Question about traveling in freezing weather

[eldee]

Heading out Tuesday morning for the last camp out of the season! Going to Mark Twain National Forest for a five night stay, bringing family and 4 wheelers, going to be a blast! Question here is this: Fiver is not winterized. We are leaving Tuesday morning with a morning low about 20. Fiver is in my heated shop, so when we head out all water lines will be warm, but as we travel it MAY eventually get into freezing temps inside, till we get to high into the low 40s later in the day. Can I just leave my furnace running while I travel? Is this a recipe for disaster? Considered blowing all water lines out with air and dumping antifreeze into traps, but have no way of repeating this process for the return trip home. This trip should take about 4 or 5 hours total, with an all season camper maybe I'm worrying about nothing? Any and all thoughts/ advice welcome here. Thanks in advance, Larry

[stetwood]

If you don't run your furnace, open your faucets to allow for expansion of any freezing water. For just 4 hours I would not be worried and run without furnace at 20 degrees. When you stop, turn on your pump and replace the water in the lines with warmer water from the fresh water tank. It should be a bit warmer due to mass.

[Rancher_Will]

Pardon the error above. It was not US60. It was US50 from Lamar, CO west to Kansas Highway 400. If you go south from Joplin, MO through Sarcoxie and Monett into the Mark Twin National Forest, you will be on the vary narrow, winding, hilly highways 37 and 86 to Table Rock Lake. We have a long Monty and we just slow down and drive carefully every time we go there. You should have no trouble with any motor home or RV trailer.

[Rancher_Will]

We just got back from our trip to one area of the Mark Twain National Forest. We were gone November 17 to 25. We are sure that you will enjoy your trip there.

Actually we ran our furnace at night but not during the day. Two evenings we used the fireplace in our Monty 3750FL without the furnace. During the time near Eagle Rock, Missouri we camped at Roaring River State Park two nights and one night at the Campground near the Marina above Table Rock Lake. We recommend both campgrounds.

From Colorado to Eagle Rock, Mo we have raveled for combination pleasure and business about each two years for some years. For this trip rather than travel the Interstate Highways (I-70, I135, etc., we traveled through Denver (we live in Northwest Colorado), US287 to US60 and Kansas 400 to Joplin and then to Eagle Rock. I actually believe this route is better than the Interstate route.
Highway 400 through Kansas is more comfortable than the Interstate Highways.

[trail-explorer]

I've run the furnace - it was nice to have a warm bed when I got to my destination, which really isn't classified as a "waste of propane"

[Ontarian]

We leave Ontario, Canada in December every year, and head for California. We are usually in freezing temps when we leave. Last year, it was around 10F while we were traveling, and it was two days before we were far enough south to be above freezing.

Because we are fulltimers, we have never winterized our rig, and we travel in cold temps with the furnace on and set to 60F. We find that propane use while traveling is not excessive, but we have double-glazed windows, which probably help a lot.

We haven't experienced any issues with the furnace or plumbing. We have a Yamaha 3000is generator in the truck bed, which we run continuously when furnace use is heavy. The charging line from the truck is not sufficient to keep the rig batteries up, because we have a Samsung refrigerator running from an inverter, which is also pulling from the batteries.

For more cold-weather travel details, check out our technically-oriented blog here.

[larryn]

Take your indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer with and monitor unit temp from tow vehicle.A 17below we could maintaine 37f and keep canned goods from freezing by running the furnace be sure you have a charging wire in your hook up , furnace can draw a lot of amperage.No water on board.

[allen8106]

I would just blow out before you leave home and winterize with the pink stuff before you head back home. Yours may be different but for my rig it's $4 worth of anti-freeze and 10-15 minutes of time.

[Cummins12V98]

kennethwooster wrote:
I would run the heater. I don't think it would take all that much heat to do the job.

We left the heat on "ONCE" for the cat. Fresh propane tank was empty in one days travels. I was shocked!

[midnightsadie]

I would think the heat from the furnace would get sucked out of the rv. going down the road at 50mph is creating a vacuum on the inside of the rv.

[eldee]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I got two answers I really needed to hear, 1: It is safe to run the furnace while traveling, and 2: with the departure temps, duration of trip, and quickly rising daytime temps, pipes probably won't freeze anyhow.
Safe travels and a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Larry

[C-Bears]

When you pull out of your heated shop with temperatures in the 20's to begin your trip I would have the furnace set on 50 or 55 degrees. About an hour down the road pull into a rest area and check to make sure furnace is up and running. With 20 degree temps and actual windshield temp will cool FW down pretty quickly. As soon as it gets in the low 30's and the sun is staying out you could probably turn furnace off.

We experience this almost every year because we head for Florida late. I have always run my furnace this way but I do make more frequent stops to check on it.

[Lantley]

rattleNsmoke wrote:
I wouldn't worry about it. you aren't going to be in that deep of a freeze for that long while traveling.

I agree running heater is a waste of propane for me. It sounds as though daytime temps will be above freezing. Things are not going to freeze solid in a couple of hours.

[army_guy1]

I've traveled with heater on in cold area's. Set the thermostats to 50. It does suck up a lot of propane when driving so be prepared. I've also left Nebraska when temps in the 20's heading south with out the heater on and didn't have any issues with the water lines. It really depends on how well you bottom is insulated. Have a great trip.

[SDcampowneroper]

in my experience slides covering vents is a good thing, as it concentrates more heat into the floor where our water systems are. However, restriction of intake, output is critical. Look closely at your rig , listen to your furnace for any change in operation when you close the slides. There is likely plenty of room for circulation under the slides and furnace return.