Getting ready for coldest weather in our Solitude 310GK

[Nuffsaid]

As a follow up to my cracked abs sewer pipe, what I thought would be a very easy fix wasn't so easy. The 3 inch section of straight abs was cracked and the 45 degree fitting it tied into was also cracked. I cut off the 45 degree fitting flush hoping I could use some heat and get the joint apart. FAIL, it didn't work, the abs fitting started deforming but wouldn't release, so I cut off the 45 degree fitting above the second abs 45 degree fitting and after cutting the bell off I realized that the fitting wasn't a normal piece of straight abs. It appeared to be a junction of sorts where two smaller lines tie together. The part where I cut off the bell wasn't completely round, it was a little oblong. The bell on the new 45 degree fitting wouldn't fit over the oblong piece, so I got creative. I took a heat gun and heated up the bell on the new 45 and when it was good and hot I inserted a piece of 3 inch pipe and oblonged the bell. Several trial fits and I was able to fit the modified bell over the oblong piece. I glued it in place and let it set up overnight and in the morning I tested the fitting and it didn't pull apart when I pulled on it so I will call it good. I finished installing the rest of the outlet and closed up the coroplast and spray foamed the gaps. Spray foam wasn't very happy with temps in the low 20's but a little heat from the heat gun helped it expand a bit. I will need to run the furnace for a while and heat up the underbelly so I can close the sewer dump valves, because they are all stuck in the open position from freezing. I dumped my tanks when we got home because I have an rv dump station where I park my 310 next to my shop. Lesson learned, I won't use the sewer cap anymore when the temps are cold out.

[KCAlis]

Awesome write-up on your frigid battle and recovery. Having lived in Minot, ND for over a dozen years, I can say you don't know what cold can do until you experience it at 40 below! A thought and a question.

I don't know if leaving the dump connection open will prevent freezing. With a 3" hole to the dump valves, you may transfer the problem further into the underbelly. The problem will be convection so something that will prevent air exchange but allow seepage to exit (which may require heat tracing to keep it from building as ice and recreating your original problem) may be the answer.

And, what type of diesel heater are you using? I'm intrigued. Betting it's not a Nibco...

[Nuffsaid]

Awesome write-up on your frigid battle and recovery. Having lived in Minot, ND for over a dozen years, I can say you don't know what cold can do until you experience it at 40 below! A thought and a question.

I don't know if leaving the dump connection open will prevent freezing. With a 3" hole to the dump valves, you may transfer the problem further into the underbelly. The problem will be convection so something that will prevent air exchange but allow seepage to exit (which may require heat tracing to keep it from building as ice and recreating your original problem) may be the answer.

And, what type of diesel heater are you using? I'm intrigued. Betting it's not a Nibco...

The heater I have in the 310gk is an 8kw chinese diesel heater all in one unit. I had a similar 8kw heater in my old Holiday Rambler 5er that was a stand alone unit that had a separate fuel tank. The fuel tanks aren't of very good quality and I have had issues with the plastic caps breaking. The first 8kw unit I had came with a 10 liter fuel tank, I liked that capacity much better than the all in one unit because I think it is only about 5 liters and that is why I ran it out of fuel on our coldest night. Repriming the fuel system is a royal PIA because the fuel pump has to be put into prime mode on the control board that requires remembering the proper secquence of button pushing and I still don't know if I have that figured out. Trying to get the heater to prime at -31 at 3:30 am while in my pajamas and coat was something I would rather not do again. I have a 3 gallon metal fuel tank that I think I will rig up next to the heater in the near future and that will allow me to run the heater at a higher setting for a longer period of time. The heater puts out a lot of heat, probably about 4x as much as the normal electric heater. It keeps the entire basement and most of the underbelly pretty warm. My original intention was to pipe the heat into the heat duct that heats the living area because the air from the furnace is pretty weak and not very warm where it comes out under the island. Part of this might be that the propane was so cold that it wasn't giving the btu's that it should have. I bought a 4 inch diameter duct booster fan that I thought about installing to boost the air volume coming out of the diesel heater, but I haven't tried it yet. I also thought about installing a T into the duct that goes to the living area in conjuction with the propane furnace, but I am not sure if having added air blow through the same duct would upset the sail switch or not, so I haven't been in a hurry to try it. Using the diesel heater to just heat the basement adds heat to the bathroom floor in addition to heating the basement and area below the flooring. I don't go out of my way to camp in below 0 weather, I had enough of that 25 years ago when I first moved to wyoming and lived in a travel trailer during the week working construction. Nothing worse that working a 12 hour shift at -20 and getting off work to find out your water is frozen up.

