November 18, 2021
We’ve had a very warm fall this year in the Denver metro area of Colorado. We would have a few days here and there that would dip down below just freezing at night, but mostly the days were sunny and comfortable, in the 70s and 60s F, with lows in the 50s and 40s.
That changed this week. On Tuesday, the temperature dropped from 72 degrees F during the day to 23 degrees F overnight. Wednesday, the high was 35 degrees F with a low of 18 degrees F with a light dusting of snow in the morning. This morning the temperature was 21 degrees F. The high is supposed to be 50 degrees F today.
So, how did we deal with the cold?
Earlier this fall, I purchased a heated water hose to allow us to remain hooked up to the park water (city water) when the temperature dropped below freezing. We set up our water connection with the heated hose when we arrived in Dakota Ridge RV Park. We have only been plugging in the heater for the hose when the temperature prediction is 42 degrees F. The weather predictions can be off by 10 degrees F here.
In the living room, we have a fireplace that has its own thermostat, which we keep set to 68 degrees F. It does a great job keeping the living room and Nox warm. Nox stays in the living room at night. We keep the main thermostats set to 65 degrees F in the kitchen and living room. In the bedroom, we keep it at 62 degrees F.
We have a resistance heater in the bedroom that came with the RV. We set its thermostat to 65 degrees F. It helps keep the bedroom warm. It works very well when the temperature isn’t in the 20s and teens.
We have dual 40 pound LP (liquid propane) tanks to feed the stove, oven, water heater, and furnace. Last night, Bruce checked the levels on the propane tanks. The tank we had been using was down to a quarter full. Bruce said, “we don’t want to run out of propane in the middle of the night and have the furnace not work, so I am going to switch to the full propane tank.” I told him that sounded like a great idea, since I didn’t want to wake up cold. Bruce went out and switched to the full propane tank.
This morning, Bruce checked the propane tanks and discovered that last night, we used a 1/4 of our full propane tank to keep warm, leaving it at 3/4 full.
Bruce switched back to the quarter tank full tank this morning. It’s not a problem if we run out of propane during the day. Bruce can switch to the 3/4 full tank and get more propane.
I am now wondering if we should get a Buddy Heater.
Retirement RV Dream 
We arrived in Denver last night to this little cold snap! Luckily we winterized before leaving. It is supposed to warm up again though 🙂
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It has already warmed up a bit today!
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We were strictly 3 season folk and if the temps went below 40 at night we would go South until it was warmer. I recall 4 season RVers having heated (ha!) spats over the best supplemental heaters and it seemed to be the propane contingent with Mr Buddy and the electricity infrared group with Dr Heater, each with its plus and minuses. Of course the standing joke was to mount a heater to a Roomba and let it prowl around to heat evenly the entire RV whilst cleaning the floors.
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I love the idea of mounting Mr. Buddy or Dr. Heater to a Roomba and letting it zoom around cleaning floors and heating the RV! Just thinking about it has made me laugh so hard!
Once I am retired, we plan to chase 70s. I look forward to being in lovely spots. As Bruce says, “We’ll burn diesel to get somewhere comfortable.”
Our plan is to head to warmer climes on January 29th, as my last day of work is January 28th.
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When we find ourselves in severe weather, hot or cold, we use sections of Reflectix to maintain interior temps. We survived a bomb cyclone in Colorado Springs with 20° temps using them. Bought the biggest role Home Depot had, and cut sections to fit in each window.
If hooked up to electricity, we use 3 small ceramic heaters to reduce the need for expensive propane, and, we load up the blankets to tolerate the 55° our furnace is set for at night while sleeping. All of those measures save on propane. Just make sure the electric ceramic heaters have tip over switches, and are kept away from flammables. You don’t need them to be big flame throwers 😁, just something to circulate warm air.
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Thanks for the tips! We did bring 3 ceramic heaters with us. The furnace provides some heat to our basements. Did you put ceramic heaters in your basement? Did you have any problems with your tanks freezing?
Our biggest concern is keeping Nox warm enough. Being a small dog she looses heat fast.
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They are saying gas and propane will be very expensive this year. Will you go someplace warmer at some point?
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Yea, we are packing up and heading to Florida on January 29th, the day after I retire.
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Congrats on your upcoming retirement. Florida sounds great. I will look forward to posts from there.
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I am looking forward to posting our trip there.
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