Winter in the bus (staying warm and thawed)

[lornaschinske]

New Mexico 12/30/14 21F @ 11:30AM

A cold front is coming thru and bring even colder temps over the next few days. Winter has arrived.

I use two small electric Patton milkhouse style utility heaters that I get from Wal-Mart for about $20. You can buy the Patton PUH680 heaters at several places other than Wal-Mart. I like these heaters. I have one in my Jeep that I plug into a timer on an extension cord so I have a warm, thawed out vehicle to go to work it. These work well for temps down to about 40F. Then they need help. It seems to me that electric heaters don't work all that great below 40F.

I heat the front part of the bus with a vent free LP gas fireplace (Procom FBD28T - firebox insert only as I had a mantle) that I bought from Home Depot (other places have them plus they are sold already in a cabinet). It does go thru a fair amount of LP. Worst was when we ran it almost non-stop (off only for sleeping) when we first installed it. Got about 6 days out of a 20LB tank. Now I have it on a blower and I run the electric heaters at the same time to help move the warmed air around. The last tank was filled on Nov 14. It ran out late yesterday. Just put a new tank on last night before going to bed as I knew it would be nasty today and only getting colder over the next few days.

In the bathroom area, I have an old Dynaglo Tag-a-long radient LP heater. This uses a ceramic brick not a catalytic pad. It is on an unregulated tank since it has it own built in regulator like found on tabletop gas grills. It does a wonderful job of heating the back half of the bus. It seems to be very durable. I bought mine in 2004 at an end of season sale at a TN Walmart. I used it in the popup, in the house during power outages and in the uninsulated food cart. I think I paid around $70 for it. Great little heater. So when we built the bus, we needed a non-electric heat source. The little tag-a-long got hung on a wall. I have never put it on the HIGH setting.

I only use the electric heaters at night, I also turn them down low as well for overnight. I have a heated mattress pad that I sleep on top of. I use a sleeping bag as a blanket plus a couple of pretty quilts on top of the sleeping bag. The heated mattress pad keeps the memory foam topper under it warm and soft.

My supply and grey drains are all heat taped/insulated as well as the valves and even the fresh tank has a heat tape on it (will be changed once I get the other tank installed in the spring when a water bed heater will be used).

I have discovered that those pads used under sleeping bags makes a nice thermal pad to put under a rug to keep your toes warm. My floors are Trafficmaster Ceramic which are cold just like a regular tile floor.

This is my last winter in NM!

How are you keeping your bus warm in cold temps? Moving to a warmer climate does not count!

[gbstewart]

Our bus is parked for the winter, its -32c (-44c with the wind)
In a few years we will be snowbirds, and no more cold or snow
gbstewart

[headinthetrees]

Interesting info. I'll be doing everything I can to prep my build for the deep cold. I'm a die-hard snowboarder/intermediate snowmobiler, so being out in the worst of the worst is right up my alley.

Besides the obvious copious amounts of insulation, I plan to heat my bus with a wood-fired hydronic floor heating system. I'll try to stuff as much tubing into the system as possible to increase its overall thermal mass. In addition I'll use either hardwood or ceramic flooring to add to that. The same stove can heat my hot water, and a relief valve can froth the milk for my espresso. I'll also have a marine style diesel powered hot water heater as a backup for when wood is unavailable, impractical, or I want to run the system while in transit. May also do some solar hot water heating as well on the roof, but I gotta decide if I want to give up space for more pv since I'll have a shorter bus than most and large power appetite.

[bansil]

Head in trees,you might want to rethink frothing with water/coolant mix

[bamper]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

New Mexico 12/30/14 21F @ 11:30AM
How are you keeping your bus warm in cold temps? Moving to a warmer climate does not count!

You would not do well in MN if 21F is cold for you ;)

It was -15F here last night and dipped below -25F last winter too many times to count. There was a two week stretch last winter where temps did not get above 0F !!

The previous owners of my skoolie used it as a year-round cabin and had very little insulation but that was overcompensated by the 120k BTU's of LP heaters running when it was occupied.

I do not use the bus outdoors in the winter because it would cost a small fortune for me to heat it no matter what method I were to employ. It currently resides in my heated shop so it's nice and warm should I need to use it for guests or whatnot. Plus I have freedom to work on it when I choose in a nice warm building

[opus]

Websato. -10 last trip out, toasty.

[bamper]

How many British units of heat does that Websato put out ??

[opus]

It puts out 45,000BTU.

