If you’re planning to spend time in your RV in winter you might think you need a four-season RV, but you might not. If the weather where you’re planning to spend the winter never goes below freezing you might not need anything special. If you are planning to RV when it is below freezing there are some features you might need.

Consider better insulation, dual pane windows, pipe heaters, tank heaters, a heated underbelly, heating behind the fridge and skirting when picking a winter RV. Look for these features rather than looking for a four-season RV label. Other than the RV itself, also consider how you will get fresh water in and dirty water out.

Keep reading for more details about features and accessories for RVing in winter.

Do You Need a Four-Season RV for Winter?

There is no consistency between what different RV manufacturers mean by a four-season RV. It isn’t an industry standard, so it’s more useful to consider the features you need instead of a label. Four-season RV doesn’t mean anything anyway. Instead, for your winter RV adventure, ask about:

• insulation in the walls, floor and ceiling,
• whether the unit has dual pane windows,
• pipe heaters to keep water liquid inside the unit,
• whether the unit has tank heaters for the fresh, gray, and black water tanks,
• a heated underbelly,
• heating behind the fridge, and
• skirting.

What Does R-Value Mean?

In the world of building materials and insulation and in the world of winter RVs, R-value is important.

The R-value measures how well a barrier prevents the transmission of heat across it. The barrier can be a wall, floor, ceiling, window or a layer of insulation. It can be the whole wall or a component of it.

Higher R-values mean the barrier does a better job of keeping the heat from crossing it. In summer, it means a better job of keeping the heat out and the cold in. In winter, it means a better job of keeping the heat in and the cold out.

Better Insulation for Your Winter RV

When looking for better insulation, ask about the R-values in the floor, ceiling and walls. Also, ask about the components that make up the structure.

When you get an answer, consider whether it is even reasonable. If they give you numbers better insulation than you would get in a house, there’s something wrong. If they won’t give you actual R-values, there’s something wrong there too.

Well-insulated RVs might have R-values like 7 for the walls or 20 for the floor or ceiling.

Comparing R-values between RV choices shows you which RVs are better insulated.

Dual Pane Windows for Your Winter RV

R-values work for windows too. You could ask for the R-values of the windows.

But it might be better to ask about dual-pane windows. Dual pane windows are made with a layer of air sealed between two layers of glass. This gives dual-pane windows a higher R-value than single-pane windows, assuming everything else is the same.

Whether you have single or dual-pane windows, you can use window insulation kits. They use another layer of air trapped behind a layer of cellophane to improve the R-value of the window. They are available a Home Building stores.

Window insulation kits also help reduce moisture in your RV in winter.

Even dual-pane windows with window insulation kits can’t achieve the R-values possible in walls. But you can’t see through walls and you can through windows. Sometimes you have to compromise.

Pipe Heaters in Your Winter RV

Some RVs come with pipe heaters so the water doesn’t freeze in your pipes inside the RV. Others use a heated underbelly for the same reason.

Tank Heaters in Your Winter RV

Some RVs come with heating pads under or around the fresh water, gray water and black water tanks.

If your unit doesn’t have them, you can also buy and install after-market heating pads for your tanks.

If your unit has a heated underbelly or you’re planning to have adequate skirting, you may not need heaters for your tanks.

Does Your Winter RV Need a Heated Underbelly?

If your RV has a heated underbelly, it means there is an enclosed area, underneath the floor, that is heated. In our unit, a duct from the propane furnace carries warm air to heat the underbelly This helps keep the water pipes, sewer pipes and tanks from freezing.

Does Your Winter RV Need Heating Behind the Fridge?

Your fridge in your RV is not the same as the fridge in your house. Firstly, RV fridges can work with electricity or propane. And they also use different chemicals for the cooling effect.

The chemicals used in RV fridges freeze at a higher temperature than the ones in your domestic fridge. When the chemicals freeze, the fridge stops working. Some RV manufacturers have methods to prevent the chemicals from freezing.

Our RV didn’t come with anything for this. Some of our RV neighbours use heat tape on the coils on the back of the RV fridge to keep the chemicals from freezing. Others use an incandescent light bulb in a trouble light to provide extra heat behind the fridge.

We used the light bulb to keep our fridge from freezing and powered it from the same plug-in as the fridge. We put one of the sensors from a remote thermometer back there as well. This way we can monitor the temperature to make sure it doesn’t get too hot or cold for the fridge to work.

Ironically, you have to keep the back of the fridge warm for it to keep your food cool.

Does Your Winter RV Need Skirting?

Another way to keep your RV warm is to enclose the area between the ground and the bottom of the unit. It’s kind of like putting a skirt around it, which is why it’s called skirting.

I don’t know of any RV manufacturers who include skirting with the purchase of an RV. I do know of several aftermarket products that can be used for this purpose.

We used a do-it-yourself approach. With the help of our RV park neighbours, We built a frame around the bottom of our RV and fastened a sheet of vinyl to the frame and the RV with staples and tape.

Do You Need a Heated Water Hose for Winter RVing

In winter, in an area where the temperature drops below freezing, you have a couple of choices for fresh water in your RV.

Some of our RV park neighbours use bottled water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. They use the campground facilities for showering.

Others use a heated water hose to bring the water from the campground-provided heated water spigot to their RVs.

You can buy heated water hoses or you can make them yourselves.

How To Keep Your RV Sewer Hoses From Freezing in Winter

When it comes to sewer hoses for your RV in freezing temperatures, there are a couple of options.

Some of our RV park neighbours, drain their gray and black water tanks and empty the hoses before the water has a chance to freeze in them.

Others in the park put their sewer hoses along with the heat tape inside a 4-inch rigid pipe and insulate the whole structure.

For more information about heated water and sewer hoses check out this post about how you can shower in an RV in winter.