So, you want to try camping in cold weather, but you’re worried about freezing? This guide should help answer some basic questions!
First, if you’re camping in temperatures that are above freezing, or even only briefly dip below freezing, then you don’t have much to worry about. Fill the propane tanks, verify the furnace works correctly, read the part about humidity below, and have at it.
Second, if you’re camping without using the water system in the camper (i.e., it’s winterized and you’re not planning to run water through the system - otherwise known as “aluminum tent”), you probably don’t need this guide, either. This isn’t a solution I would use - part of what we love about our camper is having our own shower - but plenty of people do it. A variation of this method is to use only the waste system by using jugs of water and RV antifreeze to flush the toilet and drain sinks - again, you have less to worry about. Either way, check the next section on humidity, but keep in mind without taking showers in the camper you’ll be somewhat better off.
For the rest of us, camping in freezing temperatures while using the water system has its own challenges and rewards. I generally think of a couple categories here, but note I pulled these temperatures and durations out of thin air - you’re free to mentally adjust them as you see fit.
1. Short trips (up to a week or two, perhaps) of camping in weather below freezing but above, say, 15 degrees F (-9 C) - this is basically what I do, although we usually have temperatures just above freezing during the day.
2. Long trips in the 15-32 F (-9 to 0 C) range.
3. Camping when temperatures regularly drop below 15 F (-9 C), short term.
4. Camping long term when temperatures drop below 15 F (-9 C).
This document is meant to be a starting point, not the end-all for cold weather camping.
There are plenty of solutions that I haven’t mentioned, for certain.
Humidity
The biggest problem you are likely to encounter while camping in cold weather isn’t heat, it’s condensation. This isn’t a problem in the warmer months, because you have the windows open or the air conditioner on, and both act to remove the humidity from the air. When camping in cold weather, though, you’re probably not running your air conditioner or have your windows open (if you are, you probably don’t need this guide!), so the humidity tends to collect. The biggest sources of humidity are showers (use your exhaust fan - I know, you’re sucking warm air out of the camper and replacing it with cold air, but that’s how it is), cooking, and breathing.
The two basic solutions to humidity are air exchange (exhaust fans, drawing in fresh air from outside) and running a dehumidifier. There are some smaller dehumidifiers available like
this (recommended by dznf0g) and
this that comes highly recommended by
dekew.
Fresh Water
The easiest thing to do is simply to fill the fresh water tank and use the water out of that. You’ll have to refill it every few days, of course, but I’ve found this adequate for our trips.
If you’re staying for a longer time, it gets tricky. Heated water hoses are available but they have limits, and sometimes those limits aren't as low as you'd expect
(1) (2). You can also
make your own heated hose - this will have some lower temperature limit, too, which isn’t reported in that post.
Tanks
You’ll want to keep the tanks from freezing. Again, this isn’t much of a concern when temperatures drop below freezing only for short periods (overnight), but it can be a problem if you have longer stints of cold weather.
First, most Airstreams are built with ductwork from the furnace that helps to warm the tanks. I’m sure this helps some, but I wouldn’t rely on it for extreme cold.
Many solutions have been offered. For example, you can skirt around the camper (practical if you’re staying a while) and put a heat source underneath, such as a light bulb. Another option are heating pads that attach to the tanks directly to keep them warm, but they have
limits too (
this brand claims down to -11 F/-24 C without being enclosed; I have no experience with them).
Note - RV antifreeze in the gray/black tanks won’t help much. As
this post demonstrates, you’d need too much of it to be very useful.
Heat
There are a bunch of options here. The most obvious one is the furnace built into the camper. This has the advantage that it’s already installed and out of the way, and it usually has ductwork throughout the camper (even my B190 had a second furnace vent in the bathroom). In our 30’ trailer, we usually go through a 30lb tank in 2-3 days of camping, again, with temperatures below freezing at night (say, down to about 25 F/-4 C or so) and above freezing during the day. Lower temperatures outside mean you’re going to need more propane. Turn down the heat some when you’re out during the day to save propane. You can get a larger (100lb) propane cylinder connected to the camper to at least reduce the frequency of refills. The furnace runs off 12 volts but you’ll need a way to regularly recharge your batteries if you don’t have shore power.
Catalytic heaters - These work off a chemical reaction with the propane that produces heat. These are popular, but require a source of fresh air, and have warnings against using them while sleeping (carbon monoxide buildup). Also, they don’t disperse the heat very well - you’ll want a fan or something running with it, too. These won’t provide any heat to the tanks.
