Cherry Creek State Park has water, sewer and electric for hookups. Isn't that usually considered full hookups or is telephone and cable now required for the 'full hookup' designation?
Mile-High-Endura wrote: Is there a reason for staying at Cherry Creek and not an RV park with full hook ups? Monthly rates at an RV park or mobile home park might be worth looking in to.
Jeff
Yes, I am volunteering there. Additionally, CC State Park has full-hookups (incl wifi) in all but one loop (Cottonwood) which is for tent campers. As for TV/Cable/Satellite, I don't own a TV so I don't need it. But, thanks for the RV/mobile home park suggestion.
A thought for sleeping comfort. Check here Back Woods Solar then under Online Catalog, check Appliances AC or Appliances DC (your choice on preferences) for mattress warmers. Alot of those that have them prefer them over an electric blanket.
One way to make the underside of the trailer draft free - at least after the first real snow is to pile it up around the base of the trailer high enough to prevent air from getting underneath the RV. This will keep the heat that is under the RV from blowing away.
I would talk with the experts on site to ask them about using the fresh water tank. When I was in Portland Oregon, I only had to deal with 26 F weather that winter, and it was great. I used my 100 gallon fresh water tank, and only needed to fill it about every 2 weeks, and drain the gray tank about every 10 days. I did this on a warm afternoon, when it was well above freezing, then put the drained hoses back into the basement.
A basement storage is a real help in such cold weather, as it is kept at 32 or above, and thus the floors are not exposed to the outside temperatures, so they will feel warmer. If electric is free, I would get a electric heater for use by the fresh water tank, and use it. This way the shower water will be pre-heated to about 60F, so your showers will last much longer.
I guess you already know that the 35 F water from the fresh water hose makes the hot water heater go cold in a instant once you start the shower.
I would get at least 3 electric heaters, and a 25' long #12 gauge extension cord. Some feed this cord through a opening next to the slide-out to feed one of the electric heaters. I found a space below my nightstand that leads to the basement, and I ran a extension cord to run a extra heater that way. If you only have 30 amps, you will need to run at least one heater with a extension cord from the main power box, and you can leave that one on high setting all the time (with a thermostat).
While using the microwave, or coffee pot, or toaster, you will need to keep electric use to a minimum while the other 1,000 watt things are running. Each heater is about 1,500 watts, and if you plan on not going over 3,200 watts, you should not trip the 30 amp breaker. If you have a 50 amp service, then you should be OK, as long as you are not tripping the interior circuit breakers.
You might want Maxx air covers for your kitchen and bathroom, so you can open them while cooking (with gas you are required to have some exhaust air) and when taking a shower, you can build up to much humidity if you don't have a vent open a tiny amount. They can let out air, even if there is a foot of snow on the roof.
I hope that you don't have a extended power outage and blizzard at the same time. But if you do, the furnace should keep up for a while, until the batteries go dead. Except for those two or three nights of a blizzard, you will be fine. Those blizzard nights you will be grateful for the mattress warmer, and electric blanket.
I would also suggest that you get Reflex insulation for the underside of your mattress, it will make it warmer. And I cut a piece for each window in my RV to use as blackout curtains, and they also keep out the heat and cold. I cut a piece for each ceiling vent as well, they stay in fairly well, as it is semi-rigid. You can get this insulation at Home Depot, it looks like shiny aluminum coated bubble wrap.
Reflex insulation can be mounted to the holding tanks, or used in a 12" wide strip to wrap around the sewer pipe line to insulate that. It would require heat tape to keep it from freezing though.
One person posted that they would take a warm shower, and do the dishes, then drain the gray tank each night. I guess it would work? If there is a lot of water in the gray tank overnight, it would freeze in your unprotected tanks. Leaving the gray tank valve open overnight will also work - I think. Especially if you insulate the sewer hose and have some heat tape on it for when it is less than 20F outside.
Good Luck,
Fred.
* This post was
edited 11/15/09 03:22am by Golden_HVAC *
3 weeks ago in Santa Fe, NM, temps went down into the 20's and my holding tank drain valves froze shut. I have a crack in the top of my rear gray water tank that needs to be fixed, so meantime I leave that valve open and just let kitchen sink water run on down the sewer. That intermittent trickle of water progressively froze in the outside flex line and plugged it solid. If the valves hadn't been frozen shut I'd have had an awful mess. I've moved further south now but still think I should insulate those valves, JIC.........but not sure how to go about it. No RV stores in this small town, either.
Closing off the underside of the trailer is a great idea, but you will not be able to rely on snow to do it. We can go a couple of weeks between storms so you can't rely on having enough snow around to pile up around the trailer. If you happen to get enough snow, it will quickly be melted away on the south side by the sun.
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