Help for winter. New owner

[Curtis20]

Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 3
New fifth wheel owner. Winter
Hey everyone. My names Curtis. My wife and I purchased a 2008 jayco eagle in the summer. We plan to try stay in it all winter with shore power available. Do t get me wrong I’m still learning this rig from top to bottom. I want to build a skirt for it very soon as it’s already hitting close to 0 during the night. I’m so lost. My other huge worry is the furnace and carbon monoxide. I’ve bought 3 detectors and scattered them around. Alternative heat would be great. I got from a friend from his food truck about 13 4x8 sheets of foam/insulation. Winters in Ontario are rough so I’m not sure if that will be ok. Thanks for any advice at all Jayco eagle 2008 291RLTS

[2edgesword]

Not to rain (more likely snow) on your parade but I'm not sure there is any way to keep this RV comfortable and avoid frozen plumbing that's not going to be costly as far as heating. Unless this rig was built with one heck of a thermal package (floor, walls, ceiling, underbelly) you're going to be losing a lot of heat. In looking at average temperatures you could have 2 or 3 months where the temperature never gets above freezing. Are you going to be heating with electric or propane? Propane weighs 4.24 lbs per gallon and 1 gallon will provide about 3 hours of heating, so a 30 lb tank will provide about 21 hours of constant furnace operation so your need for propane will depend a lot on how well the RV holds that heat. Maybe you can stretch that out to 4 or 5 days, it still means 30 lbs per week uninterrupted. Do you have a reliable supply?

[Topperace]

Curtis, if you have shore power, get an electric heater in addition to your furnace/gas heater, will help with the internal cabin temps... then assess your basement components and how you need to insulate or provide heat to those areas.
Assuming you have a heated water hose.. for your water intake if your are using camp ground water source ... some camp grounds require it, but best to use either way...can find on amazon with search...

If your basement areas do not have heated vents, most on threads recommend skirting to keep the under carriage temps somewhat reasonable.

There are many threads and ideas in forums as well for how to deal with low temps.

We use a heated water hose, have basement heated vent, and insulation between
the under skirt and belly of our Fifth Wheel...and didn't have an issue this past March with sub 32 deg temps....didn't get to 0 though.

[Curtis20]

Thank you all. Great advice. I did forget to mention that I won’t be using any water. He have a house on the property to but for reasons not to mention we don’t want to live in full time (in laws) we can use it for bathroom and shower. Shore power is only 15amp. But we know not use the kettle or toaster while using the AC. Winter won’t be a problem. I checked out some electric fire places at crappy tire that I was hoping would be good. Thx again 😃

[2edgesword]

Originally Posted by Curtis20

Thank you all. Great advice. I did forget to mention that I won’t be using any water. He have a house on the property to but for reasons not to mention we don’t want to live in full time (in laws) we can use it for bathroom and shower. Shore power is only 15amp. But we know not use the kettle or toaster while using the AC. Winter won’t be a problem. I checked out some electric fire places at crappy tire that I was hoping would be good. Thx again 😃

If you're not using any water that simplifies things greatly. Then it just a matter of dumping the gray and black tanks, emptying the hot water tank and winterized the plumbing. Beyond that it's just a matter of keeping things warm enough for those living in the trailer.