Electric heaters, of various types (ceramic disc, oil-filled radiators, resistance heating devices, and so on - note if your A/C has a heat strip it’s the latter type) - These can work. I’ve camped several times with only an electric heater running. Not as great as the furnace but much better than freezing. We carry a portable electric heater with us in the camper just in case. Keep in mind these won’t provide any heat to the tanks at all.
Heat strip - Some air conditioners have a heat strip built into them. These are a simple electrical coil heater. You probably should check your owner’s manual for it - the one in my B190, for example, indicated it wasn’t for heating the camper in general; it’s purpose was to take off a chill in the morning, or that sort of thing. The one in my B190 wasn’t controlled by the thermostat, either - I left it and an electric heater running one night while it was about 17 F (-8 C) outside, and woke up to find it was over 80 F (27 C) in the camper in the morning. You’ll want to find out precisely how it works and what restrictions are on it before relying on this. This won’t provide any heat to the tanks at all.
Heat pumps - Some newer Airstreams have heat pumps installed. These do not have ductwork for the tanks.
Wood stoves, etc.: Some people have done things like this. See
this thread for a few examples (there are several other examples, like
this thread from jcfergusun, in which he installed a wood stove as part of entire restoration).
Jammer modified the ducting on his 30’ Classic to get
more heat in the bedroom from the furnace (I linked to a post summarizing the mod, but there’s a lot of good information in the rest of the thread). Even if you don’t have the same model of trailer, this may give you some ideas for your trailer.
dznf0g created a circuit that turns on his furnace’s fan without starting the furnace to help circulate air from the heat pump, which puts warm air through the ductwork for the tanks. See
this thread for more details.
Insulation
There are various things you can do to help insulate the camper better. Remember, we have single-pane windows, which haven’t been used in homes for decades.
Fantastic Fans and the like: There are inserts you can buy that stuff into the fan opening in the ceiling. You can probably make one, too.
Skylights: Our camper came with heavy vinyl covers for them that Velcro in place. Like the Fantastic Fans, you can probably buy or make inserts for them.
Windows: If you’re like us, there are some windows that you rarely even open the curtains. I intend to cut some foil or styrofoam insulation to fit in there to reduce heat transfer. Also, good, heavy curtains should help too.
Storage areas: Our 30’ Classic has a storage area under the rear bed. I was initially ignoring this as a source of heat loss, because you’d think the mattress would provide nice insulation. But, the mattress isn’t the only way heat can get through - once cold air is the storage area, it’s only a thin piece of wood around the bottom of the bed between that and the bedroom. To give you an idea of how bad it is in ours, we were in the camper last night with temperatures outside in the mid-20s, and I had a bottle of water on the floor: When I opened the bottle in the morning, the temperature of the water felt only slightly warmer than fridge temperature. dznf0g reports that condensation (and therefore mold) is a problem here, too, because of the temperature differential - he uses a small 200 watt electric heater running in the compartment to combat this problem.
On the road
If you’re going to be on the road for a long day in freezing temperatures, you’ll want to find a way to make sure the water lines don’t freeze. Running the furnace is one possibility. I haven’t heard of too many suggestions for this situation - the issue is that you have limited power available to do much else.
You usually do not have to worry too much about the tanks freezing while you’re on the road - the liquids sloshing around will keep it from freezing...unless it’s REALLY cold.
Other oddities
There are a few other things you’ll notice about camping in the cold.
--Your power cord won’t coil up as well. Power cords are available that remain flexible in cold weather. (There was a thread about this but I can’t find it - when I do, I’ll link to it.)
--If it’s below freezing, raining/snowing, and you’re using a lot of propane, you may see ice form on the propane tank.
General threads
These are must-reads for anyone planning to overwinter in their Airstream in cold weather, and good to read for anyone doing cold weather camping.
This thread has a bunch of links to other threads about winter modifications/heating.
Airstream Karma -- Out with the Vinyl, In with the Alclad - riggsco spent at least two winters in the Wasatch Mountains where they get an average of 300+ inches (760 cm) of snowfall each year. This thread is both informative and extremely entertaining.
Winter living - talks about condensation and vermin problems.
Conclusion
I hope you found this helpful. As I said above, it's intended to be a starting point to give you ideas on what you might encounter, not a comprehensive guide to winter camping. If you have updates or corrections, please post them below and I'll update this post.
Thanks to the people who wrote the posts I linked to, and to the people who reviewed my draft versions!
(Moderators, please sticky this thread, and make it so I can update it indefinitely. The idea of a sticky FAQ thread is based on a discussion in
this thread.)
Winter Camping FAQ
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