HALFWAY BENCH

12/16/22

Cold Weather Preparation

 

Adventure Location: Decatur, Al

Adventure Date: 12-16-2022

The weather is predicted to be very cold for this area in the near future. We have three days at Christmas predicted to stay below freezing the whole time with one night of 10f. So the OFM decided he needed to relearn cold weather camping. We have had two years of cold weather camping in Washington and several short spells of freezing weather in the last 15 years at other locations. But it never hurts to do a practice for a serious event.

If the 120 volt electricity does not fail we will have no trouble with the Castle at all. Our little heaters keep the Castle warm and toasty down and into the teens with no trouble at all. If the 120v fails we heat with LPG.

So we put the Castle on solar power only for last night and through today. Perfect performance of the systems was the wonderful result. It has repeatedly been a good thing we did back in February of 2008 to add the solar package.

A food check resulted in a long trip to the store and about $60 of stuff came home with us. Now we are set to hibernate for two weeks if the roads are icy.

We are ready to use the onboard pump from the fresh water tank for 14 days if needed. We will disconnect the water hose, empty it and store it so it does not get cracked from freezing. Basically it means we will be boondocking right here if things get bad and that is also a good event to practice for when we roll.

Now that that is taken care of we tried to go for a walk this afternoon. The sun was bright and inviting and the temp was cool.



Check out this cool weather at the flag pole. It sure looks nice. We went on down to the place where a creek goes out to Flint Creek to see if the creek had any water from all the rain. Yep a lot of water. This was totally dry two days ago so the entire river system has come up a few feet.



The new glasses started a nasty habit of dropping their lenses out while the OFM is just walking around. After a few events we took them back to be adjusted. The nice lady at the Vision Center tried to get them right but ended up ordering a whole new pair for the OFM. They will be about five days before they arrive.





Now we are all set to comfortably handle the low temperatures coming our way. It could be a great time for trying to have too much fun we think.

8 comments:

  1. This is NOT your year for glasses. Sheesh. Glad you got things lined up for a cold spell. Last summer I bought a Mr. Buddy to supplement the heat in my house. (Gas heat, but central, so if the power goes, well, the fan won't blow...) I have a little gas wall stove (illegal now) in the bath, and a gas cookstove, so I won't die. Anyway, I"m scared to light up the Mr. Buddy. I am quite comfortable with propane for my grill outside, though when I change tanks, I'm always happy I didn't blow up the neighborhood the first time I light it. You are reminding me I need to get acquainted with Buddy regardless. (I left out the little wood stove I had put in when I moved here....it's great, but my old back finds it a really hard slog. Still, if I get cold enough....)

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    1. The little buddy systems work really well if maintained. Be sure you have the required ventilation for fresh air. The required ventilation opening for my rig is only four square inches. My main window has to be opened an eighth of an inch to provide my required ventilation. Many many boondockers use a Mr, Buddy or equal of one size of another fed by a hose from a tank outside to deliver the LPG. It works very well and a tank usually lasts over a month.

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  2. I am in the same shape as Judith. Think she lives farther south than I do in Texas. I also bought a Buddy propane heater; was worried about my Old Man and his constant problem with cold when it wasn't that cold. Now I am by myself with my dogs; need to acquaint myself with hooking up the propane. Using it in the house is scary, but...
    Why didn't the people who invented the gas furnaces think of a way for us to use them without electricity????
    I'm sure you will think of everything to make it through the cold, Barney. You are an old hand at managing.

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    1. This thing uses the canisters. I've never used them before. Gotta get my nerve up. YES! A nice gas furnace but no way to get the heat out. We can do this! I'm gonna start looking for somebody who is happy with a Mr Buddy. Hope you can get your going if you need it. Meanwhile, don't know how many dogs you have, but since you used the plural, you can at least hope for a two dog night.

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  3. Does you Fox have the electric heat pads for your tanks? If not, I would run Your propane heater some to direct heat into the basement keeping the enclosed water lines from freezing.

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    1. Thank you for the reminder. All the fresh water lines in this 22H model Fox are run inside the heated cabin not in a basement like many others use. My central heat unit was eliminated a few years ago. I do not have knowledge if the tank pads are there but I have never had any freeze up of any lines in the 16 years I have been living in this unit.

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    2. If you had the heat pads there would be switchs typically in the kitchen for them. The furnace in my 2012 22G had ducts to put some heat around the tanks. The long-range forecast is very cold for the entire nation so you can't outrun the cold.

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    3. Thank you. I don't have switches for pads.

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