Considering an RV

[eddie]

Do you know if the slide outs are well insulated, or do the walls become a cold spot in bad weather?

The slide outs are made of the same material as the walls

 

[Armytwowheels]

Sorry, for hijacking your thread Rudski01 but I guess our questions may be similar.

Do any RV's have the Alde heating systems rather than blow air? Also, could someone give me some names of the the better insulated makes and models, please?

 

[Jim]

Sorry, for hijacking your thread Rudski01 but I guess our questions may be similar.

Do any RV's have the Alde heating systems rather than blow air? Also, could someone give me some names of the the better insulated makes and models, please?

Heating in most RV's is only one step up from a fire in a cave.

Some late top-end models are doing away with the furnace. But if you spend a lot of time off grid RVs are pants in the cold as the furnace fans are noisy eaters of batteries. Cold climate lovers retro fit gas convection or diesel heating.

 

[eddie]

I’m not sure where the question of ‘better’ has come from really, I been in the Alps over New Year in Winnebago’s Gulf Stream’s, and Georgie Boys minus 15 - 17 with few issues

The normal heating is blown air, which works well, but can be noisy depending where the furnace is, but has to be looked on as a whole, along with a bloody great big Air Con unit that actually works properly when it’s forty degrees in France

 

[Armytwowheels]

Heating in most RV's is only once step up from a fire in a cave.

Oh dear! That's not good. ???

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[eddie]

I agree with Jim but I would dream of going off grid when it’s freezing

 

[Jim]

An RV furnace will keep you toasty at the North Pole, as long as at the base of that pole there is a hook up. On grid they are great, they push A LOT of hot air everywhere, off grid those fans use a lot of power.

 

[Armytwowheels]

I suppose like everything else it is a compromise.

In our current van, we can off grid in freezing temperatures (while the gas lasts), we have lithium batteries for quick recharging, a B to B and enough solar to supply the national grid! However, for fulltime living we don't have much living space! We do have a big garage for bikes etc and cannot imagine us being without that type of storage space.

I have always fancied the extra floor space that RV slide outs gives you. A nice big shower and bigger kitchen space, oh and a comfy sofa to lounge on.

 

[eddie]

We did spend two days over Christmas years ago, up above Chamonix, in a car park of a closed for the Winter lodge, without hook up

Being a Yank, having a big generator built in, it’s the same as having hook up really. It was Sub Zero all day so no windows or doors open, kids playing on their consoles on the 42” telly in the rear bedroom, Lyn and me preparing Christmas dinner up front, All is shirtsleeves with the Champagne literally in the snow outside the door

Happy Days

Those kids now run Van Bitz, Howards Motorhomes and Johns Cross, and are as passionate about motorhomes as we are. Important life memories trips like that.

 

[Tanya_and_Mick]

An RV furnace will keep you toasty at the North Pole, as long as at the base of that pole there is a hook up. On grid they are great, they push A LOT of hot air everywhere, off grid those fans use a lot of power.

Although considered anti-social, when off grid would the onboard genie mitigate power loss?

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[shawn&emma]

We mainly didn't use sites when on the road in our baby rv, a Forest River Sunseeker which has only single pane windows and pretty poor insulation but as long as we kept the furnace going all was fine, we didn't tend to have it running over night because as others have said its noisy. But didn't take long in the morning to warm things up. If my workings are correct the furnace is around 10kw so produces plenty of heat but will kill the batteries if constantly using with no hookup or very little solar, does get charge whilst driving though. When we have long termed on a site we do use a 2kw oil free electric heater which is silent and just keeps switching on and off when temps drop.

 

[Jim]

Although considered anti-social, when off grid would the onboard genie mitigate power loss?

Yes. At some ski resorts its generator central

 

[eddie]

I suppose like everything else it is a compromise.

In our current van, we can off grid in freezing temperatures (while the gas lasts), we have lithium batteries for quick recharging, a B to B and enough solar to supply the national grid! However, for fulltime living we don't have much living space! We do have a big garage for bikes etc and cannot imagine us being without that type of storage space.

