By Cheri Sicard
The Wandering Wagners have produced an interesting winter RVing video, below. In it, they explore the interior of their RV in winter with a thermal camera.
The full-time RVing couple says they are often asked if theirs is a 4-seasons rig. They sadly admit it is not. They claim it is a 3-seasons rig and they do what they can to make it through the 4th season. Winter is the season that most RVers dread.
They shot this video on a day when it was 25 degrees F outside and about 75 degrees F inside their RV.
The thermal camera, of course, graphically shows just how much the Wagners’ NeXus Wraith Super C rig is NOT outfitted for winter RVing.
There are lots of warm spots to be sure. Especially around the heater. Surprisingly, even the string of tiny Christmas lights is showing a heat profile on the thermal camera, and it even shows the steps where someone just walked. So the camera is pretty sensitive.
But those red and orange heat areas are like islands in a sea of blue and purple on the camera’s footage!
To better put things in perspective, they show shots of the RV’s interior as it normally looks alongside the thermal images. It’s especially interesting to see how warm the heater is; however, the floor of the rig is COLD, making it difficult for the heater to keep up. (Hmmm, inflatable RV skirts might help that problem.)
If you have ever thought about better insulating or outfitting your RV for colder weather, an experiment like this one can quickly show you where the problem areas are. And that’s step #1!
##RVDT2046
Very interesting thermal views. Head South. Stop at border.
Why stop at the border? Mexico is WONDERFUL in winter. Lots of great RVing south of the border, especially in Baja!
Looks like a class C. Learned a lot from this. One, the wall temps weren’t too bad, except at each of the aluminum struts. Two, there’s no thermal break at each of the studs or struts. Three, rugs made a huge difference so if you rip out all your carpeting then there should be throw rugs and runners. And four, never-ever camp in a class A or C without an insulating barrier between the living quarters and the front driving cab area. WOW, 31 degrees at that small space near the bottom passenger side leaking cold air into the living area with 25 degree temps outside. He didn’t check the roof AC unit but I suspect it’s also a huge source of cold. And why don’t the RV makers provide slide gates to shut off the air flow from the AC as well as a cover, like the two sided one used to stuff up in the vents? There’s much room for improvement needed to call this one a 4 seasons camper starting with better floor insulation and thermal breaks at each of the wall studs and ceiling struts.
I think my Aliner and my Airstream are two season trailers. Oh the joy of having the mattress right next to the inner wall. I wonder about those heated electric floor tiles.
Interesting video. Glad to not be camping today. It’s minus 30 and with the windchill is minus 40. Minus 40 is the same in C and F.
OK, fine, Impavid. I won’t complain about our 25 degrees here in the Seattle area, then. Stay warm, and have a great day! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
I wish they would have given me some specifics on their RV as they went through the review. For example, are the windows single or double pane? How thick are the walls? I assume laminated vs hung wall. How much insulation in the floor? While the video is interesting it’s not too useful since no information is provided so a viewer can make comparisons to their own RVs construction and how that might be similar in heat loss.
Some shots of the outside of the RV would be nice to see where the heat is escaping.