Semi winter trip tips?

[JJTX]

I will be going to north Texas for the weekend the first weeknof NOV.

Weather seems to be low to mid 30s and highs 65ish.

I'm not concerned with daytime travel back and forth but any suggestions about overnight camping for first timer is welcomed. I assume i will be using the heater at night and most likely will disconnect the water connection at night to eliminate freezing outside the trailer....

[Overstreet]

Sounds like around North Florida weather.

If the below freezing weather is only for a couple of hours you may not need to take much freezing weather precautions. Hoses can take a lot. The soft spot in the water hose is the light blue plastic filter housing. They split easy, but not fast. Remember it takes overnight to make ice cubes. Same thing in the water hose filter, sort of.

Do run the heat. It makes the trailer more comfortable. It also helps to keep the pipes and pumps etc from freezing. Be gentle with the settings. You don't need to be too warm and burn up all that propane. If you have heat pump(s) and plenty of power they work down to 40 degrees. Below that the reverse cycle, aka heat pump, system does not work that great. Great = efficient or warming. Typical for all heat pump systems.

Don't breathe or cook, or take showers, or wash your hands it causes moisture in the air that will condense on your windows...……..or just open up some of the vents and fans when doing steamy thing to let some of the moisture out. Some condensation is to be expected towel use advisable on the puddles.

I use Weather Bug app on my phone to look up hourly weather forecasts.

[Overstreet]

If there is plenty of fall on the sewer pipe you can hook it up during light freeze conditions. On just a weekend I often don't open anything till I'm ready to empty a tank. Either way you don't want water laying in the hose freezing.

[GMFL]

No worries with those temps. A song as temp are not down below freezing during the day or down in the 20’s at night I would not worriy about your hoses.
We have camped is temps that stayed in The teens during the day. Just run the furnace and maybe a small electric heater to help offset the chill and your golden.

[JJTX]

Weather reports have gone back and forth on temps. Low 30s at night one day, mid 30s next. However that is likely not the temp range the canyon I will be in. NOAA is all over the place on the temps, and its because its NOV 2-3-4 so its hard to predict this far out.

I will expect 3-5f cooler than what the national weather service says in the nearest city. Just because of the location in North Texas.

There is no sewer connection where we are going, so my only concern will be the water. But likely not going to get cold enough, long enough as some have said.

I expect night time to be low 30s to upper 20s overnight unless the temps rise from their predictions this far out.

I expect to use the normal heater vs the heat pump though. However I did use the heat pump last weekend since the outside temps got down to 50 or so and it was too cold for A/C. Used the heat pump to drive out some moisture. It took a while though, so next time I'll probably just use the normal LP heater as the heat pump caused condensation on the inside and it ran for a while to get rid of it.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Simple answer - start off with full propane tanks and a full fresh water tank. Don't hook up the sewer except to dump. The main gotcha is the moisture condensing on the windows and inside of the trailer. Shore power is nice since the furnace will run down the batteries pretty fast ....

Lots of fun !!!

Bob

[Overstreet]

Originally Posted by JJTX

……….Used the heat pump to drive out some moisture. …….as the heat pump caused condensation on the inside and it ran for a while to get rid of it.

Without getting into a lot of HVAC voodoo science around dew points condensation collects on cold things in warm moist environments. Think a cold glass of Ice Tea on a hot summer day. Condensation forms on the outside of the glass. Hot tea does not form condensation on the outside of its container.

Your heat pump passes air over the "hot deck/coil" in a reverse cycle. It isn't dehumidifying like the AC would. Heat pumps don't produce high, hot, air out the vents like a furnace would. Thus they have to run a long time to make up a temp difference.

Condensation will form on cold things. When the cold things warm up they dry up. If the cold thing was an outside thing, ie window, it might not dry up till outside temps dry up or the inside moisture level is reduced.

ps....your propane furnace will cause condensation on cold things too. Just a shade faster.

[JJTX]

Originally Posted by Overstreet

Without getting into a lot of HVAC voodoo science around dew points condensation collects on cold things in warm moist environments. Think a cold glass of Ice Tea on a hot summer day. Condensation forms on the outside of the glass. Hot tea does not form condensation on the outside of its container.

Your heat pump passes air over the "hot deck/coil" in a reverse cycle. It isn't dehumidifying like the AC would. Heat pumps don't produce high, hot, air out the vents like a furnace would. Thus they have to run a long time to make up a temp difference.

Condensation will form on cold things. When the cold things warm up they dry up. If the cold thing was an outside thing, ie window, it might not dry up till outside temps dry up or the inside moisture level is reduced.

ps....your propane furnace will cause condensation on cold things too. Just a shade faster.

Yepper. I noticed the heat pump just made it all condense.

What sucked though was it was too cold for AC and really not cold enough for the big heater.

Next time, which will be next weekend I will be using the normal heater.