What would you do

RWJSIM2003 · 02-28-2015, 07:20 PM

Looking for suggestions. We are leaving tomorrow on a week long vacation. We full time in our RW. Weather here is in the high 50's here during day and looks like high 30's at night with one night next week it's suppose to be down to 31. Should I do anything special?

I planed on turning off water not sure if need to drain the water heater or just leave it on elec. Our heat pump is not working and will have to wait until we return to get fixed. We have a electric heater thinking of leaving that plugged in and on lowest setting just in case it gets colder than expected

What would you do?

homeguy · 02-28-2015, 08:04 PM

To be on the safe side, I would drain the lines. We left over Christmas for 2 weeks. Brought the slides in, drained the water and lowered the furnace to 50. We used about 20#'s of propane. Better safe than sorry.

0nTheRoad · 02-28-2015, 08:33 PM

You might want to turn on your furnace, set the thermostat at ~40º if it will go that low, if not on lowest setting .
The heat pump will not provide any warm air to your basement, the furnace will, that will help prevent freezing should the temps drop lower than you expect.

**Dave&Ginny** · 02-28-2015, 10:09 PM

With the slides in...and it only getting down in the low 30's for a day or 2 I'm not too sure I'd worry about it. I would keep the hot water on, in the electric mode and as was mentioned earlier turn the furnace on low. I've kept the fireplace on for 2 weeks (constant) when I was getting ready for a winter trip with the furnace turned on low. Didn't go through too much LP.

0nTheRoad · 02-28-2015, 10:16 PM

Good idea Dave, leaving the fireplace on.

My scouting background is so programmed about leaving fires unattended, hard to remember the FP is not real sometimes, it really looks real!! Also didn't think about bringing in the slides, reducing the area to heat will conserve LP for sure!!!

**Dave&Ginny** · 03-01-2015, 01:10 AM

I use that fireplace all the time. I've even started the generator so the fireplace can be on while I travel down the road. I figure the worst case, if the fireplace starts going bad, it'll trip a breaker.

RWJSIM2003 · 03-01-2015, 02:08 AM

Thanks for the responses, it's all good input

atom ant · 03-01-2015, 03:33 PM

Boy I don't have the guts to leave that fireplace on while I'm gone that much. Redwood hasn't been an issue, but man has there been issues with those in general, mostly overheated wiring through bad terminal connections.

Anyway, just remember the pipes underneath are the most vulnerable and if your fireplace is heating the living area, it doesn't matter what you set the thermostat to for the furnace, it is not going to come on to heat the belly because the fireplace is keeping the thermostat happy. It would be the same with the heat pump running, the belly doesn't get heat.

Like Dave said - chances are you don't have anything to worry about at those temps, but I just never trust the weather. I would at least drain the system as Chuck said so any freeze would have minimal impact.

Ideally if you could set the thermostat for the furnace to 50, and the electric backup to 40, you would have somewhat of a backup system if you ran out of propane. However the little electric heaters and fireplace are hard to set to an actual temperature.

lwg · 03-03-2015, 06:51 AM

Honestly, I've learned that the propane furnace actually has a tendency to cool down the underbelly more than heat it up. I placed a thermometer down there and noticed the temp actually drops when the furnace is running. I suspect it's actually pulling in the cooler outside air somehow. I have basically avoided using the furnace and have mostly been using electric heat the last few weeks with temps down to 13* at night and have kept things from freezing up. I do run an additional electric heat (about 700 watts worth) in the basement with the basement wall right in front of the water filter area removed though.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

johnboytoo · 03-03-2015, 01:53 PM

lwg, I'd guess there's something wrong with your ducting then...

I don't always winterize and have the coach plugged in at the storage facility.

So, I got an indoor/outdoor monitor and placed one sensor on the island and one in the road side of the basement.

I've found the basement stays within a degree or two of the coach...

atom ant · 03-03-2015, 08:51 PM

ya something is not making sense.

**hoosierguy** · 03-04-2015, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

lwg, I'd guess there's something wrong with your ducting then...

I don't always winterize and have the coach plugged in at the storage facility.

So, I got an indoor/outdoor monitor and placed one sensor on the island and one in the road side of the basement.

I've found the basement stays within a degree or two of the coach...

Same with our 36RL............the basement stays essentially the same as the inside the coach.

lwg · 03-05-2015, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

lwg, I'd guess there's something wrong with your ducting then...

I don't always winterize and have the coach plugged in at the storage facility.

So, I got an indoor/outdoor monitor and placed one sensor on the island and one in the road side of the basement.

I've found the basement stays within a degree or two of the coach...

Everything is as designed down there. Put a thermostat down into the tank area (not the basement) and I'll bet everybody here sees the same thing. I'm not saying it cools completely, just that if that temp is 37* in that area and the heater starts with an outside temp of say 20* there will be a drop of a few degrees before the temp stabilizes. If that temp is already close to 32* then I start to get nervous.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

spindrift · 03-05-2015, 01:21 AM

I would make sure that all grey, black and fresh water tanks have been emptied...if that hasn't already been stated.

atom ant · 03-05-2015, 01:44 AM

I wonder if that space serves as a return air plenum. Maybe would explain the initial drop in temp.

JerryL · 03-05-2015, 02:59 AM

From someone that lives in their RW constantly, 31 degrees is nothing, as fas as the underbelly goes. At least for a short time. These units use PEX lines, and they are very sturdy, even in temps lower than 30. The only issue I have, is the kitchen island(the furthest water from the furnace), and a hair dryer pointed at the underbelly through the hole that the lines come through the island fixes it in 5 minutes. Even that is good to 20 degrees with no problem. I have lived in mine down to -16 this winter, and am expecting close to -2 tomorrow night. Just run your furnace some and you will be fine.

johnboytoo · 03-05-2015, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lwg

Everything is as designed down there. Put a thermostat down into the tank area (not the basement) and I'll bet everybody here sees the same thing. I'm not saying it cools completely, just that if that temp is 37* in that area and the heater starts with an outside temp of say 20* there will be a drop of a few degrees before the temp stabilizes. If that temp is already close to 32* then I start to get nervous.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Gotcha !

but the thermometer I placed down there records low and high temps for inside and outside temps.

since we have it in storage, I've watched it after the cold snaps out of concern because of so many other issues with our unit...
and that's one thing that seems to work ok on ours

lwg · 03-09-2015, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerryL

From someone that lives in their RW constantly, 31 degrees is nothing, as fas as the underbelly goes. At least for a short time. These units use PEX lines, and they are very sturdy, even in temps lower than 30. The only issue I have, is the kitchen island(the furthest water from the furnace), and a hair dryer pointed at the underbelly through the hole that the lines come through the island fixes it in 5 minutes. Even that is good to 20 degrees with no problem. I have lived in mine down to -16 this winter, and am expecting close to -2 tomorrow night. Just run your furnace some and you will be fine.

Too funny, I've done the hair dryer trick before. I had my freshwater freeze when the temp hit 26 for a few hours down there. The outside temp was 8* and it was windy. It thawed out without issue. I would agree, it's dropped below 32 many times, so long as there's a large body of water down there holding heat (mostly full tanks) it can take short durations of low temps.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You may also like: