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Keeping Unattended Camp Warm for a Week

5K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  mad4268 
#1 ·
We heat by propane at our camp and have never left it on when we leave after the weekend. I have left the electric on when planning to be back in a week or two. I also have drained the water every time we leave this time of year.

I plan to be at camp this weekend and again next. Does anyone have an electric heater they feel comfortable enough leaving on unattended for a week? What about leaving the propane furnace and fire place on low for the week? Seems wasteful. I am not looking for enough heat to be able to keep the water on but just some warmth to make opening camp the following weekend quicker, say ~50F. Camp is about 750 sq. ft. and not super insulated. My concern with electric is leaving something on will not be enough to keep up so it will run constantly and never cycle off.
 
#2 ·
we are in northern Potter and we use wood to heat while we are there, during the winter ,we turn the base board heat on and leave it on low until we go up in the spring and open up for the year. we also drain our water tanks and hot water heater and pipes for the winter. you should have no problem.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I get to camp every week, through the year. When I’m there, I heat the place with a woodburner downstairs, fireplace upstairs. About 2000 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. I have electric baseboard heaters in every room, but only leave two on upstairs, and a small one on in the utility room ( all on a low setting ). The downstairs ( basement ) would be very slow to freeze, even with very little heat. I don’t drain the water at camp, although it was set up to do that. I do shut off the city water where it comes through the wall downstairs, and I have a monitor that can check on my phone that tells me the temperature inside the building. It will send me an alert if the temperature drops below 38F. On the coldest days, -15, camp will still stay about 45F. Normally will be 53-55F in the winter.

The problem with draining/ recharging lines, on a weekly basis, is the repressuring the lines with water that are air filled. When the pressure of the the city water hits the air filled lines, it can be hard on the joints in the lines. Once or twice a season wouldn’t be bad, but I wouldn’t make a habit doing it every week.
 
#12 ·
Once the temps reach freezing degrees I always shut down the well and drain the system out every time I leave. A $2.00 bottle of RV anti freeze in the traps is much better than soldering pipes 10:00 at night. Out in the boonies you never know when the power may go out.
As for the electric heat, if I leave and plan on coming back in a day or two, I'll leave a thermostat on the low setting just to keep the bitter chill out of the cabin. Otherwise I'll just shut everything down until I return.
 
#14 ·
Once the temps reach freezing degrees I always shut down the well and drain the system out every time I leave. A $2.00 bottle of RV anti freeze in the traps is much better than soldering pipes 10:00 at night.
I do the same thing. I am gradually replacing the copper lines with pex. No soldering and it will not split if frozen.

BTW pex is much easier to work with at "10:00 at night".
 
#13 ·
Thanks everyone!

I would feel most “safe” leaving the propane on but feel like that is more expensive and wasteful compared to some electric heaters even though it probably is more efficient lol. I don’t have electric baseboard today but that is a good idea for the future. What about leaving either an electric oil heater or small plug in “office” style heater?
 
#17 · (Edited)
I would not want to use a small "office" style space heater unattended, but that's just me. They're meant for supplemental heat, not a stand alone source. High risk of overheating wires.

I would just suck it up and run the propane on a low setting. I have electric baseboard in my house and it's expensive(I supplement with wood), let alone a poorly insulated cabin.
 
#20 ·
First man up, usually me.
1) light burner under coffee pot.
2) light propane heater in outhouse
3) fix fire in wood stove, if no one else has
4) start rattling, banging pots and pans in a loud way to get everyone else up
 
#23 ·
A branch fell last Monday, called it in, power was already off. Utility said the whole county was fixed by Thursday but when I arrived on Friday, the power line was still laying in the driveway...they sent a truck out has it fixed in a little over an hour. It is easy to ignore the cabins...
 
#25 ·
I ended up leaving one of the two propane heaters on the lowest setting (1 to 6, set at 1). If I recall correctly it was about 50-55F when I got there, so slightly warmer than truly needed but was definitely nice to be able to almost instantly start getting the water going. Needle on the tank gage did not move so this might be my new plan when expecting to be back a few times a month. My gut feeling is pilot light alone would not keep up in our camp. It’s not huge but not all that great for insulation. My only concern is extended power outage if I hadn’t drained the water because the heater I left on needs power. I guess I could have left the propane fireplace on which does not need power.
 
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