Four season Heartland

[jeffreymhardy]

This is probably a very "newbie" kind of question, but I'm just at the start of my search for a fifth wheeler to full-time in soon. I think I've decided on Heartland based on everything I can gather and how well regarded they seem to be, but I do have a question about how to tell which of their products is 4-season rated and which aren't. I guess I'm being thrown off by the prices, which seem too good to be true in some cases (I'm talking new, from dealers) and I'm wondering if some are priced this way because of this limitation with where you can actually take them. Any guidance would be much appreciated

 

[danemayer]

Hi jeffreymhardy,

We take our 2011 Landmark on extended ski trips in Breckenridge, CO. Temps get down to -30F at times and it's not unusual for overnight temps to be below zero for a week or more at a time. We have dual pane windows, fireplace, and factory installed tank heaters. I've added extra insulation and heat tape on the water lines and done a few other things to keep the water running at those temps. Keeping the coach interior comfortable is actually pretty easy. For very cold mornings, we'll sometimes plug in a ceramic disk heater augment the furnace and fireplace.

I would think Bighorn models would have similar performance in extreme weather. They're built on the same line with the same materials.

We have an owner-written Water Systems Winter Usage Guide that has a number of tips on managing the water system in extreme cold. It'll come in handy regardless of which model you buy.

 

[GOTTOYS]

It all depends on what your interpretation of 4 seasons is. Does that mean it will be comfortable in 20 degree below zero weather or in 32 degree weather? A lot of manufacturers throw that 4 season term around rather loosely without really defining it. I don't think that is the case with Heartland... Landmark, Big Horn and Big Country all come off the same assembly line and along with the Gateway product, have the highest advertised R values. Most all of the others have less than half of the rated R values of these models. You can keep anything warm if you throw enough heat into it but at what cost? I have stayed in my Big Country at 15 degree temperatures with a 20 to 30 mph wind. It was warm enough but very drafty. I burned a lot of propane and my furnace seldom shut off. I have also had my water line from my fresh water tank freeze during a similar period. I wouldn't dream of living in it for any length of time in temps much below 20 degrees. Having said this, I doubt that there are more than a small handful of other brands that are any better, most of them are WAY more expensive....Good luck in your choices...Don

 

[jeffreymhardy]

Thanks for the quick responses guys! Very helpful and exactly what I was looking for.

It all depends on what your interpretation of 4 seasons is. Does that mean it will be comfortable in 20 degree below zero weather or in 32 degree weather? A lot of manufacturers throw that 4 season term around rather loosely without really defining it. I don't think that is the case with Heartland... Landmark, Big Horn and Big Country all come off the same assembly line and along with the Gateway product, have the highest advertised R values. Most all of the others have less than half of the rated R values of these models. You can keep anything warm if you throw enough heat into it but at what cost? I have stayed in my Big Country at 15 degree temperatures with a 20 to 30 mph wind. It was warm enough but very drafty. I burned a lot of propane and my furnace seldom shut off. I have also had my water line from my fresh water tank freeze during a similar period. I wouldn't dream of living in it for any length of time in temps much below 20 degrees. Having said this, I doubt that there are more than a small handful of other brands that are any better, most of them are WAY more expensive....Good luck in your choices...Don

 

[jeffreymhardy]

It all depends on what your interpretation of 4 seasons is. Does that mean it will be comfortable in 20 degree below zero weather or in 32 degree weather? A lot of manufacturers throw that 4 season term around rather loosely without really defining it. I don't think that is the case with Heartland... Landmark, Big Horn and Big Country all come off the same assembly line and along with the Gateway product, have the highest advertised R values. Most all of the others have less than half of the rated R values of these models. You can keep anything warm if you throw enough heat into it but at what cost? I have stayed in my Big Country at 15 degree temperatures with a 20 to 30 mph wind. It was warm enough but very drafty. I burned a lot of propane and my furnace seldom shut off. I have also had my water line from my fresh water tank freeze during a similar period. I wouldn't dream of living in it for any length of time in temps much below 20 degrees. Having said this, I doubt that there are more than a small handful of other brands that are any better, most of them are WAY more expensive....Good luck in your choices...Don

Good point..I wouldn't willingly try to stay somewhere THAT cold, but it would be nice to know I had a rig where that was an option

 

[kakampers]

We have stayed quite comfortable in our Landmark in temps ranging from the low 100's to -6 degrees..with virtually no other preparation than what came on the unit. We did, however, order it with tank heaters and dual pane windows. We don't try to stay in extreme temps, but we go where the job takes us...so far our Landmark has not let us down and don't expect it will!

 

[Gaffer]

Tank heaters and dual pane windows will get you through most situations.