Surviving a Winter

[luvrbus]

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.

When that snow cleared I would be south bound in a hurry

[eagle19952]

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

Most people don't go that much effort.
Long term, I'd go PVC/ABS and heat trace and 4 inch insulation(foam).
Not a fan of slinkys but they are a necessary evil.

[PP]

When that snow cleared I would be south bound in a hurry

That almost sounded like an offer... FWIW I'd only need a 15 amp hook up down there, hint hint..
Think of all the fun you'd have working on my bus, fuel filters, lubing, ... Shucks-that ain't anywhere near enough to keep you entertained. Maybe next year, sorry 

Too much football and rum today, 

[luvrbus]

That almost sounded like an offer... FWIW I'd only need a 15 amp hook up down there, hint hint..
Think of all the fun you'd have working on my bus, fuel filters, lubing, ... Shucks-that ain't anywhere near enough to keep you entertained. Maybe next year, sorry 

Too much football and rum today, 

Come on down but 15 amps won't cover the AC units but I have you covered with 15,30 or 50 amps 

[Scott & Heather]

I haven?t read all the replies, but we have fulltimed in two different buses now for 8 years and have seen -22?F  and  114?F and stayed truly comfortable in both of those extremes. If anyone is serious about cold weather busing and is interested in hearing thoughts on the subject more than just forum banter, PM me and I can share some of our experience. My best advice is to Purpose-build your coach for winter weather. This means laying out your plumbing in a way that keeps it all in one bay, and runs the lines into the inside of the coach from that bay and branching off to various places from there from WITHIN the coach. This way you only have to heat one of your bays. I installed 150 gallon tanks so I generally do not like to rely on heat tape on water hoses because I have never ever been able to rely 100% on a section of the hose or faucet not freezing in extreme temps. Once they freeze, getting the water flowing again is a major ordeal. Trust me. I generally fill my holding tank and it will last me almost a week. My hose is retractable on a reel and is stored inside the heated bay. I have never had a sewer hose freeze full. I?m guessing this is because of the hot shower water and kitchen sink water that keeps things moving. Some people add some softener salt pellets to their toilet as they flush to lower the freeze point of their sewer water. I don?t recommend this nor have we ever needed to do such. You will fight condensation in your bus no matter what. We heated with electric space heaters and now with our coach spray foamed we only need a couple of them to keep it toasty inside.

[buswarrior]

And Scott's bus has a significantly reduced window area, along with spray foam.

Designed for winter operations, ground up...

Running south sounds like "I surrender"...

When did this become the "American Way"

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[Geoff]

Hey, Scott, welcome back!  I bought a room dehumidifier for my bus after a rainy week of bus camping.  It also acts as a heater putting out warm air, and it automatically shuts off when the water condenser bowl gets full and needs to be dumped.

--Geoff

I haven?t read all the replies, but we have fulltimed in two different buses now for 8 years and have seen -22?F  and  114?F and stayed truly comfortable in both of those extremes. If anyone is serious about cold weather busing and is interested in hearing thoughts on the subject more than just forum banter, PM me and I can share some of our experience. My best advice is to Purpose-build your coach for winter weather. This means laying out your plumbing in a way that keeps it all in one bay, and runs the lines into the inside of the coach from that bay and branching off to various places from there from WITHIN the coach. This way you only have to heat one of your bays. I installed 150 gallon tanks so I generally do not like to rely on heat tape on water hoses because I have never ever been able to rely 100% on a section of the hose or faucet not freezing in extreme temps. Once they freeze, getting the water flowing again is a major ordeal. Trust me. I generally fill my holding tank and it will last me almost a week. My hose is retractable on a reel and is stored inside the heated bay. I have never had a sewer hose freeze full. I?m guessing this is because of the hot shower water and kitchen sink water that keeps things moving. Some people add some softener salt pellets to their toilet as they flush to lower the freeze point of their sewer water. I don?t recommend this nor have we ever needed to do such. You will fight condensation in your bus no matter what. We heated with electric space heaters and now with our coach spray foamed we only need a couple of them to keep it toasty inside.

[Scott & Heather]

Thanks Geoff. we used a dehumidifier too until we installed twin roof airs with the dehumidify feature. But that does help a lot. As you guys know we also sealed off the cab area from the living area. This made the biggest difference by far

[Geoff]

A/C's with dehumidifiers?  Is that the same as heat pumps?

Thanks Geoff. we used a dehumidifier too until we installed twin roof airs with the dehumidify feature. But that does help a lot. As you guys know we also sealed off the cab area from the living area. This made the biggest difference by far

[Scott & Heather]

Yeah basically. Our digital control panel has a ?dry? option in which is somehow manages to kick the compressor on and off at intervals to keep the air dry without overly cooling it or heating it up.

[sledhead]

I installed a split unit a/c heat pump inverter  at the house that has the same type of dehumidifying system . when on you have to go outside to watch the fan to see if it is working it is that quiet and wow does it work great . when can we get this type of a/c heat pump in a coach

dave

[mmanning]

I have heard that heat pumps cannot keep up with heating demands after temperatures drop below 40 or 30 Fahrenheit, can they still function as a dehumidifier in 0 to-20 degree weather?  Can roof mounted air conditioners with the dehumidification option operate at those low temperatures?

[richard5933]

Assuming we're still talking about winter here (sub-freezing or below) and not just a cool fall day...

If the temps are as cold as we're discussing and the humidity levels are high enough that a dehumidifier needs to be used I'd wonder if there is adequate fresh air entering the interior. The problem with winter cold is usually dry air, not humid.

Or, if non-vented propane heaters are being run they will dump tons of moisture into the interior (and possibly poisonous gas as well.) Again, adequate fresh air intake is important.

Our house in Wisconsin is small (less than 1400 sq ft). In the winter the problem we have is dry air, not excessive moisture. The only places we have any moisture are the older windows that don't have well insulated glass. De-humidification is not going to fix that problem unless we drop the humidity to lower than is comfortable or recommended. Because our home is older and built of largely organic materials, it breathes. We also have a ventilated attic to avoid moisture build up there.

Some newer homes around here do have a problem with excessive moisture because they are too tightly sealed, and various methods are used to bring fresh air into them in the winter to avoid problems.

Seems like if the air in a bus is getting too humid from showers or people breathing, the solution might be to let in a little fresh air.

[buswarrior]

Coach does not have nearly the capacity or materials to absorb the moisture of living.

Sit in your car, shut off, watch the windows fog up, same thing.

Yup, WAY too many coach conversions have inadequate air exchange.

Today's heat pumps are way better than yesterday's. We have Alaska busnuts using 'em in fixed dwellings...

Same as deciding a computer is no good, upon hearing a story about the "blue screen of death"... just another horse a buggy story that got us to where we are today...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior