Newbie question

[fjldhp]

I recently joined the forum having just bought a 07 329rlt and now I have a question. Is it OK to travel with the furnace and water heater on? I'm leaving Florida next thursday going to Ky for a week and didn't want any pipes to freeze up. Since this is my first RV I have to ask these silly questions.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

We don't bother with the water heater, it does not take that long for the water to get warm enough to use.

We do travel with the furnace on, but not for the reasons you state, I take my houseplants with us, when we leave Michigan for points south in Dec, Jan, Feb, etc. it is really cold! We start out with NO water, and travel about 2.5 days to get to climes warm enough to put water in. The furnace keeps my violets comfy.

Unless the temps are really brutal, and I am talking 20 degrees or below, you should not need the heat to keep the pipes from freezing, even if running for 8 to 10 hours.

But, I don't know the specifics of what a Mountaineer has when compared to the Montana for insulation factors. They might be different, and my comments are more "Montana" specific.

Check your literature. What kind of cold "temps" are they discussing??

Enjoy KY!!

[simonsrf]

Welcome to the forum. If you don't know the answer, you came to the right place, there are no silly questions here.

Some people would say that you should turn them off (no open flame) when you are fueling your rig.....and then there are others who would claim it is impossible to start a fire...not sure how they know, but that is what they say.

Normally, it only takes about 30 minutes to heat up the trailer after stopped...and about the same amount of time for hot water.

One thing to think about is that the furnace fan uses lots of electrical energy and is a pretty big drain on your DC batteries.

I would think it would be advantageous to probably turn the LP furnace on if it is below freezing for about 30 minutes while driving, but if not freezing, wait until you get to your destination to turn the heaters on....or, you could travel on a day when the temperature is above freezing and not worry about it.

[TLightning]

Sure, you can travel with both on. If it is REALLY cold we run with the heater on...the hot water heater heats up very quickly, I would not think it would be necessary to run it.

[exav8tr]

After attending an RV Safety Seminar at the Life on Wheels conference this last summer, I CHOOSE not to travel with propane valves in open position. Of course I try not to travel in freezing temps either. After reading of "meltdowns" I am a little leery of these things..... This is, of course, just my opinion....

[TLightning]

quote:Originally posted by pparamore

After attending an RV Safety Seminar at the Life on Wheels conference this last summer, I CHOOSE not to travel with propane valves in open position. Of course I try not to travel in freezing temps either. After reading of "meltdowns" I am a little leery of these things..... This is, of course, just my opinion....

That's interesting...did they say something about it not being safe? Even in the summer, our propane tanks are always on...for the refrig; in the winter for the heater.

[snfexpress]

While hooked up, you really don't need to worry about a lack of 12 volts - your truck will be providing 12 volts to the 5er. That said, you can be sure of enough power for your furnace.

Now, we have not had the furnace on while traveling, although I considered it once or twice. But, after checking the temps (and taking into account an estimate of the wind chill drop), I decided I didn't need to. Mrs. CountryGuy - I didn't think about the plants, but will in the future. We generally (not all the time) travel with just about 5 gallons in the fresh water tank (for potty breaks) and empty black and grey tanks. For a hard freeze, I believe you have to start worrying when the outside temperature is below 27 degrees (while moving) and this doesn't take into account the fact that the fluids in the tanks are moving, causing a decidedly harsher environment for ice to form, and therefore possible damage-causing expansion. (in my opinion).



We do, however, travel with the fridge on propane, regularly. When we fill up our TV, I turn off the tank and kill the fridge.

[fjldhp]

Thanks for all the good advice. I think I'll just watch the temp while I'm driving and maybe if its cold enough I'll stop and fire up the furnace.

[ols1932]

As you can see, there are varying opinions on this (and note they are just opinions)but I choose not to run with the furnace on because I've witnessed a camper explode at a service station several years ago and did quite a bit of damage, not only to the camper but also the surrounding area. They attributed the fire to the refrigerator. The quote from pparamore says a lot.

Orv