Winter travel and water tanks

[Blazing zipp]

We've been able to RV travel all over the West, but only in the warmer months. Now we are free to git anytime we wish.
Winter driving isn't a problem what so ever to us, however, what do folks on here do about water tanks in the trailer? We have two to three days of cold temps before we arrive in warmer climate. Has anyone used the 12 volt pad heater on the fresh tank? Do you just leave tanks empty until reaching warmth? Anti-freeze in the waste tanks?
We've skimped a night in central Oregon a couple times in freezing weather, but if we head East from our place, we would be in cold for three or four days.
SO, what do you folks do???

[Lac]

My nickels worth ( Canada doesn’t have pennies).

It depends...

If leaving after Christmas the trailer is already fully winterize already.Plan for the worst...May take a hotel/ motel....would rather sleep in a nice warm room rather than a mobile fridge.

Would not use slide...as rubber slide seals may be frozen and rip when opening.

If leaving around 1 November...bring bottles of antifreeze with us and if need be winterize enroute...we check our next stops and road reports and weather very closely.

Never used the 12 volt heating pad.

Bottom line is....it all depends....I like to err on the side of fulling winterizing the trailer....weather is unpredictable.

That’s just us...other people may do things different...there is no right or wrong
It’s what your comfortable with and how handy you are fixing leaking pipes..or replacing hot water tanks.


Coops

PS...if traveling on severe winter roads would suggest you practice putting chains on your winter tires as some highway summits it’s mandatory ....me if I need to chain up...I am getting a motel or hotel and am not moving....I am way too old to have roll in the snow....not too old for hay though. Lololo

[ModestMonk]

If you travel during the winter, it would be best to have an action plan. What low temp is your limit for taking risk? What will you do if your furnace suddenly craps out? Do you carry with you all the necessary components to winterize your trailer, and perhaps enough to re-winterize if you encounter a stretch of warm weather.

Many here would suggest traveling with the furnace on isn’t a good idea. So with the movement of the trailer keeping the temp’s up in the basement would be challenging. The 12volt tank heater is a back up. Depending on the outdoor temp’s your Pex lines may be partially or wholly frozen. The hope is once you arrive at your destination and with the furnace reignited everything would thaw out. Mean while using the good RV Antifreeze in your dump tanks, they would remain unfrozen.

We carry Jerry Cans with water and winterize once temp’s are solidly below our tolerance level. We use rinseless soap for washing up and we heat water on the stove for bathing and doing dishes. I also have a second set of propane tanks secured in the tongue tray so that the furnace has plenty of fuel on real cold streaks.

I won’t tolerate marginal tires while traveling in the winter. When I returned home from last summers trip, two tires needed to be replaced no questions asked. However the front axle tires were well within spec, I’ve replaced them also. I’m also considering getting a set of traction bands for an unforeseen weather event.

[Blazing zipp]

I never thought about the slides..... We can access all our unit without the slides out, but forgot about seals, etc. Interesting.
We've lived in the Sierras where the snow got over the roof tops, ice dams froze the front door closed for days, never took the trucks out of 4WD for a month, you know- "making memories." So the winter driving aspect isn't paralyzing ( I remember the time we slid our zillion dollar fire truck past the explosion and the time we slid on the ice down the hill to the ambulance door with a pt on the gurney), but the tanks were a question.
Maybe, a motel wouldn't be a bad idea for a night or two.
Thanks

[IdahoBob]

Originally Posted by Blazing zipp

We've been able to RV travel all over the West, but only in the warmer months. Now we are free to git anytime we wish.
Winter driving isn't a problem what so ever to us, however, what do folks on here do about water tanks in the trailer? We have two to three days of cold temps before we arrive in warmer climate. Has anyone used the 12 volt pad heater on the fresh tank? Do you just leave tanks empty until reaching warmth? Anti-freeze in the waste tanks?
We've skimped a night in central Oregon a couple times in freezing weather, but if we head East from our place, we would be in cold for three or four days.
SO, what do you folks do???

OK, call me a Grumpy Old Man, or whatever. But, even though I may have some experience and knowledge to offer on your questions, I won't. Without your trailer, tow vehicle and home location identified in your "signature" (see below), I don't know where to start. Sorry, nothing personal, just a personal peeve on our ORV forum.

Bob

[Vintage465]

The only time we really had any issue with cold was when we were in 7 degree temps over night. We were plenty warm in the trailer...........plugged in at an RV park. Two mornings woke up with out water to the kitchen, or hot water anywhere. Had water in the bathroom basin and the toilet. Tells me the area to the left of the water heater was freezing up. It thawed out a few hours after the sun came up and I opened the cabinet door. We've survived 17-20 degree nights on 12v with the furnace and no generator, but the cloud cover was causing the batteries to start losing ground after about 4 days. Couldn't get them up over 12.5 volts with Solar during the day. Nothing froze up with those temps though.

