Real world cold weather experience

@yardsale, if you keep active inside the t@b and dress well, you will be comfy at 10°F on 2kw from the alde (shore power). If you have shore power and add boost with the propane, you won't need the extra sweater/sweatshirt. While sleeping, especially over the alde, you can actually be toasty. 

DH and me survived temps below 0°F while stranded in Evanston WY with vehicle troubles in November 2018. Keep your cabinet doors open and ventilate the trailer to keep condensation to a minimum. We did have to wipe out the back corners of the cabinets twice a day to keep them nearly dry, but we were stranded for 16 days (plus the 4 days drive home). This extended period of time confined in the trailer certainly exacerbated the condensation issue for us but wiping the back interiors of all cabinets really helped. Long term usage in those temps (altitude 7,000 ft prox) is doable and weekends or short trips (dry camping) are actually an enjoyable adventure. It is more than doable but personally I wouldn't recommend frequent long term very cold weather camping. -Denise

@yardsale, depending on ambient temps a 20# tank will last us 4-7 days. We have a 3 way fridge also, so fridge, heat and cooking are all considered. I can say that the colder it was, the alde worked more and harder, using more propane, but the fridge had to work much less. Eventually, at -10°F, the fridge was working in reverse. It functioned as an insulated space keeping our food from freezing. To make ice so we could bring scalding hot tea to drinking temps, we put our ice trays outside overnight. (And we did drink a LOT of hot beverages!)

You will find from others with experience of different types that the t@b and its systems are incredibly efficient. We ran 20 days on the same tank of propane while stranded, but we were in a "closed for the winter" rv park. We had 30 amp service (shore power) for the trailer for 16 days, but used the propane to augment electric heat tbrough the alde. We did use propane exclusively on the 4 day, 1,700 mile trip home. The alde produces quite a bit more heat on propane.

We have boondocked and dry camped up to 7 days on a single propane tank with ambient temps in the 30's and nighttime temps in the 15-25°F range.

We have a group 31, 110 amp hr battery and supplemented with 80 watts of portable solar. We also supplemented with a ryobi propane 700 watt inverter generator. This helped put a little extra charge into the battery, and we ran the generator for 2 hrs or so every 3 days, which also was fueled by our t@b 20#  propane tank. We found the generator necessary because the low sun angles here in a northern state in the late fall and winter just aren't sufficient for survival and continuing function.This combo works well for us in the t@b.

@yardsale, the maximun output and thus highest propane use is, I'm sure, correct. But, even at -10°F the alde is cycling on and off. The highest consumption rate is not constant. The burner does not come on and stay on for 24 hrs. That single tank has always gone multiple days, even in what is considered frigid temps.

I used our 320 as a home office (sedentary, staring a computer screen) last winter here in Minnesota.  The thermostat was set to 62 degrees or so during the day and in the evening I would turn it down to the Alde's lowest setting. On the coldest days (5 or lower) it took maybe 30-45 minutes to warm to the point where I no longer needed a stocking cap.  My feet would often be cold so I got a very small electric heater to supplement the Alde, specifically at the floor level.  Most days in the winter I wore my Sorel Caribou boots. The heater was set to use both LP and electricity and I recall changing out the LP tank only once. My experience probably isn't the best example to estimate LP consumption.  Personally, i wouldn't hesitate to use the 320 for winter camping. My plan was to use it as a "chalet" during ski season but the areas I frequent in Minnesota either didn't allow campers or they set up space that was too distant from the hill. Hope this helps!

I should add too that I opened one of the windows slightly and cracked open the fan maybe an inch or two.  No issues with condensation. 

It will not keep the tanks from freezing, they are below the floor except for the black tank on some models.

Brad

Since I have a 400 BDL, I can't speak to the specifics of the 320-CS, but my guess is that people use them but are not using any of the plumbing, other than possibly the toilet and flushing with anti-freeze.

Brad

If you will be involved in outdoor winter sports. Bringing wet or damp clothes inside will create some serious condensation issues. Requiring more ventilation which means more heat loss. Something to consider.

On Da_Birds said:

Does the Alde keep tanks and lines from freezing or do you need to keep these winterized? I doubt we would ever camp in such low temps but would be good to know what is needed just in case.

On the TaB400, the Alde keeps the water lines and black tank from freezing, as they are all inside the cabin area that is being heated.  As previously noted, the Gray and Water tanks are under the trailer floor on all models.  Some 320s have water lines below the floor also.

Don't depend on the Alde to keep the Tab warm while you're under way on the highway. 

The heat is pretty quickly blown out of the cabin at highway speeds!

Been there, done that. After a half hour/45 min. at 50mph and 10°F, with the Alde on, we had a large icicle hanging from our kitchen spigot.

So even if you can keep the interior warm enough to keep the pipes thawed while camping, you'll still want to winterize before you head down the road.

Da_Birds said:

Does the Alde keep tanks and lines from freezing or do you need to keep these winterized? I doubt we would ever camp in such low temps but would be good to know what is needed just in case.

Thanks for all the great information about cold weather. I feel a bit bad for somewhat hijacking this discussion since yardsale did say he would be dry camping. I just felt this would be a good opportunity to get some questions I had answered from an experienced audience. I was right!

can someone please clarify statements about using both propane and electric on the Alde.  Our 320S has a programming setting on the interface for Priority- use electric first versus propane first.  Are you actually running propane and electric simulataneously or is this just a backup in case one runs out?  thank you.  New user in cold weather.

Sharon_is_SAM said:

If you are plugged in and the “priority” is electric, propane is on, when you turn on the Alde, it will heat with electric.  But, if the cabin temperature is a couple of degrees lower than the thermostat setting, the propane will kick on.  Propane runs at 5 KW compared to almost 2 KW for shorepower, so the cabin heats faster.  After the cabin heats to the thermostat setting, the propane kicks off and electric resumes.  Propane will again kick on when the cabin temp drops.

Great, thank you Sharon. 
Appreciate all the assistance and shared experiences on this forum.

On a side bar, Nucamp can't tell their buyers this critical information in an Operator Manual? Shameful negligence. 
We spent a sleepless first cold night repeatedly starting heat and shutting off the glaring blue screen, then later wondering why there the heat did not seem to be working... because it shut off along with the screen! 
Given no purchaser documentation about the user interface we had to trial and error our way to discovering the screen brightness control and discover how to keep the heat on by late the second cold night.
Here's all they tell us: