Winter Camping skills/ideas

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Hi Magnus,

Best to keep to 80% of the maximum load. For 30 amps that is 24 amps. For each leg of a 50 amp service it is 40 amps per side.

I prefer to measure every device using a kill-a-watt unit. The name plates are pretty much always wrong. A 1500 watt heater only draws 12.5 amps @ 120 volts. Of course that is a large load, especially for the (not so great) outlets in RV's. I've had nearly all of mine replaced with heavier duty ones with three exceptions.

Going to add another: know the max # of amps your rig uses and don't use too many appliances at once as you may overload your electrical system and possibly set the rig on fire. Portable electric heaters can easily pull 15 amps. Know how many amps you're using at any given time. Inside a cupboard door we keep a list of our appliances and the amps they use so we can sum up which appliances should not be on at the same time.

Most appliances list watts and volts on their UL stickers. If they don't list the amps simply use this formula to determine the amps
Watts / volts = amps
Watts divided by volts equal amps

Safe camping!

I cut 1" foam insulation panels and covered the windows, and between the screen and entry door in the gap created there. Put duct tape over the cut edge to keep the foam 'snow pellets' from getting everywhere. Helps keep the trailer warm inside. And of course the pillows that go in the roof vents.

The only down side to all this is it's dark.

Keep cabinet doors open so heat gets to pipes running on outside walls. Keep curtains/drapes/day,night shades closed unless sun is shining in. Check for cold air drafts on the floor - rolled towels under the front edge of cabinets, sofa slide etc it needed. Insulated draperies for front windshields of motorhomes (helps a lot).

Port-a-potty instead of your on board system.

We spend about a month up north with temps getting as low as 15 degrees, before we head to SW Florida.

In our FW we do the following every fall: place a ceramic heater in the basement and set it on 60 degrees. Put our heated water hose on. Cover the CG water service with a plastic 55 gallon barrel turned upside down with a heat light mounted inside, after flushing black tank we always put a gallon of RV pink in black tank (keeps black tank gate valve from freezing up).

We use 2 more ceramic heaters inside the FW, but we do run the furnace and use about 30 pounds of propane per week. With our make/model of FW the furnace actually has a small 2" duct that dumps from the furnace into the underbelly and keeps pipes and other things from freezing.

2oldman wrote:
Don't use a hose. Use your tank.

X2 I use my RV all winter, every day. I can get a week of usage from my water tank. I hook up a hose once a week to fill the tank. Its nice to just use the pump. When I'm out for the day, I just turn the pump off, so no surprises should a leak occur.

Hi,

Window, vent, and skylight covers made from Insulbright.

2oldman wrote:
Don't use a hose. Use your tank.

Here in GA we often get below freezing night time temps but above freezing during the day. I make sure FW tank is full and at night shut off water connection, disconnect hose and lay it out to drain. Next day when temps get back above freezing, I reconnect.