Community Forums

Tom222 · 01-08-2015, 07:00 AM

Ok, the Temps got down to 5 last night and we are not getting above freezing today. I have no hot water coming from the kitchen faucet of the bathroom faucet. I have limited hot water at the wet bay, but I have a heat lamp in the wet bay. The sun is coming up and will flood the side of the RV and I hope it will warm whatever is frozen. Does anybody have any ideas how I can solve this problem? Or do I need to worry about busted pipes? I had the gas heat on all night and some bays are heated.

camato5 · 01-08-2015, 07:31 AM

you are going to have to force warm air in there. If not you could bust a pipe. Perhaps you can get a good electric space heater in that area., I would not wait too long to act. You might get lucky but why chance it
Good luck

Elf111 · 01-08-2015, 07:32 AM

Open cupboard doors turn u the heat, if you can get water from someplace make coffee and give it some time. Listen for your pump if everything is turned off and your pump starts running you have a leak if not you got lucky. We also had a couple pipes freeze overnight eight below will do that, I aimed a electric heater toward the suspect area and in about five minuets had it thawed. Note always draw coffee water before going to bed have to have priorities in order.

ChasA · 01-08-2015, 07:34 AM

Try opening the cabinet doors below the sinks. Sinks in many motor homes is typically on an outside wall and the pipes in the wall can freeze. You can use a blow dryer to help, but be careful not to over heat the pipes and fittings.
Good luck.

Tom222 · 01-08-2015, 07:35 AM

The problem is, I have no idea where the pipes are frozen, it could be anywhere under the coach.

jacwjames · 01-08-2015, 08:20 AM

What kind of RV do you have, this may help others in answering.

I had a Class C that basically had a single line running from faucet to faucet.

If your wet bay water is working that narrows it down to the front of the wet bay. I would put a space heater in one of the bays in front of the wet bay. The heat should migrate up and across the top of the bays and hopefully thaw your frozen line.

Lowes or Home depot sells a thermostatic plug that kicks on at ~38F. After you get you pipes thawed you could put a could extra drop lights in the front bays to help keep these warm, they will kick on and off with the settings of the thermo plug.

Elf111 · 01-08-2015, 08:46 AM

Most rv's the waterlines go from the wet bay directly into the home to help prevent freezing they typically run along the outside wall behind closets opening doors will allow air to circulate in these areas. Open them at night to help prevent future problems. A remote thermometer in the wet bay allows you too monitor temps. Hope you get water soon.

GlenB · 01-08-2015, 08:52 AM

I am not sure about this but don't you need to turn on your hot water facets to help relieve the pressure as those pipes begin to thaw. I am not sure about that but someone with more knowledge can help. You likely are already doing that. Don't leave the RV with them on thou or they could flood the place....best of luck on this...glenb

corjaguar · 01-08-2015, 09:01 AM

If I were you, I would go to a ace hardware or whoever sells heat tape......ace is one place that comes to mind, I really have not seen anything like that at a lowes of hd......apply heat where needed.

Crasher · 01-08-2015, 09:21 AM

One thing I have noticed on all motorhomes is that the most vulnerable area to freezing is the least insulated. The bottom of the wet bay is just plastic. A lot of cold can migrate through it. When we were traveling in a lot of cold weather, I sprayed the bottom of the coach including the wet bay with 2" of urathane. What a difference it made to the entire coach. If we were still traveling in potentially cold weather, I would do the same with this coach. It was $200 of "warmth" insurance.

Tom222 · 01-08-2015, 10:44 AM

I have a piece of insulation board on the bottom of the wet bay. I have a thermostat control and a heat lamp in the wet bay.

The hot water did work from the wet bay faucet , but now it does not, ( even though the temps has risen to 18 c) . I have cold water inside and out, but no hot water. I don't have full basements in my RV. I only have side compartments.

My RV in a: Fleetwood Providence 40X Diesel

Tom222 · 01-08-2015, 12:37 PM

Well my RV was parked exposing the passenger side to direct sunlight. The warmth of the direct sunlight thawed the frozen pipe and now all water lines are running free. I decided to turn off the hot water heater tonight, because apparently only the hot water is freezing, because as you know hot water freezes faster than cold water. Thanks for all the input.

msturtz · 01-08-2015, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom222

Well my RV was parked exposing the passenger side to direct sunlight. The warmth of the direct sunlight thawed the frozen pipe and now all water lines are running free. I decided to turn off the hot water heater tonight, because apparently only the hot water is freezing, because as you know hot water freezes faster than cold water. Thanks for all the input.

Don't turn off the hot water heater. You really don't want it or the lines going to it to freeze.

DonavonP · 01-08-2015, 01:31 PM

On this thread http://www.irv2.com/forums/f107/08-r...0e-175690.html post # 6 the gentleman says his 08 Providence heats the lower area with the rear heater only.
Your 07 Providence might be similar. You could look for air ducts in the area of your wet bay and make sure the vents are open and then force your rear heater to work harder than your front heater.

You might want to reconsider turning off your water heater.