Winter camping in 2018 DX3 - Page 2

Orangecrush · 11-18-2018, 03:04 PM

A couple of thoughts...

1st, I would fill up the fresh water tank about 85-90%. It will keep enough water to keep it from freezing but allow enough room for expansion if it starts to ice over.

2) lower the air suspension and then level it. I made the mistake of leveling the RV with the suspension in the "up" position and because we weren't flat, it raised it up so high, the front wheels were off the ground. (which I didn't notice till next morning) The problem is with it so high, the cold air blew under the RV and made it even harder to keep the RV warm.

3) Mechanics use a foam mat about 4' long to lay on when looking under a car. I took one and placed it between the door and freshwater tank and it acted as great insulation to prevent freezing.

HTH's,

Mark

joet19711 · 11-18-2018, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motorhome1

I would like to mod my wet bay and bathroom heat.Can you give me more info:
What thermostat did you use? Where did you connect to the aqua hot panel ( I assume you mean in the aqua hot bay)?

Much appreciated

Give me a buzz Bob and I will show you what I have done. Just got back from South Carolina, Elkhart and WV.
Wired a thermostat in the wet bay back to the AH unit. 40 degree Honeywell stat (Home Depot)
cozy is mounted under the washer/dryer. Undue the 12V wiring and run wiring back to the AH unit.
While I was at the factory in the spring, they added another heat duct from
the cozy under washer/dryer down to the wet bay. Now have (2) heat ducts in wet bay. Original duct up high, added duct down low.
All works well pretty easy mod. I can text you pictures if you like.

Joe

Thebackpacker · 11-19-2018, 12:17 AM

KRedburn,

Thanks for posting your winter camping adventures. I have enjoyed reading about them.

It's nice to know my DX3 can take cold weather should I encounter it.

Thebackpacker
2016 DX3

Orangecrush · 11-19-2018, 01:45 PM

One more solution.... You can install heater pads that self adhesive themselves to the fresh water tank. I bought some but can't find them now...lol.

Mark

KRedburn · 11-19-2018, 06:19 PM

Currently doing good with mini ceramic heater in the wet bay.

We have a 37TS so the bedroom heat is under the washer/dryer.
There is a heat exchanger under the cabinet in the kitchen by the shower.
I think this may be the one that I could run the duct from.

My thinking is if I connect to the one under the washer/dryer it would make the bedroom rather hot in the environment I am in.

Literally the aquahot is running nearly 100% of the time. This morning it was 7 degrees with wind chill at -2. The wet bay with the ceramic heater in it is warmer than the interior of the coach.
With the fireplace also running it is holding at 66 degrees this evening in the main living area. Now I have to admit that the DW thought it was too hot in the living area (73 degrees) and shut down the fireplace and turned down the bedroom thermostat. When I got in from a trip to Fargo at 4am this morning it was 52 degrees in the coach. Sigh. So the furnace is trying to make up for the cold with it being a high of 12 degrees today.

Mark -- I have not had any issues with the tanks on the rig. Fresh water is 2/3 full, black and gray are working fine. Fresh water is 2/3 full. We are connected to water through a heated hose.

A couple things I would like to see or will mod are adding 120V outlets either in the monitor stack behind the driver's seat or in the little cabinet by the door. Or and added heat exchanger up near the front cab would be great.

This has been a great "test" of cold camping capability of the DX3. With planning it is doable. Might not be comfy warm all the time but it is quite capable IMO.

We will be heading back home next Monday so hope weather holds out.

Happy camping all!

FOURWHL · 11-19-2018, 10:07 PM

That’s a good synopsis of it. Capable if not always comfy

I’m definitely looking at an outlet in the front area also

Orangecrush · 11-20-2018, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRedburn

A couple things I would like to see or will mod are adding 120V outlets either in the monitor stack behind the driver's seat or in the little cabinet by the door. Or and added heat exchanger up near the front cab would be great.

I agree. I wish the underbelly had more plugs. The only one I know of is the very front compartment by the door where I have my refrigerator plugged in. I'm not sure why they don't add some more outlets.

Mark

**bclemens** · 11-20-2018, 10:06 AM

because we think most people are sane and buy their rig to travel to where its WARM....not chasing cold weather.

rskeans · 11-20-2018, 07:33 PM

I wanted to comment on the heat outlets on our 37TS. We arrived in AZ this afternoon so I could take a look. BTW it was 78*. DW complained about it being too hot!

Heat outlets
2 bedroom
1 under bathroom sink
1 under toilet
4 from under fridge pointing to dinette.

1 in kitchen under trash/wine rack

Nothing in the front of the coach, but fireplace is up there and solves that problem.

I'm not sure where the cozies are.

KRedburn · 11-20-2018, 08:30 PM

In really cold areas the fireplace does not fulfill the heat requirement of the forward living area. Comes close but below 15 it is becoming marginal. Below 10 front area will be around 67 degrees.

An electrical 120 outlet in the front would be great to connect a ceramic heater to. then the cab/front living would be fine. Floor gets super cold but carpet runners assist here.

Bath area stays pretty warm bedroom is fine. we like a cool bedroom anyway.

Coldest areas are the main slide outs.

Of course according to Brian C we are not sane campers.

Yesterday it was -2 in the morning and snowing. Having a great time in the cold here in Southeastern North Dakota.

