Towing with the heat on

[micmooch]

I have a trip to Eastern VA coming up this Jan, and with the possible freezing conditions, I want to tow with my furnace running until I get to destination and then "plug" in. Is this OK? Any problems you folks can see? Thanks.

Micmooch

[KelloggKid]

We used our TT over Thanksgiving weekend and towed it about 500 miles in below freezing weather. Before we left I did a search on this forum and found numerous threads all talking about how it was safe to do. We set our stat at 50 degrees while driving.

[kpm]

Towing with the furnace running in freezing conditions seems to be the only option if you don't want to winterize. See these threads for more.

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by micmooch

I have a trip to Eastern VA coming up this Jan, and with the possible freezing conditions, I want to tow with my furnace running until I get to destination and then "plug" in. Is this OK? Any problems you folks can see? Thanks.

Micmooch

Depending upon the length of the journey you will find that the furnace may use more electricity than your TV will replenish.

[GMFL]

We do it all the time No worries.

[Kanusport]

The airstream manual says to set you thermostat and travel. Unless state laws forbid it. I’d set at 50 traveling if it was me.

[Arcticfox]

We do it all the time coming out of Western Canada in January. Normally its 3 or 4 day of driving before we get warm enough to not have to do it any long.

We set the furnace a 50 and make sure we have lots of propane. We overnight in Walmarts when possible and all is good......

Minot North Dakota mid January at -32 below!

[GMFL]

Originally Posted by Arcticfox

We do it all the time coming out of Western Canada in January. Normally its 3 or 4 day of driving before we get warm enough to not have to do it any long.

We set the furnace a 50 and make sure we have lots of propane. We overnight in Walmarts when possible and all is good......

Minot North Dakota mid January at -32 below!

Wow -32. Our low is 9*F, but we use our unit year round. Next trip Branson MO the day after Christmas.

[Bigventure]

Arctic fox have the road chemicals or salt effected your trailer?

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by Bigventure

Arctic fox have the road chemicals or salt effected your trailer?

Good question, we live in Rhode Island lows around 10 and tons of salt......be interesting to see how the results of trailers that see lots of salt.......subscribed!

[Arcticfox]

Originally Posted by Bigventure

Arctic fox have the road chemicals or salt effected your trailer?

When we transit south we watch very close for either storms that just went through or ones that are heading our way. We normally wait till it looks like we have a 3-4 day window and then move a quickly as we can out of winter.

Salt have not been an issue as we transit in the central plains and those areas use much less salt than say western mountains or eastern hwy systems. Thats not to say we don't run into salted though - we do.

As soon as we're out of the snow we put the trailer into a car wash and spend a lot of time cleaning everything including the underside. We have found that since we started doing this in 2013 our trailer shows no issues with rust or spider corrosion of pitting on lens covers etc.

Personally I think having a trailer in the salt air around oceans is much harder on it than running winter roads in the areas that we travel in.

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by Arcticfox

When we transit south we watch very close for either storms that just went through or ones that are heading our way. We normally wait till it looks like we have a 3-4 day window and then move a quickly as we can out of winter.

Salt have not been an issue as we transit in the central plains and those areas use much less salt than say western mountains or eastern hwy systems. That's not to say we don't run into salted though - we do.

As soon as we're out of the snow we put the trailer into a car wash and spend a lot of time cleaning everything including the underside. We have found that since we started doing this in 2013 our trailer shows no issues with rust or spider corrosion of pitting on lens covers etc.

Personally I think having a trailer in the salt air around oceans is much harder on it than running winter roads in the areas that we travel in.

Thanks for the info, it helps satisfy my recent plumbing installation cost to be able to pump hot/cold water outside via a garden hose. Our plumber couldn't understand the reasoning and was "against" it, but after I explained about getting salt off the AS, it all became clear to him.

Of course it will take due diligence on my part to ensure I close off the knife valve in the basement (easy) and leave the bib open to drain any water.......but that is just part of the game to keep the AS from getting assaulted by road salt....

[GMFL]

We are in the south and tend to stay there in the winter even though it does get cold there. We do not pull in salted areas just sand used down here. We do however have the entire underside of our 23D sprayed with bed liner paint to help protect it.

[Hermes]

Leaving the snowy North for the South, do you (Articfox) keep your Winter tires or switch to Summer?

[aftermath]

I find this thread very interesting for the one fact that none of the doomsday sayers have chimed in. I am in agreement with those who have done this and have even read the manual where it says it is OK to do so. I personally haven't done this because once the temps get predictably below freezing mine is in storage.


How, would running with your furnace on be any different than running with your refrigerator on? I am waiting for those to say you should never do this because the whole thing can blow up. Where are you guys (and gals)?

[Arcticfox]

Originally Posted by Hermes

Leaving the snowy North for the South, do you (Articfox) keep your Winter tires or switch to Summer?

Hi Hermes:
We don't run winter tires on our truck at all - never have. We put them on the car but not on the truck. We run LT Series Michelin Tires on both the truck and trailer and they have been very good. There has been a few times (even late this fall) coming across Northern Ontario that we had to lock up into 4x4 because of snow and blowing snow, but that only happens once and a while....