Winter RVing Mods and Tips

Winter RVing Gives You the Place to Yourself!

Two great things about RVing in winter: you get to use your investment year-round, and there aren't many crowds because most people haven't figured out how to do it comfortably. To the left is a ski trip we took to Keystone and Breckenridge in January, and below is a sunset on Baltimore Harbor also in January. We got a great deal on the Baltimore site because the park was almost empty, and picked a place right on the water! Although we did leave a day early because a big snowstorm was moving in. Living in Colorado, not being able to use the RV below freezing would limit us to about 3 months of use each year...clearly no fun. So I went searching for some simple modifications and tips that would let me be relatively comfortable in it down to about 0F. This is a little bit complicated because I didn't get an arctic package when I bought it...but we went down to single digits on our first trip and did ok, so I'm sure it's fixable. This page will list the mods I made, the behaviors we changed (like using a 5-gallon water container with a spigot at the sink instead of the freshwater system), and anything else I find useful for winter RVing. Email me with any tips and tricks you've found useful, tweaks to what I've done here, etc.!

Thermal Curtains to Isolate Cab

In the winter, Class C RVs lose a lot of heat from the cab. In the summer, a lot of heat comes in through the windshield. Not good, so we looked for ways to fix it. We made sure to close the vents in the cab, and putting a windshield cover helps in both winter and summer, but isolating the cab from the rest of the vehicle made a big difference. We started with a fleece blanket, which worked, but we wanted something more convenient and that looked nicer...so I installed some thermal curtains. Click Here to read about this project!

Insulate Your Windows!

Don't forget to keep the windows from stealing your heat if you don't have thermo-panes or double panes. Here's how I did mine: Insulating Windows.

Bottled Water Instead of Plumbing

Sometimes it's the easy things...simple behavior modifications make it easier to RV in winter. When it's really cold, using the freshwater plumbing system can be risky because the lines can freeze. (Don't ask how I know...) It's much safer to just drink bottled water and get a five gallon collapsible water container with a spigot on it to set next to the sink. The sink is still usable because of the spigot but the water lines remain winterized.

Humidity and Condensation

One of the keys for winter RVing is dealing with humidity and condensation. When it was 5F at Trinidad Lake State Park, we woke up with condensation frozen in a sheet across the big windows over the dinette and sofa. So...we bought an electric dehumidifier.

We chose the Eva-Dry Edv-2200 Mid-Size Dehumidifier, with a capacity larger than needed for the area because it needs to dehumidify quickly during the night. We also insulated the windows as you'll see below.

Don't forget how much moisture cooking releases into the air! If your range vent vents to the outside, it'll help manage humidity and condensation inside...but then you lose some heat, and the flap outside can make some noise when it's windy. Water vapor is actually a byproduct of burning propane, so using the range or oven produces humidity, as do propane heating appliances that aren't vented outside. It may be good to put the dehumidifier near the stove if you have room.

Electric Heaters

Another easy behavior change for winter RVing is to use small electric heaters when you're on shore power. On our Greyhawk, the electric furnace isn't much good below 30F or so. The propane furnace is much warmer but propane is expensive! So we bought two of these Pelonis ceramic electric heaters to make up the difference. We're already paying the campground for electricity, so we might as well use their electricity instead of our propane! (Some RV parks apparently charge extra if you're using electric heat, but we haven't been to one of those yet.)

These ceramic heaters are more expensive than many, but according to reviews they also last a lot longer. Most small electric heaters are designed for occasional use rather than all-night use on a regular basis.

Open Indoor Utility Cabinets

It's also a good idea to open the cabinets that house your inside water lines, the water pump, etc. Many of these are along the poorly-insulated floor and it can get very cold inside the cabinet. Opening the cabinet doors during the night might take away some of your heat, but it may also keep your lines or pump from freezing. (Assuming you didnt' leave it winterized.) Some folks even point their electric heaters to blow inside the cabinet to keep the water system even warmer; just be careful about putting the heater too close to anything flammable.

Ultra-Heat Elbow Heaters on Tank Elbows

My Greyhawk came with tank heaters on the fresh, gray and black tanks, but one time I tried to dump and the drain pipes were frozen! I had used windshield washer fluid in the gray tank and formaldehyde in the black tank, and the heaters were on, but it was cold enough to freeze in the pipes anyway. So I bought Ultra-Heat Elbow Heaters from Amazon to add some heat. I might also wrap the tanks in Reflectix and find a way to put a compartment around the drain pipes. This is where an arctic package would have helped!