Digest Number 225 Winter living in a Blue Bird

[tom240842@...]

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]

[erniecarpet@...]

Thanks, Tom, when you getting out of Cincinnatti? Ernie- in montana till sat


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Jack and Liz Pearce]

>>>>>--- 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