Well it’s official. The leaves have changed color, we haven’t had to mow the grass, and the temperatures are dropping. I say it every year, Maryland is metopausal. One day its 80 degrees and sunny with temperate nights, then the next night its a high of 42 and the nights are almost freezing. However, things seem to have settled out and it’s now consistently cooler. This means winter prep should be all done right? Well it would be if we were more on top of things and the weather wasn’t so deceiving. Despite this we are actually in full swing and coming close to completion. What does winter prep look like in an rv? I’d love to tell you.
First things first get propane and open the windows when you first turn the heat on. Who knows what has gotten dropped in those floor vents, how much dust there is, or what might be living in there. Once we get all those kinks worked out it’s time to figure out where the cool air is leaking in.
Honestly, I thought for sure the cold air would come in right through the slide outs, but I was pleasantly surprised that the seals do a pretty good job of keeping air and the wind out. We have realized over the past year that the biggest culprit was the windows. So our solution for this (I know there are many) was to take plastic shower curtains and foil tape. We covered over every window on the outside. Why on the outside you might ask? Well we knew with our kids being kids that if we insulated the windows next to their beds that it would be torn down within a few days and all our efforts would be for nothing. Well my husband took a few temps before we insulated and a few after when it was very cold out and we can say for sure that it is helping.
We have gone back and fourth many times calculating the cost of propane vs using electric heaters. Right now the only source the camper has built in is propane. Honestly it does a great job but costs associated with filling the tanks can get quite expensive. right now it’s about 30 dollars to refill a tank at the grocery store. We did find out that our local western tire and auto will refill them for cheaper (WIN). When the temps get really cold we go through one bottle a day so we compensate that with space heaters in the colder spaces. It helps and the cost to use them isn’t so extraordinary that it isn’t worth it.
I will pipe in when winter gets going and let you know how all our prep went and if it worked.
I hope you are all blessed and staying healthy.