[A/S] Re: Winter camping

["rochsmama" <rochsmama@xxxxxxxxx>]

Bill

I'm not sure how close your weather is to mine in N GA, but I spent 
last winter in mine here - through a sizeable ice storm as well and 
had no trouble after fitting a heat tape to my intake water hose. All 
I used all winter was the electric heater in the living area and 
occasionally a small portable one placed on the toilet in the rear 
when needed. The trick is to leave the thermostat exposed instead of 
placing it against the pipe like the diagram shows. This way it heats 
if the air gets cold enough instead of waiting for the pipe to get 
that cold. It may be that you could set up something similar on your 
pipes in the rear of yours. The tape was also wrapped/looped around 
the hose, not laid flat, covered with pipe insulation and then 
completely duck taped to seal. When our temps went below freezing for 
more than a few hours, I opened the linen closet door since it opens 
back into the rear compartment to let some heat back there. my furnace 
is having some problems so it was not an option but I never had any 
trouble with freezing pipes or tanks. The pups and I stayed toasty and 
the water flowed freely. Also, the original owner who had her 34 years 
had installed a regular light fixture in the rear end. I put a 100 
watt bulb in it and it stays on all winter to help heat the rear end.

I have pictures of the huge icicles handing from the seams and from 
under the coach. Some from the bottom are 2x as long as my hand. The 
ice is only melted at a couple of seams and those are over the frig so 
you can see how little heat mine loses. She does have a label inside 
the kitchen overhead that says she has a winter package. There were 
many nights that I had to get up and turn the heater in the bath off 
because we were burning up. LOL I have an electric wall heater in 
there but it needs rewiring so I don't use it. I rewired the living 
area one and the wires were so old, I won't use the bath one until I 
get around to rewiring it as well. maybe that is something I need to 
do soon.....