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Old 11-01-2007, 09:09 AM   #1
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We will be staying at a campground between Baltimore and Washington, DC during the cold months as I am receiving medical treatment at Johns Hopkins. We have a 2002 Winnebago Adventurer with a basement heat pump that does not work when the outside temp is below about 40 degrees. We do have a small electric heater for heating the interior and we can run the furnace on LP to provide some heat to the basement. Any advice as to what we can do to prevent freeze-up. Can we use heat tape on our outside hose and then put foam insulation around that? Also what if we kept the compartment lights on. Would that provide some heat? Perhaps someone out there has had some experience with this situation.
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Old 11-01-2007, 09:09 AM   #2
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We will be staying at a campground between Baltimore and Washington, DC during the cold months as I am receiving medical treatment at Johns Hopkins. We have a 2002 Winnebago Adventurer with a basement heat pump that does not work when the outside temp is below about 40 degrees. We do have a small electric heater for heating the interior and we can run the furnace on LP to provide some heat to the basement. Any advice as to what we can do to prevent freeze-up. Can we use heat tape on our outside hose and then put foam insulation around that? Also what if we kept the compartment lights on. Would that provide some heat? Perhaps someone out there has had some experience with this situation.
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Old 11-01-2007, 09:34 AM   #3
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It sounds like you are going to be there for a while. I would arrange to have a 100 gallon external tank set in place at your site and plumbed into the coach LP system. You are going to burn through (pun intended) the propane at a fast clip when it is really cold. You might find your furnace running 30 or maybe 40 minutes out of each hour.

I haven't used heat tape but I have seen it in place on rigs that are permanent campers. Sounds like a great idea to me.

The 12V compartment lights aren't going to make any difference, but a small ceramic heater would. Possibly a 100 watt light bulb might work if you buy some insulation at Lowes/Home Depot and line your compartment floors or exposed walls.

You are going to be dealing with lots of condensation inside the coach especially around the windshield. Plan on some kind of insulation for that as well. You will need to keep the coach ventilated to some degree in any case.
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Old 11-01-2007, 10:59 AM   #4
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I have done a lot of winter camping, but only for short periods at a time, week to ten days. If your going to be there for a few months I would go with the 100 gallon external tank., I go through my onboard tank of propane in about 5 days or so.

Alot of people put 60 watt light bulbs (either just a trouble light or actually wire in a socket) in the compartments by the waste vales and by the water pump. the furnace should keep the rest of the water system warm enough. Some extra insulation in the waste compartment wouldn't hurt.

I not sure about leaveing you waste hose hooked up, it will allow cold air in the compartment with those vales. Maybe if you can insulate around where the hose comes in to stop cold air it might work.

I always dry camp so I don't have to worry about the water connection. But I have seen people wrap a hose in heater tape and then insulation. But you have to be carefull the tape dosen't melt the hose.

A couple of those little ceramic electric heaters go a long way to heating the rig and getting rid of cold spots, exspeically by the windshield. (I assume you have double pain windows).

If you goin to be livivng in it a long time, you might want to think about a good de-humidfier, you'll put alot of mositure in the air.

A good eletric blanket dosen't either

I hope all goes well for you.
Cheers

PS
A nice bottle of brandy works wonders on cold nights.....
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Old 11-01-2007, 11:13 AM   #5
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Your main furnace (the propane fired unit) is the source for heat supplied to the storage bay below, with the exception of your water/sewer connection bay.
When the temperatures are below freezing, you have to make sure that the main furnace does it share of heating and not just the ceramic heaters, otherwise you may not get enough heated air into your storage bays below.

