Cold Weather Camping

[Roy W.]

My wife and I have decided to have a "Smoky Mountain Christmas" and will be staying in a campground in Sevierville, TN for 10 days. Previously our only cold weather camping experiences were limited to an occasional overnight low in the high 20's. In anticipation of regular nightly freezing temperatures in the 20's while in Sevierville, I am unsure about hookups. (1)Is it easiest to just keep the water tank filled and operate off it and not hook up the water hose permanently or buy a heat tape for the water hose..?? (2) My water heater is in the same compartment where the plastic inlet water hose check valve fitting is located. Will the proximity of the water heater keep that fitting from freezing..?? (3) There is a exterior plastic drain fitting under the trailer for the water tank that obviously has water in it. Should it be insulated or protected in any way..?? (4) I'm assuming that I should use my holding tanks and only hook up the sewer hose to dump, correct..??

I special ordered the trailer with an extra insulation package. We're looking forward to this experience.

[Roy W.]

My wife and I have decided to have a "Smoky Mountain Christmas" and will be staying in a campground in Sevierville, TN for 10 days. Previously our only cold weather camping experiences were limited to an occasional overnight low in the high 20's. In anticipation of regular nightly freezing temperatures in the 20's while in Sevierville, I am unsure about hookups. (1)Is it easiest to just keep the water tank filled and operate off it and not hook up the water hose permanently or buy a heat tape for the water hose..?? (2) My water heater is in the same compartment where the plastic inlet water hose check valve fitting is located. Will the proximity of the water heater keep that fitting from freezing..?? (3) There is a exterior plastic drain fitting under the trailer for the water tank that obviously has water in it. Should it be insulated or protected in any way..?? (4) I'm assuming that I should use my holding tanks and only hook up the sewer hose to dump, correct..??

I special ordered the trailer with an extra insulation package. We're looking forward to this experience.

[Jeff_in_The_Dalles]

I've been down in the single digits with no problems, as long as you keep the furnace set at at least 50... My dump valves are inclosed in the insulated belly, but the little plastic drain valve is exposed. It probably wouldn't hurt to put a foam cover on it, but I've never had a problem (it seems to be made of soft plastic that probably can expand enough to survive a freezing or two).

Hose wise, I would expect the choice is yours (use your tank, or heat and insulate the hose).

[Ray,IN]

Whenever camping in sub-freezing temperatures I operate self-contained. This eliminates the issues of frozen fresh water hose, frozen/plugged sewer hose. Your RV is designed to be comfortable living self-contained, right!

[jaycocamprs]

We always run of the fresh water tank in freezing temps. Never have had any problem with the drain valves, other than it freezing shut. A few minutes with a hair dryer will fix that. We always run 2 electric heaters and the furnace almost never runs still have never had a problem with the waste tanks if the valves are enclosed. Before we had the power cord changed to the detachable style we would in freezing temps pass a 15 extension (plugged into the 20amp outlet) cord through along with the main 30 amp power cord to run 1 of the heaters on.