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Brrrrrrrrrrrr
I’m headed to my sister’s in Boston for Thanksgiving. No campgrounds nearby. I got permission to stay in a hotel parking lot for 6 days…found ideal location using Google Earth, called the hotel manager, and explained the situation. She couldn’t have been any nicer and told me where exactly to park on the property.
It’s going down to 13 degrees for 2 days. What do I need to do besides running the generator the entire time and keep the toe kickers going?
Thank you.
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16 Replies
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Turn on Webesco or aqua hot have auto start on it will start when neded I have stayed severly days A ne’er o degrees no problem I was ther in and out
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Jimmy,
You will need to be sure you have heat in the water bay, either electric or by using the Webasto. I am not familiar with Marathon, but regardless of the conversion with those temps you need to protect against freezing.
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As mentioned above, don’t run the genny, run the diesel heat. Not only will this keep you warmer, it will keep the wet bays warm and avoid any possibility of frozen water lines or pumps. You will be able to keep it as warm as you like with that heat alone and, as a bonus, it uses much less fuel than the genny!
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If Jimmy runs the Webasto the circulating pump(s) and fans draw a lot of power so he is going to run the generator anyway.
Maybe someday someone will explain the logic about avoiding the use of the generator. When we are dry camping I fire the generator up and live like a king, putting on any device I want knowing I got all kinds of power available and averaging about 4/10 of a gallon per hour. That is cheap luxury and beats the hell out of scrimping and suffering turning stuff off to save the batteries. Screw that. I have a luxury coach and I am going to use all its goodies.
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Jon… it looks like I have a Marathon installed heater in the water bay. I just turned the temperature up from 40 to 60. Something kicked on.
I do have a portable heater I’m taking but didn’t locate an outlet in the water bay. Just a single outlet labeled Water Pump that has a Crestron plug going into it.
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He posted that he thought he would need to fire up the generator and run it “the entire time”. That’s simply not the correct option for most situations. There’s no reason not to run the genny when you are their and using appliances but not necessary to let it run for 6 days 24/7 just because it’s cold outside.
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You asked the same question on the POG Fakebook and I made a comment for you, so no point in duplicating here.
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Jim, this is what my Marathon used for water bay heat.
– Ron
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Jim,
I have a 2007 marathon bunk coach and I have spent the last 5 Christmas vacations with lows of 20 below at times here is my suggestions after learning a few things the hard way… couple of questions first: are you staying in the coach or just parking it and staying with your family?
suggestions:
1) keep fresh tank as full as possible
2) confirm your bay heater is working
3) confirm webasto has been serviced recently and is good. life sucks at 20 below with out it.
4) make sure your marathon aux air tank is as dry as can be… drain it before you get into the cold and daily while you are there. everything leaks more in cold so if your making water in normal temps this will increase significantly in cooler temps.
5) Assuming you have slides and assuming you extend them and assuming they are valid slides. you need to be careful on the retraction especially if its really cold or snow/ice is in the forecast. If forecast is bad, I bring them in at the warmest part of the day when things are above freezing if possible. depending on the dryness of your marathon air.. things can get froze which will make retraction difficult or impossible until they thaw. If your marathon air is bone dry you might not have any of these issues but I would be prepared for the worse.
6) as back up to everything else we travel with 3 small electrical heaters when going deep into snow country. 2 will be used inside to suplement Marathon toe heaters and the 3rd is a very small cube heater to keep all the marathon air junk in the forward drivers bay above freezing. I have only had to use them once but they saved a trip and allowed us another day on the slopes
Hope that helps. happy to visit by phone if that would be helpful. 13 isn’t that cold your bus is designed for it but it doesn’t hurt to have options
Good Luck
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Bill… why would I stay with my family when we have a Prevost with our own bed and toilet and more. My 90 year old mother doesn’t understand either.
Good on most of your points except draining the auxiliary air bags. I haven’t a clue. Hopefully there may be something in the manuals. Or everyone feel free to jump in with directions. We’re leaving early in the morning.
Thank you everyone.
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Jimmy not draining the airbags. the Marathon aux or house air. You should have a green or some type of air tank under the bumper below freezing if that tank has water not good…. so I would try to find that and drain it. you might also have a drain in one of the bays near the water bay on the Drivers side. I do and drain that as well.
Hope that helps.
Bill
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Ah. Now I remember at the maintenance seminar Tom showed us how to drain it on his Marathon slide coach. I’ll check it tomorrow. Thanks Bill.
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I know we sound like a broken record when it comes to keeping moisture from the pneumatic system, This becomes critical when traveling in below freezing temps because moisture within the system can freeze inside critical components and prevent them from functioning.
Marathon has a unique and somewhat complex accessory pneumatic system and when traveling in cold temps it is important that both the Prevost and Marathon sides are dry, and if the aux compressor is used regularly it is important to insure moisture put into the system(s) by the compressor is drained. The good news is very cold air has very little moisture.
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Jimbeaux
you own an H, it’s a Marathon and you’ve identified electric bay heater and you may have the Canadian heat pkg. A call to marathon can verify that. So you have 12/24 heat, electric tow kicks, and if you have CAN heat pkg which also allows cruise air operation into the teens because of heat strip aids, your coach has double pane windows, you going to be in Bermuda’s
we spent 5 weeks in below zero temps Feb 2015 after my mother died in our former 1992 Prevost XL Beaver bus with seven webasto convectors, and the dogs were sweating we ran genset for five weeks straight stopping it long enough to check fluids and General appearance check
in the underbelly, between supplemental heaters along with heat the Kohler generates you’re not going to freeze. Warning. If it’s that cold outside, you’ll need a scarf 😉
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Hey Jim, when you say “If it’s that cold outside, you’ll need a scarf ;-)”. Shouldn’t you have finished that with “Grasshopper”!
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