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Old 03-05-2017, 07:20 PM   #1
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Extreme cold weather camping!

Just want to share my experience this past weekend camping in French Creek State Park in southeast PA. My unit has an enclosed underbelly and apparently gets heated as the the hot air is pushed through the duct work in the underbelly. I'm sure this is good for temps down to around 25° f. However, this weekend, both nights went to low teens with windchill making it feel around 10°. I woke up both mornings with a frozen fresh water tank and had to remove access panels to get heat where it was needed. Iif I ever camp in those conditions again, I will make sure I somehow heat my pass thru storage compartment to help avoid the freezing issue. Luckily, I have no leaks and we had an amazing weekend! If you have a similar set up and are planning to camp when it's below freezing, I suggest finding a way to keep that fresh tank from freezing.
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Old 03-05-2017, 08:31 PM   #2
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Place a 40 watt light bulb in that compartment that will keep it warm enough
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Old 03-06-2017, 05:29 AM   #3
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Thank you
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Old 03-06-2017, 08:34 AM   #4
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Place a 40 watt light bulb in that compartment that will keep it warm enough
If you can find an incandescent bulb, about all I can find are the new LED or fluorescent bulbs & neither of those put much heat if any.
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Old 03-06-2017, 10:19 AM   #5
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If you can't find an incandescent bulb, go to a pet or reptile store and pick up a low wattage heat lamp.
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Old 03-06-2017, 10:35 AM   #6
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Walmart has a very small 110v heater IIRC, like 3 x3x 6 inches that I used in my water compartment and 'Dad's tool chest' where the water filter is...

The ones I got were thermostatically controlled, or you can get a basic one and plug it into a 'farm-outlet' that comes on below 45 degrees....
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Old 03-06-2017, 03:09 PM   #7
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Awesome! Ty everyone
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Old 03-07-2017, 05:37 AM   #8
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I wouldn't put an electric resistance heater where I couldn't see it because I actually had one self ignite in the rv with foot high flames. I would stick with the light bulb. You get a certain amount of heat out of the 12v halogen bulbs in the compartment too. Depending on temp and unit insulation they might be enough.
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Old 03-07-2017, 09:51 PM   #9
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We camped for days with temps in the teens many times with uncovered/unheated tanks hanging below in our old Sprinter. I used 1/2" pink styrofoam and foam gap filler to insulate the fresh water tank, applied about 3 inchs of foam to the exposed pipes and painted them black. Always put a cup of RV antifreeze down into the black and grey tanks (not just the traps), used a 60W bulb over the water pump in the unheated basement, and used the fresh water tank instead of the city water tap, filling the tank in the daytime and then draining the hose. Worked for years!

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Old 03-08-2017, 08:17 PM   #10
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If you plan on more cold weather camping install a tank heater. UltraHeat - Holding Tank Heaters
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Old 03-09-2017, 02:07 PM   #11
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If you plan on more cold weather camping install a tank heater. UltraHeat - Holding Tank Heaters
Yes, we did that under the insulation for the fresh water tank.

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