[Lac]

Originally Posted by IdahoBob

OK, call me a Grumpy Old Man, or whatever. But, even though I may have some experience and knowledge to offer on your questions, I won't. Without your trailer, tow vehicle and home location identified in your "signature" (see below), I don't know where to start. Sorry, nothing personal, just a personal peeve on our ORV forum.

Bob

Mr. W Just like your personal peeve how to spell neighour and or colour and using Toonies, and Loonies and getting rid of pennies....oh yes let’s not forget liters and centigrade.lololol

Your humble and faithful servant as always.

LL🇨🇦

[Off Road]

I hunt Montana in late November. It has gotten down to around 5* Fahrenheit a couple times. Water lines froze to the bathroom in the back but kitchen worked. One time everything froze so we used the winter bypass as a pickup tube in a 7 gallon jug we had. That worked so the frozen area was in the freshwater tank. Cold is harder to deal with than snow, just remember to clean the slide roof of snow before you bring it in. My new trailer has a 120 volt tank pad, it is supposed to get much warmer than the 12 volt pads. I have done all my cold weather camping without hookups, if it is down in the single digits I let the 2000 watt Yamaha generator run all night to keep some juice in the batteries. The generator uses less than a gallon of gas overnight and I figure that is cheap insurance against dead batteries. I have a big buddy heater as a backup against freezing to death if the furnace should have a problem. I also open cabinets and have removed access panels to improve heat flow to water lines. I don’t worry about waste tanks freezing as there is plenty of room for expansion and I have never had a line break.

[Blazing zipp]

IdahoBob, I won't call you grumpy. Shucks, even your handle has the word Idaho in it! I will ask how to place the required information in my signature.
Until I figure out how to add the info, we use a 2016 Ram 6.4 Hemi to pull a 2019 Timber Ridge 24RKS and live in the Coeur d Alene area of beautiful North Idaho.

[altaclipper]

Mr. W Just like your personal peeve how to spell neighour and or colour and using Toonies, and Loonies and getting rid of pennies....oh yes let’s not forget liters and centigrade.lololol

Your humble and faithful servant as always.

Hey Coop, if you're going to be humble (this I gotta see!) and faithful , I have an acre of lawn one province to your right that you can come mow while we're camping in Jasper. No BC trips this year, till you guys get that pipeline plalnted! I'll even leave some hotdogs by the BBQ, for ya. Diesel is cheaper here too. For the Y'alls out there, its sold by the litre (what's a gallon?)
Just my two loonies worth of harrassment on my BC buddy.
Cheers
Glen
Calgary Alberta

[shane_the_ee]

Originally Posted by Blazing zipp

Winter driving isn't a problem what so ever to us, however, what do folks on here do about water tanks in the trailer?

Our fresh tank is inside the box, so we just keep the furnace on while we travel. We did replace the thermostat with cheap digital one...

[1bigmess]

You can run the furnace while in transit. I try not to save propane and set the thermostat to 65 except for 55 while sleeping. If the drain valve freezes, I will crank the heat up to 75 to thaw it out. Once I needed to dump the black tank but I couldn't get the valve open. I discovered it was just under the coroplast that I could access by removing an access panel at the shower, then cutting a flap in the plastic and putting a heat gun in there blasting really warm air right onto the valve.

I add a gallon or two of rv antifreeze to the sewage tanks if the temps will get below and stay below freezing. If the tanks freeze, this will help them freeze slushy instead of solid.

[Lac]

Originally Posted by altaclipper

Mr. W Just like your personal peeve how to spell neighour and or colour and using Toonies, and Loonies and getting rid of pennies....oh yes let’s not forget liters and centigrade.lololol

Your humble and faithful servant as always.

Hey Coop, if you're going to be humble (this I gotta see!) and faithful , I have an acre of lawn one province to your right that you can come mow while we're camping in Jasper. No BC trips this year, till you guys get that pipeline plalnted! I'll even leave some hotdogs by the BBQ, for ya. Diesel is cheaper here too. For the Y'alls out there, its sold by the litre (what's a gallon?)
Just my two loonies worth of harrassment on my BC buddy.
Cheers
Glen
Calgary Alberta

Hey you Hurtin Albertin....good to hear from you. Got an email from Mr. W he called Canada penniless...I’ll respond and tell him the only province in Canada that is penniless is Alberta.

Heard Alberta was going full solar panels..but they haven’t figured our a spill response for a lumens spill yet.(lumens measure of the total quantity of visible light emitted by a source per unit of time) I saved you from looking up lumens and I typed slow..thank me later.

Are you running winter diesel already...ya September thats about right.

Sorry for the hijack....Albertans tend to that.

Coops

[IdahoBob]

Originally Posted by Blazing zipp

IdahoBob, I won't call you grumpy. Shucks, even your handle has the word Idaho in it! I will ask how to place the required information in my signature.
Until I figure out how to add the info, we use a 2016 Ram 6.4 Hemi to pull a 2019 Timber Ridge 24RKS and live in the Coeur d Alene area of beautiful North Idaho.

Look on the menu bar for "User CP", select "Edit Signature" and add your stuff. Then, if your lucky, I'll pass on my sage observations.

Bob