Surviving a Winter

[chessie4905]

Are you going to use this mainly as a stationary home? If so, 4 inches of foam around the perimeter up to the windows. You can use less foam in inside over windows you don't want to see out of. Some kind of dry heat inside with some ventilatiohn to deal with condensation.

[buswarrior]

60 watt light might be hot to touch, but 60 watts of electricity is only 204 BTU, and the teens, for a few hours overnight, is not winter.

1 BTU is the energy to raise 1 lb of water 1 degree F... a gallon of water weighs about 8 lbs...

An electric water heater, tucked in with the water system in an insulated bay, will lend its heat leakage to the cause as well.

Some cagey busnuts have installed a feedback loop from the hot water tank back to the fresh tank. Trickle the feedback valve, and some hot water gets to mix into the cold tank, 'round and 'round.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[chessie4905]

It worked for us for years and never froze any pipes.

[eagle19952]

It worked for us for years and never froze any pipes.

I throw cash out the window and used a 100 watt bulb

[chessie4905]

Yeah, thanks for the global warming.lol

[chessie4905]

Yeah, thanks for the global warming.lol

[windtrader]

Seems like depending on light bulbs to keep things warm means depending on electric off the pole. if boondocking, seems like you need fuel source like wood or diesel/gas.

[luvrbus]

In freezing temperatures like WY you would need to be nuts not hooked up to power what can go wrong with heating systems does when you need one the most,I have had diesel gel and the Webasto would not fire   

[Dave5Cs]

Waterbed heating mats work well also against the side of a tank or under if you can still move yours. They are also adjustable on the level of heat.

[eagle19952]

Waterbed heating mats work well also against the side of a tank or under if you can still move yours. They are also adjustable on the level of heat.

best answer, imo.

[luvrbus]

My bus has the Ultra-Heat system on everything pipes, tanks and drains but it uses electric power from some source I am sure the battery bank wouldn't last long through a inverter,it is a nice system anyways

[PP]

Having survived many winters that fall into double digit negative numbers, you better have heat wrap on your sewer hose too or all the best of intentions will back up quickly. We have spray foam beneath the body, in the bay doors, and the firewall up front and rear as well as the ceiling and walls. Most of our heat is lost through all the glass (Prevost doesn't offer a thermo pane for these old girls) and we refuse to build a wall like Scott and Heather did in their MCI. (I wonder if he ever got his windows installed yet?) We rely on a 50amp service with 3 LP Catalytics for backup that are generally pressed into service when daytime highs fail to reach zero and a diesel generator as a last resort (if the fuel isn't gelled) You gotta have a lots of ventilation to prevent condensation which will quickly turn to mold no matter which form of energy you use. For short term I would use diesel Webasto, but I'm not sure my bank account could keep up with the fuel bill long term. Or the hassle of driving through snow to get the tank filled I think BW has the best advice on this second only to Windtrader--go south in the winter and north in the summer and if you can't use electric blankets (everywhere)
Good luck and stay warm,
Will and Wife

[eagle19952]

Having survived many winters that fall into double digit negative numbers, you better have heat wrap on your sewer hose too

A risk I have learned the hard way once.
hook up, dump, and stow the hose.
unless you're piped (PVC or ABS)

[PP]

A risk I have learned the hard way once.
hook up, dump, and stow the hose.
unless you're piped (PVC or ABS)

The sewer hose is enclosed between 2 pieces of plastic roof gutter (1 top, 1 bottom) and tied tight with string after laying in a length of heat tape. This also protects the sewer hose from UV, which causes deterioration also. I have a 120V outlet in the sewer bay just for the heat tape on the water and sewer plus several light fixtures connected to a thermal block that turns them on if the temp drops below 38? F in the bay to protect the dump valves. So far I've only lost 1 water filter system in the past 9 winters of cold.
Will

[PP]

I forgot to add. if I disconnected the sewer hose and put it up, I'd need to dig through 6+ foot deep snow when I needed to dump and possibly find a frozen solid dump hole. We've woken up to snow so deep we couldn't get the front door open.