Winter Camping Questions

CanoeCanuck · 01-02-2023, 03:37 PM

Hello Fellow RV campers
I have a Winnebago Itasca 26’. I’ve been doing some winter camping and last night it was cold and clear. Temperature was 32F/0C last night. Furnace worked great, but needed to run a lot. What is the insulation factor in these units? Am I expecting too much from this camper? It warms nicely but virtually no heat retention and furnace would come on about 5 minutes after turning off. I’ve put insulation in roof top vents but not much else. I have one slide. I’m wondering if I should pay the dealer to reseal it or if I won’t see any improvement. Anyone else use their camper in the cold?
Have a good day.
Sean

powercat_ras · 01-02-2023, 05:29 PM

It's just not built to be a 4 season camper. The performance you are seeing is about right for 32F temps.

Some low hanging fruit things to do plus what you did in the roof top vents:

Turn the dash air switch to off before turning off the engine to close up the dash air to the outside air as much as possible.

Get some reflectix at a home center and cut pieces to put it in all the windows including the side windows by drivers and passengers seats. towels along the bottom of the curtain going across the dash covering the defrost vents. Close the fresh air vent louvers on the dash. towel along the bottom of the entry door in the step well.

Couple other things you can do that are more work if you are going to do a lot of cold weather camping, this is also great for very hot weather camping:

Get rigid foam insulation panels made to go between furring strips for basement remodels, and rolls of stick on weatherstripping. Cut pieces to fit all the way across the winshield. You put weatherstripping on tops and bottoms to make airtight, and on edges of every other one on sides to make airtight.

If you have cabinets above the front seats, you can add insulation above the top and behind the backs of the cabinets. There is little or none in those two places placed at the factory.

**creativepart** · 01-02-2023, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanoeCanuck

Am I expecting too much from this camper? It warms nicely but virtually no heat retention and furnace would come on about 5 minutes after turning off.

The short answer is YES, you are expecting too much.

At their best, RVs are 3-season capable. You can do some things to help but nothing really helps long term. The proscribed solution is to get behind the steering wheel and drive south to temperatures above 70 degrees.

You can go to Home Depot and buy a roll of Reflectix and cut it to shape and put it in your windows. It helps on motorhomes to hang a heavy blanket across the front cabin of your RV. That big front window lets in a LOT of cold.

You'll find that this problem will pop up again when you camp in temps above 90 degrees. Just keep moving the RV until you find temperatures that are comfortable.

It's would help us all a LOT if we knew what year, model and floor plan your are asking about. You'll find us asking that question over and over again every time you have a question about your RV.

dkoldman · 01-02-2023, 05:55 PM

Before we got our RV, we camped in tents a lot, We had fire outside for a while, but eventually we would go inside the tent where we had sleeping bags rated for 0 F degrees. The coldest I recall would have been 19 F degrees.

In our RV, even with propane furnace; if it is 32 or below, it is cold upfront as stated. If we have shore power we run a 1500 watt heater at the very front with thermostat. Ironically, once the Lasko heater gets going it warms enough to shut the furnace down (also on thermostat); so we save propane as unintended consequence.

For Christmas we just bought one of those smaller ceramic heaters that is also 1500 watts. We have yet to use, but I can see it going in the MBR and/or Bathroom when we need to shower. We didn't really need this heater but I had a $30 Coupon from Camping World; so I had to buy something.

Morich · 01-02-2023, 06:34 PM

Got anybody who sews around to do handy things?
We have added snaps along the ceiling and down each side to fully close off the front on a class C. It cuts off lots of the leaking points as a C has so much exposure with all the sides, top and bottom exposed, plus it cuts the total space heated.

For better controlled heat when using electric, we don't like noise if we can avoid it, so putting the space heater in front away from the bedroom and using a remote thermostat to keep the temp where we were controlled but place the noise as far forward as possible.
Something like this was a big improvement over the wide swings of the normal electric heater built in thermostat.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/13439438881...Bk9SR5Tc_9OuYQ

RocknRoll · 01-03-2023, 05:48 AM

I recently mooch-docked in Virginia Beach (son's driveway) during the recent polar vortex (Dec 23-27th). The temperature got down to 8 degrees (-5 with WC) and was worried about how everything would go.

Filled up the fresh water tank and after the first night the tanks and water lines froze. I was also concerned about the LifeP04 battery and damaging it.

However, the interior stayed comfy and warm with the propane furnace and 1500W electric heater. Also used an electric blanket at night.

Good news is when everything finally thawed out, there were no leaks and the battery suffered no damage as far as I can tell.

Needless to say, it was initially a little stressful and a reminder that I will NEVER stay in the camper in freezing conditions again! LOL

davismills · 01-03-2023, 05:59 AM

When it gets really cold (like your example) we use a Buddy Heater to really warm up the coach.

I just run a 12-foot propane hose out the driver's side window to a 20 lb. propane tank on the outside. It's much more efficient that the on-board furnace.

I refuse to run it while I'm asleep, however.

https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Cor...st_sto_dp&th=1

Marine359 · 01-03-2023, 08:40 AM

With just 15amps of shore power, we are quite comfortable using and sleeping with a small ceramic heater running @900 watts, plus the furnace set to 65F. The ceramic heater will kick on just before it’s cold enough inside for the furnace to start. Saves a lot of propane. A 26ft Coass C like the Itasca doesn’t have much more interior volume to heat than our 23ft TT. If you put an insulating blanket between the cab and the living quarters, and stuff the ceiling vents with insulating pads, you should be able to easily stay comfy at 32F ambient. Of course, when boondocking, we don’t use the ceramic heater. We don’t de-winterize when camping in sub-freezing weather. We just carry enough water in reliant jugs inside the camper, and heat water on the stovetop in a kettle for washing up.