Whom Of Us Boondocks 14-days Or More At A Stretch?

Mex, may I suggest sierratradingpost.com? They often have Land's End (and other brands') closeouts for super-cheap. You have to pick through the overpriced stuff, but I get all my loungewear there :).

I am right now wearing high-tech long underwear (top and bottom, $5 each) and thick polarfleece pajama pants ($7) from them.

In the fuzzy slipper department, I personally love the Wesenjak (sp??) wool felt booties, but they have all sorts. I got my mom some real sheepskin ones for xmas 10 years ago and she is still wearing them.

SCVJeff wrote:
but that's a moving target depending on outside tempo and what can be harvested, no?

Obviously 65 is way more efficient than 55. So where's the break-even point?

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Not all heat pumps are the same.

For starters what is being referred to in this thread are "air-to-air" type heat pumps. There's other type heat pumps for fixed (residential/commercial) structures that are a geo-thermal design in that their heat reservoir source is tapped via pipes buried in the ground that use a liquid for transfer of heat from the ground into a structure.

The small capacity house window/RV-roof heat pumps most folks are aware of do indeed fall off quickly in efficiency of moving heat ("pumping" it from the outside air) as outside temperatures get below around 40 degrees.

FWIW In contrast, our stick and brick home utilizes a large relatively high tech central air-to-air heat pump with such things as a multiple stage compressor and variable speed main blower. It still puts out heat from the registers with outside air temperatures down in the high 20's. Heat pumps for RVs aren't going to be of this type.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

Over here, in Baja, with a 2X4 house made out of 1/2" plywood I might as well be camping. Last year I turned four stove burners on for the night, a week of doing this cost me $76 US dollars for LPG. I was chilled in the bedroom but my eyes watered. Neat huh?

Good. At least we are not talking now about boondocking forever at 5300ft :).

The lowest temps in Baja during the coldest winter months (I'm talking North Baja, not warm Cabo) are about 40F. Normally, only few days a month and only for a few hours in the morning. When I couldn't use a heater because Olympian cat was in the middle of installation ordeal, evenings were still not too bad. Warm slippers and wool sweater in the evening work fine, then - bedtime under nice warm blankets. I'm wearing wool sweater and warm slippers in shore home in winter, no big deal. But, when making breakfast, I tried staying close to propane stove and later pretended that I was still cooking, for about an hour until the sun got higher. One burner, not 4. There is no "bedroom", floor plan is one open space, easier to warm up with a stove, though Oly cat also has to warm the whole area.

With Oly cat running - phew... My only worry now is not to make it too warm to sleep. Will check the propane numbers, but it looks like it draws less than $5 a week, during the coldest month. Though it's not running all night, and Mexican propane is cheaper.

About insulation - I am not sure that my "insulated" trailer, with 1/4" interior plywood and one inch of scattered pink wool is better than your 1/2" ply. Maybe just a little. The wool is very loose, I know this by some spots that I had to open. In some areas there is no wool at all.

Descend to minimal Delta T and you end up competing with a candle. In the mountains, a motel owner switched out his AAA motel nearly new heat pumps and just gave them to me, free.

I took them to Henderson NV and made a neat $4,000 dollar profit, minus 660 miles of dollar ten gasoline.

Sold them out of a bed of a pickup truck. Good thing I had a signed receipt in my pocket - three Clark County Sheriff's cars rolled up certain they had cornered a stolen merchandise fence.

I kept one. The Amana was useless as ---- on a boar hog below 40F. But it sure worked well (at 6,780 ft altitude) on intense sunlight 90F days. These were 240 volt units. Yeah, I can see some uneducated schmuck using 1,900 watts to do exactly nothing.

I ended up trading the Amana in Reno for a swamp cooler that measured 4' on a side. In the Antelope Valley with summer 2% R/H, 115F air entered and 73F air exited.

Damned hard to beat a pot-bellied stove. Just ask any Bluetick.

Hi Jeff,

Break even for a modern air to air heat pump is about -4 C (28 f).

SCVJeff wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Jeff,

Because it is moving heat from outdoors to indoors. So 1200 watts to run the compressor moves about 3000 watts of heat. (That is an example--not actual figures).

