Styrofoam beneath carpet

[southpennrailroad]

Do you think that laying a layer of Styrofoam beneath a carpet would help keep the feet warm? I guess I will try this as it isn't that expensive to get and try I suppose? Or should I put it under the floor outside beneath the trailer or possibly both?

[S. Heisley]

I've walked on Styrofoam and it gradually squishes down (unless there is plywood on top of it). You might be better off with an inch or so thickness of a real carpet foam base. That used to cost about 50 cents a linear foot, but it probably costs more now as I haven't bought it in a while. Anything between you and metal will help, though.

This one is just a thought; don't know for certain if it would work:
If your trailer is not going to be moved all winter, why not put up a temporary plywood (or Styrofoam) skirt around its base? Not only would that keep the wind from blowing through underneath but also, it would probably retain a little more of the escaping heat under the floor so that the metal stayed warmer; thus, the cabin might stay warmer too.

[southpennrailroad]

I've walked on Styrofoam and it gradually squishes down (unless there is plywood on top of it). You might be better off with an inch or so thickness of a real carpet foam base. That used to cost about 50 cents a linear foot, but it probably costs more now as I haven't bought it in a while. Anything between you and metal will help, though.

This one is just a thought; don't know for certain if it would work:
If your trailer is not going to be moved all winter, why not put up a temporary plywood (or Styrofoam) skirt around its base? Not only would that keep the wind from blowing through underneath but also, it would probably retain a little more of the escaping heat under the floor so that the metal stayed warmer; thus, the cabin might stay warmer too.

Thanks Sharron!

But I will need to move the trailer 4 times a week. Also Guess what I will be using the trailer on weekends in the mountains. This is going to interesting. Can I not freeze to death? Will I make it. Tonight it is suppose to go down to 28. Gen running now and heating pad is on and I just ordered the 12 volt heating pa this evening. Turnpike is less then 200 feet away. Sound is ok to me.

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I already shut the elec. heater off to save fuel to keep the pad running all night. Will turn it on in the am. Just topped off the gen for the night. Inside right now is 55 degrees. Elevation right now is 1,705 ft.

GPS North 40 degrees 6.952/W79 degrees 20.804

I am sleeping with flannel long pants, long sleeve shirt beneath heating pad and three blankets with a 12 volt heating blanket. Socks are in the bed to keep them warm, standing along side the bed is a camping Colman heater to heat up the trailer before crawling out to turn on the heater.ceiling vent can't be closed due to fan added. Allows air to get in so when I do use the gas heater it will vent. Done alright so far.

[S. Heisley]

I've slept in a nylon tent at 33 degrees but not in a metal trailer at 28 degrees. Metal is a pretty good conductor of both cold and heat. Is your trailer pretty air-tight?

Check with the local carpet stores and see what they say. They usually have some spare foam and/or carpet pieces you can get for a song and dance. (Do you sing on key? ) If nothing else, get some indoor-outdoor carpet (not the 'grass' kind; but the kind that they used to lay down on kitchen floors in the late 60's/70's) to put under your other carpet and make sure you have at least one wool blanket, preferably two. Wool will keep you warm even if it gets wet. Put a flannel sheet blanket between the wool and your skin, too, so you don't get that scratchy feeling. You can sometimes find wool blankets at the army-navy surplus stores pretty cheap.

Since you might be considered 'homeless', you might try going to the local mission to get free blankets, etc. there, too.

If the weatherman predicts temperatures near 0* F, I think I would consider parking in somebody's barn or getting a motel room for those nights. Also, if you can park next to a good sized snow drift, you'll stay a little warmer. If you're in an area where you get enough snow, you could pile it up on either side of the trailer so that you are buffered but can still back in and pull out of your spot.

[d30gaijin]

South Penn,

Find a more efficient electrical heater! They are out there.

To heat a 6x10 foot CT doesn't take much. Shop the thrift stores, that's what I did, and found a dandy little 1000 Watt heater with a built in fan that heats our 6x10 CT with no problem. The fan is the key in that it moves the heated air around. I have no insulation in the floor of my CT but it stays warm inside with the Honda EU2000i running at half mast to power the heater i.e., it will go all night and keep the CT warm on a half tank of gas, and a tank full in the EU2000i isn't even one gallon (a tank full is something like .9 gallon so I can heat our 6x10 CT for about .4 gallon on a cold night and fully charge the battery ta boot). Or! Buy a $7 electric fan and face it towards your current heater from a distance to move the air around. The fan moving the air is critical, other wise the heat just goes up and out the top of the CT.