I have always fancied the extra floor space that RV slide outs gives you. A nice big shower and bigger kitchen space, oh and a comfy sofa to lounge on.

My Thor came as standard with a 160 amp B2B, we immediately swapped out the two lead acid batteries for Lithium, installed a Victron inverter/ charger and three 150w panels. It has a 5kw genny built in, so if we need it, an hour on the genny can stick 80 amps back in

Home at Christmas this year ( Mother in Law) away after Boxing Day, and I am looking forward to simply being away in the camper. Most afternoons will find us back at the van after a dog walk or bike ride/dog walk, Lyn poised over a 1500 piece jigsaw on a board at the dinette, me feet up on the rock and roll sofa, watching a film (My name is Bond, James Bond) with a glass of something

The dog will be sprawled out on the floor, and no one is in anyone else’s way. Enough water and waste for days of no compromise showering, and larder/pantry to worry F&M’s

No van is perfect, I’ve worked on them for 30 years, but, I love slideouts, and I love the toys.

New Year, pull up, swivel the armchair I've just driven in, pick up the remote (or my phone) touch the screen, the hydraulic jacks level the camper, then the lounge slide goes out, the the bedroom slide goes out, another tap, and the full length self supporting awning extends, all in the time I plugged the hook up lead in! Sorted, time for a well deserved beer??

 

[eddie]

Although considered anti-social, when off grid would the onboard genie mitigate power loss?

When it is freezing, and everything is closed, and no one can sit outside, no one cares about generators

Big built in ones ‘ticking’ over are a damn site better that tiny little ones running flat out

 

[tacr2man]

You are never off Grid in an RV you carry your own Power station with you . The gennie is capable of supplying enough to run everything thats fitted including two aircons that are big enough to cool a Euro MoHo using only one On the later inverter type set ups they even have autostart on the gennie if you want , so that the Hab batteries usually at least 4 hi ah .never get fully discharged . The furnace in my Ultrasport was blown air underfloor ducted , the blowers can be a little noisy if you are in the bathroom area , (where the cupboard was that house the furnace) , but if in lounge or bedroom with door shut it was barely noticeable . It even heated the bathroom tile floor up toasty . If gennie on whilst in bedroom , it was barely noticeable ( 35feet away min) . The furnace was 35,000 btu , and coped with freezing temps no probs .
I also had 980w of solar on roof that would manage a few amps even when clouded over . With the heating the fans slow down or even stop when you are at set thermostat temp. RVs are a whole different ball game

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[Littlewheels]

Still gotta move the van, no good for long termers.

I’ve only ever stayed in the one place for about 3 month though intended to stop for a week,however, I simply went to the Service Point every 9/10 days; Drop waste and fill up with water it took 20minutes and I didn’t find it a hardship.
I do carry a Macerator and upto 30m hose so that helps but it rarely comes out as I never have trouble dropping correctly at a SP.

 

[Tanya_and_Mick]

Well I’m sold

 

[Littlewheels]

Of course it’s the odd occasion that a drip could stop the dumping process:

 

[shawn&emma]

When it is freezing, and everything is closed, and no one can sit outside, no one cares about generators

Big built in ones ‘ticking’ over are a damn site better that tiny little ones running flat out

Must admit even though ours is built in its bloody noisy. Ours is a Guardian 3600w and happily will run everything on board. Think ours has only got 18 hours running time on it so shows how little we've used it over 10 years.

 

[chenderson1965]

Really pleased with our 27B

Its our Ninth brand new RV and still love 'em

Looks amazing. Have to ask what sort of mpg you get?

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[eddie]

Looks amazing. Have to ask what sort of mpg you get?

When Lyn drives about 10MPG me a little less

But we use LPG at about £0.55 a litre it helps

We hold from memory about 290L of petrol and 370L of LPG so have a good range)

 

[olley]

The only problem with the blown air is you get cold and hot spots, sitting in the lounge slide you do not have an air vent, move across to the sofa and you can put your feet on one so sitting next to the window in the slide you can feel cold and the floor is cold, in the rest of the RV after a while most the floor gets very slightly warm as the double floor containing the tanks is heated by the blown air more so over the heating ducts which run the length of the RV.
The heating is either off or on, so the van warms then cools unlike having radiators which continually give out heat so you maintain a much more even temperature.

