Digest Number 225 Winter living in a Blue Bird
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07-20-2005, 14:57
Post: #1
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Digest Number 225 Winter living in a Blue Bird
Hi Michael and group.
We spent this past winter in SW Ohio just north of Cincinnati. When we researched past winters here, we saw that the average winter temperature was about 30 degrees, this past winter however was the exception to the rule, as was the weather in a lot of places. We have lived full-time in our 'bird and know from experience that not only are they well insulated, but very tight, with very little air loss. We arrived here in Ohio in October, and by the end of November the temperature at night was getting into the 20's, but in the daytime would go back up to 40's and 50's. The first thing I did was close in the bottom of the coach. I did this using 1" Styrofoam sheets from Lowe's, along with plywood, this was to prevent the wind from blowing under the coach. The floor and underside on my coach seems to have the least insulation. We have the old style wood and yarn blinds on the inside, and just when I would like to trade them out for something more modern looking, I appreciate their insulating properties, both for keeping the cold in winter, and heat from the sun out in summer. To make the floor warmer, (we have hardwood flooring in the living area installed by Ernie and Bim), we put down our floor covering with throw rugs over that, it did a pretty good job. Also keeping the entry stairwell cover down helped too. The wind really blew at times but because 'birds are so tight, we had very few 'leaks.' For the front windows we have a huge covering that snaps in so that the cold doesn't radiate past it. My three major concerns were, 1) my holding tanks freezing or the valves freezing where I couldn't get pumped out. (I had a guy come by every week and pump out my holding tanks). 2) my water pipes that run from the galley to the bathroom and 3) my plumbing under the sink freezing. Nothing froze until it got below 10 degrees. Then the water pump under the galley sink would freeze and the pipes from the galley to the bathroom. What I did was put an electric heater under the sink, and a electric heater in the bathroom. However, the opening under the sink in the bathroom where the pipes were was too small for a heater, so I simply put a hair dryer down in the open and let it blow hot air back in behind the sink and toward the galley. These pipes at one time had heat tape on them but has long sense stopped working. This worked well, even when those several nights it got to 5 below zero. I conferred with Randy about wrapping his dump valves with heat tape and he said this would be perfectly okay. I had done this one time before in Washington State with no damage to either the valves or the outlet pipe itself. Because it warmed up usually to 35 degrees or so in the daytime, the heat tape was not on all the time either. I also put rock salt in my holding tanks each week and this made a difference probably. During the one cold spell when it was 5 below zero, I put a electric heater under the coach directed on the holding tanks. I never had any trouble dumping. We heated the coach inside with electric heaters, using the propane furnaces to just take the chill off. Once it was warm it stayed warm. Mid-December to March the temperature stayed in the single digits to teens at night, warming up into the low 30's in the daytime. Wind blew all the time, and I don't know what the wind chill was, but we were comfortable. Oh yes, I had 50 amp service to the coach, BUT had the two other 30 amp lines I had run from the junction service box outside to run the additional heaters. So if someone did not have this luxury, they would probably have to use the propane furnaces more. The coldest area in a FC is the front. Between all the glass, and the cold coming in through the front (this area is not well insulated), we just packed it with pillows and blankets, to block the cold. I hope this helps anyone contemplating cold weather camping. I don't know how much colder we could have gone, but 5 below zero with a fifteen knot wind is pretty cold. Regards to the group. Tom Meservey USN (Ret) '81FC33' STILL in Cincinnati [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] |
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07-20-2005, 20:08
Post: #2
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Digest Number 225 Winter living in a Blue Bird
Thanks, Tom, when you getting out of Cincinnatti? Ernie- in montana till sat
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] |
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07-21-2005, 03:27
Post: #3
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Digest Number 225 Winter living in a Blue Bird
>>>>>--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, tom240842@a... wrote:
> Hi Michael and group. > > We spent this past winter in SW Ohio just north of Cincinnati. When we > researched past winters here, we saw that the average winter temperature was > about 30 degrees, this past winter however was the exception to the rule, as was > the weather in a lot of places.<<<<< Howdy, Tom. Thank you for sending this very informative message. It is much appreciated. Regards, Liz Regards, Jack and Liz Pearce Fulltiming in a 1993 Wanderlodge WB40 Homesick Texans in Lantana, FL |
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