Camping freezing night temps...talk to me

[dcason]

Hubby and I prefer boondocking to anything else and we have done a lot of it. We are exploring staying in higher elevations where it would get down lower than our 29+ degree comfort range (mine mostly I think).

I understand if the daytime temps are 45+ we are probably okay since it will probably just touch the low temps for a short time overnight. I should also mention we do have tank heaters in our class C but not being plugged in they would suck our batteries down. Like most any rv the insulation in the walls is pathetic...not concerned about the temps in the rv only as they relate to pipes freezing.

Any words of wisdom....we won't be hanging out in any particular place more than maybe 5 days.

I am talking Wild West 2017....Utah, Nevada, Arizona mostly....been out there every couple of years and since we have to go October 1st and no sooner, I hate getting pushed down to lower Arizona for this time period.

We have mr. buddy heater.

Donna in NY

[dcason]

Eh, hubby is not real keen about driving our C and toad (new this year) in the snow. Our tires are not very aggressive but good enough to get us back on dirt roads.

We have lots of plans for Utah with toad now.
Donna

[Searching_Ut]

dcason wrote:
We LOVE Utah but always get chased out by weather. This year we are going to experiment some more to see how much we can get away with.

Thanks to all.
Donna

Parts of southern Utah are well worth exploring by RV year round. You just have to either be somewhat flexible about driving over some of the passes, or not be bothered by driving in the snow. We actually spent two weeks last October in Washington state and got kicked off the coast (Literally ordered to evacuate). Went a little inland (Gig Harbor) for the rest of the trip and had a great time. We Retired the end of May of this year and plan to hit the Northwest coast again this September and the first couple weeks of Oct weather permitting. Seems a pretty nice area in the fall, and not having the crowds is a plus as well. I've also got a lot of experience towing in the snow and don't mind it if the need arises, other than when they make me put chains on. I hate those things, and always worry I'll break one and beat the **** out of the rig.

[dcason]

We LOVE Utah but always get chased out by weather. This year we are going to experiment some more to see how much we can get away with.

Thanks to all.
Donna

[Searching_Ut]

October is one of my favorite times of year to camp here in Utah, other than the areas where hunting is in full swing. For the most part, in the areas where campgrounds are still open it doesn't tend to get too cold at night that time of year. For the wide assortment of rigs I've owned, I've just used the furnace for heat, setting the thermostat down to 50 or so at night. Don't generally go lower as that has been as low as the thermostat went most of the time, and the class A, TT's and fifth wheel I've owned all had ducted air into the underbelly so this keeps things above freezing down there. Only freezing issue I've ever had even going below zero was a gray tank line freezing and busting by the dump valve. To this day I'm thankful it was just the gray line.

Solar can be nice, but it's not uncommon in the cooler months of the year to get those gray overcast days to where the frost doesn't even melt off the panels until way after noon. Of course those are the days when you tend to go through more power than normal so you'll want a generator even if you have solar. My current rig is the first one I've put more than two batteries in, so I can safely say the furnace shouldn't run your batteries down overnight with just a couple batteries if you keep the thermostat down low and have a reasonable state of charge on the batteries when you turn in for the night.

[mama_sylvia]

I live in Wyoming and a couple of times we had to travel in the MH in subfreezing or even subzero temps.

- Being at elevation buys you a little time, both freezing and boiling points drop. We live at 6000' elevation and I checked one day, boiling point of unsalted water was at 206 F. (normal at sea level is 212 F, for those of you who don't remember your highschool physics. lol)

- When it was going to be really cold, we left the RV water system winterized and carried 5-gal jugs of water to drink/cook/wash hands/pour into toilet after use. Also carried RV antifreeze to pour down the drain after end-of-day use, just as a precaution. The various substances in both black and grey tanks dropped their freezing point further and we didn't have any problem although I tried to keep them close to empty. We did use the heater ovenight to keep the living area reasonably warm. No one was particularly wild about having to use the water jugs but DH and I were even less thrilled about having to pay for expensive water system repairs and the kids didn't have a choice. ;)When our water got low, we just stopped at a grocery store and bought more jugs of water. Worked fine for us.

[Mel_B_]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Most people bring extra blankets for cool/cold nights or sleep in a sweat suit. The best addition to this is a knit hat as most of your body heat is lost from the top of your head. A "hoodie" is also an option.

Personally, I would leave the furnace and other heaters off at night unless it got really cold (20F). You really need some heat in the morning to knock the chill out. Mr Heater Buddy heater are fine if you do NOT use the small disposable bottles. You will go broke unless you are refilling them yourself.

X2 on the Mr. Buddy heater, but I bought a 10'hose that allows you to run the Mr.Buddy with a propane tank, in our case I use a 5 gallon tank much cheaper and more convenient than refilling the little green cans of propane.
Mel

[BizmarksMom]

I boondock in the desert with friends and family for Thanksgiving.

