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Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Yahoo Message Number: 91658
We dove down South out of South Dakota thru Cheyenne, WY in front of this massive cold front blowing thru the area now. We landed on Wed in Breckenridge, and looking at the forecast decided to sit out the forecasted brushing of snow and cold weather from this front here. Down to 26 last night, and about 2-3" of snow in our area. Off and on all day, and they expect tonight another 3-4" of snow, and temps to drop down into the mid teens.
We're from San Diego, and are enjoying this. But, wonder if anyone has any other ideas on things we should do to be sure we're OK for the next few days? So far, we have: -Filled the water tank, dumped the grey and black -Un-hooked and put away our water hose -Opened the window awning on our larger/deeper living room slide out, to help keep the topper cover tighter -Plugged into 50amp service

-Using our floor heat set to 90, a small 1500w fan/heater up towards the front of the coach.
-We have the Hydro-hot electric on, and the front and back zones set to kick on if we dip below 60 inside. The front of the coach area did kick on a few times last night.
-We close all of the window coverings, and have a snap button window shield on the windshield too, for over the night time We have available a Heat Buddy if ever needed, say from a power failure. And as I mentioned on another posts, when we get home I need to replace the squirrel cage fans used with our furnace. (The fan under the kitchen counter kicks on well, but the front one under dash only seems to kick on when we have the Hydro-hot running off of diesel.). And finally, we have another 1500w heater we could pull out if needed.
We had zero problems last night. But with the mid teens forecasted for tonight, and us be cold weather rookies - wanted to ask for any advance opportunities to avoid a 'lessoned learned' moment:)!

TIA, and best to all,
Smitty

04 Allure 31017
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91660
We always love hearing anything from you, Smitty. We are from MN and have camped in MI during the winter for a week or so. You sound like everything is very nicely covered for heat. The only suggestion we could add and only because it's what we've done whether or not it's important is to pull in the slides making the heating area much smaller.

Also, when Mike was working in OK City for a week here and there in the winter a couple of years ago, and the motor home was kept in OK City at Twin Fountains RV Park, he learned from all of the other folks there for the winter to put a trouble light down in the water bay where our Inspire pump is located. He used a 25 watt bulb. Also, he says that he learned from the folks there to put insulation of some kind, cloths even, around the electric cord coming up into the coach just to minimize cold are coming in.

Best of luck!

Mary and Mike Frederick
06 Inspire 51784

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91662
We have camped in 17 degree weather in Oklahoma with 2" of ice and about foot of snow with no problems. Warm and toasty. We did all the things you did. Stay warm! Lonny & Diane Livingston
Tampa, FL

'04 Allure #31065

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91665
Hi Smitty,

We have Rv'ed in all kinds of cold weather being from NH. One night my wife and I spent the night in a slide-in pick-up camper and it was 27 below zero when we went to bed. However that was not in a CC coach but we have been down to just above zero with far less prep than you have done
CCs have a heat exchanger in the water bay and a thermostat so you don't need a light bulb. As long as you are living in the coach you should have no problems at all in the mid teens and well below that.
The most venerable thing in the coach is probably the ice maker. We drained ours and took it out right from the beginning. Being full timers we needed the extra freezer space. There is supposed to be heat tape on the water supply out in the refrigerator compartment but I never liked the way it was installed. If you want to put a bulb (100 watt) somewhere that would be the place.
Relax and enjoy the winter like weather. You are more that well prepared.
As a side note for the group I want to say that the foliage here in the White Mountains is just about at peak if not a little beyond. If you planned to on leave peeping here you better be no more than a couple of days away.

Don Seager

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91683
Of course check the slide toppers before retracting when leaving in case ice formed on the canvas

Roger Harper
2006 Intrigue
#11990

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91694
Thanks for the responses, kind words, cheers beverages, is that why we had ice on our carpets:)! (And Don - I could only read yours heading on the board, up to where you were in 27 below. For some reason, I can not read your post when I try to open it. Tried Explorer and Chrome, the same.)
It was a non-event, the locals smiled at us and said it was only down to 17!
We noticed the furnace heat zone 2 kicking on a bit more last night then the night before, but we were quite comfortable. Really enjoyed seeing the snow fall, and learned that I can sweep it while it remains so fluffy - something I'm sure veteran snow people knew...
I cheated a bit on cleaning off the big slide topper, as around noon we had enough sun that I just went out and ran a steady stream of hose water on the topper for about two minutes, and the last of the snow melted and flowed right off the topper.
My wife and I really enjoyed our walk, though our poor little house dawg did not seem all that enthusiastic about walking in that white stuff! We both wondered why we were so tuckered out, and then realized we're used to sea level of San Diego, not 9500' of this area:)!. So, we followed some solid advise, and sat down with our Campfire In A Can (Sorry, supposed to say The Amazing Campfire In a Can:)!), and a nice Drambuie. We were under a wooden awning on the parking pad area, with snow all around us, and really enjoyed the contrast of the cold air, fire, and warming properties of the liquid refreshments. Locals walking by, Tigers Run has many here all of the time, though we were crazy:)!
Don - If you could send me an email with your thoughts I would appreciate it - as you know I value your input. Hope the Mountain Top is treating you both well!!

