Travel in winter - Page 3 - Escape Trailer Owners Community
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×

Go Back   Escape Trailer Owners Community > Escape Tech > Problem Solving | Owners helping each other
Click Here to Login
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 11-17-2014, 12:26 PM   #41
Senior Member
 
Jim Bennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Trailer: 2017 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 15,532
Glad to hear. That certainly is a beautiful drive. Looking forward to seeing your photos.
__________________
2017 Escape 5.0 TA
2015 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5L EcoBoost
2009 Escape 19 (previous)
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
Jim Bennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 12:16 AM   #42
Member
 
bolerfan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Nanaimo, British Columbia
Trailer: 2013 17B, 2011 Honda Ridgeline
Posts: 52
Finally today the pump thawed out to allow suction of the antifreeze thru the line. Now our 17B is winterized! My question is: when heading from B.C. to California in January - should we stick to central routes south ( Interstate 5) or would we be o.k. on the coastal 101 Oregon to California to avoid overnight freezing. Understand the coast probably fog bound and dank cold at that time of year...but is freezing a concern?
bolerfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 06:43 AM   #43
Senior Member
 
Bill and Earline's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Signal Mountain (Chattanooga), Tennessee
Trailer: Escape 21 November 2014; 2022 GMC 1500 3.0L
Posts: 681
Quote:
Originally Posted by bolerfan View Post
Finally today the pump thawed out to allow suction of the antifreeze thru the line. Now our 17B is winterized! My question is: when heading from B.C. to California in January - should we stick to central routes south ( Interstate 5) or would we be o.k. on the coastal 101 Oregon to California to avoid overnight freezing. Understand the coast probably fog bound and dank cold at that time of year...but is freezing a concern?
We just got home from our initial three week camping after picking up our 21 the first week of November. We took I-5 just ahead of the unusually cold weather, and later down the coast at Carmel, Monterey, and Pebble Beach. We encountered three consecutive nights of 19, 20, and 20 degrees F, after heading East through New Mexico and Arizona. Our 21 has the sprayed insulation and thermal windows. We had no freezing problems, but I did disconnect the supply hose and filter to avoid freezing, as others have mentioned. Day time temps were above freezing, so we weren't towing through below freezing temps all day long, although the first few hours each morning were plenty cold. Again no problems with anything inside the trailer, or the exterior waste valves.
Bill and Earline is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 09:57 AM   #44
Senior Member
 
dave macrae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: St.Albert, Alberta
Trailer: 21 ft November 17th
Posts: 847
Has anyone had there Propane regualtor freeze in the cold weather? On our trip home from we stopped for the night and it was -8 C and could not get any amount of propane flow so the furnace would not work, tried lighting the stove to get it flowinging and could only get the odd little sniff. the next day when it warmed up above to around freezing tried it again and it worked fine.
__________________
MacRae, 21ft
2016 GMC Yukon SLT
St.Albert Alberta
dave macrae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 10:26 AM   #45
Senior Member
 
WLYBGR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Trailer: 2011 Escape 15A/2015 21 coming in march
Posts: 103
I'm thinking that possibly when they purged the tanks,there was some water vapor in there.I'm a little concerned,i use my unit thourghout the winter,icefishing.Been out in -25,with no worries.Just had issues getting power to the furnace.But once the generator started,all was well.Generator did dual work that day,plugged in block htr.cord.Can't do that with solar..
WLYBGR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 10:37 AM   #46
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Burlington, Ontario
Trailer: 2012 Escape 19
Posts: 193
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave macrae View Post
Has anyone had there Propane regualtor freeze in the cold weather? On our trip home from we stopped for the night and it was -8 C and could not get any amount of propane flow so the furnace would not work, tried lighting the stove to get it flowinging and could only get the odd little sniff. the next day when it warmed up above to around freezing tried it again and it worked fine.
I haven't had that problem.. I camped in last weeks cold spell at Tunnel Mountain II in Banff -28c and the furnace ran fine including when I had both stove burners running making my morning latté with the aeropress :-)
__________________
Robert
Burloak is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 10:37 AM   #47
Senior Member
 
dave macrae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: St.Albert, Alberta
Trailer: 21 ft November 17th
Posts: 847
Quote:
Originally Posted by tracker View Post
I'm thinking that possibly when they purged the tanks,there was some water vapor in there.I'm a little concerned,i use my unit thourghout the winter,icefishing.Been out in -25,with no worries.Just had issues getting power to the furnace.But once the generator started,all was well.Generator did dual work that day,plugged in block htr.cord.Can't do that with solar..
Thats kind of what I thought as well, that day we left ETI and the trailer was in the heated delivery bay and we drove straight to Valemount from there. I am hoping it was just condensation. We don't plan to camp in extreme winter but it does get below freezing from time to time and it would be nice to be able to count on a working furnace. Thankfully I brought sleeping bags rated to -10C . We were ok but it wa bit chilly and the frunace would have been nice
__________________
MacRae, 21ft
2016 GMC Yukon SLT
St.Albert Alberta
dave macrae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 12:24 PM   #48
Senior Member
 
BCnomad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: O town, British Columbia
Trailer: 2014 Escape 21 "Lightning"
Posts: 1,467
Quote:
Originally Posted by bolerfan View Post
Finally today the pump thawed out to allow suction of the antifreeze thru the line. Now our 17B is winterized! My question is: when heading from B.C. to California in January - should we stick to central routes south ( Interstate 5) or would we be o.k. on the coastal 101 Oregon to California to avoid overnight freezing. Understand the coast probably fog bound and dank cold at that time of year...but is freezing a concern?
Some posters on rv.net were of the opinion that the order of preference was 101, 97, I5...depending on what the weather forecast was to be like. 101 then over to Clear Lake might be the warmest route?