[440scout]

I'm following this thread closely. Very interested to know about the mods you do to keep your 310 warm and prevent freezups.

[Nuffsaid]

I'm following this thread closely. Very interested to know about the mods you do to keep your 310 warm and prevent freezups.

I have honestly considered installing a Suburban 42k btu furnace because the furnace in the 310 is not large enough to keep up in cold weather. I know that the 42k furnace uses a bit more power when boon docking, but when the smaller furnace runs non stop because it can't keep up I don't think it's an issue. The 5k rating of the fireplace is a joke, I had the fireplace and an additional 5k electric ceramic heater running in conjuction with the furnace and they didn't seem to make much of a difference. Max temp I could generate was 70 at the wall thermostat and it was closer to 60 sitting in the recliners. With the push to get away from carpet in the living area, vinyl floors get cold and not having a heat chase in the floor doesn't give the radiated heat to the floor that a heat chase does. So, there are trade offs. Most people will read this and say, why on earth would you choose to stay in your rv when it is so cold? To me it's not an issue as long as I can make everything work. Kind of like driving in snow, so what come prepared, good tires and chains if needed and keep on truckin! My wife on the other hand,"If it snows we are staying put" LOL.

[Second Chance]

I have honestly considered installing a Suburban 42k btu furnace because the furnace in the 310 is not large enough to keep up in cold weather. I know that the 42k furnace uses a bit more power when boon docking, but when the smaller furnace runs non stop because it can't keep up I don't think it's an issue. The 5k rating of the fireplace is a joke, I had the fireplace and an additional 5k electric ceramic heater running in conjuction with the furnace and they didn't seem to make much of a difference. Max temp I could generate was 70 at the wall thermostat and it was closer to 60 sitting in the recliners. With the push to get away from carpet in the living area, vinyl floors get cold and not having a heat chase in the floor doesn't give the radiated heat to the floor that a heat chase does. So, there are trade offs. Most people will read this and say, why on earth would you choose to stay in your rv when it is so cold? To me it's not an issue as long as I can make everything work. Kind of like driving in snow, so what come prepared, good tires and chains if needed and keep on truckin! My wife on the other hand,"If it snows we are staying put" LOL.

As full-timers, we routinely experience cold weather - most recently 6F with a wind chill of -5F (30+ MPH winds). We have no issue keeping the rig warm with the stock furnace, the electric fireplace, and one space heater. The basement has never gotten below 50 deg., either. Perhaps you have more severe cold where you are.

Rob

[Nuffsaid]

As full-timers, we routinely experience cold weather - most recently 6F with a wind chill of -5F (30+ MPH winds). We have no issue keeping the rig warm with the stock furnace, the electric fireplace, and one space heater. The basement has never gotten below 50 deg., either. Perhaps you have more severe cold where you are.

Rob

Quite possibly it isn't just how cold it gets overnight, but how cold it stays during the daylight hours. When the high for the day is -22F all bets are off. Even in typical rocky mountain winter temps it is not unusual to see high temps around zero for over a week straight and lows in the -20 range. I have never had much issue when the lows are around zero and highs are in the 20's, but I don't consider that extreme cold either. Heck, since the cold spell around Christmas it has been unseasonably warm out at home, lows in the single digits to low teens and highs in the upper 20's with a few 30's and 40's thrown in. Snow hasn't melted much though. We typically get one more cold snap for the winter where we will go well below zero for a few days, anything can happen until mid Feb. then we are pretty much home free without anything much colder than -10. I am feeling the need to take the 310 out for a few days of ice fishing, but it will have to wait until after we celebrate my wifes 62nd birthday this week at my daughter's house with no trailer in tow.

