ATF: Road Warrior - Heated Underbelly

Hello,

I know our Road Warrior has a heated and enclosed underbelly, but is it rated to a certain temperature? We are doing some winter camping in Breckenridge, Colorado soon and the RV park that we will be staying in has heat probes in the water risers so we can hook up if it is safe for our unit.

Thanks for any info!

Hi Stoney,

We're at Tiger Run right now in our Landmark and Erika and Tony Dorsey are also here in their Elkridge. I don't know what Heartland claims for the Road Warrior, but as I understand it, when they say tested to 0 degrees, that means the interior is comfortable down to 0 degrees. It doesn't mean your water will be running or that it'll be safe.

We use a heated water hose, a 100 watt heat lamp behind the basement wall, and a 60 watt drop lamp in the UDC. The Dorsey's are running off their fresh water system, filling as needed. They insulated their underbelly water lines and put heat tape on the fresh line. Both our rigs have tank heating pads. We're both running furnace and fireplace to warm the interior.

We were here last January in extreme cold and were comfortable but often used Pelonis Ceramic Disc heaters to get more heat. At 15 below zero our furnace didn't pump enough hot air into the underbelly to keep the water running. We had several mornings without water.

All that said, in a pinch you can get by with a couple of jugs of water in the RV and use the clubhouse facilities for showers, etc.

If you don't have tank heating pads, you probably don't want to have water in your fresh or gray tanks. If temps drop sharply, and they often do, you could have damage. Last January, most nights were subzero and most days single digits above zero. While the underbelly is heated, the furnace doesn't get a lot of heated air all the way back to the axle area. So without heating pads on the tanks, I would not assume they won't freeze. As to the black tank, I've been told you can add some antifreeze to keep the tank from freezing - how much I don't know.

We're expecting to be here a while. Stop by 333.

Dan said it all, but I'll add that last year, we were in Durango, Co when the overnight temp hit minus 26. At that time, we didn't have heating pads, only the heat lamp aimed at the UDC, and we were running off our fresh tank. We had frozen water lines two mornings, but they did thaw out by mid-day. We've since added the heat pads, etc. that Dan mentioned, as well as wrapped all the pipes in the underbelly with foam pipe insulation. We haven't had any issues so far here in. Breck, (3 nights) but the lowest overnight temp has been 3 degrees.

The furnace alone will probably not keep you 100% comfortable inside. (lots of places for cold infiltration throughout the unit.) but using additional heaters helps keep the chill off. We don't have a Heartland installed fireplace, but our unit came wired for it so we have a dedicated circuit. I found a small stand-alone electric fireplace at Lowes for $99, and plugged into the dedicated cirecuit, we run it all the time for added warmth. We also picked up a Vornado brand heater that works really well to create and circulate the warmth in the bedroom, so much so we don't even notice when the furnace isn't running.

Erika

You guys sure are winter camping warriors. Thanks for sharing what you can and cannot do and what it really takes to camp in those temps. Have fun, stay warm and dry.

Jim

Hi All!

Thanks so much for the great information! I will definitely pass this on to my husband and we will prepare accordingly. We'll be up there this weekend for New Years, so hopefully we'll run into you all. This is the first time that we have winter camped and I am so excited.

Stoney, we're in 339, but will be heading out before the first. Hopefully we'll see you before we're gone.

Erika

jbeletti said:

You guys sure are winter camping warriors. Thanks for sharing what you can and cannot do and what it really takes to camp in those temps. Have fun, stay warm and dry.

Jim

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We all know where that Beletti guy will be camping this winter - full hookups too I hear.

How do you access the underbelly waterlines to insulate them?

Thanks
Terry

tljack said:

How do you access the underbelly waterlines to insulate them?

Thanks
Terry

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Terry, I'm not familiar with the RW configuration, but the general answer is that you have to remove the screws that hold the coroplast (corrugated plastic) to the underside of the rig. It's not too bad letting it down, but can be a chore to get it back into place.

Insulation will help some, but as temps drop, you may need heating pads on the tanks, and heat tape on the water lines. Dump valves also freeze and may need heating stuff to defrost them when you're ready to dump the tanks.