Impressed with my Newmar Motorhome in Cold Weather

[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 Hogan]

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.

https://itrheat.com/products/rv-tra...showering then turn it off after the shower.

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