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Old 11-20-2018, 10:49 AM   #1
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Cold weather travelling?

Hi folks...just curious about what I can expect next week when heading from Arkansas to the Dallas area. Will my dash heat be good enough to keep the passenger area warm enough. Temps will not be real low but most likely in the upper 30's while we are driving. I have a small electric heater and tested it with my inverter and it was pulling about 800 watts on low so I figured I could use it if it does get too cold. The engine alternator kept the batteries charging with that load on the inverter. I plan on warming everything up before we leave just wasnt sure once I hit the road how long it will last
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Old 11-20-2018, 11:17 AM   #2
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How many of you are travelling in the motorhome?
Any pets?

I suspect the temps inside the unit will not be as warm as you’d like if you were travelling in your car. Can you honestly expect the dash motor and vents to heat/cool the entire square footage of your motorhome, when it comes equipped with a furnace. If you need to climate control the rig for more than just the pilot and copilot, you may need the furnace.....make sure your propane is full.

When we travel, it’s only the two of us, so I installed a full length curtain and rod just behind the front seats. The dash HVAC does the job just fine.
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Old 11-20-2018, 12:00 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by kenandterry View Post
.............

When we travel, it’s only the two of us, so I installed a full length curtain and rod just behind the front seats. The dash HVAC does the job just fine.
I second this. We used to drive a full length high roof sprinter cargo van from NY to Florida a few times a year and without some sort of partition the a/c and heat both had a hard time keeping the cabin comfortable if the temp was anywhere outside the 45 to 75 range. In our case we just hung a big moving blanket and it did the job of containing the air conditioned space and cutting down on the noise.
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Old 11-20-2018, 12:27 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by kenandterry View Post
How many of you are travelling in the motorhome?
Any pets?

I suspect the temps inside the unit will not be as warm as you’d like if you were travelling in your car. Can you honestly expect the dash motor and vents to heat/cool the entire square footage of your motorhome, when it comes equipped with a furnace. If you need to climate control the rig for more than just the pilot and copilot, you may need the furnace.....make sure your propane is full.

When we travel, it’s only the two of us, so I installed a full length curtain and rod just behind the front seats. The dash HVAC does the job just fine.
There are just 2 of us and 3 dogs. They lay on the couch behind the passenger seat for the most part.
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Old 11-20-2018, 02:46 PM   #5
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I used to worry about the same thing with our 364 in summer temps. I have resorted to just running the gen set all the time. It does burn gas but we didn’t buy our coach to save money. We bought it to enjoy the comforts.
I cant wait to hear about the trip cause we are talking about doing a winter trip. I am excited to hear how yours goes.
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Old 11-20-2018, 03:32 PM   #6
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I used to worry about the same thing with our 364 in summer temps. I have resorted to just running the gen set all the time. It does burn gas but we didn’t buy our coach to save money. We bought it to enjoy the comforts.
I cant wait to hear about the trip cause we are talking about doing a winter trip. I am excited to hear how yours goes.
You have a good point. I've put 5000 on my MH since Feb. My gen only has 21 hours on it and about 4 -5 of those were me just exercising it. I need to start doing that more in the summer. Right now I think I am going to plug the small heater in, turn it on low and run it off the inverter. I assume that it will be ok for the chassis alternator to power it for several hours...pulling about 800 watts.

We are headed to the massive flea market in Canton Texas....staying at a state park about 20 miles from there....the Texas state parks look pretty nice so Texas might be our go to short trip state......should be fun.
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Old 11-20-2018, 03:46 PM   #7
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Probably not the right forum but figured someone might know....looks like I have a 175 amp alternator in the RV. My inverter is 2000 watts. I installed a victron battery monitor with the inverter so I get pretty good info from it. My question is with drawing 1200 watts from the inverter for a continuous period while using my alternator to keep my coach batteries charged be a problem? So far I have used the inverter to power the fridge and maybe a TV while driving which uses about 400 watts.
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