New AF - a few winter questions.
Hello all, I am rather new to RVing but long time backpacker and outdoorsman. I chose to go with an Arctic Fox 990 after much research and scouring these boards for a long time. I camp year round...
Forum Discussion
What most people don't understand is that an enclosed heated space or cooled space thermal loss averages are this as an approximate/starting point:
25% loss thru the floor
25% loss thru the combined all 4 wall space having average window square footage size
50% loss thru the ceiling/roof
Where is the best bang for the buck going to be as a norm?
These loss values are from long time HUD specs and the American Home Builders Assoc documents. Yes, the experienced values can or will be + or - with having more or less R-values in various areas, single vs dbl pane windows, air leaks, and drafts. Also how well the heated or cooled air is circulated. It's the standard values to work from and make improvements as needed.
Why 50% thru the roof which is no larger than the floor size? Heat and heated air/liquids also always rises and cold air/liquids always sinks. Where is the living space inside where you mostly occupy? The lower half and is why these average thermal loss factors are so important for comfort.
Yes to foil bubble wrap under the mattress (we use 2 layers) as it does help and virtually eliminates sweating between the TC bed floor and the mattress bottom. However, one must remember that NO inside heated air can circulate under the bed mattress nor can the transferred colder air from the outside flow down to the TC lower floor because it's trapped under the mattress. That is why the electric mattress pad or a heated blanket placed directly on top of the mattress and covered by a sheet etc is so effective in warming the bed for body contact.
Our heated mattress pads and blankets have 10 heat settings and we always have it set to 5 or under depending on how cold it is outside. Do we have much TC and RV winter use experience? It's only our 51st year of doing it so far as our first TC was purchased new in 1965 and always have had a min of one TC owned and used ever since along with all our other RV we've owned and used! Note the name of "travelnutz"! Live, use, and learn!
25% loss thru the floor
25% loss thru the combined all 4 wall space having average window square footage size
50% loss thru the ceiling/roof
Where is the best bang for the buck going to be as a norm?
These loss values are from long time HUD specs and the American Home Builders Assoc documents. Yes, the experienced values can or will be + or - with having more or less R-values in various areas, single vs dbl pane windows, air leaks, and drafts. Also how well the heated or cooled air is circulated. It's the standard values to work from and make improvements as needed.
Why 50% thru the roof which is no larger than the floor size? Heat and heated air/liquids also always rises and cold air/liquids always sinks. Where is the living space inside where you mostly occupy? The lower half and is why these average thermal loss factors are so important for comfort.
Yes to foil bubble wrap under the mattress (we use 2 layers) as it does help and virtually eliminates sweating between the TC bed floor and the mattress bottom. However, one must remember that NO inside heated air can circulate under the bed mattress nor can the transferred colder air from the outside flow down to the TC lower floor because it's trapped under the mattress. That is why the electric mattress pad or a heated blanket placed directly on top of the mattress and covered by a sheet etc is so effective in warming the bed for body contact.
Our heated mattress pads and blankets have 10 heat settings and we always have it set to 5 or under depending on how cold it is outside. Do we have much TC and RV winter use experience? It's only our 51st year of doing it so far as our first TC was purchased new in 1965 and always have had a min of one TC owned and used ever since along with all our other RV we've owned and used! Note the name of "travelnutz"! Live, use, and learn!
