How to insulate underneath coach?

[gus]

Like Andy, I use small elect heaters on low for my water compartment and bathroom when my bus is sitting outside in winter. However, our winters are pretty mild here in the south.

Plastic sheeting on the ground won't insulate but it will keep out moisture.

[Scott & Heather]

Thanks Gus...another good idea. I'll be getting some space heaters here next week.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Scott,

For about 2K, you can purchace an RV tent. I had my coach in one for 4 winters

until the cover wore out. It would stay at 60 degrees during the day and drop down

to the 40's at night with no heat on in the coach. Outside temps were teen's at night

and 30's during the day.

Look up Shelter King. They make the 42 foot long enclosure and for what you put out

up front would save you in fuel/electric all winter.

I will look for some pics of mine tomorrow.

Nick-


I only found a pic of the frame on this comp. after the cover wore out..

I found one!!

[PP]

The underside of the bus is sprayed with foam and painted black (makes it really hard to find air leaks when all the lines are buried in spray foam). We use pipe insulation on the water hose with a heat wrap tape plugged into an outlet in the water bay. If the tap isn't a frost free type, wrap it with pipe insulation and heat tape also. Don't leave your grey tank open, it will freeze solid in the sewer hose. Dump both the black and grey tanks when necessary, dumping the black first so the grey flushes the line. We have propane catalytic heaters that are very economical and enough heat transfers down through the floor to keep the bays from freezing. We have been quite comfortable in cold climates without spending a fortune on heating.
Will

[eagle19952]

get line voltage thermostats for your cube heaters in your bays,set at 55-60 degrees, the t-stats on cubes never shut off.
add heat lamps...maybe 200 watt to use during milder cold.
drain your sewer line/use your tanks OR convert it to pvc/abs and heat tape it with good insulation.
be happy that they will let you have water w/o moving your coach.
fill your tanks,they are a heat bank.
buy a remote/radio wireless 3 channel temp gage...put a transmiter in each bay.

[Eagle Andy]

Scott the water system did have a drain like what you explained, I will tell you that if you do what they are asking make sure you have your hose in a warm area when not using. even if youe drain it there is still water in the hose and it will freeze. One other concideration is your black water line, Ours is exposed and has water in it even after i empty it. So after each dump after maybe a week to ten days, we worked all day and were not in the Bus I would add a gallon of RV anti freeze to my black water tank.
The heaters I used were 1500 watt on a low setting. the little box ones. I'm on the road in Texas or I would sent you a picture of the Bus in all it's winter cloths lol. You can do this with little or no problems but i will tell you that Bus is going to get real Small by March  lol Good luck

[Lin]

If your going to put heaters in the bays, you might see about adding insulation to the bay doors.  We did that for the tank bay by just cutting pieces of foam in one and fiberglass in the other side and working it into the doors.  I keep meaning to cover it with something to make it look purty but haven't yet.

[Scott & Heather]

Nick, I thought so many times of tenting the coach too...I think it would work out great, but I don't have an ounce of room left anywhere to store the thing when we're done with it. Also, we don't pay for electric where we are parked. Not metered. So I am going to use all the electric I can and avoid propane as much as possible. I wish my bus were insulated under the luggage bays, but we're not there yet...sounds like that would help tremendously. Our air lines are in a chase beneath the floor, so it wouldn't cover up anything important.

eagle19952:, what exactly are those? The thermostat controlled plugs? I've seen them at Lowes. Looking for a weather station that can accept three sensors for the luggage bays....still looking as a matter of fact.

Andy and Lin, we are going to work on insulating the bay doors...going to be a pain, but we'll do it. Andy, I was planning on adding some softener salt and or RV antifreeze to the black tank after every dump just to be sure nothing froze in my sewer hose. We've been making some interior upgrades to help with the fact that we are going to be holed up in here all winter. One of those is a flat screen TV. Also installed double padded carpeting in the living room in place of the floor tile. Very nice...

[PP]

Of all the things you do, you will probably appreciate the double padded carpeting more than any of the others 

[Sam 4106]

Hi Scott,

I have a friend that owns La Crosse Technology and he has weather stations that have the capability of receiving 3 remote sensors. They have a large selection, from simple to elaborate.  He has an outlet store called "great BIG outlet". The web site is great BIG outlet.com. Or, you can call 608-782-2039. The order guy is Gary. If he doesn't answer, leave a message and he will call you back. If you can live with a few scratches the outlet store offers some real bargains.

I have no connection to the store other than being a friend of the owner and a satisfied customer.

Good luck, Sam

[gus]

Thanks to someone before me, all my water tanks are in the same insulated bay so are easy to heat in cold weather.

Of course this doesn't protect all lines and, especially the toilet flush valve - the first thing to freeze, but it is an excellent idea.

[Len Silva]

How about plastic bags filled with foam packing peanuts?

I would use the heavy duty contractor bags.  You can often find the peanuts for nothing from stores or Craig's List.  DO NOT USE the biodegradable starch peanuts.

[Scott & Heather]

Great idea on the peanuts....but once again, my paranoid mind envisions a bag getting torn open sometime during the winter and a cold wind spreading those peanuts far and wide. I'm parked at an exposed road frontage RV park in an academy our church owns. Beautiful campus, beautiful park, and really am trying to keep things looking nice and tidy while we are here...we're next to the entrance to the school and are literally the first impression.

[Eric]

We live in NE Ohio in what's referred to as the snow belt.(welcome to lake effect snow)(effect affect?) we did straw bails in large trash bags , yes it was a pain but it made a HUGE difference we tore the bails down to just effectively skirt the bus. Did nothing but a heat lamp bulb in the water bay....doing that right now as its been below freezing 2 nights in a row Wind whipping under the bus is your worst enemy and will make you cold and Very Very miserable. On another note we've found the oil filled electrics to be most effective for heating a poorly or well insulated unit. Our transit we used 3 and had nothing but the roof insulated and currently in our skoolie we have 2 although we insulated to an extreme level. We'll have to meet up for coffee. You should be far south enough for a pretty uneventful winter though!


Have fun !

Eric

[Kwajdiver]

Scott,

The couple times I was in cold,     I just added a large light bulb to my bays.
But, hey, I'm from Florida, what in the world would I know about cold.

Bill