Cold in West Yellowstone...

Good times!
We left Bryce 2 weeks ago, similar weather. Low 20's at night. Headed for Jackson soon. We have a plain Jane thor 23u, doesn't sound like our insulation as giid, single pane windows. Didnt need heat for black, gray tanks. (Water is insulated, inside one of the dinette seats) Occasionally, which is seldom, if I know its going to be sustained 20's, notnrising above 30's I'll dump a little non toxic rv antifreeze in the tanks. Weather that cold for long = need to b somewhere else!

youracman wrote:
Phil- Re how to determine that your tank heaters are working: FWIW, just thought I would pass along my 'sperience since I had to replace the heaters on my rig a couple of years ago (the OEM gray tank heater pad was a so-so install by the factory and was lifting around the edges plus the original owner had damage on the black tank due to a blowout and the service folks who installed his replacement black tank did a turibble, turrible job on that heater.)

Our tanks are likely about the same size, so my data may be helpful.

I installed Ultra Heat pads after a bad experience with a poorly made (cheaper) brand. WBGO uses (made in the USA) Ultra Heat ….. same as almost all RV manufacturers, I believe. Each of the 2 large pads draw about 5.5 amps and I also have an elbow heater which draws just under 1 amp. The large pads have a built in Tstat that turns on at 44F and off at 64F; the elbow heater has no Tstat …. it is constant on when powered up. I'd wager your current draws are in that "ballpark".

For a pre-trip checkout one can use a clamp on DC ammeter (takes 2 people.) One person holds a zip lock bag of ice cubes on the "bulge" at each of the pads (that's where the Tstat is) and the other observes current flow when the stat kicks in. (I did this to verify operation after my installation.) Mfr says to have at least a couple of inches of fluid in the tanks to operate the heaters (probably more to prevent excessive Tstat cycling than anything else, I believe.)

I only have these installed in case I get "caught" with a surprise cold front as we like Fall season travel the best. I carry my clamp-on meter along and would plan to look for 12 add'l amps off the coach batteries when the tank heater switch was thrown to verify the pads were drawing current …. but have never had to use it. Sounds like the OP has a built-in meter which would do the same thing ………… cool.

BTW- The WBGO tech I talked to about the heaters said the rig should be good to about 20F if I opened the inside cabinet doors and turned on the tank heaters ………. but I overheard him talking to others around him when I asked that question and I believe his answer was just an educated guess. West Yellowstone campers would be a better source of knowledge, me thinks. :^)

Stay healthy, and safe travels.

The bag-of-ice test method is a great idea. I have a built-in ammeter for my coach batteries so to test that way would be easy!

Babies in the spring and elk rut in the fall. The best times to be in Yellowstone are when there is frost every night with a chance of snow.

Last night we had frost in norther Nevada at 5,000 feet with 6 inches of snow in the Sierra. Not exactly like back East.

OP here with an update:

My original reservation was for 5/31 so when it looked like the west gate would not be open I canceled. Got a call from a buddy up in Idaho Falls who encouraged me to rebook and that was a good call. The RV Park could not would not promise but they expected the gate to open June first and it did.

Today is looking gorgeous but cold with temps in the upper 30's to mid 40's until noon and then a high of only 52. Just finished biscuits and gravy for breakfast and working on a second cup of coffee. We will head out in our Class C {24'}around 10 for most of the day to explore the park and hope it will be warm enough to ride the bike tomorrow and Thursday.

The 35K BTU furnace kicked on about half a dozen times last night but set at 65 it only runs for ten minutes or so. Glad I topped up the LP tank yesterday in town as we just stayed put in the coach for the entire day. Lots of light snow all morning but nothing stuck.

Planning on heading down to Grand Teton on Friday morning for 2 days of riding and may try for a spot in Jackson before we head further souths down to Utah.

Having waaaay too much fun!

:B

Love that place - we have reservation for September

Phil- Re how to determine that your tank heaters are working: FWIW, just thought I would pass along my 'sperience since I had to replace the heaters on my rig a couple of years ago (the OEM gray tank heater pad was a so-so install by the factory and was lifting around the edges plus the original owner had damage on the black tank due to a blowout and the service folks who installed his replacement black tank did a turibble, turrible job on that heater.)

Our tanks are likely about the same size, so my data may be helpful.

I installed Ultra Heat pads after a bad experience with a poorly made (cheaper) brand. WBGO uses (made in the USA) Ultra Heat ….. same as almost all RV manufacturers, I believe. Each of the 2 large pads draw about 5.5 amps and I also have an elbow heater which draws just under 1 amp. The large pads have a built in Tstat that turns on at 44F and off at 64F; the elbow heater has no Tstat …. it is constant on when powered up. I'd wager your current draws are in that "ballpark".

For a pre-trip checkout one can use a clamp on DC ammeter (takes 2 people.) One person holds a zip lock bag of ice cubes on the "bulge" at each of the pads (that's where the Tstat is) and the other observes current flow when the stat kicks in. (I did this to verify operation after my installation.) Mfr says to have at least a couple of inches of fluid in the tanks to operate the heaters (probably more to prevent excessive Tstat cycling than anything else, I believe.)

I only have these installed in case I get "caught" with a surprise cold front as we like Fall season travel the best. I carry my clamp-on meter along and would plan to look for 12 add'l amps off the coach batteries when the tank heater switch was thrown to verify the pads were drawing current …. but have never had to use it. Sounds like the OP has a built-in meter which would do the same thing ………… cool.

BTW- The WBGO tech I talked to about the heaters said the rig should be good to about 20F if I opened the inside cabinet doors and turned on the tank heaters ………. but I overheard him talking to others around him when I asked that question and I believe his answer was just an educated guess. West Yellowstone campers would be a better source of knowledge, me thinks. :^)

Stay healthy, and safe travels.

Am at Bryce now supposed to get down to 22 tonight. High today here was 45. Went To escalante today for some hiking off hole in the rock road normally this time of year upper 80s to upper 90s Today upper 50s. Certainly cold temps for the time of year and the wind has been blowing crazy hard for days throughout the entire area

Were there 10 days ago. At that time west gate and north loop were closed. I'm glad it is finally open. We origionally had reservations at west yellowstone for memorial day weekend.

We stayed in Jackson which was good, but it is 3 hours each way from Jackson to the south loop. We did the drive daily for 3 days. The Tetons are amazing but they get old afer day 2.

Weather was similar as you describe. We used the heat strip every day never used propane. Was a great trip.

Wish we were there!

Lwiddis wrote:
"set at 65 it kicks on for about ten minutes every hour or so."

That's pretty good insulation IMO.

That's how Nexus builds them. When building the walls they use Azdel, lots of foam and multiple layers that are all vacuum bonded then the openings for the windows etc., get cut in. Clearly a 35K BTU furnace is overkill for a 24' coach but with four duct openings down low scattered throughout the coach it is efficient in that it simple does not have to run much which saves on the squirrel cage fan DC consumption when we are off of the grid {about 70% of the time}.

It is about 34 outside with a light snowfall and not much wind. This is one of the few times I have ever bothered to turn the tank heaters on. The switch lights up so I know it has power. They don't need to provide much warmth to get the job done and I see the DC consumption climb when they are activated so have to assume they are functioning.

As far as electrical heat I have a small unit that works well, I tested it before this trip and then left it on my workbench at home.



:S