I presume your CT is insulated? If not, then insulate it. It makes a difference. At least insulate the roof as that is where the heat escapes.

Don

[southpennrailroad]

South Penn,

Find a more efficient electrical heater! They are out there.

To heat a 6x10 foot CT doesn't take much. Shop the thrift stores, that's what I did, and found a dandy little 1000 Watt heater with a built in fan that heats our 6x10 CT with no problem. The fan is the key in that it moves the heated air around. I have no insulation in the floor of my CT but it stays warm inside with the Honda EU2000i running at half mast to power the heater i.e., it will go all night and keep the CT warm on a half tank of gas, and a tank full in the EU2000i isn't even one gallon (a tank full is something like .9 gallon so I can heat our 6x10 CT for about .4 gallon on a cold night and fully charge the battery ta boot). Or! Buy a $7 electric fan and face it towards your current heater from a distance to move the air around. The fan moving the air is critical, other wise the heat just goes up and out the top of the CT.

I presume your CT is insulated? If not, then insulate it. It makes a difference. At least insulate the roof as that is where the heat escapes.

Don

I have everything you suggested and I feel I have to shut off the heater with the fan during the night as it uses to much fuel. Will turn it on about 0300 as it is right now and it should suffice till I get up for work. Right now I think the heating pad does the best.

Temp inside right now is 45 and outside is right now 31. As often as I get up I know that the temps bottom out around 4-7 am so I suspect it will be dropping even more to about 24 as predicted.

[Engineer Guy]

When we needed to 'save' an adjacent wall 'temporarily' in a Rental House, we used to line the wall in back of our Wood Stove with Heavy Duty Aluminum [Al] Foil. Works great at reflecting heat 'back' into the room so long as the shiny side is placed toward the area you're trying to heat. That is, it keeps the wall behind the Al Foil much cooler. In your case, put some Al Foil below the Carpet, shiny side up, to reflect heat up and back into the heated volume.

On the Ceiling, it will reflect heat back 'down' into the heated CT area. 'Heated' means 'warmer than outside Air' even when a Heater is not running. Put some more Al Foil under the bottom-most Foam or Bedding you use, shiny side up towards you.

In Solar applications, the nature of heat rising can be put to use for you. This flow is called 'thermosiphon'. Say your Heater is at one end. Heat above it rises and stratifies on the Ceiling, not to come down. So, a downward-facing small Fan in the Ceiling corner opposite the Heater is pointed down. This 'pulls' hot air off the Ceiling and forces it down. The air moves across the Trailer Floor to the Heater where it is heated and rises again. If you could see this effect with the naked eye, the air would be flowing in a large rectangle adjacent to the outer Walls of your CT.

This idea is especially useful, and critical, in Passive Solar Houses with high ceilings because there is no Forced air Furnace Fan to push air around. When Home Stores mention that Ceiling Fans help keep you warmer in the Winter, this principle of pushing warmed, stratified air off the Ceiling 'down' to where people live is all they're referring to.

I'm sure you're busy simply getting on with Life activities. However, if you can indulge in my favorite activity of Dumpster Diving, you might be able to score scraps of any kind of Insulation. Foam is ideal, but Fiberglas that you can easily 'rip' into pieces not so thick would also help with insulating Walls and Ceilings. Something - scrap Plastic sheet; slit apart clean Trash Bags; recycled Blankets; whatever - has to be used to cover Fiberglas so you don't inhale the lil fibers. Al Foil on the wall[s] around any Space Heater is a good idea to lower fire risk.

Last, reducing the volume you're trying to heat will work wonders. A heavy Blanket or 'something' hung Ceiling to Floor at the Bed end will mean you're only trying to heat the ~6' x 6' area you're sleeping in; not the entire 6' x 10' volume. It will make a significant difference IF the Blanket goes up close to the Ceiling, clear to the Floor, to close off that top area from warm air leakage to the rest of the CT volume. Be/think safe when applying these ideas.

http://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_7383063_good-heat-reflector_.html

[southpennrailroad]

I find that using the stove
to heat quickly and the fan to distribute it through the trailer. Otherwise it is cold on the floor until I turn the fan on the stove.