As John mentioned make sure you have some ventilation and you might consider purchasing a de-humidifier. I bought one (make is GE) at Sam's Club for about $150 and it does a great job of keeping that humidity buildup down.
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Old 11-01-2007, 11:19 AM   #6
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Harry B is right, you have to keep the main furance running to keep the water system from freezing. We keep a ceramic heater on the dash to keep the front area warm by the wind shield.(my thermostat is back mid coach.) The wind shield being single pain does tend to get cold around that area.
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Old 11-01-2007, 02:44 PM   #7
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We recently read in an issue of Motorhome magazine that instead of ceramic heaters to try electric oil filled radiant heaters. We bought 2 made by Lakewood and are very impressed with them. They are 36" long and have a thermostat control(but not calibrated) and 2 power settings- 900 watts and 1500 watts. They work great and are very safe and quiet running with no fans, all you hear is the metal heat fins occassionaly tinkle as they expand or contract from change in temperature. We camped in some pretty cold conditions since getting these (upper 20s early morning) and stayed comfortable with no freeze-ups. On one of the days we experienced sustained 50mph winds and that night the heaters did need the help of our motorhome's furnace to keep the temps comfortable. We also use a electric mattress pad to sleep on in cold weather. Each heater used 4 amps of power while on 900 watt setting and 7 amps while on the 1500 watt setting. We used the 1500 watt setting only when first starting them up and then left on 900 watts. With 30 amp service in our mh we were still able to run both heaters, the electric water heater, tv, lights, and mattress pad. We did have to shut off the water heater when using our microwave or coffee maker but with just a flip of the switch that's not a big deal. John's advice to get a 100lb lp tank hooked up is very good advice. As it gets colder and warms up less during the day as we get into the winter season your furnace will have to do more of the work of keeping you warm, but the heaters will still save you money on lp gas and give your furnace a break once in a while.
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Old 11-01-2007, 03:20 PM   #8
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I am not familiar with the location of the fresh water tank in your Adventurer so I can't comment on it's likelyhood of freezing.

If you run your LP furnace to heat your rig I am sure that your holding tanks will not freeze in above zero temperatures ... I would make sure that you put some extra heat by your dump valves and by your water pump.

In every campground where I have stayed in cold weather they require you to fill your fresh water tank and then disconnect your hose so that their pipes do not freeze.

I dump my holding tanks about every two or three days when I am camping in freezing temps ... then I stow my hose after each dump ...

One cold morning I saw a guy trip over his frozen dump hose ... it had a gigantic hole in it from the bump ... so be very carefull with you dump hose and if you leave it out make sure that it has a constant downhill pitch with no low spots because if there are any low spots it will retain water and freeze shut ...

<span class="ev_code_red">Dealing with frozen sewer hoses is way at the bottom of the list of things that I like to do </span>
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Old 11-02-2007, 03:47 AM   #9
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All above is great advice.

If staying for any length of tie, I would definitely invest in the extend a stay tee and an external propane tank, be it a BBQ tank or a 30lber or a 100lber. Once set up it isn't "Fun" to have to move to go get propane.

We use to oil filled radiator electric heaters. I set my thermostats for about 60 degrees for when we aren't around (I won't leave the space heaters on if we aren't here). I do have 2 furnaces, and the bedroom one takes car of the heated tanks, so I did just install a digital programmable thermostat in place of the standard spring type in the back. That lets me set it for 60 at night and bump it up warmer just before we get up in the morning.

Be aware, that the space heaters might do you some harm, they will keep the inside nice and toasty, but will trick the thermostats into thinking they don't need to heat the tanks. I would put a light bulb in your wet bay.

If your hooked to water, definitely heat tape your hose and use pipe insulation on it, or fill your fresh tank, work off that, and store your hose... After you made sure to drain it.

Dump hoses, as already pointed out are SUPER fragile in cold. We leave ours out with the idea that they normally don't last but a year of full-timing anyhow, and gives me a reason to get a new one in spring, but we know a lot of people who rig up hard PVC for their dump.

We have done a lot of cold weather camping, and have full-timed a winter in NYC, IL and WI. It isn't as bad as some people will lead you to believe if you take some precaution.