The windows are dual pane but the aluminium frames have no thermal break between the inside and outside part of them so are freezing cold and suffer with condensation.
Wall insulation is about 1" of polystyrene which is poor but the yanks seem to work on the idea that insulation is a waste, you just stick a dirty great heater in.
We lived in it for 3 years and went skiing in it at Venosc so while I don't think they are ideal in the cold its not something that was a major problem.

Never really had a problem dumping the tanks, all the French aires we have been on have that service tower with a lid at the base so you dump down there, some sites have just a toilet pan outside but our black and grey tanks are above the chassis frame rails in the heated space so the dump valve is some 2 feet above the ground. I have a tote tank in a roof box which I have used once since I bought it in 05 and a macerator which I haven't used since we stopped fulltiming.

This year 4 of us, we hopped on the ferry to Spain stopped at the Palencia aire which has a ground level dump, drove to Camping Osuna in Madrid no dump but no problem as we only stayed two nights, next the coach aire at Merida ground level dump but didn't use it, next Camping Lisbon every pitch has black and grey dump, then Amacao beach aire just an outside pan but didn't use it, then the aire/campsite at Calaflores near Malaga, HUGE! drive over dump can take two RV's side by side, ridiculous. Then Camper area Campello beach at Alicante, parked next to the drive over dump. And so it went on.

The biggest problem I find is putting the slides out not dumping, if we are on a carpark type aire I wont put the slides out as I am then taking up two spaces and I worry that someone turning up late at night might reverse next to me and smack straight into them, so I endeavour to get to an end where I can overhang some grass, although the RV is perfectly usable with the slides in.

 

[SuperMike]

If we could find an RV that was insulated enough to take to a ski resort in the winter and had storage lockers big enough to take a couple of cycles, without taking them to bits, we would be in the market for one.

Never had any trouble. With the blown air going you will strip down to your knickers, but it does drink LPG.

As Mikey RV said, no problem, us Christmas 2010, but then, it's a Winnebago .

 

[Gordven]

We have had a 2007 Thor Windsport for nearly three years now and never been cold. The furnace has always been good enough but the air-con doesn’t really get it cold. We have had American RV’s for five years and love all the luxury items that come as standard and the quality of the fixtures and fittings. Never had a problem dumping as we have a macerator and tote tank and we spend nine months in Europe and three in England. Sure, we only get 7-8 miles per gallon but it’s worth it for the living space.

 

[Geo]

New Year, pull up, swivel the armchair I've just driven in, pick up the remote (or my phone) touch the screen, the hydraulic jacks level the camper, then the lounge slide goes out, the the bedroom slide goes out, another tap, and the full length self supporting awning extends, all in the time I plugged the hook up lead in! Sorted, time for a well deserved beer??

Two Tapps Cant you update it

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[martin2603]

Had one years ago and found the”Furnace” unbelievably noisy, Truma was quiet in comparison. Alde for me from now on!

 

[Peter and Julie]

We have just put a deposit on a Four Winds Windsport 32A from Signature. It Does look a bit daun
ting size wise but hey ho!

 

[Larrynwin]

We have just put a deposit on a Four Winds Windsport 32A from Signature. It Does look a bit daun
ting size wise but hey ho!

Looks a beauty, hope you enjoy .

 

[eddie]

Had one years ago and found the”Furnace” unbelievably noisy, Truma was quiet in comparison. Alde for me from now on!

Had a European years ago

Actually had several

Kept thinking I could buy one I could love

RV’s for me from then on

 

[Armytwowheels]

Never had any trouble. With the blown air going you will strip down to your knickers, but it does drink LPG.

As Mikey RV said, no problem, us Christmas 2010, but then, it's a Winnebago .

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Even your rubbish bin has a slide out! ???

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