First off.
40-50MPH wind gusts for 48 hours straight, -50F wind chills with temps going from -5 to -10F. The RV was constantly moving and some systems failed. It’s pretty much the worse case scenario, apart from camping in the Arctic, or a tornado.
Pipes froze, I forgot about my water filter outside and the casement cracked, and I woke up to no/limited heat a few times due to gelled winter mix diesel and an electrical issue I caused. For the Diesel, I picked up and I’m running 100% kerosene, which has a freeze/cloud point of -45F. it’s $6 a gallon, however. As for the electrical, the RV wouldn’t start, so I hit the emergency start solenoid which blew my 2x 30amp fuses from the 24v to 12v converter.
That left us on 12V only, a single lead-acid battery overnight. It lasted until 4am or so then the diesel heater shut off. Temps up front got down to 40F before I woke up. I turned on the propane furnace and went back to sleep both times, redundancies are nice!
I’m actually quite flabbergasted that the heat pump (basically, an air conditioner that can run backwards and heat for you North American folk) has been the most reliable source of heat in the RV! Even at -50F wind chill, it hummed away pumping out 120F~ air with limited defrost cycles into the bedroom, a big factor in our overall comfort.
I’m building my own smart fans and shoving them everywhere. Between the bedroom and restroom to keep that room heated. Under the bed to the outside storage to keep my hoses and water filter unfrozen. Into the battery box which is also where my water pump and some pipes are. Under the shower, more pipes, and so on. We’ve also began additional insulation today, sealing cracks between the walls and floor to keep drafts down, and adding mineral wool insulation where needed.
This work will also make summer aircon more efficient and help keep the RV cooler, it’s a win-win!
It’s cold again tonight, some wind gusts rocking the RV and the air is very dry. It’ll be a frigid 4F, 7F currently. Of course, it’ll be 53F by Wednesday, because Indiana.
There’s just been so much busywork getting settled and set up that I feel like I can’t write about all of it. Family is good, I do stay out of the house often due to the cigarette smoke though. My sis seems to be sick with a fever and I’d rather not come down ill myself as well. It’s been fun messing about with the 3D printer and I have gifts for just about everyone
Looks like I never posted this, so here we go
Ross Fisher 