[d30gaijin]

I find that using the stove
to heat quickly and the fan to distribute it through the trailer. Otherwise it is cold on the floor until I turn the fan on the stove.

South Penn,

If the floor is cold put some shoes on... that's a joke, of course in that I figure you do. Still, how cold can a floor be if you're wearing shoes and socks? If it is that cold, and that where the cold is coming in from then throw down some extra carpeting for insulation, wool carpet remnants come to mind.

Don

[bobhenry]

We winter camp as well ( But not as often as you )

I placed 2 layers of 1/2" blue foam on the floor ,then a 7/16 sub floor over the foam. Lastley, a carpet remnant was installed on top. No more cold floors. The ceiling fan idea posted earlier was good but I point mine UP to wash the heat back down the sidewalls with less of a draft.

[mskobier]

southpennrailroad,

If I may offer a suggestion. Since you are not in a tiny trailer, but are currently living in a CT conversion that may not be that well insulated, I would seriously look into one of the Mr. Heater Big Buddies. I have one and that thing is awsome. The Big Buddy is designed for indoor and outdoor use. It is rated to heat 400 sqft. It is the same operational design as the much more expensive Olympic catilytic heaters sold for RV use. It has a tip over switch as well as a low oxygen sensor that shuts the unit off if the oxygen get too low. It can be mounted on a wall. It can be run off of one or two of the disposable propane bottles or using the appropriate adapter hose, can be run on an external propane tank (20lb, 30lb, etc). It has a pretty long run time when connected to the external tank. It has three heat settings. 4,000, 9,000 and 18,000 btu. I would imagine that the low setting would keep your trailer fairly warm through the night. Sure is a lot better than running a portable generator all night trying to stay warm. It also has an internal fan that is battery powered, but also has provisions for an external 6v adapter. A 12v to 6vd power supply would be very easy to put together to allow running off the trailer battery. Just this past week, I saw factory refurbished units on sale at the local Ace Hardware for $99.00. So with all that said, I think that in your current situation, you really need to look into some sort of reliable heat. I spent a number of years working in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York area and let me tell you it does get cold! Cold enough that you really need to consider a reliable heating system. Again, the Big Buddy only requires propane to run. The fan is not a requirement, though it does help spread the heat around. Anyway, good luck and what ever you decide, be safe.

Mitch

[southpennrailroad]

I finally got my blue flame propane wall mounted heater up and running. It is great. Last night the temps were down to 27 and I had the heater off until morning or if I was awake I would use it until I was getting my second sleep which I would shut it down. I always leave the vent open and it brings the temps up from inside @ 30 to almost 70 in ten minutes. I am using the 20 lb tanks. I have a second so if one goes empty the other will be connected. No I don't have a auto switch over just yet. I KNOW this will get me through the winter now. I saw a place not far from where I work which sells the 80 lb tanks and may just get one at a later date. $83.00. I have a storage shed which I will then keep the present 20 lbs tanks as extras filled tanks and use them as I need them.

The blue flame wall heater is rated for 300 sq feet. I am in a 60 sq foot trailer. On low it is doing a great job. Thanks but a Mr. Buddy heater is not what I need. This thing is great. Very comfortable with it. I have a 1 foot fan in the vent and it stays open for vent and air. I might even be thinking that is too much opening. I wish I had bought a thermostatic control heater. In fact the temp outside is presently 36 and I have to go and shut the thing off now as it is inside now @ 70 degrees.

[mskobier]

southpennrailroad,

I am glad you now have a reliable source of heat. So when those really cold noghts come, you will not have to worry about waking up shivering.

I am with some of the other posters in recommending some scrap carpet pad and carpet. Get the 1/2 in pad and whatever carpet you can find. That will make a huge difference in the floor temp.

Good luck and stay safe
Mitch

[GPW]

In the old Van days , we'd put down a 4"-6" layer of foam ... then backed shag carpet ... Nice and soft , and a great insulator (although I have no scientific theories or formulas to back up my statement )

[tk]

I used to smoke and happened to work at a smoke-free plant. We were allowed to smoke outside, though. So in winter I would take an overturned bucket outside with a piece of blue board insulation, sit on that and smoke away over breaks. My arse would sweat while the rest of me froze. Blue (or pink) board directly under your sleeping area will work wonderfully (though it may not be as soft as you like) and will last much better than the white styrofoam.

Best,
Tom