By Cheri Sicard
Join Jared Gillis of All About RVs in the video below as he demonstrates two fast and easy RV mods to help you stay warmer when the temperatures dip.
Jared says these tips address two of the five ways heat escapes RVs.
Jared’s warmth-enhancing fast and easy winter RV mods
#1 The front door: A lot of cold air comes in the front door, so Jared tried an insulated, magnetic door cover to test how effective this would be.
The door cover is made for bricks-and-sticks homes, but Jared shows how to modify it for RV use in the video and talks about its pros and cons.
#2 Low-tech draft stopper: For this winter RV mod, Jared uses foam pipe insulation, available in a variety of sizes, so there will be one to fit the space you need.
Watch the video as he shows how to use this inexpensive material to block the drafts coming in from your slide rooms, another big area of heat loss in RVs.
Do you have other tips for keeping warm in your RV during winter? Be sure to share them in the comments below.
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Covering each of the windows with clear plastic sheeting immediately increased the inside temperature. Kits are readily available at most hardware stores.
I also made shades with reflective insulating sheets. These block out the light and keep the heat inside.
When we first bought our house, it had single pane windows. There were exterior storms windows that attached with clips, but they didn’t help much. Air still got through.
I made wooden frames that fit on the inside of the windows and covered them with shrink film. I used some foam tape around the edges so they fit snug.
It made a world of difference.
Even after getting new double pane windows, we still use the inside ‘storm’ windows in the winter.
I do have to replace the film every few years.
We snowbird and RV in every season, so we use Reflectix on our bedroom windows to keep out cold drafts while traveling. If night-time temps are going to be below freezing, we also pull in our single slide to reduce heat loss around the seals. But these are not just fall/winter tasks for us because we live in Colorado and RV as high as 10,600′ in summer and 9,000′ in fall. So, they can apply to any month of the year as we have had night-time temps as low as 23F degrees in AUGUST!