Question about cold weather capability

[paaccc]

My wife and I have been looking for a travel trailer off and on for a year or so. We have been in no real hurry and hadn't found anything that really drew us in until we came across a 2019 SolAire 312TSQBK. We really like the layout and general atmosphere of it, but are concerned with how it will handle the occasional cold weather trip. It comes with heated tanks, but I can't find what the R value of the insulation is and I don't see anything about available cold weather packages.

Do any of you have any experience with a similar trailer in the cold? How did it handle it?

[whj469]

Not good. The R will be low, like 7 or 9 and they really not for cold weather RVing.

[ppine]

All trailers are good to the mid 20s or so, especially compared to a tent.
There are all different types of cold weather packages and they all help.
Keep your trailer closed up and point the windows toward the south.
I just sold a hybrid trailer, and I am very happy to be back in a warm, snug TT.

[tomm1947]

I have a 2019 Cherokee 22RR Toy Hauler and our first trip out this Spring was a Disaster! It was a volunteer clean up weekend at a kinda local KOA Camp Ground. The weather was nasty, drizzled both days and cleared the morning we were leaving. It was here in Maine with a temp in the lower 40's so we ran the heat on low both the day we arrived and the next day(Saturday) The humidity was so bad I had to put rolled up paper towels in the bottom of the window frames! The condensation was Unbelievable! I have a small dehumidifier on order to hopefully take care of it if we run into the same situation again! We got three meals and no charge for the lot or electricity for helping with the clean up. I don't think I'd volunteer for that weekend AGAIN unless the weather was MUCH WARMER!

[rmac04401]

Originally Posted by tomm1947

I have a 2019 Cherokee 22RR Toy Hauler and our first trip out this Spring was a Disaster! It was a volunteer clean up weekend at a kinda local KOA Camp Ground. The weather was nasty, drizzled both days and cleared the morning we were leaving. It was here in Maine with a temp in the lower 40's so we ran the heat on low both the day we arrived and the next day(Saturday) The humidity was so bad I had to put rolled up paper towels in the bottom of the window frames! The condensation was Unbelievable! I have a small dehumidifier on order to hopefully take care of it if we run into the same situation again! We got three meals and no charge for the lot or electricity for helping with the clean up. I don't think I'd volunteer for that weekend AGAIN unless the weather was MUCH WARMER!

I was born and raised in Bangor. I remember it was always tricky getting nice weather for camping till middle of June. I remember one Memorial Day having winter jackets on when we camped and this was with a tent. Plus I was a young 27-30 y/o and handled the cold better. Hope your next trip is nicer.

[whj469]

I have a full time rated fiver and I wouldn't want to RV in 20 degrees F ever!

[TitanMike]

I chuckle when I read all the posts about how terrible Travel Trailers are for cold weather camping.

I spent 6 months in a 27 foot travel trailer. From October to March in Denver while waiting for a house to be built. Had the local propane distributor drop a 250 gallon rental tank off and connected it to the trailer's LPG system.

Used a heated water hose and added tank heat pads to the holding tanks.

Weather varied from spring-like temps in the 60's to as low as -15 degrees (F) in January.

Other than using a lot of propane, not a single problem.

If only taking short trips into cold weather just make sure you have plenty of Propane and I'd stick to full hookups. Boondocking will require extra propane and a generator (with extra fuel).

FWIW, thousands of hunters, skiers, and snowmobiler's take their trailers and RV's out into winter weather all the time. Very few of those vehicles are what many here consider "Winter Capable" but they do just fine. Biggest issue is frozen water and having tank heaters will alleviate that issue.

I think people have forgotten what many people lived in during winters. Many houses across the country had less insulation than the cheapest of Travel Trailers built today. As a teenager I lived in an uninsulated farmhouse but back then heating oil was $0.10/gallon . We also burned a lot of wood we cut from our property in the fireplace.

[paaccc]

Thank you all for your input! We don't plan to do any long term cold weather camping, but definitely want the option to do so. I just got off the phone with my wife and she's already moved on in her head, but I may try to bring her back to this one, lol.

[cincia]

We have a palomino solaire 251rbs so somewhat similar, although we don't have tank heaters. A couple of years ago we went to a dog show weekend in late Oct. in MN. I miscalculated and didn't winterize before we left (was only supposed to get down to 30ish but got down to 16-18). Only problem we had was that the water lines almost froze on the 7 hour drive (should have been 4 hours but a storm moved in and the roads were terrible). As soon as we got to the show site and set up, we cranked up the heat, water lines were running fine by the next morning (2 hours) and we were warm and toasty all weekend in the trailer. Had a little condensation but nothing that a wipe with a paper towel now and then wouldn't take care of. Burned through some propane that weekend but that was all.

[briteday]

Our daughter has been fulltiming in our TT. The TT does not have any special cold weather upgrades. We live at 5000' in the foothills of the Sierra and we had plenty of winter weather this past year.

Water...when the weather stays under 30* for a week at night (we almost always warm up above 40* during the day with the sun out) or so she gives up on the water hookup and uses a water tapper jug for drinking and teeth, gym or in the house for showers.

Heat...we gave up on propane after the first week. She has an oil-filled radiator style heater in the living space that keeps it quite toasty. During the day, while at work, she turns it down and heats only the living room and kitchen for her pets by closing the door to the bathroom and bedroom. When she gets home she opens up the bath/bed door so the bedroom heats up before bedtime. You do need to plan accordingly so that you are not flipping breakers every night and wake up to a cold TT. I think she has to unplug the microwave if she wants to run the heater, fridge, and have her Keurig with timer brew the coffee for her wake up call.