Personally I liked the advice to hang out at 7 feathers until the passes opened.
BCnomad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 01:00 PM   #49
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Ventura County, California
Trailer: 2015 Escape 17A
Posts: 2,344
Quote:
Originally Posted by bolerfan View Post
My question is: when heading from B.C. to California in January - should we stick to central routes south ( Interstate 5) or would we be o.k. on the coastal 101 Oregon to California to avoid overnight freezing. Understand the coast probably fog bound and dank cold at that time of year...but is freezing a concern?
101 through Oregon, and 1/101 through CA are above freezing due to the mitigating effects of 10,000 miles of Pacific Ocean.
I5 can be closed in the mountain passes of the Siskiyous (Eugene to Lake Shasta), and frequently has black ice at bridges throughout the colder months. Hwy 97 can have snow when I5 is clear. Example: Last week we traveled from ETI in Chilliwack back to So.Cal. We followed the freezing rain storm that swept through Portland. While it was snowing north of Klamath Falls on 97, we had 40° rain from Eugene to Grants Pass, and clear, dry pavement over Siskiyou summit at 4310 ft. (we had 30° freeze in Yreka overnight), then I5 and then over to 1/101 south: it was a beautiful drive. Just keep checking NOAA for weather.
dfandrews is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 06:39 PM   #50
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave macrae View Post
Has anyone had there Propane regualtor freeze in the cold weather?
Yes. Propane doesn't freeze, so I agree that this is likely a problem with contamination with water. When the propane expands as it passes through the regulator, it chills, so water that was liquid up to that point freezes there. I have changed a regulator to fix the problem, and I think I would carry a spare clean and dry (doesn't need to be new; doesn't even need to be dual-input) regulator on a winter trip just in case. As long as all connections to the regulator are flare fittings (not true on my motorhome - one side is pipe thread), changing it is easy.
Brian B-P is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2014, 09:35 PM   #51
Senior Member
 
dave macrae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: St.Albert, Alberta
Trailer: 21 ft November 17th
Posts: 847
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
Yes. Propane doesn't freeze, so I agree that this is likely a problem with contamination with water. When the propane expands as it passes through the regulator, it chills, so water that was liquid up to that point freezes there. I have changed a regulator to fix the problem, and I think I would carry a spare clean and dry (doesn't need to be new; doesn't even need to be dual-input) regulator on a winter trip just in case. As long as all connections to the regulator are flare fittings (not true on my motorhome - one side is pipe thread), changing it is easy.
That's a great idea Brian, I will pick up a spare one and like you say it can even just be a single for back up use.
__________________
MacRae, 21ft
2016 GMC Yukon SLT
St.Albert Alberta
dave macrae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2015, 07:51 AM   #52
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Burlington, Vermont
Trailer: 2014 17b/ 2012 Chevy Colorado
Posts: 736
We have been traveling out West in our new 17 B since January, dry camping in temps as low as -7 Here are some first impressions. We too had propane supply problems initially but once we refilled the tank and purged the system of water the propane is working fine now. The 11000 btu heater has been more than adequate. Mostly we are using a 1500w space heater that needs to work hard to raise the internal temp from our nighttime setting of 50 to 65f. The floor insulation and heated tanks have kept the gray and black tanks liquid. I haven't assessed the adequacy of depending solely on the floor insulation as one would in a boondocking situation. I am so glad I took Reace's advice not to bother attempting to tilt the solar panel to increase the efficiency in the low angle winter sun. We tried a couple days of simulated boondocking here in the campground by simply not plugging in. Using lights, exhaust fan and the propane heater, the dual 6v would discharge to 90 percent overnight and easily recharge the next day even in cloudy conditions. There has been condensation in the cabinets and where the cushions contact the outer wall, and especially on the window frames, even in the double pane windows. We have installed Reflectix insulation in the cabinets with good affect and along the space where the cushions touch the wall with fair affect. We just stack the cushions at night to allow air to circulate and the combination works ok. Always crack the overhead vent and a window for air circulation. Haven't towed in snow much, too warm most of the time. All in all we are happy with the experiment, now if it would only snow a little more.
yardsale is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2015, 02:33 PM   #53
Senior Member
 
float5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Denison, Texas
Trailer: 2015 21'; 2011 19' sold; 4Runner; ph ninezero3 327-27ninefour
Posts: 5,136
Nick, good to hear that. I take it you have the underbelly foam insulation with the heat pads. Very impressive that you can manage -7! Have a good time out there.
__________________
Cathy. Floating Cloud
"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.... "
Emerson
float5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2015, 03:19 PM   #54
Senior Member
 
alanmalk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Arvada, Colorado
Trailer: 2015 E'21 - 'Velocity'. Tow: Toyota Tacoma V6, 4X4, manual.
Posts: 1,682
Quote:
Originally Posted by yardsale View Post
...We tried a couple days of simulated boondocking here in the campground by simply not plugging in. Using lights, exhaust fan and the propane heater, the dual 6v would discharge to 90 percent overnight...
A question, if I may...

During this simulated boondock, were you running the tank heat pads? If so, then for how long?

--
Alan
alanmalk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2015, 10:59 PM   #55
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Burlington, Vermont
Trailer: 2014 17b/ 2012 Chevy Colorado
Posts: 736
Quote:
Originally Posted by alanmalk View Post
A question, if I may...

During this simulated boondock, were you running the tank heat pads? If so, then for how long?

--
Alan
No tank heaters that time.
yardsale is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off




» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Escape Trailer Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:43 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2023 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.