Living in your Montana this Winter?

[SKOOBDO]

Well, over the weekend I timed my furnace's run time. However, I did notice that it cycles more when the temparture drops and not so much when the temparture is steady (which makes sense). Anyway, overall the averages for my unit when the tempartures were between 17-26 degrees the furnace would run about 3-5 minutes and shut off for about 6-10 minutes. I had the thermostat set at 70 degrees with no ceramic heaters. I'm going to test this method this month to see what results I have in lieu of the heaters I was using the last few months.

[Mike-n-Jen]

Thanks SKOOBDO, this is some good info. Keep it coming!

Mike

[TheCoachPotatoes]

So glad to hear your winter has been going so well. You are a really good test case! It sounds like the winter was fairly mild until now. Yet, now that it is getting colder, you seem to be doing fine. Thank you for updating us on your progress. This information will be very helpful for anyone who wants to try living in it in the colder climate during winter months. So far, I am impressed!

[SKOOBDO]

quote:Originally posted by TheCoachPotatoes

This information will be very helpful for anyone who wants to try living in it in the colder climate during winter months. So far, I am impressed!

You're impressed? I'm impressed. Everyday I get up I sometimes forget I'm in a trailer cause its so warm. I recall the day I drove out here and the owner told me folks stay here through the winter and I thought.....they must be crazy! Well, I must be crazy too, cause I'm here Staying here so far this winter is NOTHING like I thought it would be...nothing at all. If everything stays the same as it has so far for me out here, I wouldn't think about it twice if I was stuck somewhere for the winter again. But don't get my wrong, if I could be some where warmer right now...I would be. I would prefer not to be living in a cold state in the middle of the winter in a house or trailer. By the way, I have about an inch of snow on the my slide out awnings and they are droopy right now...we got close to 4 inches of snow Sunday, and it has melted down to about an inch of hard frozen ice/snow mixture. None of my storage locks or door lock has frozen yet either even though my car door froze shut and it has been hard to start my truck until next time everybody stay warm.

[SKOOBDO]

I ran out of PROPANE in 8 Days!!!! On January 16th I hooked up to a 100lb tank and ran out TODAY (24 Jan). So, I guess I'll go back to my first method, using the furnace with the ceramic heaters. Boy, I was pretty surprised in only 8 days it was gone I was running my furnace at 70 with no heaters and it was very toasty, and I tried to experiment to see how much propane I would use...and I guess I found out fast. If I continue to do it that way, it would cost me about 238.20 a MONTH! WOW! Anyway, the old method was working fine before, so anyone else thinking about doing it...just don't! Use a combination of both heating sources. For anyone wondering about the tank could have been leaking....it wasn't...I always check for leaks with that leak detector stuff. I got my ceramic heaters on again now, and its still toasty and my furnace is at 65 degrees and I'll lower it again at night when I go to bed. Stay tune for part 3

[sreigle]

Skoobdo, the locks on my locker doors did not freeze but the doors themselves iced enough I couldn't pull the doors open until I poured warm water along the edges.

[SKOOBDO]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Skoobdo, the locks on my locker doors did not freeze but the doors themselves iced enough I couldn't pull the doors open until I poured warm water along the edges.

I haven't had a problem with the doors frozen shut, yet By the way, it warmed up to 39degrees today, and the ice and snow on my slide out awnings melted and they're not droopy anymore They just sprung back into shape. The temps are going to drop again and it's suppose to snow tomorrow and be in the teens next week again. Stay Warm and Toasty!

[Ozzie]

Do you guys have any tricks for the hatch doors freezing to the rubber?
I would think some kind of silicone spray or something, but I'm not sure what would harm the rubber.
It's cold hard winter here and I couldn't get my storage area open to do some work in there.

[Montana_6708]

Last winter (Jan 2006) we lost power in our stick home and had to retreat to the Montana (1999 3555 RL) and we did fine. The temp was down in the single digits for three days, and our power was off for eight days due to ice pulling limbs down on the wires. One trick that I learned from one of the forums that I go to was from a guy working in northern South Dakota in December. He said at night he closed his slides and heated a mush smaller area, as well as putting stretch wrap (kitchen style) over the windows using several strips to cover them. Sounds weird but we tried it and we stayed warm. We have two 60# LPG tanks and refilled one when it ran out. Usages about 6 day on one tank before it turned red and switched to the other tank.Had set on 65 days, and 55 at night. One more trick. We have a indoor out door thermometer that has three sending units. I put one in the storage area, and one is mounted on the front under the bed area facing the back of our truck, the other unit is in our other storage area under the sink. I can check the reading to make sure that I get no surprises.

[sreigle]

We also had no problem staying warm inside the rig with temperatures in the single digits (F). It was when I had to go outside that the cold bothered me.

