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mtofell · 02-06-2019, 08:03 PM

2016 5th wheel with pex piping and metal clamps

It's been a warm-ish winter where I live and I thought I was going to make it without winterizing (I use the RV during the winter a bit for a place to hide and get some work done so it's nice to have the water running). Anyway, I had little warning, little time and my air compressor crapped out before a pretty deep freeze. Temps got down to the low 20s last night. Before it froze I drained the water holding tank, drained the water heater and ran every fixture as dry as possible with the water pump. All of the faucets are wide open as well.

I work on houses and have done a lot of winterizing/de-winterizing so I totally get how things work. I've just never screwed up this bad with my RV. I know all the weaknesses of the plumbing and am ready for leaks at the toilet valves and other connections. Hoping I got enough water out with the pump to keep from breaking things.

Any input or past experiences are appreciated.

clifford j · 02-06-2019, 08:24 PM

I guess the best thing you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best. Pex won't be a problem the plastic fittings will be at risk of possible cracking . The toilet may be ok ,might not have been that cold inside.
Before I would charge the system with water I would charge it with air and check for pressure loss. That means you need to fix your compressor.

CLIFFORD

road dogs · 02-06-2019, 10:48 PM

PEX is pretty forgiving, I wouldn't worry too much. Biggest concern would be the fresh water pump if you used the on board water and didn't purge that but we really haven't had a hard freeze so far. Not sure where you live but I live in Independence and so far the coldest we've seen here it is about 28-29F, not really cold enough to hurt anything. If you haven't had a chance to winterize yet, place a small heater or incandescent lamp SAFELY inside near the water pump or turn the propane heater on low for a night or two until you can git 'er done. We've kept ours semi-unwinterized because we were planning on heading to AZ, but right now the passes out of the Willamette Valley don't look good for pulling a 5th wheel so we're going to wait and see how things are after the 15th or so. Also, you might be able to use the pressure side of a vac cleaner and some creative duct taping to a garden hose to get enough pressure to blow out the lines if your compressor is out of service.

grindstone01 · 02-06-2019, 10:50 PM

Usually water lines that freeze and burst in the 20's F were under line pressure like 60 psi. If your lines were low/no water pressure, than they should handle a lot of expansion before bursting, like into the teens.

Mark_K5LXP · 02-07-2019, 05:19 AM

For just the purpose of getting caught in the cold out on a trip, broken/unavailable compressor or other unforeseen circumstance, I keep a gallon of RV antifreeze on board. Yeah, I'd rather blow out to winterize but I would rather flush out pink stuff than replace a busted fixture or fitting. So get familiar with the antifreeze winterization process for your rig and if it didn't come with the pump inlet hose, get one and install it so you're ready to go. I practiced with a gallon jug of water with a few drops of food color in it just so I could see how long it took to get the stuff through the system. Made some notes in my owner manual and I'm covered should the need arise.

Not sure if this would've been an option for you but the same thing that works to keep pipes from freezing in a house works in RV's too. Run the fixtures at a drip so that they don't get a chance to freeze. A bit harder in an RV if you're not connected to city water or have any water on board but if it's an option it's better than doing nothing.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

charliez · 02-07-2019, 05:22 AM

Did you run some heat inside it?

**Spdracr39** · 02-07-2019, 06:49 AM

If you had the heat on your fine. No heat, I would say the two most susceptible items are the toilet valve and the water pump filter housing. If it was only in the 20's for one night and above freezing in the day time you are probably fine.

Rolfsted · 02-07-2019, 07:40 AM

Maybe get a fitting and use compressed air. Open all faucets and see if air comes out. Then close off one at a time leaving one open. if air comes out the faucet the pipe is open. Just a thought. If the pipe has ice in it the air might not make it to the faucets.

mtofell · 02-07-2019, 09:45 AM

Thanks everyone.... I feel a bit better.

To answer a few questions:

I'm just south of Portland - snow and hard freezes are somewhat rare around here. Especially, considering through January we hadn't had one. Looks like we could be in for some serious snow over the weekend. They are calling for as much as 12" by Tuesday!

I figured the piping itself was pretty strong. Toilets and the pump makes sense as the biggest problems.

I can't heat the whole trailer in area reasonable way - I've got two bathrooms at opposite ends, outdoor kitchen, indoor kitchen and outside shower. The front bedroom really doesn't get much heat from the furnace, the outside kitchen and outside shower would get none and one of the bathrooms gets none. I figured I just be burning through a bunch of propane to heat 1/3 of the plumbing areas.

Come to think of it I've never run anti-freeze through the pump and it's been fine. In the past I've just done the compressor attached to city water inlet and blown everything out.

I guess I'll just wait and see what happens! Thanks,

charliez · 02-07-2019, 10:11 AM

You don't need it to be comfortable warm. Just above freezing. I got a thermostat pulg on Amazon. Search those words. There are several different ones. I got the Lux. We're only had one night when it got very cold. I plugged a simple electric heater that will come back on when the power comes back on and set the temp to 50 and opened all the doors and cabinets. It handled it just fine. I set the heater on the floor in the back. The next morning I checked it and it did the job.

You can use it for anything as long as it is within the load rating. Lights anything

TRNewsom · 02-08-2019, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark_K5LXP

Not sure if this would've been an option for you but the same thing that works to keep pipes from freezing in a house works in RV's too. Run the fixtures at a drip so that they don't get a chance to freeze. A bit harder in an RV if you're not connected to city water or have any water on board but if it's an option it's better than doing nothing.

Be careful letting water drip. Had a friend do that, the drain froze and trailer flooded.

charliez · 02-08-2019, 10:49 AM

Run the fixtures at a drip

That's not that great of an idea as said due to the tank that is holding the water. You might just have a several hundred pound ice block in the tanks that may take days to thaw.

The single best option is to remove all water from everything. And don't forget things like the outside shower, potty valve, and fixtures. With no water, there is nothing to freeze.