Cold Weather Questions

[smo99]

Hi folks,

Sorry for the lengthy message, there are a few questions herein:

My wife and I just bought our first Class A (2008 Berkshire 390QS) two days ago in Salt Lake City and we're driving back to Atlanta. We stayed our first night in Moab, no issues. Today we drove 13 hours through a blizzard, freezing fog, etc. We got to Santa Rosa, NM tonight (late) and our water filter was frozen.

I took the filter off, dumped it out...it wasn't frozen solid. But my pump does not want to pump water tonight. I've just turned it off to prevent it from burning up--it didn't run more than a minute tonight, but I don't have pressure.

I had the tank heaters on all day and the furnace--may have run my batteries down pretty low during the drive (and I'm not sure if the tank heaters run on batteries even when the coach is running?).
Q1: Do the tank blankets only run off the batteries? Will the running coach keep things at a safe charge level? (our lights were dim when we first hooked into shore power--so I'm wondering if we really drew down the batteries)

I'm running the furnace hoping some heat will get into the bays and thaw things out...we ran the furnace all day for heat as well. I was hoping that would keep things warm down there...apparently not warm enough.

Any thoughts on how to keep the water bay (where all the valves live) warm during a day like today when you're on the road and it's really cold? Some sort of heat blanket or heat tape?

Any help, suggestions and guidance would be appreciated. Heading to bed, but hoping my water lines thaw by morning.

Mark...

[BFlinn181]

The 12 v tank heaters can usually barely keep things above 32º on a calm night, while driving the chilling air blowing under and past the compartment can negate the heat pads. 12 v heaters will draw down the batteries pretty fast, and when the voltage drops the heat produced drops too.

In extreme conditions, you could run your generator and have 120 v AC space heater running in the wet bay. I don't know how your rig is set up, but many charge the house batteries on the alternator when the engine is running. With the generator running, your converter/charger will charge the house batteries. To check to see if the alternator charges the house batteries, you need a meter to read the voltage on the batteries. A charged battery at rest should read 12.4 v. When charging, the voltage should read higher than 13.4 v to overcome internal resistance and charge them.

[Erlingiii]

We camp year round, and we've been in the cold, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri. The alternator should keep the batteries charged, but you'll want to check to be sure. Running the gen set will definitely charge the batteries. An easy cheap fix is a cheap aluminum clip light/trouble light. You can use a 100w bulb, clip it in the wet bay and point it towards the water pump. Your tanks didn't freeze, most likely it was a supply line near the water pump. Camping in the winter can be tricky, always make sure your furnace does most of the work, that'll keep warm air in the basement. Always have your sewer line at a consistent grade so it will drain completely. If you can isolate where it's freezing you can run heat tape along that line. One of the best winter tricks is to use the 3m window insulation, the clear heat shink plastic, it makes a huge, huge difference.

[Waiter21]

I know your setup is better equipped to handle cold weather than mine, but when we travel through winter weather, One of the tricks we use to keep the black and gray tanks from freezing, we limit the use, and flush the toilet with windshield washer fluid. Make sure to use the -30 degree stuff, not the plain pretty blue water stuff.