[Nuffsaid]

Another year has gone by and we are still showing up to camp at our daughter's home in Belgrade, MT! This time it was for Thanksgiving and luckily it never got below 10 degrees, piece of cake, but it got me thinking, the 35k furnace is undersized for a 35' fifth wheel! The floor under the couch at the rear of the trailer gets very cold! No issues with freeze up on this trip, but the furnace ran a lot and the fireplace was on almost all the time. It warmed our little Shitzus, but not much else. I got a chance to try out my new 4 gallon fuel tank for my diesel heater and it worked great. I think I found another place that needs to be addressed. Looking up from sitting inside of the front storage area, I can see about 6 inches of bedroom floor that has no insulation. The fiberglass stops short and the area below it is uninsulated where it goes vertically covering the storage area. I need to cram some insulation in that area and possibly seal it off. I am giving serious considerations to replacing my 35k furnace with a 42k furnace. Some other brand large fifth wheels have two separate furnaces, which wouldn't be a bad idea. We typically block off the heater vent in the bedroom to keep it cold enough for wifey and in case I need to hang some elk quarters, LOL. I might do some more experimenting with the ducting of my diesel heater to where I could split up the output between the line that runs to the rear of the trailer living room under the island and the belly area. I might have to build the tee fitting that I am invisioning. I have until Christmas when we head north again, but it is already cold in Wyoming as we have been in single digits for lows for over a week.

[440scout]

We went through the Polar Vortex in February 2021 when we were with a group of Escapees RV club members in Fort Davis Texas. Being from Colorado we listen to the weather forcasts and made sure the propane was topped off, fresh tank filled and all hoses stowed. The first night it hit the power and internet went down. The next day the snow started and that night it got down to Zero and the best the furnace could do was 65 running constantly. Gas supply went down, too so most people in RVs were in better shape than people in their homes. Fyi, yes, the floors were cold in several areas and we experienced a freeze up on the water supply pex where it connects to the fresh water tank. I found out 3 days later when I dropped the coroplast why. The thermo reflective blanket was folded away from the tank! Either someone got in there and didn't put it back or it was never installed correctly at the factory. One contributing area of cold on the rear floor could be from the hole in the coroplast where the spare tire hoist cable comes through. For that I put one of those elastic spare tires covers on. But the draw back to that is checking airpressure. There was also a mild but constant cold draft coming from the large slide out. I have since adjust the slide so its seals make better contact.
I am very interested in the diesel heater mod "nuffsaid" is doing and will add any missing insulation under the bedroom floor. Thanks for that info!

[Nuffsaid]

We went through the Polar Vortex in February 2021 when we were with a group of Escapees RV club members in Fort Davis Texas. Being from Colorado we listen to the weather forcasts and made sure the propane was topped off, fresh tank filled and all hoses stowed. The first night it hit the power and internet went down. The next day the snow started and that night it got down to Zero and the best the furnace could do was 65 running constantly. Gas supply went down, too so most people in RVs were in better shape than people in their homes. Fyi, yes, the floors were cold in several areas and we experienced a freeze up on the water supply pex where it connects to the fresh water tank. I found out 3 days later when I dropped the coroplast why. The thermo reflective blanket was folded away from the tank! Either someone got in there and didn't put it back or it was never installed correctly at the factory. One contributing area of cold on the rear floor could be from the hole in the coroplast where the spare tire hoist cable comes through. For that I put one of those elastic spare tires covers on. But the draw back to that is checking airpressure. There was also a mild but constant cold draft coming from the large slide out. I have since adjust the slide so its seals make better contact.
I am very interested in the diesel heater mod "nuffsaid" is doing and will add any missing insulation under the bedroom floor. Thanks for that info!

I have to say that purchasing a spray foam 200 board ft kit and spraying the frame rails and back side of the drop frame made a huge difference in basement temps. Think of it this way, the frame rails are a huge heat sink and bring a lot of cold air to the basement. The insulation doesn't wrap the inside frame rails. I sprayed between 3/4" to 1"+ on the frame rails and then sprayed the foam with undercoating. I was also able to drastically minimize air movement through the slide out penetrations by leaving just enough space for the mechanisms to move. The diesel heater is pretty amazing, but I learned on my last diesel heater that they don't like being throttled back because they produce too much soot and plug up the burn chamber, so I run it at half heat or more.