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Old 02-05-2007, 02:23 PM   #61
Cat320
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Any trailer, even the cheapest out there, will be warm if you are willing to run the furnace almost continuously, have a couple of electric heaters and like to wear sweats and sweaters.

Jan...the basement/tanks are heated, won't freeze.
 
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Old 02-05-2007, 02:33 PM   #62
SKOOBDO
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Connorsmom

Well SKOOB, you're sure answering a lot of questions I had regarding winter camping capabilities of our Montys! What I'm unclear about is...are you using your fresh water tank at all, or direct CG line? I don't know how the fresh tank water could not freeze up in weather that cold!

Someone else also said something about bringing in the slides at night to keep it warmer. How can it warm the inside when the slideouts cover the heat vents in the LR?

Keep up the reports SKOOB, you're doing great!!!

Jan
I used some water in my fresh tank throughout this winter and didn't keep track of how much was in their, and it got toooo cold to fill it back up, so I've been mainly using the city water from the outdoor spigot which my hose has heat tape on it as I posted before. I used the pump every so often so it wouldn't freeze up and just wanted to make sure it was still working. None of my tanks have frozen. My galley tank is at about 2/3 full now, and I'll dump it sooner or later. I don't cook much or do many dishes. I was washing dishes today, when the campground owner stopped by to see if I was ok. He asked if my water froze yet...and I told him "nope" and that I just happen to be washing dishes. He told me again about some of the other folks that froze up the last few days. I told him what I've been doing and he told me the idea about putting the heater near the fresh air intake was a good idea and he would pass it on to some other folks out here. I feel like a science project for winter camping. But so far so good. It's about 9:30pm now, and its 4degrees (air temp) with a wind chill of "who knows"! Furnace is on 70 and the basement is about 38 degrees. Its getting colder and will be below 0 again in the morning. I'll increase the furnace in the next hour before I have an issue....but it just gets TOOOOO hot in here ;-( After tomorrow the temps are going to rise and maybe the artic freeze will be gone forever If I didn't have to go outside...I wouldn't have any issues with the cold, but you have to check on the propane every so many days and dump the tanks. I'll send another update later.
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Old 02-06-2007, 06:35 AM   #63
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W A R N I N G: My first BOO BOO! All winter I've been closing my grey, galley and black tanks and never had a problem with pulling the valves to dump. Well.....of course the black tank and the grey tank still dump ok...but I tried the galley tank valve today...and it ain't budging I didn't pull hard as I usually don't have to pull hard on it...so I'll leave it alone until the weather warms up this weekend. It might pull out but I don't want to pull on it too hard and break it. I think this valve is just a little more expose than the other valves. The other ones are inclosed in the conveinent center. I'll let you know when I get it open. The tank is about 2/3 full so I do have some time before I need to dump. I'm glad I checked on it today. I didn't work today, so I got bored and decided to dump it before it was full. Anyway, with the tempartures as low as they have been I'm surprised everything didn't freeze up. I would suggest to everyone if you're in sub-degree tempartures to just leave the galley open. I didn't have any problems with this valve until the temps got 15-20 below. At 13 degrees or higher I didn't have any problems. I'll post back.
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Old 02-06-2007, 01:59 PM   #64
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Skoobdo, run hot water into the remaining capacity of the tank. That should thaw the valve.

FYI, we only got down to 8, 9, 9, and 11 on successive nights but ran the furnace at 68 during the day and 60 at night with no freezing. Our thermostats may differ but we didn't get too hot. I suspect you can run yours lower. At night you can run an electric heater upstairs to keep it above 60 if desired. We also ran an electric heater downstairs 24x7 and the furnace still ran enough. Sometimes I turned that heater off before we went to bed to get the temperature closer to 60 so the furnace wouldn't be too long in coming on. But we ran the electical heater all night.