Best to all, and thanks again,
Smitty

04 Allure 31017
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91703
Well I'll give you my lessons learned now, and shame on me, as I should have known better:)!
We were up for an early start (National Park closures has us competing with several thousand other displaced travelers for the few spots available 'first come, first served' at the State Parks. We were hoping to get one of the three of such sites at Dead Horse Point State Park near Moab.), it was 19 outside. 15 mins wrestling with the power cord, a normal in/out/push/twist event, and then in to start the coach. No problem starting, as had been pre heating for 90 mins before turning off the power.
It was the slide toppers that is our problem. I had got all of the snow off of the big slide late yesterday afternoon with the help of a water hose. It has warmed up to 39. But some of the water puddled, and froze overnight. This kept the topper from rolling in while closing the slide.
Back slide topper had some snow left on it that I missed from below, and same ice build up on the canvas.
Up on the roof and banged the ice loose as I could get it, but still some frozen sections that just will not scrape off.
This era Carefree awning/topper combinations were not known to be a 'better design'. The springs are weak links in them. (Have replaced the front spring one already.) They just could not handle the job of winding up the topper.
Now waiting for the sun to hit the awning for an hour or so, and hopefully this will get enough ice off of the topper to allow full retraction. (I'm not talking much ice here, all hunks have been banged off, and it is just a thin sheet less about 1/32" that I just can not scrape off with the windshield squeegee I was using.)
So, my lesson learned, is knowing we had high teens forecast overnight - I SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT THE SLIDES IN LATE YESTERDAY AFTERNOON:)!
Second Lesson Learned - I need a ladder big enough to reach the top of the awnings. Mind is a 4' step stool OK for cleaning windows, but not high enough to reach up on top of the slides.
The nice thing about this delay, is that it is just a beautiful clear spectacular day here in Breckenridge's Tigers Run:)! So if we need to hang all day to get the slides in, that is OK with us:)!
Best to all, and thanks again to all of you on your input. (And Don S. me his input via PM too, explaining how the heat exchanger works in the water bay, so this specific coach is good to go without the electric light bulb. (Have used that in our Bounder in years past.))

Smitty,

04 Allure 31017
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91704
I can't help you with the too short ladder, but when we had a similar situation with the slide toppers in Dawson Creek, my blow dryer and an extension cord took care of the ice on the toppers. Not the speediest solution but it worked and within half an hour we were on the road.

S. Brandt, '06 Intrigue, 11964

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91705
Smitty,

Even though you two are not having an easy time of it, I know we're learning out here in RV land!! Who would have thought that pulling the rooms in would have saved ice on the toppers problem? When we pull them in our only reason is to have less area to heat! Now we know too. Hope that the melting has already happened and that you are merrily on your way.

Mary Frederick
06 Inspire 51784
 

Re: Tips on staying warm, and or cautions?

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 91717
All is well, and we had a fun time learning... Sun came out and hit parts of the side toppers between the trees. Ladder was high enough to reach up with my wife's hair dryer, where I hit the Carefree Awning metal container, which was full of ice. These are the Toppers and Window Awning combo, so openning the awhings brought the metal case down lower and unwound the awning fabric portion, which was frozen solid. We got the steps working with the hair dryer too.
Got out of camp around 11:00AM, and into Moab area just before 5:00PM. No luck getting into Dead Horse Point State Park, but got one of the last two places large enough for a 40' coach at Moab Canyon Rim, right on 191. Good hike and sunset, and as I type I'm looking at a great view of the sunrise.
Again appreciated all of the info sharing. And classic timing when I think about the recent threads on awnings in general. Don't get me wrong, the Carefree's not being able to retract the Slide Toppers is all on me. But working on them again so closely, I could see so many of the design and underbuilding of these awnings - ir reinforced my having awnings and toppers on my 'To Do' replacement lists, as budget allows ahead:)!

Best to all,
Smitty

04 Allure 31017
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)