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28 degrees - do I need to heat?

December 25, 2010, 10:05:07 pm

Good evening, coach in covered storage with coach on each side and wall in the front, rear exposed.  Should have 4 hours of sub 32 degree weather with a low of 29.  Should I make the 20 minute trip and turn on the rear furnace to heat the bays or should I be OK?

Thanks.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #1 – December 25, 2010, 10:10:02 pm

If it was me, I would but then again I am a bit particular.  In fact I would just sleep there tonight.  4 hours should not kill you but it will freeze and the bays will be the same as outside unless they have had some heat on them.  I think it is better safe than sorry.

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Reply #2 – December 25, 2010, 10:56:39 pm

You'll be fine

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #3 – December 26, 2010, 07:27:38 am

Dave Head is probably right, but I agree with John.

I just checked on mine at 0400 and 26 degrees - furnace at 45 degrees, interior temp 45.  I was out that early because I realized I had forgotten to turn on the electric leg of the water heater, but it was OK. 

Also, I have 60-watt light bulb/trouble lights, one-each, in the left utility bay, and the right-side with the water pump and manifold.

Overkill perhaps, but sure is cheaper than repairs!

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Reply #4 – December 26, 2010, 10:34:35 am

FWIW, last night we hit 11 degrees here in Oklahoma. My water pump bay got down to 27 even with the back furnace on at 68 degress in the coach. I have developed a minor leak somewhere in the plumbing bay but have not yet run it down so I would say yes you can freeze up at 28 degrees. I am guessing that the furnace heat was not getting to the bay for some reason.  I will post later when I find out exactly why the bay got so cold and what the damage was.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #5 – December 26, 2010, 11:35:45 am

Update, there was no leak in the bay. The water dripping out was from condensation caused by the water heater exhaust blowing on the cold fiberglass bay door. I still don't like the bay being down to 27 degrees so I will have to work on that later today. I may install light bulbs for supplemental heat.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #6 – December 26, 2010, 12:42:12 pm

I had to put in a lightbulb to keep my bay heat up when it gets really cold out. That 11 degree night counts as really cold too.  Now one other thing you can do is set the temp upstairs for 70 degrees and that will help keep the bays warmer too.  The benefit of the aquahot is that it has its own zone in the bays so it will always stay 55 degrees when I set it up there in the winter.  Oh as a side note, I remember talking to Jame T one time with my old 270 and propane heat and he said to keep the thermostat up at about 72 inside the coach to keep the bays heated when it got real cold out. Now I did not ask him if that was NAC real cold or further north real cold.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #7 – December 26, 2010, 09:27:45 pm

Smithville, MO - The current conditions in our coach are:

1997 U295 with two propane furnaces, no electric heaters are in use
outside temp 15F, night time
front thermostat 66F
rear thermostat 70F
living spaces 64-70F (35-40F in step well, 60F+- near the front of the coach, kitchen floor 61F, warmer in front of vents)
service entrance bay 54F
water pump/water heater bay 47F
storage bay 46F

Make sure the vents to the bays are open. On our coach, there is a swivel port in the service entrance bay that was closed when we bought the coach. I leave it all the way open.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #8 – December 27, 2010, 11:04:45 am

Our coach is connected to shore power, so we use 800 watt electric heaters to keep us warm inside, while outside temps drop to 25 degrees at night. But without running our propane furnace, the bays do not get any heat.
 
We found that the inside of the coach is better insulated than the bays and their 'leaky' door seals don't help. Even when running our furnace, the small ducts feeding the bays don't do a great job of heating them and they only get heat when the furnace runs. We feel that to be safe on a very cold night, it is important to supply the bays with supplemental heat.
 
We have a 3-channel wireless thermometer inside the coach to measure bay temps at 3 places.
Thermometer also records high & low at each point. This takes the guess work for us as one frozen pipe can ruin my day.
 
We are not running our propane furnace this week, so we use 200 watt "My Heat" electric heaters, to keep our bay water areas warm in sub-freezing temps.
This is a nice improvement with the fans blowing warm air. We use 4 of these heaters in the following areas: sewer drain, fresh water tank, water manifold & water pump.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #9 – December 27, 2010, 02:41:35 pm

I dont have aqua hot but my rear furnace has a vent that blows into the bay with pump, fresh water and black- grey tanks. Just me and my overkill ways but I watch the weather every evening and if predicted to fall to 32 or below I turn on my furnaces for the evening. My coach is stored inside but the building is open  in the front so while it blocks wind in 3 directions, of course it holds no heat. I also have a 100 watt bulb in the same compartment for back up. I would rather do to much than have pipe issues. It is handy having the coach parked next to my house and everyone has different situations. For me buying and burning propane  is the best way. Maby next year I can get doors put on front of the building and heat the building. For me it's pay one way or the other but I watch ball games in the coach when it's to noisy in the house and I want fresh water, that's why I dont do the conventional "winterize". Worth more than that to me to have a "club house" or "get away" . Pardon the ramble.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #10 – December 27, 2010, 03:23:54 pm

That makes perfect sense. A man cave. 

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Reply #11 – December 30, 2010, 10:01:17 pm

Down here in sunny Florida we've seen some high 20's for a couple of hours over several nights and in my opinion it got even colder than during our record cold snap last January.  Last year I didn't worry about the coach and suffered no ill effects.  I was just wondering what to look for or to check on to see if I had any damage.  I have a friends with SOB and he says he's never heard of anyone around central Florida having any damage from not running the heat or light bulbs.  The dew on my truck windshield was frozen to a thin sheet of ice last Wednesday morning and it didn't break up till I sprayed the washer fluid so I'm a bit concerned.  Of course I'm inland a bit and the coach stays near the waterfront downtown where it was a few degrees warmer.

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Re: 28 degrees - do I need to heat?

Reply #12 – December 31, 2010, 01:14:00 am

Over the years, we have experienced similar situations of modest overnight freezing at our home location in Washington.  My response has been pretty simple, but apparently effective.  On those nights, I keep an electric-heated oil-filled radiator going in the center of the cabin, open the cabinet doors to expose the under-sink plumbing and Splendide, close all blinds to conserve heat.  That's it.  Never had any problem. 

Bob Mulder

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