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KinAlberta
Member
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# Posted: 29 Oct 2017 11:05am
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If you cabin is not permanently occupied, do you keep it heated through the winter or just Heat if for your visits?
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 29 Oct 2017 06:15pm
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I have no furnace, just a woodstove and its at ambient temp through the winter. I imagine it takes a bit to get cold because its so well insulated. When I arrive in spring, I still feel winter inside when I open it up, even if its a nice warm day. I dont leave anything that can freeze and anything I do have there that is liquid all gets put into a plastic bin under the proposed kitchen sink area in case some soap etc ever leaked.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 29 Oct 2017 07:31pm
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My outbuildings (hunt cabins) sit unheated when unoccupied and get heated up whenever needed by wood stove and/or propane heater. Plumbing lines get drained or blown out, RV antifreeze added to the few traps that need it. The house has a combination of passive and active solar heat devices plus a propane furnace that work together to make it unnecessary to worry about it when left for periods of no occupancy. Mostly zero propane use.
Why do you ask? You have some special need?
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ShabinNo5
Member
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2017 07:31am
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We keep the bathroom heated between visits with an electric wall heater. The rest of the building has to wait until we arrive and build a fire in the wood stove.
Like ICC, our plumbing lines are drained or blown out, with RV antifreeze added to p-traps. We typically visit throughout the winter on weekends and by heating the bathroom we can store water jugs and other materials that get damaged from freezing.
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Cowracer
Member
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2017 10:44am
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I have no furnace, but also no water in the cabin, so there is really no need to keep it warm. In fact, I shut off all the power to the cabin when we leave, except for one circuit that keeps the fridge going.
We have our propane fireplace, but 99% of the time, our two 1500 watt electric heaters keep it comfortable. This last weekend, Temps in the mid 40's during the day, high 30's at night, and even then, we did not run the heaters on "high" at all.
It does take a bit to warm it up when we first get there. If I get in a hurry, I'll fire up the fireplace and blow the cold out in 10 minutes.
Tim
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hueyjazz
Member
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2017 11:46am
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I have mine on a Nest thermostat so the heat automatically goes to a low but safe setback when not occupied. I do visit my cabin every weekend or more. Since I have internet there too it's quite helpful to tell Nest to start heating before we arrive so it's toasty when we get there.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2017 10:18am
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I keep my cabins warm with propane heaters. We get real cold here (-20/C -5F is seen occasionally). So it not only protects the water systems but it makes it much easier to bring the cabins back to warm.
Its pretty common for weekenders in my area.
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spoofer
Member
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2017 08:30pm
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My cabin sits off grid as it did in the 1950's. It's only changes are a 100 watt solar panel and a Jotul stove in place of the old Montgomery Ward. I think it would be a shame financially and environmentally to heat your cabin, if no-ones going to be there.
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Al Burton
Member
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2017 09:27pm
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Our cabin is off grid also. We haul our water so I needed a way to keep it from freezing during winter. I built a separate super insulated 12 x 16 mechanical room that houses a 1000l (250 u.s. gal) tote, shower, washer/dryer etc. I heat it with an 8000 btu/h direct vent wall heater that I modified to auto relight. I keep it just above freezing when I am away and it heats up fairly quick when we arrive. One thing I learned the hard way was that the wall heater's built in thermostat would not work much below about 50f. It would not come back on and it cost me a eccotemp l10 water heater. I use very little propane when I am away. Cabin is in the N.W. corner of Montana so it does get pretty cold at times.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2017 05:58pm
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Spoofer, it can take a day to reheat a cabin at -20. If you want to get out there for weekends you're pretty much stuck keeping the heater on. Its also why most of us super insulate.
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