Cold Weather Use - How Low Can You GO?

[Backstrap Bill]

Looking pretty hard at a 31FS. Need to use it into late November, early December in an area where temps can drop into the 5 to 10 F range at night.
How low have some of you used your larger Jayco Class C's - assuming propane & AC power are available.

[Bobsanchez44]

I used mine in 4 - 6F range


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[NC Roamer]

It depends on the overnight wind to some extent. A low of 20 on a calm night might be more survivable for your pipes than 20 degrees with a stiff wind. We've used our 31FK on nights when it dropped into the mid 20s without problem. Have not tried it lower than that yet.

[pconroy]

31FK here too. Teens has been the lowest. I try not to go below mid-20's.

You'll survive at 5-10 but you'll probably want to winterize the vehicle. Take gobs of propane, have an Extend-A-Stay and be plugged in too.

[WaltW]

In that cold weather your problem will become the limited amount of propane. I suspect that your tank is also not removable. If the CG does not allow delivery of propane, you may have to pull up stakes every few days. As such your primary source of heat will have to be electric, using propane only when the electric heater cannot keep the coach warm enough (set thermostat to 55?). Since the furnace also may provide heat to the tanks, this strategy should keep the water tanks from freezing. Placing a trouble light with a 60W incandescent bulb in the wet bay will keep the pump from freezing. You may also consider a heated water hose.

[Jinx2000]

NC Roamer has a good point. I set up last year on a fairly windy weekend when it dropped to about 20 in the 31FS and the lines froze. Several lines are exposed and the underbelly is not enclosed. I decided after that to stay winterized if the temperature is going to drop below 30 overnight.

[NC Roamer]

Originally Posted by Jinx2000

NC Roamer has a good point. I set up last year on a fairly windy weekend when it dropped to about 20 in the 31FS and the lines froze. Several lines are exposed and the underbelly is not enclosed.

Was there any damage to the frozen pipes?

[Jinx2000]

No damage. didn't stay below freezing long enough but I won't take that chance again.

[ALJO]

Customized the Jay Feather 29Y: Used the unit in -25C/-4F and use about 30 lbs. propane in 2 days. Unit has heat blanket on the FW Tank and heat tape on suction line. Heat between the Black & Gray Tank and discharge has heat tape. The underbelly has R12 & floor R7, Walls & Roof R7. All Pex plumbing is above the floor.
Lots of frost on the single pane windows. Lots of goose feather bed covering and a couple of hot bodies in the bed..........lol. Used the generator/inverter in Eco mode overnight to keep up the batteries for running the furnace. Snow is a good insulator around the perimeter.

[Bobsanchez44]

I actually ran out of propane and had to go refill tanks once...but happy I had to freeze issues (3Fdegrees)

[Bobsanchez44]

Had NO freeze issues!

[cabinetmaker]

The Greyhawks and Redhawks are not built for 4 season use. Can it be done? With some of the recommendations you read here probably. But Jayco will tell you it's not designed for camping in freezing temps.

There are brands out there built to be used for your purpose. Arctic Fox comes to mind.

I have camped in below freezing but we had a propane truck coming by every other day filling everyone in the campground. Expect to burn a lot of popane and unhook your hoses and drain the water lines every night.

We store it or go south now when winter comes. Haven't tried it in the Greyhawk yet and doubt we will. Our stick house is for cold winter months.

[SloPoke]

We have been out overnight at about +8F in our Seneca. It takes extra preparation and consideration of what you have available where you camp to keep things functioning all night.

We used a lot of propane keeping the inside warm enough for our dogs, they sleep on the floor or on the couch... Needless to say that they were on the couch this time. Our AC- Heat Pumps are inoperable at this low of temperature.

Inside our lower compartments, we had installed 3 1,500W - 110v heaters in each of our bays that house our tanks and plumbing to keep things from freezing up. Our Girard Water heater already has freeze protection and will light up when it goes below a certain temperature.

We had no freeze issues (except the snow/ice on the slide out awnings when we retracted the slides caused issues)

Next time will remember to plug in the block heater... it was a tough start the next morning at 15F.

[MFalcon]

Backstrap Bill, may I ask why you camp where cold is an issue?