Tips and Tricks...bought some 2" foam board and cut to fit to skirt the TT. Helps with the heating/cooling, keeps critters out from under the TT (neighbor's cat liked to pee under there in the gravel), and makes it look a bit neater giving her a place to store bin with hoses and macerator pump.

...poop...we will never do the stinky slinky again! She bought and runs a macerator pump using about 75' of common garden hose to empty into our septic clean out port about once every 6 weeks. She does not have any problems with freezing in the winter, tends to empty more frequently in the summer to keep the odor down. Uses Geo tank method with Calgon, cleans out with some bleach at pumping time.

...keeping it warm...she has found that buying some cheap fleece blankets (you can get them just before Christmas for about $2-5 each at Target, Walmart, etc) and hanging them on the window valences to keep out the draft. It makes a huge difference in our trailer to keep in the heat in the winter and does wonders for keeping out the hot sun in the summer.

She is hooked up to the main house electricity. We invested in having an electrician come out and install an RV outlet, bought a good surge protector.

[johnnyice]

Originally Posted by tomm1947

I have a 2019 Cherokee 22RR Toy Hauler and our first trip out this Spring was a Disaster! It was a volunteer clean up weekend at a kinda local KOA Camp Ground. The weather was nasty, drizzled both days and cleared the morning we were leaving. It was here in Maine with a temp in the lower 40's so we ran the heat on low both the day we arrived and the next day(Saturday) The humidity was so bad I had to put rolled up paper towels in the bottom of the window frames! The condensation was Unbelievable! I have a small dehumidifier on order to hopefully take care of it if we run into the same situation again! We got three meals and no charge for the lot or electricity for helping with the clean up. I don't think I'd volunteer for that weekend AGAIN unless the weather was MUCH WARMER!

Open your windows just a crack , humidity issue will be resolved .

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

I chuckle when I read all the posts about how terrible Travel Trailers are for cold weather camping.

I spent 6 months in a 27 foot travel trailer. From October to March in Denver while waiting for a house to be built. Had the local propane distributor drop a 250 gallon rental tank off and connected it to the trailer's LPG system.

The GF (now DW) lived 6 years full-time in a 22-foot Nash travel trailer. She saw plenty of snows and freezes, rattlesnakes, and the April 16, 2011 tornado which tore the awning. She was using a 100 lb propane tank, filled on demand, with failover to a 30 lb tank. She had heat-tape on the water hose. Probably had a few freezes, but no permanent damage.

Larry

[ppine]

thanks to TitanMike.
We are heading out this week 5/24 in the eastern Sierra. There has been snow in the mountains all week. In the West, cold weather is just a fact of being out there.

In Nevada, the mining camps started to show up in the 1850s. People commonly lived in canvas wall tents until they could cobble something more substantial to live in. Modern mining towns, like Elko have plenty of people living full time in RVs in below zero temperatures. They add skirting on the underside, add heat tape on the plumbing, and add some insulation on the windows. Rvs are much more capable than most people give them credit for.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by ppine

thanks to TitanMike.
We are heading out this week 5/24 in the eastern Sierra. There has been snow in the mountains all week. In the West, cold weather is just a fact of being out there.

In Nevada, the mining camps started to show up in the 1850s. People commonly lived in canvas wall tents until they could cobble something more substantial to live in. Modern mining towns, like Elko have plenty of people living full time in RVs in below zero temperatures. They add skirting on the underside, add heat tape on the plumbing, and add some insulation on the windows. Rvs are much more capable than most people give them credit for.

The nice thing about RVs is that, since they are small, they re-heat really fast after someone opens the door and lets all the heat out.

Larry

[SailorSam20500]

On a trip down to Texas in January. At one stop the temps hit -15 overnight and the furnace decided to take a night off. We survived with a cheap 1500 watt electric heater and an electric mattress pad (from out S&B bed). We were warm enough, temp inside was probably about 55.


I did run one of our ceiling exhaust fans on low all night - no humidity problems.

[Kimber45]

What is your definition of cold? that is what matters. If only below freezing a few hours at night you could stay cozy with space heaters (if not paying the power bill)

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by SailorSam20500

On a trip down to Texas in January. At one stop the temps hit -15 overnight and the furnace decided to take a night off. We survived with a cheap 1500 watt electric heater and an electric mattress pad (from out S&B bed). We were warm enough, temp inside was probably about 55.


I did run one of our ceiling exhaust fans on low all night - no humidity problems.

I have two 1500 watt ceramic heaters and never leave home without them.

If chilly I run one on low(750 watt) and if colder i add the second one also on half power in the bathroom.

If furnace goes AWOL i can shut off everything running off 120v and crank both heaters on as long as i plug in to the right receptacles. The heaters use up almost all of the incoming power on my 30 amp service. Just enough left for my heated mattress though [emoji6]

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

I have two 1500 watt ceramic heaters and never leave home without them.

If chilly I run one on low(750 watt) and if colder i add the second one also on half power in the bathroom.

If furnace goes AWOL i can shut off everything running off 120v and crank both heaters on as long as i plug in to the right receptacles. The heaters use up almost all of the incoming power on my 30 amp service. Just enough left for my heated mattress though [emoji6]

We have a couple of the oil-filled radiators, each switchable to 600, 900, or 1500 watts. When we had winter furnace issues, we could run one at 1500 and the other at 900 overnight, as long as one was plugged into the GFCI circuit and the other was plugged into the non-protected circuit. We also have 30 amp service.

Larry

[ppine]

We are still having frost at night in the West as June is about to start. I rarely use the furnace or any other heater. We heat the trailer during the day with the sun and close it up at night. Down sleeping bags and a few blankets help a lot and 3 dogs.

Making coffee in the morning with propane takes the chill off.