Set the furnace to 45* overnight, and bundle under blankets and sleeping bags at night. In the morning, heating water on the stove for coffee helps to take the worst edge off of the cold. Once the sun is up, the trailer warms pretty quick.

Solar panels and the desert go together really well. Get a couple hundred watts of solar going, and your batteries will charge quickly and be ready for another cold night.

[down_home]

Small trailer with big tires.
Northern Tool and others have generators from 4,000 to 8,000 and more watts. Storage tank for the fuel.
Put it all on the trailer.
Run it just long enough to charge battery(s) or run electric heaters all night. Dig a gold mine with power equipment, with it. 🙂
Bears don't care much for noise but that might keep them out of your garbage.

Logically, you need at least two batteries and a small generator to charge them.... or solar panels and related electronic equipment.
Then you need enough propane to fire the furnace, which should keep tanks from freezing. Maybe I'm wrong on this but our Mh the furnaces also heat the bays including some to the wet bay.
Water. Our small 100 gallon tank for five or six days requires navy showers and of course we cook with it and flush from the supply.
Adjust your routine or carry more water.
Perhaps the trailer idea is not that bad....not really.

[memtb]

We do quite a bit of extended fall/winter camping(boondocking) with night time temp's generally from 0 to 25 F.Though we've seen a few -20 F's. First... I'll qualify all of this with...I know nothing about a motorhome. So, I'm making a few assumptions.

Is all of your plumbing (tanks,lines,ect.) in a heated underbelly. If so, your unit heat would/should keep all well if unit inside temps were kept above 40 F. This is allowing that the underbelly area is a little cooler than the living area. Keeping the living quarters at a tolerable temp (but above freezing), should help conserve batteries.


Also, how long are the ambient temps to remain below freezing? It will take a little time for the water to freeze, once temps have fallen below freezing! So, unless you see below freezing temps for several hours... I "think" you'll be OK.

Good Luck and Happy Trails

[ctilsie242]

I don't get anywhere near as cold as -25C, worst is in the teens at night when camping. I boondock almost 100% of the time, so any heating methods, I have to make sure to have everything I need. However, I try to have at least four (five, if you count abandoning the RV and using the truck's heater) methods of heating:

1: The RV furnace. It guzzles battery power and propane like no tomorrow, but it is the safest.

2: A generator and an electric heater. Safe, but I hate running a generator unless I have to.

3: A Buddy heater, propane hose, and outside cylinder. Most economical... but you have to be very careful of what is above and in front (nearby wood can get too hot), have adequate ventilation, and be prepared to deal with the added humidity.

4: Blankets, and lots of them. Great for sleeping, but you wind up getting thermal shock when leaving the bed.

[drsteve]

Old Islander wrote:
I use our camper for one hunting trip in November in south central BC, when it always freezes -- one year it was -25C for a few days.

...there is a pretty good outhouse where we hunt.

At -25C, there are no good outhouses.

[Old_Islander]

I use our camper for one hunting trip in November in south central BC, when it always freezes -- one year it was -25C for a few days. For those trips, before leaving, I winterize the camper, draining the tanks, and blowing out all the water lines and drains with an air compressor. So there is no water in any plumbing or tanks that might freeze.

We don't use the toilet -- there is a pretty good outhouse where we hunt.

We take water in 5 gal containers, and keep it from freezing inside the camper or in the truck during the day. We do use the kitchen sink (but with no gooseneck drain) and the draincock open on the gray tank so the soapy warm water flows right out of the sink, thru the tank, and out into a small pit. At night, we have arctic sleeping bags so we don't have to run the forced air furnace all night. We run a genny maybe an hour a day to charge up the camper battery. It all seems to work.

[Lwiddis]

"Does 200 watts do much? Do these go on roof or get propped outside when we land (like what we have now from BLM)?"

Donna, my solar panels are installed on the roof. No set up or theft issue but portable panels can be bigger producers when RV is in shade. General rule is 1 solar watt per battery amp hour. Most of us do slightly more. I'm 300 watts for 240 AHs. Last 21 days out I only exercised the generator once...5 minutes. 200 solar watts should give you 8 to 9 amps until your batteries reach absorbtion then it doesn't really matter what you can produce. They'll accept less and less to float.

[drsteve]

Matt_Colie wrote:
Please,

Get a CO monitor.
Don't worry about it being an RV unit. This can matter in a TT or 5er, but if any MH bounced like that, it would back on the market cheap.

The new ones are supposed to be good for 10 years, but put a date on the back and replace it sooner. Every cold spell, there is news of a couple or family that got gassed in their sleep.

Matt

The Buddy heaters have a low oxygen shutoff built in to the unit. The manufacturer recommends opening your roof vent when using them in an RV. I've used mine in the PUP when boondocking to reduce furnace blower run time in cold weather. Between the open vent and the less-than-airtight nature of my old PUP I've never had an issue.