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Old 10-30-2008, 02:36 AM   #1
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?When boondocking and it is getting cold at night, like 30, how do you keep warm without starting the generator and furnace after going to bed?
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Old 10-30-2008, 02:36 AM   #2
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?When boondocking and it is getting cold at night, like 30, how do you keep warm without starting the generator and furnace after going to bed?
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Old 10-30-2008, 03:06 AM   #3
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I do a lot of winter tent camping with the Boy Scouts with NO genset or furnace and we sleep soundly often when it is 10 degrees. A few tips that work:
1. wear a ski hat
2. zero degree sleeping bag
3. a liner for your sleeping bag
4. 18-hour hot packs. You can get them in Wal Mart. Just open the bag and they heat up in a few minutes.
5. Cup of hot chocolate with a pat of butter melted in before bed. The fats in the butter will keep you warm at night.
6. Change ALL your clothes before bed so that you are completely dry - no persperation to chill you later that night. Fleece is great to sleep in.

If it stays 30 degrees for a prolonged period of time, you will need your furnace on so your water pipes don't freeze. When we keep our furnace on at night, we keep a window open a crack and make sure the CO detector is working.

My favorite option is sleeping close to the DW!
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Old 10-30-2008, 03:10 AM   #4
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The LP furnace only uses 12V DC. So, if your batteries are charged, you shouldn't need the generator during the night...
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Old 10-30-2008, 03:47 AM   #5
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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 tomsm:
The LP furnace only uses 12V DC. So, if your batteries are charged, you shouldn't need the generator during the night... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Yup - that's what we have done. Shutdown everything you don't need, turn the inverter off, set the furnace on 60 or 65 and have a nice sleep
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Old 10-30-2008, 04:42 AM   #6
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I don't have one, but some have a 12 volt mattress pad to heat the bed.

We only have the 120 volt version. With that you would not need to run the furnace.

On our new motorhome with the larger inverter will try the 120 volt mattress pad to see how that goes, but the 12 volt version you could shut the inverter off at night.
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Old 10-30-2008, 05:35 AM   #7
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We turn the furnace down to 50 degrees and sleep under a king size down comforter.
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Old 10-30-2008, 05:51 AM   #8
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We also turn off the inverter and all non-essential stuff, set the gas furnace to 65, and let the 12 volt batteries run that for the night.

I did the Boy Scout thing when I was a kid...too old for that now.
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Old 10-30-2008, 06:25 AM   #9
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We never keep any kind of heat going during the night, whether we're boondocking or not. If it's cold at night, we have a nice down comforter that we put on the bed that keeps us toasty warm!
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Old 10-30-2008, 10:11 AM   #10
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As others have said, turn off stuff that you don't need, set your thermo to around 60 +/- degrees, retire for the evening. If your batteries are in good condition, and charged up, you should not have any problem running your furnace through the nite, you should still have enough power for your needs in the morning. Run your generator during the day, or in the evening to charge up your battery bank, couple of hours is all you should need depending on your installed battery charging equipment.

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Old 10-30-2008, 11:33 AM   #11
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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 LindaH:
We never keep any kind of heat going during the night, whether we're boondocking or not. If it's cold at night, we have a nice down comforter that we put on the bed that keeps us toasty warm! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
--------------------------------------------------- Ditto
The exception is when its going to be freezing I set thermostat at 55 for basement heat.
I dont like warm air blowing on me when I sleep.
Sometime I put on a ski cap and wear socks.
Good down comforter or some wool blankets beats propane anyday
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Old 10-30-2008, 12:45 PM   #12
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Same here, when we are skiing we just set the furnace at 60 and go to bed, the batteries handle the furnace overnight, and I've done it at5 to 10 deg's F
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Old 10-30-2008, 05:22 PM   #13
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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 Chandler Bing:
?When boondocking and it is getting cold at night, like 30, how do you keep warm without starting the generator and furnace after going to bed? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

As others have mentioned the furnace is 12 volts and runs off the batteries so just make sure you batteries are in good shape, set the thermostat to 60/65 and run the furnace at night. Charge the batteries up during the day.

I always travel with a fully charged portable jump starter with me just in case so I don't have to worry.

After 12 days in the New Hampshire White Mountains a week ago with 30+/- degree nightime temps we only went through about 30 lbs of propane for daily cooking, showers and heating for 4 adults. We could have stayed a month before refilling the propane tank.
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Old 10-30-2008, 08:55 PM   #14
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Another thing you can do is to bring your slides in, or at least the main slide which reduces the volume of air the furnace needs to heat.

If you are going to camp often like this do check around your RV for openings to the outside. I found one in the back of my pocket door which leads to the wet bay which isn't insulated at all.

Use pillows or something in your roof vents to keep in heat. Anything you can do to keep heat in, blankets over windows, etc. will help too.
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Old 10-31-2008, 12:41 AM   #15
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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 Y-Guy:
Another thing you can do is to bring your slides in, or at least the main slide which reduces the volume of air the furnace needs to heat.

If you are going to camp often like this do check around your RV for openings to the outside. I found one in the back of my pocket door which leads to the wet bay which isn't insulated at all.

Use pillows or something in your roof vents to keep in heat. Anything you can do to keep heat in, blankets over windows, etc. will help too. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Be carefull of plugging the vents that provide airflow to the wet bays and keep them from freezing. Plug too many of them up and you could create a problem down there.
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Old 10-31-2008, 05:21 AM   #16
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Wow, I appreciate all the answers to my question. I guess we will let it run around 60. We will let our two papillons sleep with us too! Thanks so much everone!
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Old 11-01-2008, 09:06 AM   #17
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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 Jeeperrmartin:
...
On our new motorhome with the larger inverter will try the 120 volt mattress pad to see how that goes, but the 12 volt version you could shut the inverter off at night. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Be carefull--you may find that the Modified Sine Wave output of the standard inverter may cause the 120V heating pad to overheat or even catch fire. There was another posting recently either here or on rv.net where that happened. That would not be a problem with a True Sine Wave inverter.
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Old 11-01-2008, 04:26 PM   #18
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Thanks for the info on possible problem with heat pad on inverter.
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Old 11-01-2008, 07:59 PM   #19
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we have been using a 12v mattress warmer from backwoods solar company for over a year now. it works great. our queen size has a dual control and draws about 5 amps per side when you first turn it on, less than half of that when the bed has warmed up.
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Old 11-02-2008, 01:53 AM   #20
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If You want a 2 word to use it,s GO SOUTH....lol Bushman boondocks where it is warm and I boondock almost all the time..summer and winter I have a great time being a camper with out hook ups...Bushman
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