Camping in sub freezing weather

[clintbrooks1767]

Hello all,

I'm new to RVing. Just bought a 5th wheel. I'm going to take it to Angel Fire NM this January and go snow skiing. I've been skiing in NM for almost 20 years and the temperature routinely can get to 20 or 30 degrees BELOW freezing.

My unit has a fully enclosed ducted/heated underbelly, heated basement, and heated storage tanks. I know I need to protect my water hose (if the resort has their city water turned on). I will turn on my tank heaters and plan to run my furnace while driving if I we encounter sub freezing temps during our drive. I will only plan on placing my sewer hose out when dumping and return to heated basement after use.

Can anyone who's been camping in sub freezing temperatures provide me with any advice? I'm trying to avoid common rookie mistakes encountered while camping in very cold weather.

Thank you in advance.

[memtb]

richclover wrote:

memtb wrote:
Howdy Rich, Glad that you had a good outing! Were any animals harmed during your outing? :B memtb

Wife and I went for the camp, don’t need the groceries. Others, however, were successful in saving a few from suffering through another winter.

Good deal.....glad that your boondocking adventure wasn’t a “real” adventure! Kudos to those that provide relief to our wildlife! 😉 memtb

[richclover]

memtb wrote:
Howdy Rich, Glad that you had a good outing! Were any animals harmed during your outing? :B memtb

Wife and I went for the camp, don’t need the groceries. Others, however, were successful in saving a few from suffering through another winter.

[memtb]

Howdy Rich, Glad that you had a good outing! Were any animals harmed during your outing? :B memtb

[richclover]

Agreed, Todd. Wife and I just returned from the yearly October camp (which happens to coincide with elk hunting season). Another “test” on the relatively new 5’er. Nice and warm, nothing froze. Temperatures at night in the mid-teens F. Burned through lotsa propane, thermostat set at 55 night and 60 at wake up.

A really fun camp with good friends. Yes, Fun!

[memtb]

free radical wrote:

memtb wrote:

magicbus wrote:

memtb wrote:

free radical wrote:
Fwiw
Ive been down to minus 20 with no problems,..

This is another testimony, that all campers/rv’s are not created equal. While you will use considerably more propane, especially if the rv is large (ours is a 39 foot 5th wheel), the are several (some of the best are no longer in production) that can handle -20 F quite well.

Uh... when a Canadian poster mentions -20, my guess is they would mean -20C, not -20 F. A small but important difference.

Dave

Dave, after I made my post, and then saw his location.....I wondered if he was talking about -20 C. Yep....a fairly significant difference!

With our first really good 4 season unit, we enjoyed several minus 30 F mornings with no issues, with our newer unit, I’m not certain how well it would handle the -30’s F.... -20’s, we’re good! memtb

Haha you make it sound as if minus 20 Celsius is fun !
-20 C is - 4 F btw
At those temps water in the river froze one foot thick. 🙂

Id highly recomend diesel heater Espar or its much cheaper Chinese copy.
See Foresty forest chanel he uses that one full time living in some arctic conditions.

It blows dry hot air so no problem with moisture like propane does.
One can also burn kerosene in those things.

I never suggested it was fun....merely quite doable when properly prepared.

We spend several weeks most every year boondocking with all comforts of home (water, ect) anticipating....no expecting some nights below zero F. In fact....we occasionally go ice fishing, with all compliments aboard and have been out in -20F temps.

Again, it doable when properly set-up! There is no rule in RVing that we all must flee to Arizona or souther Florida for the winter months, or hole-up in our homes awaiting the next summer! memtb

[time2roll]

K3WE wrote:
Last year our plumbing froze at 25 degrees (Camper supposedly winter-capable)

Just running the furnace or some other supplemental heat?
Just the fresh water froze?

[K3WE]

Last year our plumbing froze at 25 degrees (Camper supposedly winter-capable)

[Rick_Jay]

It sure would've been nice if the OP had given us an update. Apparently his only posts were on this thread.

I hope he survived the trip!!! LOL 🙂

~Rick

[Alex_and_Tee]

Give up snow skiing and take up water skiing. Problem solved.

[free_radical]

memtb wrote:

magicbus wrote:

memtb wrote:

free radical wrote:
Fwiw
Ive been down to minus 20 with no problems,..

This is another testimony, that all campers/rv’s are not created equal. While you will use considerably more propane, especially if the rv is large (ours is a 39 foot 5th wheel), the are several (some of the best are no longer in production) that can handle -20 F quite well.

Uh... when a Canadian poster mentions -20, my guess is they would mean -20C, not -20 F. A small but important difference.

Dave

Dave, after I made my post, and then saw his location.....I wondered if he was talking about -20 C. Yep....a fairly significant difference!

With our first really good 4 season unit, we enjoyed several minus 30 F mornings with no issues, with our newer unit, I’m not certain how well it would handle the -30’s F.... -20’s, we’re good! memtb

Haha you make it sound as if minus 20 Celsius is fun !
-20 C is - 4 F btw
At those temps water in the river froze one foot thick. 🙂

Id highly recomend diesel heater Espar or its much cheaper Chinese copy.
See Foresty forest chanel he uses that one full time living in some arctic conditions.

It blows dry hot air so no problem with moisture like propane does.
One can also burn kerosene in those things.

[DrewE]

Deb and Ed M wrote:
Same for us - even though RVs boast about "heated tanks" - most dump pipes and low-point drains are still exposed to the cold. We regularly camped in sub-freezing temps as we traveled from Michigan to Florida in January. Our black and gray tanks were exposed to the cold (no heaters) and we never had any problems as long as ample antifreeze was dumped down the drains. Obviously, we used the campground showers.

That very much depends on the RVs; a fair few do have the dump lines (and low point drains, etc.) enclosed with the tanks and the rest of the plumbing. Plenty of others do not, of course.

I have camped in sub-freezing temperatures in my class C without plumbing difficulties. The dump valves and pipes for them are in the same (nominally heated) compartment as the waste tanks, and the valves for the low point drains in the heated space as well. It's not really set up for extreme cold temperatures, what with having only single-pane windows and so forth, but is quite satisfactory for at least occasional winter usage. I've had more annoyance from the results of road much and road salt causing the step mechanism, compartment door thumb latches, etc. to bind up and give trouble than anything else.

[time2roll]

wing_zealot wrote:
You three realize this post is a year old right? I pretty sure he’s figured it out by now.

Yes and it is high time for the OP to update how the trip went 😉

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Old Days wrote:
We camp in cold weather, but I winterize the camper and buy windshield washer fluid to flush the toilet. We bring bottled water to drink and make coffee. I have fixed broken plumbing in a camper before and getting to some of the fittings is a pain. So we don't take any chances.

Same for us - even though RVs boast about "heated tanks" - most dump pipes and low-point drains are still exposed to the cold. We regularly camped in sub-freezing temps as we traveled from Michigan to Florida in January. Our black and gray tanks were exposed to the cold (no heaters) and we never had any problems as long as ample antifreeze was dumped down the drains. Obviously, we used the campground showers.

[NamMedevac_70]

wing_zealot wrote:
You three realize this post is a year old right? I pretty sure he’s figured it out by now.

This is till valid and good info for new RVers or anyone else contemplating for the first time spor

Go find