Heat wave today. got to 30 degrees! supposed to be near 10 tonight!

rskeans · 11-20-2018, 09:00 PM

I am in agreement with Brian.

MasterBlaster · 11-20-2018, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRedburn

OUCH! ran out of propane today. It is 18 degrees out. Electric AquaHot cannot keep up. Fortunately, we called a local propane distributor and he was able to fill us. We just had to get to his location on a Sunday! Great service. Moved slides and set up for travel and drove the 30 miles to get filled up. Got the bill expecting abnormal pricing. 1.45 a gallon!!!! WOW last fill was 2.79 a gallon. Great!

Got back to our "camp" and reset everything all is good rig is at 60 degrees which is great for sleeping. It will be warmer in the morning.

Our fresh water. We have been running off our fresh water tank so far. Today, it is low so we have a 50ft heated fresh water hose connected to the MH. This would be great but there is about an eight inch exposed section of piping from the faucet to the hose connection. It is uninsulated so I have been using the heated hose to fill the fresh tank and then shutting off the water supply and draining down the faucet. So far so good. Hope to have some form of insulation on the faucet so I can leave it on full time. Just have to find the time to do this. We are working dawn till dark for now because it is supposed to warm up here in a couple of days which will make it impossible to work. The mud will be to deep!

Anyway our current configuration is
AquaHot on burner and electric for heat and hot water running continuous.
Slides are out on both sides. Have main awning out just enough to keep the snow off of the passenger side slide.
Have 2 throw rugs in main living area that covers most of the tile floor
Fireplace is on full time.
Thermostats set to 73 degrees. Hope the cabin will be near 70 by morning. Currently 60 at 9:30 pm.
Wet bay is at 44 degrees with a supplemental mini ceramic electric heater set up inside in addition to the residual heat from the aqua hot.
Another mini ceramic heater in the second bay back from the entry door for stuff that needs to not freeze. This bay has a separate built in electrical outlet so I have the heater set on low. Seems to do OK. I do not have a temp monitor in here.
We have water hooked up but will have to get some form of insulation at the faucet.
We keep the tank drain hose in the wet bay and only connect to the sewer connection when dumping is needed and then get everything back in the wet bay. So far so good.

One of things you must pay attention to. When you take a shower make sure you open the vent and have the fan extracting the moisture. Yeas it makes the shower area a bit cold but you do not want to have the moisture build up in the MH. This could cause issues down the road so to speak.

After you shower and get the hair dry and do all the other stuff close up your vent.

You have to keep the moisture down also when cooking. Just keep that in mind. Vent out daily.

Till next time

Do you not have an air duct in the wet bay? Our Force HD has a duct that comes out from the floor above into the wet bay.

KRedburn · 11-20-2018, 09:55 PM

There does not appear to be an air duct into the wet bay.

The aquahot bay and the wet bay are interconnected by a cross thru section on the bays. In this area is also the black and gray tanks.
So there is some heat from the aquahot that gets to the wet bay but not enough.
Also, keep in mind that we are in what would be normally classified as "extreme cold" for camping. We are also connected to only 30 amp service at this time.

So, if we continue to choose to camp in these temperatures some specific mods will have to happen.

It has been a great "test" for the overall capabilities of the DX3. Which in my opinion has been pretty impressive.

Orangecrush · 11-21-2018, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRedburn

OUCH! ran out of propane today. It is 18 degrees out. Electric AquaHot cannot keep up.

I'm glad you were able to get someone out to fill the propane but that right there is the reason we didn't buy the 2017 Force we originally looked at. Non all electric was a dealbreaker for me. I hate having to deal with keeping the propane filled because where we mainly use our RV, well, it's not even a campsite with hookups.

I'm sure by the time you're ready to upgrade, everything will be all electric. Much better idea.

Mark

**bclemens** · 11-21-2018, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rskeans

I am in agreement with Brian.

Finally...someone agrees with me.

In the words of Trump after he is complimented...
"rskeans is a great, great man. I've been watching him for some time now and he's just really great. He's a sharp cookie"

KRedburn · 11-21-2018, 10:18 AM

rskeans · 11-21-2018, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bclemens

Finally...someone agrees with me.

In the words of Trump after he is complimented...
"rskeans is a great, great man. I've been watching him for some time now and he's just really great. He's a sharp cookie"

I must have been wrong

**bclemens** · 11-21-2018, 10:39 AM

"rskeans is a disgrace. I've said it since day one...this guy is trouble" Lock him up, lock him up!

KRedburn · 11-21-2018, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orangecrush

I'm glad you were able to get someone out to fill the propane but that right there is the reason we didn't buy the 2017 Force we originally looked at. Non all electric was a dealbreaker for me. I hate having to deal with keeping the propane filled because where we mainly use our RV, well, it's not even a campsite with hookups.

I'm sure by the time you're ready to upgrade, everything will be all electric. Much better idea.

Mark

Propane is no longer the issue here. Supplier here set a 100 gallon tank and is now checking it every third day.
Nothing against all electric but must be plugged in or run on genset and aquahot run on diesel. Propane here is 1.35 a gallon, diesel 3.17. Don't have to run genset if plugged in. can still have hot water and cook without running genset even off shore power.

Ken

rskeans · 11-21-2018, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bclemens

"rskeans is a disgrace. I've said it since day one...this guy is trouble" Lock him up, lock him up!

Similar words from the rich and famous!

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