John
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Old 11-02-2007, 05:04 AM   #10
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Another nice thing to have is to get one of those wireless thermoters and place the sending unit in the bay my the waste vales, and one by the water pump, that way you can monitor the temperatures in those bays, from inside.
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Old 11-02-2007, 05:59 AM   #11
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Lots of great advice here. If possible take a walk around the park and see what other rv'ers are doing, most likely there are some that have spent several winters there.

You will most likely be paying your own electricity, those little ceramic heaters could cost you up to a dollar a day each to run. That adds up quick.

Hope your treatments go well.

Jim
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Old 11-04-2007, 02:11 AM   #12
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We are a little South of you, done in Virginia Beach, VA. We stayed through the winter here last year and will be here again this year (work).

1) We wrap our water hose with a heat coil that we plug in (we use two), then we wrap the hose with foam insulation for any of it that is outside.

2) The remainder of the hose goes into another cooler with a heat coil without foam - keeps it plenty warm.

3) Our external water filters (two) sit inside a cooler with a heat coil.

3) We have two plug-in heaters for inside and this helps the fireplace heat the coach. we do however have the furnace on and inevitably it runs especially at night.

4) A humidifier is on most of the time and a window open just a fraction.

The big thing here is we experience only a short time below freezing, usually at night and for 2-3 weeks in February. Where you're located will definitely be colder so I would go the extra steps of placing a light in your water compartment and go with the extra LP tank. We had thought of getting the extra tank however I do like to run the coach and drive it around every once in while when I am in a location for a long time.

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Old 11-05-2007, 06:02 AM   #13
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Hi,

I live in the Baltimore area and have not yet winterized any of my coaches. I keep a ceramic heater on constant high...on the lower of the two amp settings and set the coach thermostat at 50 degrees. I have never had a freeze up in my 2000 Winnebago Brave or my 2002 Tradewinds. Usually if I know the weather is going to remain below 20 degrees for several days in a row and that is seldom, I will increase the coach's thermostat to 65 degrees. On a warm day, I will turn the fan only mode just to make sure the contents of the basement are well heated.(plus it brings in fresh air) I recently returned from a trip to Northern Wisconsin where the temps did not rise above 45 during the day and was surprised I used only 7 gallons of LP for the entire week. I carry a little over 30 gallons of LP as my gen set runs off the LP. Generally here in the BAltimore Washington area, we seldom get a hard freeze that lasts more than a week. I suggest you pick a campsite that is proteced from the NW wind and in the sun for the majority of the day as that helps a lot. Good luck with your treatments at Hopkins,,,,,They are the Best...It you need any assistance while in the area, don't hesitate contacting me. I'll be most happy to help out as I am retired and have lots of time.
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Old 11-05-2007, 10:49 AM   #14
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Kyle241:
We are a little South of you, done in Virginia Beach, VA. We stayed through the winter here last year and will be here again this year (work).

1) We wrap our water hose with a heat coil that we plug in (we use two), then we wrap the hose with foam insulation for any of it that is outside.


Kyle </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What Kind/brand of heat coil do you use?
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Old 11-05-2007, 11:46 AM   #15
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I agree. all very good advice.

However, if you need any help around JHH, please feel free to contact me. Even for the most mundane requests. I work here and am in a position to help if you need assistance.

Stay warm!!!
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Old 11-05-2007, 02:02 PM   #16
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Nick: Are you staying at Cherry Hill? I ask because I'm getting radiated at Walter Reed for 6 weeks (ends around 10 Dec) and we're at Cherry Hill now. They have their own propane truck and will fill you any day but Sun. Their water connections have heat tape on them. So far it hasn't gotten below 35 so we're staying connected. We'll do many of the things suggested when it gets colder. We lived on a boat on the Potomac for 7 years so we're familiar with that drill.

By the way, Cherry Hill will give you a weekly rate if you're going to be here for awhile.

If you're not going to Cherry Hill, I wasted your time . But, hope all goes well for you at Johns Hopkins. Steve
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