Winter RV Camping question

[MacDaddy77]

Didn't want to bury this in the older camping threads.

we are planning to camp for Spring break at Tunnel Mountain and Ski Louise.

Are the forecasted temperatures too low to fill the water and use the trailer like it's summer? (lows of -11 overnight). We don't have heated underbelly or tanks.

Trailer ahs an electric fireplace which we will use primary source of heat supplemented by propane furnace.

Tunnel mountain has heated bathrooms with running water and showers but I'm curious about water in trailer and other peoples experiences.

[Lubicon]

Definitely too early to de-winterize and use water. Use the campground facilities.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Didn't want to bury this in the older camping threads.

we are planning to camp for Spring break at Tunnel Mountain and Ski Louise.

Are the forecasted temperatures too low to fill the water and use the trailer like it's summer? (lows of -11 overnight). We don't have heated underbelly or tanks.

Trailer ahs an electric fireplace which we will use primary source of heat supplemented by propane furnace.

Tunnel mountain has heated bathrooms with running water and showers but I'm curious about water in trailer and other peoples experiences.

Lubicon is correct, for sure.

I'd also bring a couple of electric space heaters. You'll slurp back so much propane otherwise, even with the electric fireplace (depending on its output and the size of your RV, obviously).

Sounds like a fun time, though. Enjoy!

[Minnie]

We camp the entire year, so through the winter. We de-winterized too early last year & got a surprise storm & froze up - and it only got to about -5 or so during that storm. We were lucky that there was no damage. If you don't have tank heaters & power, I'd haul water. We use our bathroom during the winter, very sparingly (like emergency only, in the middle of the night type thing), and use anti-freeze for flushing, so you could do that in terms of bathroom stuff if absolutely necessary, use their showers for everything else. We have a bit of a different set up, a permanent spot, so our camp experience is probably a bit different than some.

If your site will be powered, I can dig around and see if we have the tank heaters I picked up. You need to be able to plug in for these though, to keep them operating the entire time so the obvious doesn't occur. If I can find them, you are welcome to them, free. We got them for free from someone who never used them, so I'm assuming they're functional but not entirely sure. I'd have to ask the husband person if we still have them, I'm not sure where they went.

ETA: agree with what Sliver said about the little space heaters. We use those when we're camping & it definitely cuts down on the furnace kicking in so much. Sometimes we end up turning the furnace down quite a bit because those little beggars can really throw the heat. We aim one at the door and the other sits more or less in the middle of the trailer, under the table (we don't have a huge trailer).

[MacDaddy77]

We will have 30 amp service at Tunnel Mountain, and will bring an extra space heater to plug in on the opposite end from the fireplace. the fireplace does put out quite a bit of heat

Minnie, thanks for the offer but I can't see myself crawling around the trailer putting the tank heaters on, we will just keep the trailer winterized and pour extra antifreeze down the black and grey drains

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Minnie, thanks for the offer but I can't see myself crawling around the trailer putting the tank heaters on, we will just keep the trailer winterized and pour extra antifreeze down the black and grey drains

Yeah, I wouldn't either LOL, but thought I'd offer, just in case. I can see where they'd come in handy if people were full timing (ie living in their trailers) & always had power available.

[ken0042]

Personally for winter camping, I save the black tank for middle of the night bathroom trips. Just flush with windshield washer fluid. Unless you are making the tank more than 1/3 full, there is little risk of freeze damage. The important thing is to know the shape of your tank. Most are quite flat.

I have also de-winterized for a March trip, as long as highs are well above 0 and lows aren't too low. Once again it's about the layout. My water heater is in the same compartment as my water pump, so as long as I leave the water heater on that compartment doesn't get cold enough to freeze.

For your first time, you may not want to risk it. But get one of those indoor/outdoor digital thermometers with the high/low reading. That should tell you.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

We will have 30 amp service at Tunnel Mountain, and will bring an extra space heater to plug in on the opposite end from the fireplace. the fireplace does put out quite a bit of heat

Minnie, thanks for the offer but I can't see myself crawling around the trailer putting the tank heaters on, we will just keep the trailer winterized and pour extra antifreeze down the black and grey drains

Make sure you know the draw from your space heater before you go. Chances are, the circuit you'll be plugging into is only 15A and might be tied into other things you want to use at the same time.

[MacDaddy77]

I'm not going to risk damaging something in the water system. I reserved a spot close to the washrooms at campground with this scenario in mind

[calgarygringo]

Been there and done that.

I have modified my trailer so I can run most of my water and flush but early on I bought a porta potty for inside the tub for those inside emergency/middle of the night got to go's. Other than that just mostly use the facilities they have since they are warm and toasty anyways.
Heat as mentioned can be an issue as most lines in your RV are only 15 amp so cranking up 1 heater you will not be able to run anything else on the same circuit.
To fix that I did a mod where I ran a new line out my electrical box and put a wall type plug to the AC circuit. This is 20 amp and plug the main heater there and it will run high without blowing. I figured we would never have heat or AC on at once so why not use the same circuit winter and summer. One of the better ideas that I have done.
I also pipe wrapped all my lines from tank to my kitchen sink, water tank and toilet both hot and cold water. Then put a couple shut offs in between to route the water only to those 2 areas for winter. I have heating pads on all my tanks too. You also need to wrap your drain pipe and the big thing is where your pull is for the drain as it is prone to freezing solid in the winter too.

With all this we can pretty much be toasty warm, use inside bathroom and wash dishes and us inside without freezing or at least so far as we have gone out up to about minus 15 or 20. I wouldn't do more cold than that and would just use the outside services especially those 2 places as they are pretty well equipped.