This is a very well done video for all who are interested in 4 season camping, even though the allure of camping in the dead of winter eludes me. Since sales people vary widely in their depth of knowledge, I would be looking at factory brochures regarding why the R factor is better and verify the windows are, in fact, double pane. Very often, the R factor of the flooring is omitted and should raise a red flag.
Duane, Good thoughtful video as always. As far as 4 Seasons and winter camping - seems each manufacturer have their own definition and specifications. We fulltime and our RV is designated as 4 Season and has what our manufacturer calls an "Arctic" package. As far as we are concerned it pretty much means our RV is pretty good down to around freezing 32* F. Temps lower than that and it gets "ify" fast and is what we designate as extreme, despite what our manufacturer says. We have everything you mentioned as a 4 Season package, except the double pane windows. Double pane windows help with summer heat as well as winter cold. Wish our RV had them, and our RV has an option for double pane windows but we bought it off a dealership lot and they rarely order stock with double pane windows. We get by with the single pane windows in winter by using a 3M shrink film over the windows. Yes PITB but we get by or move to warmer climate! However - Our 4 Season Arctic Package sure came in handy with the Texas winter storm of 2.5 years ago that would reach all the way down to Galveston. With no campground power, water, sewage or a way to refill propane tanks we had to ration every resource we had for 5 days. We ran on our generator but had to ration it's use due to no way to get additional gasoline. Temps in the lower single digits, wind, snow and sleet, even in Galveston on the Gulf Coast! Our 5th wheel RV faired well with what our manufacturer designated as 4 Seasons Arctic Package, and we survived. With limited use of our furnace to preserve propane, our RV inside temp never got below 47* F. We nearly ran out of propane two 30# tanks. (We now have a spare) We could not get propane tank refills. We supplemented heat inside the RV with the fireplace when we ran our generator. We have remote temperature sensors in the cargo hold and up inside the underbelly covering - they never got much below 40* F. We ran our furnace as much as we could to keep water pipes and tanks operational. We also used our tank heaters. It was miserable but we made it through it. To us this was an extreme case and tested our RV to the limit to stand up to it.
Wow! What an incredible experience to have to go through. I'm so glad that you had the extra features in your RV that allowed you to get through that situation. It makes you wonder how bad things got for those who didn't have the four season capability. I remember hearing about that extreme weather in Texas and feeling bad for those going through it. Thanks so much for sharing your experience here and the real world limits of four season RVs when nature throws the worst at you.
good day Duane, hope all is well!! question...i have a 36ft 5th wheel that runs on 50amp. what space heaters would you recommend or how many can i run? how many watts can i use for 2 space heaters in total? thx for your time Duane.
Most space heaters use about 1500 watts or 12.5 amps of electricity. What is called a 50 amp RV actually has two legs of 50 amp service coming into it. That means that you can use 12,000 watts of electricity at the same time without causing an electrical overload. So you could theoretically use more than two space heaters if you wanted. But we have found that in most cold weather situations, two are sufficient for our 39 foot motorhome. Of course, a lot depends on how well your RV is insulated. But whatever you choose, make sure that you follow the factory recommended safety precautions with space heater use. I hope that helps.
Here's a great resource for explaining what insulation "R" factor is and how it applies to RVs - rvblogger.com/blog/rv-and-travel-trailer-insulation-r-values-explained/ As far as knowing what R factor is found in any particular RV, it's probably best to consult the manufacturer for that information.
Glad the word is getting out. Our salesperson said we could camp in our RV in all temperatures. Later we found out it really just means humans in the cabin of the RV can be comfortable. Nothing to do with water pipes not freezing in freezing weather. RV sales makes used car salespeople look like fine outstanding people. I doubt I will ever buy another RV. Between the RV low quality and the expensive but lousy RV parks, the experience really is poor.
I'm sorry to hear that you have had a poor experience with RVing so far. But if you are educated about RVs before you buy them and know where to camp to keep your costs low, it can be a very enjoyable experience.
@RVInspectionAndCare unfortunately, I do not have a positive view of the RV life. Dealership framed it. RV parks filled in the frame. But what gets me is, so many TH-camrs are supporting the manufacturer and Dealerships saying they have/had such a difficult time because of 2020 covid, supply part shortage and lack of trained rv assembly line people. I get it times are rough, but accept your failures. But I not the one to burden their load. Greed of slopping together trailers for max sales was their doings. Note. I am not talking about you. I have no personal experience with you. But I feel that I can be negative after 1year and 2 months, I can be critical of Dealership and campgrounds. The industry needs to clean themselves up if they want respect.
We have the all weather sticker. No tank heaters, no insulation in the underbelly, no heat in the basement or in the underbelly, except for what leaks from the furnace. Up stairs has foil bubble wrap under the plywood flooring. Down stairs has 1” fiberglass insulation below the subfloor. 😂 what a joke.
It's amazing what some brands try to get away with these days. As I said in the video, RV marketing is kind of like the wild west right now. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
This is a very well done video for all who are interested in 4 season camping, even though the allure of camping in the dead of winter eludes me. Since sales people vary widely in their depth of knowledge, I would be looking at factory brochures regarding why the R factor is better and verify the windows are, in fact, double pane. Very often, the R factor of the flooring is omitted and should raise a red flag.
