Impressed with my Newmar Motorhome in Cold Weather

[Neal]

I've been in some crazy cold weather in the past and present. I could not be happier with how comfortable my Newmar Ventana is in this cold weather. I have the diesel burner on at all times, use the furnace (and prefer it over heat pump even when heat pump can work) and I've been super comfortable. I don't have the heated floors, I wear socks valued at $6K a pair but I'm sure you folk are enjoying your heat as well, and even those with fireplaces. We're lucky, I talked to someone today in a trailer and they don't fair so well in the cold.

Thank you Newmar and ITR (OASIS) for a great setup for cold weather ops.

 

[we_b_tripn]

I couldn’t agree more Neal. While our Bay Star has the propane furnace vs Oasis, it does a fantastic job of staying comfortable. We are camping for Christmas this week in Central Pennsylvania and it was 19 degrees for a low last night. The furnace ran a handful of times overnight and we had no issues with our wet bay temperatures based on monitoring. I wish the storage bays had some residual heat but that’s for the next coach in ten years.

Bill


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[Stuart S]

Newmar does an amazing job at insulating their motorhomes, in my opinion this is one of the top features that sets Newmar apart form the competition.

 

[boomer]

We are stationary for a couple of months (in Myrtle Beach) so I try not to use the burner because I have no feel for amount of fuel it uses. I will say if we were only here for a short time I would use the burner more, but for now only use it for hot water when we need to take two hot showers in the 34 degree weather and don't feel like waiting the 10-15 minutes for the electric to recover. HP seems to work ok for now..

Anyone have a feel for Oasis vs degrees vs fuel usage, would be interesting to know for those of us that are full time.

 

[CaptainGizmo]

Yup. Agreed!

We were in Nappanee over Thanksgiving and not only got to test our DS in 26°, but also 50 MPH winds and rain. The insulation is Ebro we heard about quiet. The floor heaters (sorry Neal, we couldn’t afford the socks) are awesome. And, we too, seem to enjoy the Oasis furnace over the heat pumps.


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[lostinfla]

I echo the previous statements. When in cold weather, (which we avoid when at all possible) we usually just use the floor heat which seems to be good by itself to about 40 deg outside temp. After that, we use the Oasis on electric and it works great.

 

[FL-JOE]

This was the first fall that we really used the diesel burner on a consistent basis. We were never in extremely cold temps but had numerous mornings where it was in the high 30's and low 40's.

I get up an hour or so before the DW. What impresses me is that I can close the pocket door to the bedroom and run the zone I furnace with the diesel burner and it brings the temp up to 68 or 69 very quickly, while at the same time the bedroom area stays in the low 60's. Very good insulation and heating systems.

 

[Stuart S]

That’s a $6,000 dollar pair of heated socks minus the 27% disconnect of course
Just keepin it real

 

[Neal]

We are stationary for a couple of months (in Myrtle Beach) so I try not to use the burner because I have no feel for amount of fuel it uses. I will say if we were only here for a short time I would use the burner more, but for now only use it for hot water when we need to take two hot showers in the 34 degree weather and don't feel like waiting the 10-15 minutes for the electric to recover. HP seems to work ok for now..

Anyone have a feel for Oasis vs degrees vs fuel usage, would be interesting to know for those of us that are full time.

From their web site approximately 0.44 gal/hour. That's a continuous hour, the burner typically only runs a few minutes at a time as needed.

Oasis CH50 & DM12 – Itrheat

itrheat.com

In my experience if you have the furnace on supplying heat then hot water will be very limited if any. I also read a lot of posts about people not using their burner. I highly recommend you do and do so frequently just like exercising the gen. You don't want the diesel in the lines or filter to gum up then when you really need it you could be in for trouble. Also the ignitor filters, etc. need to be used and cycled and of course annual service performed which you can do yourself. There are youtube videos. Moral to my story USE YOUR BURNER, it's a great system, the hot water and heat from it is awesome. When the temps don't require furnace I'll turn the burner on 10 minutes prior to showering then turn it off after the shower.

 

[Gizmo]

I'm also happy with the coach and staying cool in the summer and warm in cold weather. After owning the Discovery with tile floors I swore I would never own a coach with tile floors that weren't heated. Those floors would get so cold and foot or so of space above them cold that just sitting on the couch you had to have your feet up on a stool to keep them warm. We feel in love with Newmar and the 4037-floor plan but couldn't find one in our price range till we ran into the used 2017 Ventana LE 4037 but it didn't have heated floors but it did have linoleum, not tile. Knowing I not going to get everything I want in the coach we purchased it. We have found that the linoleum does get cold but not near as cold feeling as the tile floors and with little heat warm right up. If we purchase again (doubtfull) heated floors again will be high on my list.

 

[sheridany]

I have not tried the furnace as we don’t do a lot of cold weather camping. We are going to try it next month. Does it require the genset on if you use the furnace while driving?

 

[Neal]

I have not tried the furnace as we don’t do a lot of cold weather camping. We are going to try it next month. Does it require the genset on if you use the furnace while driving?

No. AC I/II requires shore power but with the burner on you don’t need it.

