Warm & Toasty Option ??????

[Lambchop]

We have the Glacier Package in our 08 Mountaineer.

We left WI Nov of 08 & headed to FL.

As of today Mar. 5th, we have used 12...30# tanks of LP.

We keep our therm set at 70 during the day & 60 at night. It's been an unusually cold winter down here this year. Gas is cheap here in central FL.....$15 for a 30# tank. So I spent $330 for heat this winter.
If I would have stayed at home..it would cost us over $3000 for LP hot water heat....3,000 sq foot home.

Of course, our home has been winterized when we left.

Our Montana is very warm..better than the SOB we had before.

Roy

[exav8tr]

Well we CHEAT. We have an electric blanky that we use on cold nights (sorry Robbie). The mil sites, nor 1000 Trails, do not charge for elec so we only use the propane for cooking and the ocassional real cold night below 55 to keep pipes from freezing and we haven't paid a monthly rent yet to get charged for elec, except in Tucson last year. We use our elec fireplace and space heater at night and turn the fireplace OFF at night and just leave the small elec on when it is real cold, otherwise just use the blanky then fire up the furnace in the morning to take the chill off. Having spent the last 14 years, well until 2007 anyway, in Alaska, we have learned to layer the clothes. I enjoy the door and windows open as much as possible so we dress for the chill. We have yet to be uncomfortable, but I got a feeling that will change this summer as we travel up the eastern coast. re. hot and humid......

[racerjoe]

Rich, as bad as it feels to buy all that propane, what does icehouse put up with all winter? It must be amazing trying to keep these warm in those temps. Right now we do not full time, but when we do, we will prepare ourselves like you have, to keep it as warm as being home.

[Rondo]

While in Ohio this last month, I talked to a propane/LP dealer (his service man really) near Athens and inquired about the Blue Flame unnits for the house my sister-in-law had just bought. Since her house is all electric we wanted to check on the Blue Flame units for a back up! He said they work great BUT they do put a lot of humidity into the air. Have you had any problems with that on your 20000BTU unit Orv? Since the Monte is a lot smaller than a stick house, we were just wondering about the humidity problem. Inquiring minds want to know!

[ols1932]

quote:Originally posted by Rondo

Have you had any problems with that on your 20000BTU unit Orv? Since the Monte is a lot smaller than a stick house, we were just wondering about the humidity problem. Inquiring minds want to know!

No, we don't have a humidity problem with our heater. It may be because we only run it when the electric heaters are not sufficient to keep the rig warm. If we're in a location where the electric isn't included in our lot rent, then we use the Blue Flame a little more. But we've never noticed any humidity build up. But we haven't spent a whole lot of time in freezing weather and when we do, we keep a vent open and I believe this helps eradicate any possible extra humidity.

Orv

[mopar1]

quote:Originally posted by Farmhawk

The meat of the package is insulation, R14 in the walls and ceiling and a toasty R21 in the floor.

The artic package has R14 ceiling, R9 walls and R21 floors. My Mountaineer has the same walls and ceiling but just R14 floors.
I have spent $1400 this year on propane to keep our 1600 sq ft house 68* this winter here in Indiana.
What made a big difference last year in my house comfort was my cousin has his own insulation business. I had him spray expanding foam insulation on the walls of my crawl space. That made the floors warmer and I save about 20 gallons of propane a month.
I have been thinking about the same thing for the Monty. I haven't had the cover off of the bottom but I know that I would not want that foam sprayed on anything that may have to be worked on or removed. Maybe some roll insulation for that. A good area for the foam may be inside the decorative skirting between the frame and the edge of the wall.

[Illini Trekker]

Rich I'm work camping in Illinois now for the second winter in my 2955RL 05 Montana. I've seen -8 temps this winter and no freeze ups. I pay $.14 a kilo watt for elec. I use elec. heaters and Mr. Heaters gas heater to get the chill off. You say your slides feel cooler, to help I applied foam to the seals to help the drafts, also after the slide where closed I put foam rope around the slides as a double seal. You can close off the bedroom to help the heaters heat the other rooms of the trailer. At night open the bedroom a couple of hour before bed time I warm the bed with elec. blankets. While sleeping close the bedroom again and heat it by closing the door with another heater.

[richfaa]

Yes Dennis we have done some of the same things.We are not really complaining My original post was somewhat tongue in cheek.. I mean we are in Florida were the average winter temp in this area is 70's during the day and 50's at night so what's up with 6 tanks of propane in Feb and 13 tanks since October 21st.We used 5 tanks all last winter here.We are on our 5th Rv and have spent some April and Octobers camping in Northern Ohio. Warm and toasty sure with a lot of propane, lots of heaters. and dress warm. These things no matter how well one tries to seal them up are full of drafts. Last night there was like no wind at all. The outside temp was 54 at 10:30PM. The inside temp was 73.6.. the furnace did not come on at all last night. Now let the wind pick up a bit and it is a entirely different story. A couple of weeks ago when we had winds gusting to 35MPH we had a paper on the dining table blow off when a gust hit..now that is a draft....

[Rondo]

Rich-- Doesn't sound like a draft that blew that paper off but a whole in the side of the Monte! Best look for that hole and fix it! Put a piece of cardboard over it temp!

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Rich,

A little more tongue in cheek........ The "Warm and Toasty" option apparently wasn't available for our late 2006 3400RL either. Here in the Phoenix, AZ area we run through about 14 gallons in 10 days during the coldest period. @ 30 degree F lows. But that usually doesn't last a full month. But if it did at $3.00 a gallon it would be $126 plus a month. Don't know what it would have been w/o the "Arctic Package". Now not sure what that package really was anymore. Does cold Arctic weather follow you wherever you go with that option? However, we haven't had paper blow off the table since we burn all loose paper in the fireplace to save on fuel. :-) LPG price has dropped to $2.79 a gallon recently. We now get to eat two meals a day and get to read the newspaper twice before it gets burned for additional heat! :-)

[richfaa]

When we were in Az a couple of years ago we used 13 tanks in 4 months which is why we switched to Florida. It has been colder than usual this year but is now back into the high 70's and 80's....77 as we speak... we have all the windows open and it is 83.3 inside the camper..slight breeze blowing...feels good. Rondo I think some of those those gust were better than 35mph and My guess is that the " inside draft" was caused by the sudden change of pressure caused by a high gust.We have ben tracking and recording out KWH usage every day because we suspected something "funny" was going on with the Electric bills as they were higher than we thought they should be. Strangely it became common knowledge that many were recording the usage and the bills came down significantly the last 30 days. HUmmmmmmm???? We used 14 KWH the 1st three days of March then 8 for each of the next three days.Sitting here with the tv and a couple of PC's running during the day we will draw a total of 3/4 KWH. When the A/C's start running the little spinning wheel will be a blur..

[ols1932]

Rich,
Try So. California. We've only used two tanks of propane since October.

Orv

[richfaa]

Are you ready for this.. We can't go to California..It is off limits. California will not allow "THE BIRD" to cross the State line and the Bird has a life span of 80 + years.HUUmmmmmmmmm//