SCVJeff wrote:
How can you be more efficient than a resistor?
100w in, 100w out of heat

How can a heat pump possibly beat that?

but that's a moving target depending on outside tempo and what can be harvested, no?

Obviously 65 is way more efficient than 55. So where's the break-even point?

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Jeff,

Because it is moving heat from outdoors to indoors. So 1200 watts to run the compressor moves about 3000 watts of heat. (That is an example--not actual figures).

SCVJeff wrote:
How can you be more efficient than a resistor?
100w in, 100w out of heat

How can a heat pump possibly beat that?

but that's a moving target depending on outside tempo and what can be harvested, no?

Obviously 65 is way more efficient than 55. So where's the break-even point?

"Hey Quackers!" Use your Techymetric Norden Bombsight on the wrong RV..."

AND

Canard à l'Orange is a classic French dish in which a duck is roasted and served with an orange sauce. The Italians claim it migrated from Italy to France. A 1975 Italian comedy film was also named for the dish. Duck à l'Orange is an English interpretation of the French dish, made popular in the UK in the 1960s.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

May seagulls forever be cursed with bad aim over your rig, amigo!

Well the seagulls seem to be staying away, but my brother said a flock of ducks that went over his and my MH and my Jeep unloaded on them. They now need a good washing when I get down there. How about putting a curse on the ducks too for me?

Bill

Trackrig wrote:
Mex - get a set of flannel sheets and the heavy bathrobe from Lands End, with or without the hood.

Bill

MAGIC!


http://www.landsend.com/products/mens-warmest-flannel-robe/id_275272

May seagulls forever be cursed with bad aim over your rig, amigo!

Biddeford (?)
I probably have the name wrong.
Scratchy, lumpy, and for my feet, like a canvas tarp. When I am on battery power, the 180-watts is more like 200-inverter watts. When it is cold "here" I like retiring at 1700 hours and not getting "up" until around 0930. I am retired. Sue me.
The "smart" electric blanket thinks it has got to shut off after ten hours. Wonderful. At 0500, the incredibly intelligent blanket plays possum. After sucking at least 1 kWh out of the batteries.
When my neurosurgery is complete I go home. No more blankets. Merely a sheet. Then I head to Panajachel because the car permit expires. Elevation 5,300 feet and back to blankets. "Summer" mornings are 49F.
Electricity there is SEVENTY US CENTS PER kWh.
So "wilderness camping" for some of you is 24/7/365 for me. In Las Peñas, we do not go for three days without an outage. Even here, in "modern Baja California" I have awakened three days in the last WEEK with the microwave clock flashing in 24-hour mode, the correct time for Guam or Khartoum. I have my Bi-Pap connected to the AGM battery, and when I sleepwalk to the bathroom all the lamps are 12 volt LED (on motion detectors).

70% (more or less) of the time, power is restored and the 4024 Trace recharges the batteries at 120-amps. The WFCO huffs and puffs and recharges the Lifeline.

But the outages can last ten days. Then the Kubota and even the Lombardini comes on line. Wonder how many solar panels I'd need to obtain 700+ amperes at 24 volts? To risk $5,000 dollars worth of Jesús' lobster just isn't worth it.

Over here, in Baja, with a 2X4 house made out of 1/2" plywood I might as well be camping. Last year I turned four stove burners on for the night, a week of doing this cost me $76 US dollars for LPG. I was chilled in the bedroom but my eyes watered. Neat huh? The thousand dollar a night hotel suites in San Lucas do not have a micro-gram of insulation. Seven grand a week pays the electric bill for heating.

My standard of living is WAY lower then you folks that have full service RV's. In essence I live full time boondocking. I heat shower water on a stove. The last shower-head heater I had was six-years ago.

When Quicksilver is on the road my standard of living shoots upward. But RV parks down here charge three times what a hotel costs. So I have to economize with bare minimum heating. LPG is $2.76 per gallon, and 9-amps of usable AC power in RV parks is not much. Why nine amps? Draw 15 amps and see where 102 volt power takes you.

The thinsulate 3 comforter is a blessing. I am now going to access "Land's End" and see what a decent robe and bunny slippers is going to cost...