Posted 2011-04-11 2:00 AM (#132872) Subject: Living Quarters in the Winter
New User
Posts: 1
Does anyone have experience living in a horse trailer in the dead of winter? Think COLD (I'm in Wyoming), not a mild southern winter. Is this do-able? Or a crazy idea? I'd actually be living in it, not camping on the occasional weekend.
Posted 2011-04-11 10:25 AM (#132887 - in reply to #132872) Subject: RE: Living Quarters in the Winter
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
The most difficult issues to address are the water to the LQ and the waste from the LQ. They are both subject to freezing. Also, many LQ floors and goose area flooring have none or only marginal insulation. In some installations, the pex plumbing is run under the inside flooring and can be frozen as well.
Just as with a mobile home, keeping the wind from going under the floor area, will help prevent the flooring from rapidly cooling. This is accomplished by installing skirting around the open areas. This will block most of the wind. I've also seen hay or straw bales used for this purpose.
You will need a constant source of electricity to run not only your heater, but heat tapes on your water supply and drain plumbing. You will need a septic drain source, a larger propane tank for your cooking and water heater. Instead of constantly running your furnace, most LQs can be adequately heated using an inexpensive ceramic heater. They are thermostatically controlled and are maintenance free. One will easily heat our 13' LQ when the outside air temp is in the low 20's. When it's truly cold, a second heater should suffice. Sliding a sheet of rigid insulation under your mattress, will help stop the chill from an uninsulated metal floor.
You LQ is not insulated or built for constant sub zero living. Fortunately its small size allows it to be easily heated. The utilities are the most problematic to address. Anyone used to living in a mobile home in those temperatures, should be able to help you with your installation. BOL
Posted 2011-04-11 12:27 PM (#132890 - in reply to #132872) Subject: RE: Living Quarters in the Winter
Elite Veteran
Posts: 736 Location: Western WA
My husband and I lived in a 5th wheel while we built our house, and while Western WA does not see sub-zero temps often, we did experience a week with temperatures in the teens. We stacked straw around the perimeter to keep the wind out from the underside as suggested. If I were to do it again, I would use plywood or corrugated metal or a non-food substance: the straw drew in mice.
As stated above, your weak link will be your water supply. You will need to heat tape your incoming line, and you may want to heat tape it near the wall on the inside also. During those 12 degree nights, we had to get up during the night to run the water to keep it from freezing. We caught it just in time one night, it literally ran slushy, and that's even with the heat tape on. Of course during this time we also had all the cabinets with plumbing access open to be sure they got heat. So I would have to agree that LQ and travel trailers are far from ideal in sub-zero temperatures.
I can suggest arranging with your local propane company to have 200 pound tank set up so you aren't constantly switching out the 20 pound tanks, and the propane company will likely set you up on a monthly fill schedule.Same with waste disposal. Talk to a porta-potty company and see if they will rent you an external holding tank. We got one that was a couple hundred gallons that we set up downhill from our RV site, and dumped our holding tanks to the external tank and then would call the porta potty company to pump it when it was full. Of course you won't need this if you are in an RV park or other location set up for long term RV living.
Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions on RV living.
Living Quarters in the Winter