Ozzie, I don't have any tricks. This winter is the first time I've had the hatch doors freeze shut. A bit of warm water along the seal area thawed it out. I wonder if a coating of vaseline would work? Or a lightbulb or small heater inside?

[SKOOBDO]

Prior to this winter I had applied 303 protectant to the seals on everything including all the exterior walls,slide-out awnings, and window frames etc...and sprayed the slide mechanisms with some stuff that dale (lippert) uses. I sprayed all my locks with silicon. haven't had an issue. I agree with the one poster about using shrink wrap stuff on the windows...i'm using frost king (ext use only) plastic on the exterior...night and day results....and you can hardly tell the plastic is on the windows. doesn't look tacky. i've tried to upload some photos for your guys but i've had problems getting into "tinypic.com". ;-(

[SKOOBDO]

This photo was taken of my unit around Christmas, and right now, there is snow on the ground, trailer and everything else. If you look close you can see the plastic on the windows, but from a distance you can hardley tell.

On Edit: I removed the Photo.

[SKOOBDO]

i think i screwed up something.....that photo is huge and i can't get it smaller...i hope someone can make it smaller ;-(

[dsprik]

Allison, this is your pic reduced to ~ 50 Kb.



If you want the Tinypic.com link for this pic, just hit the "Quote" button above this post
and you will see the raw code. Just copy and repaste as an edit on your post on the top of this page...

[DonandBonnie]

Allison,
You should have a real test of winter coming up next week. Click on our weather gizmo. It is predicting a high next Monday and Tuesday of only 10 to 15 degrees above zero.

[dsprik]

We are driving from Central FL to NW Lower Mich on Fri or Sat with our Park Ave for 8 days to do our delayed Family Christmas. We are going right into the teeth of the coldest weather in the last 10 years according to the National Weather Service this afternoon.

They are now downgrading the temps, Allison. You may experience minus zero readings. They are now calling for -20 to -30 (NOT with the wind chill) at night - I believe the bulletin I just received said that Sun daytime highs (up in N. MI) may not rise above zero...

Keep us informed and wrap yourself up in your Montana. This will be a good test. I think there are other MOCers in the "Great White North" that this "once in a decade" cold air mass will affect.

Sometimes these temps are hard to predict. Hopefully, you will not see minus numbers in OH.

[SKOOBDO]

Thanks dsprik for reducing my photo. Yes they are saying that the temps are only going to be single digits next week and below that for wind chill. I'm certain my unit will handle it. So far, its been doing great. I'll post back after several days being in the single digits and let you guys know. But anymore, I would have to say, living in my unit is no different than when I was living in my house in the winter. It was cold outside and warm inside.....so anyone curious to the diffence (temperature etc) there's not one in my opinion. But I'll get back with you guys soon.

[SKOOBDO]

-15 Below (wind chill).......and my Monty is still kickin!!!! It was 3 degrees this morning....and will be 1 degrees tonight/tomorrow morning. The wind chills are 15-20 degrees lower, as we're having wind at 24 mph steady. But, I will say one thing....as most folks and I turn their thermostat down at night...just don't do it...keep it at least 70 degrees all day/night. I woke up early this morning and it was 3 degrees and my basement was 30 degrees because I had turned the heat down to 55 degrees when I went to bed. I was lucky...so keep your heat at least 70 degrees when the temps are in the single digits and nothing should freeze. My basement now is registering at 43 degrees with the thermostat at 70degrees. My outdoor water hose is doing great! It's very warm inside but it is FREEZING Outside....I mean freezing cold! I'll send another update soon.

[SKOOBDO]

Well, its bitterly cold outside right now...wind is still blowing and it just stopped snowing. Its about 10:30p.m. and it's 8 degrees outside and dropping. The advertisement from Montana that these units are guaranteed to "zero degrees" is factual as far as my first hand experience. As long as your furnace is at least 70 degrees. The down side is the inside of the unit may get too HOT...which is what has happen to me...so I lowered the thermostat to 68 degrees and that has helped...or you can reduce your clothing to short sleeves or lighter weight clothing. anyway everything is still working fine. Another thing I did so I can lower my furnace was to turn on the ceramic heater and turn it toward the fresh air intake so the heat sucks into the basement...therefore you don't have to have your furnace up too high during the day time...but at night you'll have to turn the furnace back up when it drops near zero....which will happen tonight here where I am. The campground owner told me some folks here froze their water lines this morning....but they do not have enclosed heated bellys and only had skirting around the bottom with no heaters etc....what were they thinking...so it looks like the enclosed underbellys do have a great purpose. The heat tape on the outdoor water hose is working great so that's not a concern at all. If it hasn't frozen yet, I doubt it will as it maintains a temp of 40-45 degrees constantly. No problems dumping no problems of anytype yet :-) I would be curious to know who is in their montys right now with an air tempature of -10 (without wind chill)? I'm just curious what is the lowest temp that these units can't stand before it say I QUIT

[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