Community Forums

Baggypants · 08-22-2013, 12:49 PM

Will the heat pump/LP furnace provide enough heat in the storage compartments and water center to prevent water line freeze-up? If freezing/rupturing water system is a risk in cold temperatures, what can be done to prevent freezing? Thanks for comments.

Cousin Ed · 08-22-2013, 01:08 PM

We travel form Cape Cod to FL in the very end of Dec. full of water etc. We have traveled through single digit temps without any problems. When we had gassers the engine heated the whole coach but with the DP we have to use the furnace when it's very cold. Our heat pump switches to gas around 37 degrees.

lappir · 08-22-2013, 07:55 PM

Maybe and maybe not. My 5th wheel was "supposed" to be cold weather ready and did ok until it got to the 20's overnight. woke up with water in the bathroom but not in the kitchen, or the water heater. Cold shower that morning. Found later that the water pipes running to the heater and kitchen area were tucked behind the frame rails and not insulated. The water tank was in a heated area as was the water pump and of course the bathroom lines. Fixin that real soon.

Rod

Rockwood27 · 08-22-2013, 08:32 PM

My '06 Itasca (gas) has heated bays (so I thought). To check this out, I placed a remote thermometer in each bay (except the driver side bays as part of the slideout). All were heated, except the bay, which housed the water tank drain valves and water pump. Go figure.

What was Winnebago thinking? I ended up boring holes between this bay and the adjacent heated bay and puting round house soffit vents in the holes. The drain valves and water pump are now heated.

You may want to do the same thermometer test if unsure or unless someone here has the same year/model and can confirm them all being heated.

Fran

KSCRUDE · 08-22-2013, 08:42 PM

Was out several weeks last winter in our baby Newmar and it got down in the teens many nights. Never a problem at all. It did get down in the mid 30ies in the wet bay as I have a remote indoor outdoor thermo there. I did insulate the floor of the wet bay with a couple layers of carpet as the bottom is just plastic. All we ever do is dry camp so no water hoses or sewer drains to worry about.

jarwiebe · 08-22-2013, 10:00 PM

We picked up our coach in Arizona in March of this year and drove it back to Manitoba and did not winterize till I was parked in my driveway. I used a macerator pump to drain my tanks and then winterized standing knee deep in snow (lots of fun). It was minus 17*F when we got home and had no problem with anything freezing up on us.

Bryantclan · 08-22-2013, 10:00 PM

Both our current Newmar and our last fleetwood where good down to -12. Although you really burn some propane to stay warm down that low.

We travel from CO to CA for Xmas and New Years and it gets very cold crossing I-80 that time of year. We have found as long as we keep the heat above 70 and the water heater on we don't run in to any problems.

This was us last year when I took this is was -2 F

gemini5362 · 08-24-2013, 12:35 AM

Depending on your unit. If you have roof mounted heat pumps they probably will not help your water tanks at all. On our allegro bus the only heat to the water compartments are from the Furnace. Like the earlier poster said when it gets to 37 degrees our heat pumps automatically shut off and the propane furnace heats the coach and the underneath compartments. I also have an indoor outdoor thermometer to monitor the water compartments.

w1kk3d · 08-25-2013, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryantclan

Both our current Newmar and our last fleetwood where good down to -12. Although you really burn some propane to stay warm down that low.

We travel from CO to CA for Xmas and New Years and it gets very cold crossing I-80 that time of year. We have found as long as we keep the heat above 70 and the water heater on we don't run in to any problems.

This was us last year when I took this is was -2 F

I don't mean to hijack this thread but we plan on travelling from Parker to Anaheim, CA for Thanksgiving and would love some advice (best route, do's/dont's, driving is snowy weather, overnight stays, etc.) Our RV is typically winterized and stored around this time but a slight change of plans this year has us heading out to our annual CA trip a little later than normal. Any pointers/tips would be appreciated!