Below freezing nights

[tbred]

Hello to all!

This weekend(Halloween) will be our first camping trip with below freezing (mid-upper 20's) nights. We do have an enclosed underbelly and will be using water from freshwater tank, not city water hookup. Are there any concerns I should have or things to look out for?

Thanks in advance!

[Golden_HVAC]

25F overnight is not a problem at all! I stayed in the desert at 19F overnight without hookups, and used my Olympic Catalytic heater for much of the time, because I like it 70F inside. I would run the furnace from time to time, to distribute that heat to the ends of the RV, and also it sends some heat into the basement.

Also remember that the water heater needs to stay above 40F. But it does not need to stay at 140! The normal cut off point of the water heaters. Cold outside air flows quickly into the burner area and flows out at near the hot water temp. More air will flow though when at 130F than at 45F, due to the delta T difference.

So I try to run my water heater for about 15 minutes before going to bed, and also just long enough to keep it between 50 and 100F during the day.

Have fun camping!

Fred.

[tbred]

Old Days wrote:
Are you heading to Wisconsin? Saturday morning its going to be about 25 degrees,and they are talking 1 inch of snow in the north woods. I am not ready for winter.:(

No, headed out to Starved Rock here in Il. Fortunately no snow in the forecast!

[Old_Days]

Are you heading to Wisconsin? Saturday morning its going to be about 25 degrees,and they are talking 1 inch of snow in the north woods. I am not ready for winter.:(

[rondeb]

We put a l00 watt Light Bulb in the water valve compartment and put a large heating pad on low over the pump. Has never failed us yet.

[tbred]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi

Read about it here:

winter camping fridge

Norcold does sell a cold weather kit.

tbred wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Best to protect the fridge, too.

This is new to me, can you please let me know what you mean?

Thanks for the link, great information! Have duct tape, will follow advice.

[pianotuna]

Hi

Read about it here:

winter camping fridge

Norcold does sell a cold weather kit.

tbred wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Best to protect the fridge, too.

This is new to me, can you please let me know what you mean?

[tbred]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Best to protect the fridge, too.

This is new to me, can you please let me know what you mean?

We will be hooked up to elec., days will be in mid 40's and we will probably use elec. fireplace during daytime as much as possible. I know we have one full propane tank, and the other should be at least half. Will be running hwh and fridge on elec.

I'm pretty certain our underbelly has ducts for the heat(I'd better check that for certain)

Fortunately, the temps will warm up after the cold weekend and give me time to winterize before the "real" cold sets in!

[MFL]

You should be fine, if your enclosed belly has heat ducts running through it. Hopefully, your tank valves are also in the enclosed heated area.

I often use electric heat, when hooked to shore power, but when over nights get in the low 20s, I use the furnace exclusively, to put ample heat in enclosed basement.

If you don't have heat ducts passing through the lower cupboards, you may want to leave them open at night.

Good luck, have fun,
Jerry

[time2roll]

Plugged in? No worries.

Otherwise on battery power, capacity will be reduced and the load will increase.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Best to protect the fridge, too.

[Trackrig]

Clicky

From a few days ago.

Bill

[TimnJo]

Make sure your propane tanks are full!