8
« Last post by LRUCH on January 28, 2026, 07:53:41 pm »
I have thermal pane windows, thankfully. They are also tinted with clear ceramic tint that blocks UV and infrared transfer. What's good for blocking Texas heat also works for blocking heat loss in winter. Ditto for my roof vents and the shower dome (which also has bubble wrap between the dome layers, again summer and winter protection).
I've done a lot of insulating work... Somewhere I have a consolidated list here in the forum as well as several posts focusing on individual improvements. . The biggest insulation efforts were the cab (pillars, doors, walls, floor, Firewall), the back side the gasoline fuel fill, the under and back side of the main door's step well, the air conditioner (yes it is a big heat loss in the winter if you don't Insulate the evaporator air chamber,,, which helps in summer in reverse... Remember heat rises! ) I also insulated the Ford evaporator air chamber... What a big improvement that eliminated a big draft! Recently I insulated the under side of the floor under the shower. My shower drain is just below floor level and there is a cutout in the composite floor to accommodate it. That leaves less than a half inch of foam between the shower drain and the outside temps. I added 2 inches of foam board under the floor. That eliminated a mysterious cold draft coming from under the fridge at the same time.
The one area I want to Insulate is the forehead over the cab. I know that is my biggest heat exchange area because my infrared camera shows it to me, and I can feel the temp difference when I open the cabinets.
As for heat sources, I have added an additional (5th) vent to my furnace that blows flawed over the door step well and into the cab. It's rated for and has fan capacity for 5 to 8 vents (depending upon hose size... A topic worth diving into at another time). This greatly improved the overall RV temp and even heating. Well worth it!
The year that it dropped to 9F I had 2 electric heaters. One up in the cab area which I run late evening until I went to bed. The other I put in the bathroom... As I was paranoid about so much plumbing in the walls there. I ran them until bedtime and got the bathroom toasty before going to sleep and run it again around 4am to get it toasty again. I don't like sleeping with an electric heater running. I would have run it more, but I didn't want to consume a lot of electricity at my relatives house. Now that I have solar and lithium batteries I've transitioned from moochdocking, to boondocking and only need additional power if the sun is not shining bright several hours a day... I'm still learning how much I need, to be honest.
I know many people don't like to use their propane furnace, but it's so efficient and safer than an electric heater. I wouldn't attempt winter without it. Another common complaint on the furnace is the noise... I covered it with a ceramic wool blanket to lessen the heat loss into the closet above it... And a side effect is that it is much quieter now. Double benefit. You just need to be sure to cut, shape, secure the blanket so that it doesn't block the return air inlet. It now doesn't wake me up at night it's so quiet.
Larry
Recent Posts