Overwintering, even in Arizona, can be a little tougher in an RV. And I’ve been meaning to provide updates regarding Airstream living for a while. So, what’s been happening with the cool weather (beyond freezing my water lines twice)?

Initially, I found that I would go through a 30lb propane tank every week in colder weather. While still cheaper than my old heating bills in New Hampshire (I can only imagine them now), swapping tanks every week got old. What to do, what to do? Well, I changed a few simple things….

• The hot water heater gets turned off every morning when I head to work. It gets turned back on when I return. No sense in running it all day while I’m not here.
• My furnace is turned down to 58 when I leave.
• A small electric heater is set to 60 when I leave. The afternoons here are sunny enough to aid in keeping the Airstream 60, and comfy enough when I return. Everything gets turned back to 68 when I return.
• Bed time = 62 degrees. I’ve got warm blankets you know.

Those steps alone have made the 1 tank of propane a week go for two weeks now. Nice. Doubling my energy efficiency!

On other notes, I’ve worked out the frozen water line issues. I found a way to get the little 6 inch segment of water line into the heated box. The insulation wrap and heat tape are working. It was just that small segment that was giving me problems, go figure!
The only other issue I’ve had has been tire pressure on the Airstream. Cold nights make the tires softer. So, every two weeks I’ve been checking the pressure, and refilling the tires. No big losses at all, so I don’t have leaks. But the super cold snaps always leave the pressure sensor in my truck beeping at me. Just made sense to check the trailer tires too.