How much snow and ice is too much on my MH?

[Northern Boy]

So it's all starting to get a bit silly here, we have about 2 feet of snow on the ground and on top of the MH. I am quite used to the climate here but new to owning a MH.

I am keeping an electric fan heater on frost setting about plus 2 c inside the MH, however this is melting the snow adjacent to the bodywork, some freezes on the roof and some runs down the side of the MH and freezes as its minus 10 today was minus 15 overnight. There is a build up of ice all over the windscreen and upper bodywork.

I expect outside temperatures to stay below freezing for the next two week at least and maybe longer before any thaw is likely. Its still snowing now and we could have another foot or two in the coming weeks.

I can open the side door and all is nice and dry inside, electrics hooked up, batteries on charge.

Its the snow and ice build up I am interested in, any advise, guidance or thoughts on this, photos attached.

 

[Figaro]

I don't think the ice and snow should be a problem but probably best left alone until it thaws now.
I just ventilate rather than leave heat on but I can see why you wanted to heat with -15 overnight.
Don't worry it'll be fine when it warms up

 

[Jenben]

From our experience in really cold temps it’s best to keep the roof clear of snow straight away. It’s impossible to clear after a day or so once an icy crust forms. If you leave it then you end up with a very thick layer of ice under the snow where it melts and refreezes on the roof. As this builds up you can then get problems with seals and roof hatches.

Our neighbours in Montgenevre couldn’t move their van for 3 days due to a 3 inch layer of ice on top of the gearbox after snow melting from the windscreen and bonnet got in:-(

 

[DavidG58]

not wishing to take away from your question, but why do people have so much trouble gauging depth of snow or water for that matter

2’ would be somewhere near the top of your wheels

but I would get the heating up and melt it, we had about 3” on ours a few weeks ago, when it melted I think the standing snow stopped the water running off and we had a leak through a sky light

put in on Ramps to get more slope , or if like us I lowered one side of our E&P jacks to do the same

 

[ambulancekidd]

A fan heater isn't the most efficient way of protecting your van from frost & snow, we use a convection heater on frost protection.
It uses very little electricity & despite the last two days of constant snow, none is settling on the roof or windows on our van. The convection heater kicks in if the temp gets below 5c & despite or van being 26yrs old, its bone dry inside.

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[pappajohn]

Our neighbours in Montgenevre couldn’t move their van for 3 days due to a 3 inch layer of ice on top of the gearbox after snow melting from the windscreen and bonnet got in:-(

That makes little sense.
The ice is on the outside of the gearbox and will soon melt once the gearbox has warmed up.
If there was ice on the windscreen would that stop them moving.

 

[Jenben]

pappajohn Ok I’ll explain further.

The snow melted off their silver screen in the sun, poured through the bonnet vents and refroze on the very cold gearbox, covering the exposed selector arm and cable on top of it in a thick layer of ice. The gearbox couldn’t warm anything until they got moving which wasn’t going to happen as they couldnt get it out of neutral. Temperatures of -20c overnight and max of -15c in the day make managing snow and ice a bit more of a challenge than usual

Does that make sense now?

 

[Figaro]

I think they need to check the scutle drains, the melt water shouldn`t be getting onto the gearbox

 

[Jenben]

I think they need to check the scutle drains, the melt water shouldn`t be getting onto the gearbox

Blocked with ice. The water took an unusual route, not helped by snow bridging over the drains, and the way he had fitted his silver screen. Thats my point, in such extreme temperatures clearing the snow is the best way to avoid strange problems.

 

[Garfields]

Unless you need to move it I would leave alone unless you have a big depth of wet snow
You could brush it off if you have a ladder you can safely use in those conditions
Personally I haven't bothered on the van but have occasionally got the snow of the conservatory roof when things have been bad which is not often here

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[Northern Boy]

Thank you funsters for all your thoughts and opinions, I wonder if I built a ramp I could get the snowblower up and over the roof!!!!!! Had another dump (snow) last night and thought about this as I was clearing up, its not been a bad night as its only minus 12 c today.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Loooks nice , where are you again ?

 

[vanphil]

Two years ago while in Slovenia we had 1.5 meters of snow each night for a week. Lot of work constantly clearing it but no damage.

 

[Raul]

I use a window T squeegee and clean the snow. I don’t let it build up. The solar panels takes most of the roof and are flat. I don’t fancy hundreds of kilos of ice and snow on flat panels. Same for the windscreen and vents.
For the record, at minus 15-20C deg the snow moves like fluffy sand, frozen and doesn’t stick. When near 0 deg the snow sticks. If it warms up that’s when you clean it up before it freezes. If it’s frozen, I don’t touch it. It does not snow at -15-20C, it’s always close to -2-3 deg. The most horrible one is frozen rain, it covers everything in ice. It stall my wind turbine and had to take it down.

 

[Northern Boy]

Loooks nice , where are you again ?

Estonia

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[BobandLoulou]

Lovely to see the snowy pictures and thanks for an interesting topic/chat, you have got me thinking, although we don't have much snow here in 'Sunny' Bognor Regis' so may not be a problem for me. I hope no damage occurs on your MH.

 

[SpeedyDux]

If you heat the interior what you don't want is moist air turning to condensation (or ice) on the inside of the snowed-over windscreen, then going into the electrics behind the dashboard. Mabe you need to dehumidify the warm air at the same time.

 

[Northern Boy]

Such nice replies, the Hobby appears nice and dry inside nothing is damp, the air here is very dry and not as damp as i remember the UK where I lived all my live until I decided to escape from the madding crowd. Bless you all and once again thank you for your constructive comments.

 

[Northern Boy]

I cleaned all the snow off the MH the other day, took an hour or so, very cold and slippery up on top. And then....it snowed again!!!!

 

[Geo]

1mm

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[pappajohn]

pappajohn Ok I’ll explain further.

The snow melted off their silver screen in the sun, poured through the bonnet vents and refroze on the very cold gearbox, covering the exposed selector arm and cable on top of it in a thick layer of ice. The gearbox couldn’t warm anything until they got moving which wasn’t going to happen as they couldnt get it out of neutral. Temperatures of -20c overnight and max of -15c in the day make managing snow and ice a bit more of a challenge than usual

Does that make sense now?

Well, I would take the logical solution and boil a kettle of water to melt the ice in the critical areas.
Unfortunately, some people can't see logic.

 

[stevewagner]

pappajohn Ok I’ll explain further.

The snow melted off their silver screen in the sun, poured through the bonnet vents and refroze on the very cold gearbox, covering the exposed selector arm and cable on top of it in a thick layer of ice. The gearbox couldn’t warm anything until they got moving which wasn’t going to happen as they couldnt get it out of neutral. Temperatures of -20c overnight and max of -15c in the day make managing snow and ice a bit more of a challenge than usual

Does that make sense now?

Made sense to me