 

[Joe Goodxrvn]

The Canyon Star stays nice and toasty down into the single digit F, so far. We found that the LP tank will last about 7 days in moderately cold areas. Freezing at night and into the 30s-40s F during the day. Of course if you are plugged in the LP time can be extended with the use of the HP. No heated floors. Next time

 

[boomer]

From their web site approximately 0.44 gal/hour. That's a continuous hour, the burner typically only runs a few minutes at a time as needed.

Thanks Neil, should have looked at the web page, just being a little lazy. I have however found that just on electric elements I can run front zone on furnace and rear on heat pump. The furnace keeps the floors ok ( I don't really like $6000 socks) and so far just turn the burner on for a few hours (don't think on for 5 minutes is good) in the morning for showers. Funny thing is we keep the front (Zone 1) at 72 and bedroom at 70 and in the front on electric and rear on heat pump it appears (no science here) to work fine, which makes zero sense knowing the operation of heat pumps. My only theory is that since the front is at 72 the duck work is bleeding the return air from the font so the heat pump isn't actually seeing the 29 degree air. From researching home heat pumps years ago and doing the thermal analysis, heat pumps should be able to provide close to 30-40 degree differential from outside air. Which means the coolest it can keep a coach on a 100 degree day is 60-70, and the warmest on a 30 degree day would be 60-70. Contrary to popular belief the heat pump doesn't quit working (on its own) no matter how cold it gets outside, just can't keep coach a 70 when 0 outside, if you are happy with 30 degrees inside, the heat pump will do that at 0 outside temps.

Anyway thanks for the info, at .44 g/hr with a 5 minute on, 15 minute off (just guess) 25% duty cycle get you to .11 g/h = 2.6 g/day = 18.5 g/wk. Since the burner is only going to really be used at night you can at least double that to 18.5 g/2wk or 9.25/wk.
Actually after doing the calculations, not sure why I don't run the burner more...

 

[Neal]

There is a counter on top of the OASIS. You can't read it but you can stick your phone in and take a picture to get the reading. I meant to do it as I arrived today. It would be interesting for us to measure the OASIS run time in a period of time such as a week. I'm here for 11 days, I keep the burner on all the time in this cold weather, I'm curious how many total hours the OASIS will run and then we can measure diesel consumption.

 

[J&JD]

We agree on the great insulation! We have heated floors, and a fireplace which gives a lot of quiet heat. We normally only need the floors on at night in cold weather. If we get below freezing, we will leave the fireplace on at night. The furnace makes sleep more diffucult. We only turn on the Oasis in the morning before our showers. We will have owned our coach for close to three years, and turn on the furnace now and then just to make sure all is good. Judy D

 

[boomer]

There is a counter on top of the OASIS. You can't read it but you can stick your phone in and take a picture to get the reading. I meant to do it as I arrived today. It would be interesting for us to measure the OASIS run time in a period of time such as a week. I'm here for 11 days, I keep the burner on all the time in this cold weather, I'm curious how many total hours the OASIS will run and then we can measure diesel consumption.

Didn't realize my last post didn't post correctly, I agree that if we knew how much it ran we could easily figure out fuel consumption. Didn't know about the counter, does it only read burner time or just total usage AC or burner?

 

[Cinergi]

Anyway thanks for the info, at .44 g/hr with a 5 minute on, 15 minute off (just guess) 25% duty cycle get you to .11 g/h = 2.6 g/day = 18.5 g/wk. Since the burner is only going to really be used at night you can at least double that to 18.5 g/2wk or 9.25/wk.
Actually after doing the calculations, not sure why I don't run the burner more...

For what it’s worth I stayed in cold temps for a couple of months and I used maybe 20-30 gal for that entire stay. I checked my fuel level using the silverleaf display By the driver every so often. You have to turn the ignition on (not acc, but no need to start engine) so it would refresh the value. Made it really easy to see before and after.


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[Neal]

The one winter I left it on I think I used 35 gal so that was 3-4 months. I'm waiting to hear back from ITR if the meter is diesel only or not.

 

[Neal]

I heard back from ITR and Kevin says yes the counter is diesel burner only and verifies the consumption is 0.44 gal/hr of runtime. In my test I took a snapshot on Dec 24th and a second snapshot of the counter just now (Jan 2nd), a little over 8 days later. Very cold temps here in Page, AZ with nights in the 20's, my T-STAT is 72 on front zone, 71 on bedroom zone with diesel burner left ON the entire time to run as needed. The counter comparison shows 72.2 hours of runtime coming out to approximately 32 gals of diesel burned in 8 days.

This test is actually eye opening, if you're going to be somewhere for an extended stay such as I'm about to do in Palm Creek you better be very aware of arrival fuel level and diesel consumption. I had one winter where it was around 35 gals for the entire winter while in storage but at different temp setpoints. Burning allegedly 32 gals in 8 days is concerning in telling me I need to take more aggressive steps such as turning off the burner during the day and letting the electric heating elements do the job. Also when boondocking and on solar to be aware of the diesel consumption by the OASIS system.

Arrive full! Be aware