[Dragonpop]

Presently heating with 1 1500 watt electric heater set on high and one radiant heater set on low at 800 watts. 28 degrees F outside and 52 degrees
inside. Adding 1" insulation to the walls and laminate flooring brought the
temp difference up 15 degrees. Now to insulate the stairwells. On another
subject I was very saddened by your loss and wondered if there was a place
a fellow skoolie could send funds to help you out with the unexpected debt
that you have acquired. I can tell from your posts that you are very independent and have a strong sense of pride but if you would let some of
your fellow skoolies give you a hand up it would at least make us feel good.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Dragonpop

...On another subject I was very saddened by your loss and wondered if there was a place a fellow skoolie could send funds to help you out with the unexpected debt that you have acquired. I can tell from your posts that you are very independent and have a strong sense of pride but if you would let some of your fellow skoolies give you a hand up it would at least make us feel good.

I'm fine (freaked out, insecure, neurotic, emotional) like always, just more so. I have a fulltime job so money is not an issue. I had been buying HD stock since I started working at HD as a savings account with better "interest" earnings. So I cashed it out and paid off the incurred bills. The rest went back into a Schwab brokerage account.

It did set back my plan of buying land back east (FL Panhandle?) to park on and convert a bus for Das Mel. But the two of us have decided to wait a year on the land, and the bus... unless it is a remodel, it will be pushed back as well. Not that we will stop looking. But I know from experience that converting in a campground is not easy. But we could do a remodel.

[Jeff2010]

I’m planning on a mini split in the back but I’ve been dreaming about a fireplace insert up front. I would love a wood burner but have heard it’s impossible to get insured. What about the ones from Duluth Forge…they’re a little $$$?

I noticed it said in the manual that they are not to be installed in an RV…anybody know why?

Anybody else running propane fireplace?

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Jeff2010

I’m planning on a mini split in the back but I’ve been dreaming about a fireplace insert up front. I would love a wood burner but have heard it’s impossible to get insured. What about the ones from Duluth Forge…they’re a little $$$?

I noticed it said in the manual that they are not to be installed in an RV…anybody know why?

Anybody else running propane fireplace?

lot depends on the device itself, if its unvented then the moisture potential is really high.. as well as the possibility of CO.. most newer gas fireplaces have the ability to shut down on high CO or low oxygen.. but many of their UL ratings are based on a certain cubic ft volume of a room which an RV cant meet.. not to mention some dimwit would probably try to run it going down the road...



I had gas logs in my house fireplace for a short single season.. but one thing was that the fake ceramic logs had to be stacked up and definitely werent super secure.. so not sure if they would handle being bounced around unless you packed them away each trip till you parked..

[s2mikon]

I installed multiple layers so to speak of heat. It adds capacity and redundancy. I have 2 mini split / heat pumps at 9000 btu each, one in the bedroom and one in the very front, on the bulkhead. Then I have 3 400 watt / 1400 btu baseboard electric grid heaters 1 in the bath area and one in the kitchen and one in the front. Then I installed 2 Chinese diesel heaters, one in the front and one in the rear. I purchased the ones with 4 outlet ports and ducted them to cover front to back of the coach. One duct blows on the toilet so the Mrs's always has a warm seat waiting. That's 34,000 btu. Then I have a Kerosun Moonlighter kerosene heater (8700 btu) that is for "the fireplace" look. It is over 99% efficient, made in Japan to some of the highest standards and produces about the light of a 40 watt bulb. That's over 65000 btu's of heat. I don't need it all at once but it is very adaptable. If I'm staying in a park where electricity is included, I use the electric primarily. If I am disconnected I use the diesel heaters. If I need it warmed up quickly I can light them all up. Different horses for different courses.

[ADDvanced]

Originally Posted by headinthetrees

Interesting info. I'll be doing everything I can to prep my build for the deep cold. I'm a die-hard snowboarder/intermediate snowmobiler, so being out in the worst of the worst is right up my alley.

Besides the obvious copious amounts of insulation, I plan to heat my bus with a wood-fired hydronic floor heating system.

I think that's a mistake. You should aim on using a CDH. Any woodstove small enough for a skoolie is also going to have an extremely small firebox, which means SUPER short burn times, maybe a couple hours max. This means you will be a constant slave to it, to keep the fire going, to keep the heat in your bus.

CDH is very efficient and cost effective to run, cheaper than running propane. You could still do an infloor heat system with a CDH as well.

I'm at 8k' in the rockies, usually lots of snow here (not this year though, seems like this winter is largely a bust so far)