When we first got our camper, it was the beginning of February and we were in northern Georgia in the Appalachian at R-Ranch in the Mountains Resort. Snow was coming very soon and since I was a girl from Alabama where snow rarely comes and if it does it only lasts a day, I was both thrilled and anxious. I was hoping that the “winterized” package we had bought on our 5thwheel would be able to keep us warm and toasty and there would be no change other than the view outside our windows. Overall, our camper did really well in the 4-degree temperatures and 6 or so inches of snow.
When I woke up the morning the snow hit, I was excited like a child on Christmas Day. I got up with my hair in a matted mess, my feet bare and ran to the window still rubbing the dew out of my eyes. As I peered out, I saw the soft snow planted firmly on the sides of the trees and mounted solidly on the ground. The little brook was still babbling and sparkling right outside our camper, and I wondered how cold it would be if I put my toe in it. Needless to say I didn’t try that!
Next I realized that the floor was warm, and in fact, it was surprising really hot inside the camper.
Our two electric fireplaces were pushing out heat and flickering with their colorful flames adding to the coziness.
We didn’t even have the central heating on or at least it was set at a lower temperature and hadn’t clicked on. Joey, my husband, had the wherewithal to have the sink slowly running all night and that was our saving grace; we would have not had running water if it was not ran all night. That was the lesson I learned and then forgot about a week later when our water froze shut and I was home alone.
There are two places where our water would freeze, one at the joints were the water entered our camper and second, at the point where the water comes from the ground. We learned later there are heated RV water hoses that can prevent the water in the hose from freezing. We just simple plugged it into our electric outlet on the outside of our camper, and PRESTO, problem solved! Next the only way to keep the water from freezing is to keep it trickling from the faucet at all times. We found that when it was in the low teens, within 20 minutes our water would freeze. We bought propane torches to heat the joints to restart the flow of water at the joints or I would boil a big pot of water to pour over it, but many times it just was too cold to work.
Luckily, our camper had tank heaters for our septic, or black water, tanks. If we had not turned that on, our wastes would freeze solid and potentially expand rupturing the tank. That would be a bad day! We learned to always keep the black tank valve closed until we had to dump it, otherwise the septic hoses will hold waste particles and start to freeze inside also rupturing the fragile hoses.
After I got all suited up in my snow gear, I walked outside, but very carefully. We did not have our awnings out because we didn’t want them to tear under the weight of the snow, thus our step were cover in solid hard snow and ice. I made it down safely and started crunching around the camper. Another thing I noticed was there was a lot of condensation building all over the camper freezing beautiful, but with alarmingly huge icicles. I learned that ice would do a number on our seals around the slide-outs, so we made sure not to roll them in if ice was present. Later we may have had one leak due to an ice tear, but it only needed a little manipulating to set properly.
Later, in our experience with winters living in our camper, we have had neighbors swear by putting a curtain around the base of the camper. They say it cuts down on the cold air circulating under their camper keeping it warmer than if they didn’t have it. They claim it has cut their electric bill down, and for many campers, I would stay that is the case. We have just never seen the need to get one as our camper was already well insulated.
Finally, our electric bill went up by about $80 (it always does in extreme hot and cold temperatures) and we burnt through a lot more propane than usual costing an extra $40 a month, but the experience was overall breathtaking. We were totally alone in the mountains cozy in our small home and I always relish the time to bake warm cookies, chocolate banana nut bread, and drink hot chocolate while peering out into a snow-white wonderland. We only saw the ranch-hand that was there to feed the horses. The horses seemed to enjoy the snowy experience too!
~Lesley