By the way, do NOT leave the galley tank open. I made that mistake. When it is that cold, the little bit of water leaving the tank freezes in the dump pipe and sewer hose. Next bit of water freezes on top of it. Pretty soon your dump tank is frozen solid as is the sewer hose. With the dump pipe frozen, you will not be able to dump any tank and you'll be putting on your coats and boots and gloves and scarves to trek to the park's bathhouse at 2am. This is what it looks like...
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Old 02-07-2007, 12:41 PM   #65
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Thanks for the advice Steve, but I'll just wait until it unfreezes or if I fill it up with hot water it might still be stuck and then I will be stuck It will take a while for me to fill it up through normal use, so I'll just wait until the temperature rises. I'm glad your lines didn't freeze up at 8/9 degrees. Just curious, what tempartures are you getting in your basement area when it's 8/9 degrees and your funace is lower than 70? I'll check the valve again this weekend when the tempartures rise more. Thanks again for your advice! By the way that photo is TOOOO funny! ha!
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Old 02-08-2007, 03:31 AM   #66
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We very rarely run our furnace as high as 70. During the day it is usually about 67 or 68. At night, 60. The furnace has a 2 inch duct into the belly, where the tanks are. On our prior Montana I had a rear corner of the belly open in freezing weather and it was plenty warm in there. The duct was clear at the opposite corner and it still was plenty of heat.

I don't know the temperature in there nor in the basement storage area. It should stay above freezing, though. I've never had anything in there freeze up, anyhow.

On the water, do whatever makes you comfortable. I understand your concern about filling with hot water. It worked for us but if you have room yet in the tank, no need to risk filling it and not being able to use it.

