Avoiding Plumbing Freeze while on road

[TenderSeat]

Hello Everyone! We have a travel trailer that is supposedly "Extreme Weather" ready with "Enclosed Tanks". But we are planning a December trip to Nashville, where it can be Extreme! Any thoughts on avoiding freezing problems while on the road...not in the campground, but actually hauling on the interstate's if the temps are below freezing? Running the furnace while enroute may not be advisable, and if it is, wouldn't the air speed tend to blow out the flame anyway?

[charliez]

It shouldn't blow out the flame as the flame is actually inside the unit and the vents are on the side and not taking in direct wind. A simple solution would be to drain the tanks, w/h, and lines then there is nothing to freeze. Don't forget about the hose in an outside shower if you have one and open the faucet to allow air in once you pull the low point drain valves. Then when you get wherever your going, simply hookup and use it.

[creativepart]

I'd not worry about running the propane heater in my RV. I doubt the heater flame would blow out from driving - and if it did the heater will turn itself off if the flame goes out and doesn't relight.

The kind of cold you need to worry about is not an overnight drop into the low 30's or high 20's as long as it's going to warm to above freezing during the following day. The kind that is a problem is 2 or 3 consecutive mid-20's days that never go above freezing. Especially if you're living in the RV and running the heater.

Also, I wouldn't put a huge amount of trust in the "Extreme Weather" claim. If that's the factory's claim, then it's probably because they took a little effort to make the RV 3-season ready. But not what people would really describe as EXTREME.

Also remember your propane furnace's ducting is routed around those "enclosed tanks" and that's mostly what supplies the protection for the tanks. So, if you decide to save propane by running an electric space heater you will not have that same level of protection.

[keymastr]

I run my furnace all the time when traveling in winter. Set it to 50 and do not drain anything. If your water heater is hot before you leave it will likely still be lukewarm after several hours, they are very well insulated.

If overnight temps are in the mid teens and daytime gets to 40 there is little chance of anything freezing. 2nd day with daytime temps below 25 I start to leave heat on.

[Bigbird65]

keymastr we have a Winnebago 2250Ds and started out Tuesday morning with the temperature at 20 degf. 306 miles later when we got to our next camping spot it was 30 degf. Before we left I set the thermostat on 58 degf. At destination it was warm in the Minnie and no frozen items. The furnace is an Atwood and we were driving 65.


Today I winterized using my air compressor.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by creativepart

The kind of cold you need to worry about is not an overnight drop into the low 30's or high 20's as long as it's going to warm to above freezing during the following day. The kind that is a problem is 2 or 3 consecutive mid-20's days that never go above freezing. Especially if you're living in the RV and running the heater.

How does living in the RV and running the heater make the problem worse? I would have thought it'd make it better because you'd be running water through the pipes and drains occasionally.

Ray

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by NXR

How does living in the RV and running the heater make the problem worse? I would have thought it'd make it better because you'd be running water through the pipes and drains occasionally.

Ray

yes, you are correct. Sorry, it was very poorly worded, the “Especially if you’re running” comment goes with the cold you don’t “need to worry about”

Better stated:
You don’t need to worry about below freezing overnights if they are not followed by below freezing days, in general. And, especially, you need not worry about freezes if you are living in the RV and running the RV’s heater.

[NevadaNick]

If everything is in heated space then leave everything on. I used to do it with our tt all the time and never had an issue. Sometimes when it was near 0 i would put a gallon of rv antifreeze in each holding tank.