Murphy's law strikes! How do you deal with freezing conditions

[Tony Lee]

.run your cold water tap in the trailer (bathroom or kitchen sink) just a drizzle. Running water will not freeze however this is not the most water friendly process.
Not sure if the grey water tank valve should be left open or not ....so the water runs to the sewer.

Two possible outcomes - either an overflowing grey water tank and flooding inside, or a slinky full of ice.

BTW I recall Niagra falls just about freezing solid so running a dribble through pipes is no guarantee either.

[IdahoBob]

Even in the relatively mild winter of the Tri-Cities, WA area, folks at our RV park have reported frozen sewer hoses as a result leaving a faucet running. So we don't.

Temps here this winter have been down in the teens (deg F) for a couple of weeks at night, then way up to the mid 20's, sometimes even 30 (today). We keep our grey water valve open and frequently run very hot water down the sewer line.

And we have a Camco electrically heated water hose. So far, no problems. I completely drained our fresh water tank before winter set in. I did not want to risk freezing and rupturing that. I have no idea how much furnace heat is pumped down into the tank area. And we only use our furnace to take the chill off in the morning. After that our fireplace, sometimes supplemented by a second portable electric heater, keeps up toasty. (The cost of electricity is included with our fixed monthly payment. )

MR. WONDERFUL

[Mr_D]

Well a friend of ours winterizes his Essex, than he and the DW fly back to Hawaii for the winter!

[UTTransplant]

Since this is the Outdoors RV section, let me ask some specifics about that brand of trailer. I can't see any way to put a light near the tank since it is sealed. I know many/most Class As have access to their wet bays, but I don't think we do. Am I missing something? We will be in occasional cold weather, but nothing that lasts for days, and it should get well above freezing during the daytime. I am planning on just leaving the tanks winterized as we leave Salt Lake City, and cleaning everything up when we hit our first campground well south. After that we will run off tanks if it gets cold, and keep the furnace running to keep the tanks warm enough to not freeze.

[1bigmess]

Originally Posted by UTTransplant

After that we will run off tanks if it gets cold, and keep the furnace running to keep the tanks warm enough to not freeze.

Running the furnace when it gets below 40 outside seems to be working well for me here in the Mojave desert. We had a few days that have just gone by that were well below freezing, down in the twenties, and I haven't had any troubles, and most of the time the furnace thermostat has been set to fifty five degrees F.

[brulaz]

Originally Posted by UTTransplant

Since this is the Outdoors RV section, let me ask some specifics about that brand of trailer. I can't see any way to put a light near the tank since it is sealed. I know many/most Class As have access to their wet bays, but I don't think we do. Am I missing something? We will be in occasional cold weather, but nothing that lasts for days, and it should get well above freezing during the daytime. I am planning on just leaving the tanks winterized as we leave Salt Lake City, and cleaning everything up when we hit our first campground well south. After that we will run off tanks if it gets cold, and keep the furnace running to keep the tanks warm enough to not freeze.

Like others, so far we've just run the propane furnace when necessary. But it's loud and noisy. So if 120V is available we use a small electric heater.

But that leaves the waste tanks unheated. The freshwater tank has a small 15W heater that might help heat that whole rear bay which also includes the rear grey water tank. But the black water tank and the second grey water tank are in another bay separated by the slide mechanism.

Have thought of cutting a couple of small access ports in the coroplast under these two bays and putting some 120V heat tape or 40W light bulbs in there.

When there's no 120V available the furnace is almost the only choice. Although did hear of one guy who uses a quiet catalytic propane heater inside the cabin, and then a small fan to force air into the basement. He's a full-timer up in Canada so ...

Have also heard that the Atwood 2-stage Excalibur furnaces are much better for noise and battery draw: http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/r...-excalibur.htm.

[Downwindtrac]

We froze up at the Grand Canyon. When the fog lifted , we saw the Grand Canyon in snow.That's when we found out what that hair drier was for!

[vsheetz]

- heat with furnace to warm the tanks, in conjunction with electric space heaters (to conserve propane)
- small 200w electric heater in wet bay
- leave water hose stored and use pump / onboard water
- open kitchen and bath cabinet doors to allow warm air to better circulate there
- down comforter on the bed