By Gail Marsh
Before you continue reading, read part one of this winter camping series here if you haven’t already.
Camping in the winter in the northern U.S. requires special preparation. Blizzards, extremely cold temperatures, and blustery winds are just the beginning of potential hazards facing winter campers. How do they prepare? Here are a few answers:
Four-season camper? Really?
Some RVs claim to be four-season campers. In reality, no RV that I know about is insulated or built well enough to withstand bitterly cold conditions or extended periods of sub-zero temps. Just know that up front and plan your trip when temperatures are friendlier to a winter camping experience. Stay safe and snug in your stick-built home until travel conditions and milder wintertime temps are forecast.
Water concerns during winter camping
- Freshwater hose. Cold temperatures can freeze water lines. Purchase a heated freshwater hose (like this top-rated one from Camco). Or make your own. Check out YouTube videos like this one for directions.
- Running water. In extremely cold conditions, we’ve kept a dribble of water running overnight to keep lines from freezing.
- RV water compartment. A light bulb in your water compartment will keep the compartment from freezing. Recommendations call for 40- to 100-watt bulbs. A remote temperature gauge placed inside the water compartment will enable you to easily monitor the temps there.
Heating
- Basement heater. If you have a basement heater fan, plan to turn it on when cold temperatures are predicted, or when the remote temperature gauge indicates declining temps. A heated basement will help keep the interior of the RV warmer.
- Propane. Many winter campers upgrade their propane tanks to larger capacity units. This enables a camper to go longer between propane fills. Your RV furnace will use a lot of propane in cold weather, so a larger capacity tank is important for your peace of mind. It’s no fun to run out of propane in the middle of the night, trust me.
- Heat pumps. If your rig has a heat pump, plan to use it to conserve propane. Remember, however, that it only works in temps above 40 degrees or so. When the temps dip below 40 degrees, you’ll need to rely on your furnace or alternative heat source.
- Fireplace. Many RVs feature electric fireplaces which can take the chill off the interior of your rig when temps are moderate. We’ve also used our fireplace to supplement our furnace heat when necessary. Here’s a simple trick to get more heat from your electric fireplace.
- Standalone heaters. You can find many ceramic, oil-filled, infrared, and electric heaters online. Check to see how many amps the heating device uses. Many operate on very few amps and will save on electric and propane usage. No matter which heater you choose, always use extreme caution. Place the heater well away from curtains and other combustibles. Keep heaters away from pets and small children, too.
- Add insulation. You may have noticed that closet and cupboard interiors feel colder than the rest of the RV. Adding foam board insulation onto all of the interior sides of these places will help keep your entire rig warmer in winter (and cooler in the summer). We’ve measured and cut the blue foam board from Home Depot or Lowe’s to fit inside our RV cupboards. It’s made quite a difference for us. I don’t permanently attach the foam board, but rather use the cupboard contents to hold the insulation boards in place.
Other considerations for winter camping
- Watch for condensation. Water condensation on windows, walls, and such can potentially cause mold or structural damage to your RV. You may need a dehumidifier when winter camping to combat this problem.
- Have a plan. Decide ahead of time what activities you plan to do. That way you’ll be sure to pack the things you need (e.g., snowshoes, ice skates, cross-country skis). Because winter weather can sometimes change on a dime, it’s best to have backup plans, too. For example, if a blizzard is in the forecast, adjust your destination, route, or departure day/time to allow for safer travels.
- Tell family and friends. Just like RVing at any other time of year, it’s a good idea to check in with family or friends once in a while to let them know where you are camping. Supply the name of your campground and site number, or your GPS coordinates, so that you can be reached in case of emergency.
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Heated water lines – a number of people (especially if they grew up where freezes are rare) forget the water path is only as strong as its weakest point – including freeze prevention. We loop our heated water line from the ground over the stand pipe, regulator and filter and put insulation around the whole thing (a rug & 5 gallon bucket often works). We make sure the line is heated/insulated right up to entering the heated area of the RV. And be careful with those homemade heated lines. I’ve seen several melted water hoses.
I ran into this problem last year. Turns out the “heated” underbelly on my camper was a joke and claims that the water lines wouldn’t freeze above 15° were too. Even with a heated hose if the lines in your camper freeze you’re SOL. Ended up replumbing the entire camper so the lines are all above the floor in the heated space. Don’t know why they didn’t do that originally, on this floor plan there’s cabinets down the entire side, where they ran the electric lines and heat ducts. As a bonus, now the warm ducts provide even more freeze protection for my water lines, haha.
I lived most of my life through my 40’s in Northern IL and Southern WI. Then I moved to AL to finish my GM retirement. In my last 35 years in the south I can’t understand why people still live in the north but I’m glad they do as my wonderful south would be ruined if they all moved here. Lol. Still don’t understand people going north in the winter, to each there own!
Some of us actually like snow!
Our 50yo coach was built to be a 4-season. We have often traveled in the year’s end or the very early spring. We learned (fortunately early) that we wanted to be provisioned for at least three days. Totally provisioned… I mean fuel and water as well. This served us well went we got stopped by old man winter. We picked a place that we could see the roads and hunker down in the nice warm coach to watch the chaos outside. When they had their accidents and went home, then we came out to continue our excursion.
NOPE! Shoveled enough as kid in southern Oregon.
After having one freeze twice well above the rated temperature and talking to a number of other people and a campground host who’ve had lots of issues with them I’d highly recommend AGAINST the Camco heated hose. Mine froze between 15-20 above zero, far from the -20 it’s supposedly rates for. The campground host said they don’t even allow them any more after several frozen hoses that caused damage to their heated spigots. Spend a little more and get a hose that actually works or DIY one if you’re somewhere that allows that. I’ve been happy with the Pirit hose I replaced the Camco one with, but I know several other brands are well regarded as well.
One of our favorite upgrades to our Class A motorhome is a recirculating pump on a thermostat. It pumps hot water from the water heater through all the freshwater lines and keeps them from freezing.
We always keep the freshwater hose disconnected except when we’re filling the tank when we’re in freezing weather instead of using a heated freshwater hose.
We’ve been able to survive a couple of winters in Colorado Springs in our son’s driveway using many of the great tips in the article too. We usually enjoy winters in Quartzsite, AZ and don’t have to worry about freezing temperatures.
Thank you, Gail! Good advice, and comprehensive, too! We “camp,” travel in the northern parts of the south in the winter — southern Tennessee, northern and central Alabama and Georgia, and South Carolina. It gets chilly in these places, but day-time remperatures are usually in the 40°F area or higher. We stay connected only to power. I add water or dump the tanks as needed during the day, but stow the water and sewer hoses otherwise. My reservations about traveling farher north are potential road conditions (including salted roads) and snowfall on our slide toppers. I tend to be conservative in choosing where to put our RV. 🙂 Safe travels!