Those are all good tips and suggestions Robert. Thanks for haring them here!
Duane, Good thoughtful video as always. As far as 4 Seasons and winter camping - seems each manufacturer have their own definition and specifications. We fulltime and our RV is designated as 4 Season and has what our manufacturer calls an "Arctic" package. As far as we are concerned it pretty much means our RV is pretty good down to around freezing 32* F. Temps lower than that and it gets "ify" fast and is what we designate as extreme, despite what our manufacturer says. We have everything you mentioned as a 4 Season package, except the double pane windows. Double pane windows help with summer heat as well as winter cold. Wish our RV had them, and our RV has an option for double pane windows but we bought it off a dealership lot and they rarely order stock with double pane windows. We get by with the single pane windows in winter by using a 3M shrink film over the windows. Yes PITB but we get by or move to warmer climate!
However - Our 4 Season Arctic Package sure came in handy with the Texas winter storm of 2.5 years ago that would reach all the way down to Galveston. With no campground power, water, sewage or a way to refill propane tanks we had to ration every resource we had for 5 days. We ran on our generator but had to ration it's use due to no way to get additional gasoline. Temps in the lower single digits, wind, snow and sleet, even in Galveston on the Gulf Coast!
Our 5th wheel RV faired well with what our manufacturer designated as 4 Seasons Arctic Package, and we survived. With limited use of our furnace to preserve propane, our RV inside temp never got below 47* F. We nearly ran out of propane two 30# tanks. (We now have a spare) We could not get propane tank refills. We supplemented heat inside the RV with the fireplace when we ran our generator. We have remote temperature sensors in the cargo hold and up inside the underbelly covering - they never got much below 40* F. We ran our furnace as much as we could to keep water pipes and tanks operational. We also used our tank heaters. It was miserable but we made it through it. To us this was an extreme case and tested our RV to the limit to stand up to it.
Wow! What an incredible experience to have to go through. I'm so glad that you had the extra features in your RV that allowed you to get through that situation. It makes you wonder how bad things got for those who didn't have the four season capability. I remember hearing about that extreme weather in Texas and feeling bad for those going through it. Thanks so much for sharing your experience here and the real world limits of four season RVs when nature throws the worst at you.
Great info . Thanks
So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
Good info for newbies and seasoned RV'ers alike 😊
Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching!
Good sense...thanks
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it Jerry. Thanks for leaving a nice comment!
good day Duane, hope all is well!! question...i have a 36ft 5th wheel that runs on 50amp. what space heaters would you recommend or how many can i run? how many watts can i use for 2 space heaters in total? thx for your time Duane.
Most space heaters use about 1500 watts or 12.5 amps of electricity. What is called a 50 amp RV actually has two legs of 50 amp service coming into it. That means that you can use 12,000 watts of electricity at the same time without causing an electrical overload. So you could theoretically use more than two space heaters if you wanted. But we have found that in most cold weather situations, two are sufficient for our 39 foot motorhome. Of course, a lot depends on how well your RV is insulated. But whatever you choose, make sure that you follow the factory recommended safety precautions with space heater use. I hope that helps.
thank you for your help Duane!
Can you tell me what the "R" ratings are for insulation?
Here's a great resource for explaining what insulation "R" factor is and how it applies to RVs - rvblogger.com/blog/rv-and-travel-trailer-insulation-r-values-explained/ As far as knowing what R factor is found in any particular RV, it's probably best to consult the manufacturer for that information.
Glad the word is getting out. Our salesperson said we could camp in our RV in all temperatures. Later we found out it really just means humans in the cabin of the RV can be comfortable. Nothing to do with water pipes not freezing in freezing weather.
RV sales makes used car salespeople look like fine outstanding people.
I doubt I will ever buy another RV.
Between the RV low quality and the expensive but lousy RV parks, the experience really is poor.
I'm sorry to hear that you have had a poor experience with RVing so far. But if you are educated about RVs before you buy them and know where to camp to keep your costs low, it can be a very enjoyable experience.
@RVInspectionAndCare unfortunately, I do not have a positive view of the RV life. Dealership framed it. RV parks filled in the frame.
But what gets me is, so many TH-camrs are supporting the manufacturer and Dealerships saying they have/had such a difficult time because of 2020 covid, supply part shortage and lack of trained rv assembly line people. I get it times are rough, but accept your failures. But I not the one to burden their load. Greed of slopping together trailers for max sales was their doings.
Note. I am not talking about you. I have no personal experience with you.
But I feel that I can be negative after 1year and 2 months, I can be critical of Dealership and campgrounds.
The industry needs to clean themselves up if they want respect.
@@mgysgtk8835 I agree that the entire industry needs to up its game. Thanks for sharing your experience here.
@@RVInspectionAndCare wish your channel the best. You seem to be a stand up person.
We have the all weather sticker. No tank heaters, no insulation in the underbelly, no heat in the basement or in the underbelly, except for what leaks from the furnace. Up stairs has foil bubble wrap under the plywood flooring. Down stairs has 1” fiberglass insulation below the subfloor. 😂 what a joke.
It's amazing what some brands try to get away with these days. As I said in the video, RV marketing is kind of like the wild west right now. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!