That white "stuff" on my jacket was either sleet or snow. I had just come back from the bathhouse. You can see the time is almost midnight.
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Old 02-10-2007, 08:03 AM   #67
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Ok guys...I got sick and tire of having to put my heat up just to keep up with the sub-below tempartures trying to reach the basement...so, since I have three ceramic heaters, I took the laundry out of the metal basket(under the stairs)and put the heater in it and plugged it up to an outlet in the storage compartment. Now the basement stays about 65 with the heater on low and my furnace is back to normal (i was burning up) and now I'm a happy camper. I should have done that weeks ago! By the way, if your tempartures are way below zero (like 15-20 below or more) like it has been here you probably still only have to turn the basement space heater on just over night to early morning. After that the temps down there should stay below freezing even with your furnace on say 60-65degrees. Also, with the heater in the laundry basket it doesn't get close to storage items and is isolated. The temparture here should be in the low teens next week up to a high in the 20s...yeeee!!!!!!!!
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Old 02-12-2007, 01:22 PM   #68
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BREAKING NEWS! The temperature hit 33 degrees today! ...and my frozen galley valve freed up and is working again A guy across the way from me fired up his charcoal grill and had a little cook-out .....ain't life just great!
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Old 02-12-2007, 03:20 PM   #69
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You're living now, SKOOBDO!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 02-13-2007, 04:34 AM   #70
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How quick things can change...24 hours make a difference. Well, Ohio is going through a Winter Storm right now. Many places will get a foot of snow today....and the temperatures will be dropping again in the single digits ;-( Since I'm not going anywhere today in this stuff, I decided to make a list of things to do if any of you guys decide to live in your RV next winter. I figure I might as well write it up now, because I can't see it getting any colder than it has been over the last several weeks. So here we go:
1. Have at least one Maxx Air Vent so you can leave a vent open 24/7.
2. If you get sub-below zero temperatures like -20, put some RV Anti-Freeze in your holding tanks (preferably the galley) which the valve sits lower than the other tanks.
3. Do not keep your Grey/Galley/Black tanks open.
4. ALWAYS flush grey water after dumping the black tank or you might get a piece of #2 stuck and have some frozen poopoo and it freezes up and your sewer will back up. By the way, that's what happen to some folks out here.
5. Install heat tape on your fresh water hose with electrical tape and cover with pipe installation from spigot to the wall of your RV.
6. If you DON'T want to close your galley or grey tank, I strongly suggest you install heat tape on your sewer pipes and wrap it with insulation.
7. If you don't have dual pane windows, I strongly suggest you install plastic. It runs about $10 and will cover at least 14 windows. Buy more than 1 box if you plan on living in your RV more than one winter. It beats paying for dual pane and any weight issues.
8. Hook up to some 100lb propane tanks (back up)
9. Use ceramic heaters inside
10. Use a small cube or ceramic heater in the laundry chute at night when temps drop below zero
11. Use the ceiling fan during evening hours as it circulates heat away from ceiling.
Remember, many of this suggestions definetely work when you are in artic tempartures way below zero degrees for several days...which don't forget, also includes wind chills. Since the worse is gone (I hope), I can say these units stand up to "Zero" degree statement made by Keystone for their Montanas....I'm a believer and living proof. This past weekend several folks left the campground to stay at friends homes or motels, as their units just couldn't stand up to the frigid tempartures...even a Class A Motorhome left. The ones that stayed were Hitchikers, Newmars, Montaineer and Cedar Creek. Prowlers, Coachmen, Mallard and Sportmen all left including some other similar 5th wheels. Even though the owners of the latter units skirted and try to do everything they could to maintain running water and keep their holding tanks from freezing it just didn't work in the cold temperatures we've had....and that's what the campground owner told me. So if you own a Montana I truly believe they are built for "zero" degrees and they can guarantee that! I hope this list helps some folks, and most of them are just common sense things. Another thing, with all the ice/snow that we've had I will have to say that the Slide Awnings hold all the snow/ice and as it slowly melts some days it doesn't settle on top of the slide at all and just drains away on the sides so no possible leak issues. By the way, yesterday, another Montana showed up...and I'll give the guy one of the Monatan business cards once it stops snowing
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Old 02-13-2007, 04:58 AM   #71
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Really good advice, Skoobdoo. In addition, I heat taped the park's pipe, the part above ground, and the spigot so we had running city water the entire time. When we left the area I detaped and stored the tape in the basement. I'm glad to hear you are doing well. Those newer Montanas like yours do a really good job of keeping things from freezing up. I suppose there is still a point where they will freeze but with all you've done I'd be surprised if you have a problem. Your park may have already heat taped their own pipes.
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Old 02-13-2007, 05:08 AM   #72
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FINAL NOTE: There are no dwellings that have a water source that are not subject to water pipes freezing or heat loss in the middle of sub-below temperatures, so therefore, take the same precautions as you would in a stick/brick house. Here in central Ohio many homes suffered severe damage including the columbus police department when frozen water pipes busted in the last few weeks, so RVs are no different. Just a little prevention goes a long way! This will be my last post on this thread, unless someone has a question then I'll gladly respond. Happy travels and everybody stay warm! Allison
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Old 07-27-2007, 06:27 PM   #73
Wayne and Carolyn Mathews
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Not only will we be living in our Montana this winter, we will be LIVING IN Montana, in a place where -40 degree temperatures actually occur, not often, but enough to make you sit up and take notice! We are not full-timers, but we will live in our 5th-wheeler while the new home is built. We hope it's finished by December; it's not until January and February that our 0 and below temperatures move it for the long haul, although the weather patterns have really been changing in the last 2 or 3 years, so anything can happen. We've had lots of suggestions to make the rig more comfortable in the extreme cold, ranging from surrounding it with hay bales to calling it quits and staying in a motel in town (not an option!). I'm taking notes on things I've read in this forum, but from what I've read, I think I'm going to be out there helping the builders so that our move-in date will not drag beyond Christmas.
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Old 07-28-2007, 04:00 AM   #74
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Good luck, Wayne and Carolyn! the info on this thread is invaluable. I would make sure you protect yourself from the prevailing winds as much as absolutely possible.

~On Edit: Not sure if I would rather be spending time in my Montana in Montana in the winter or outside working on a house in Montana in the winter...
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Old 07-28-2007, 05:00 AM   #75
Wayne and Carolyn Mathews
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One of the nice things about our place is that we are right on the southwest side of the Clark Canyon Reservoir and Beaverhead River (great fishing and kayaking), but the down side is that the location is a 24/7 wind tunnel. The wind either comes over the mountains, through the canyon, and hits us, or it comes over the mountains and reservoir and hits us. The views and wildlife are worth the discomfort, though! (I may change my mind about that if we're still in the Montana when the true winter temperatures set in this winter.)
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