolutely... your camper would work for what you're wanting to do!

Yes, and the stink, Co, and the danger of a partly exposed flame! :S

OP is North of the boarder, -7 C = +20 F, and -15 c = +5 F. Depends on the size of the furnace and size of the TT. No not going to get to 70, but easily to 45 or 50 degrees, which will seem nicely warm.
We heated our 32' 5er to 68 degrees in 32 degree weather and the furnace cycled about once every 12 to 15 minutes, at night. We have a digital T-stat so the cycles only last about 5 minutes.
If they have power they could also run an small electric heater as a helper. If using a generator for power even the cheap HF 900 watt generator we have will run a 1500 watt heater on low!

Houston Remodeler wrote:
But they do throw horrid heat out of the end, so you need to make sure it not close to anything flammable.

Or meltable items such as foam cushions, wax, contact paper covered particleboard, rubber boots, or your linoleum floor.

Yea! :B That's what makes them so great! They are very powerful and throw a LOT of heat VERY fast and furious! The colder it is, the more you appreciate them!

vesh1717 wrote:

So what I'm hearing here, is that a dehumidifier is a must. That's fine as I have a few 70 pints. I have one I use all summer at home, so I can just use that at the travel trailer in winter. Hopefully it can make a difference, because moisture would obviously damage things eventually.

Yes, but as Fizz said you MUST get rid of the moisture.
Dehumidifiers are designed to get moisture out of a room over an extended period of time. But you do NOT have an extended period of time. Certainly the dehumidifier is a must to have running while you are there, but you MUST determine a way to vent the moisture in your TT before you turn off the heat and leave. Opening doors as Fizz said will help, but may not vent all the moisture you have (and opening the doors and turning off the heat may just result in the moisture freezing all the quicker).

I simply don't have a solution for you, but perhaps others here have more experience with the short-use heating/moisture/leaving situation you describe. I don't believe just using the dehumidifier alone is going to solve your problem.

Dutchmen Sport was kidding with using Salamander Heater in a RV

To repeat what you already heard.
MOISTURE WILL KILL YOUR TRAILER... If you don't take care.
We use the cottage in Winter. When we start packing up to go home we leave the door open to let out as much moisture as possible before we go. If you can leave a window cracked open, do it. Cold dry outside air will suck the moisture out.
Open all closet and cupboard doors. Parts of the trailer that stay cool will condensate the air and form puddles.

On the reverse side. If you want to heat the place up real quick, heat up some water for coffee or tea. Moist air warms up quicker than cold dry air. Don't boil up a large pot of water for pasta etc.

dewey02 wrote:
The one draw back of all this is moisture, especially if you are using something like the master heater in the photo posted above. And even if you are just using the TT's furnace, you, the furnace, the stove (if you are cooking) and all the people will be dumping a LOT of moisture into your travel trailer. Then, you will be shutting off the furnace, closing up the trailer and leaving for an extended period of time. All of that moisture will be trapped in the trailer. I'm not sure that even a dehumidifier will be able to keep up for the short period of time (less than 8 hours) that you will be there. So your trailer will be sitting with all that moisture, much of it freezing to walls, cabinets and everything else as soon as you leave and turn off the heat. Then when temps get above freezing, the frozen stuff melts and gets everything wet again. This may happen many times as the spring progresses.

Just something to think about.

So what I'm hearing here, is that a dehumidifier is a must. That's fine as I have a few 70 pints. I have one I use all summer at home, so I can just use that at the travel trailer in winter. Hopefully it can make a difference, because moisture would obviously damage things eventually.