2011 Georgetown 360DS - Frozen hot water

[RobKat]

Here in VA we got down to 4 degrees over night.......ouch. The MH stayed warm and toasty. Unfortunately, the hot water is not running - I have heat in the bays and I added a heat source in the compartment where the hose enters the motor home. There are not gaps for cold air and like I said the cold water works fine.

Has anyone had experience with freezing of the hot water lines but not the cold? Anyone have schematics of the 360DS?

I am going to assume that the hose inlet feeds for the cold water lines and a cold water line to the water heater. I would think that the two lines would be running together as they go from one side of the motorhome (water in) to the opposite side of the MH (kitchen, water heater). I have checked the hot water heater - it is warm and so is the compartment it sits in.

This is the second time this has occurred - the last time the temperature dropped to 11 degrees for just 1 night. Cold water was fine but the hot was frozen. That is why I added heat to the compartment just to be sure it would not freeze..... man, was I wrong.

Thanks!!!

[ramair]

had my hot freeze up on me and what you need to do is under the H/W tank there is a access cover undo that look up there and you will see the cold water pipe where it bends and goes into the back of the hot water tank. right there is where is freezes use a blow dryer and once it is running put a drop light up there and then place a towel to cover the hole and problem will be solved. since it has happened to me and did the drop light we are good till -10* so far.

[RobKat]

ramair - you are a genius! I put a hairdryer into the access port and in 2-3 minutes the pipe thawed and I have hot water flowing again. Had to make myself a little wire loop to hold the dryer but the world is okay with one less hanger.

I wonder why they don't use a reflective insulation in the water heater compartment? I have both the electric and gas on - would turning off the electric during cold weather make the heater use propane and generate heat that would keep the compartment warmer?

Again - many thanks!

[OldCoot]

If there is room and no danger of fire, you might get a 12 volt 1156 bulb and socket and mount it in there with a toggle switch you could control from inside when temps were expected to drop below freezing.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

If there is room and no danger of fire, you might get a 12 volt 1156 bulb and socket and mount it in there with a toggle switch you could control from inside when temps were expected to drop below freezing.

Isn't there an outlet that is temperature controlled? It comes on at a lower temp and off at a higher one? Seems like that could work well for this situation. (On edit, the "Thermo Cube" is what I saw before.)

[RobKat]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Isn't there an outlet that is temperature controlled? It comes on at a lower temp and off at a higher one? Seems like that could work well for this situation. (On edit, the "Thermo Cube" is what I saw before.)

Well, first I would need outlets..... my 2011 360 DS has only one outlet in the whole "basement". It is the compartment that goes all the way across. More than likely it was for the outside TV/Entertainment. All of the other compartments have no electricity and no lights. Our previous MH had a light in every compartment that came one when the door was opened.

If I could get schematics I could make plans to run conduit and wiring throughout. Unfortunately, they (Forest River) say they don't have any schematics and if they did you can only get them through a dealer. Of the two dealers I spoke to, neither have seen any. I called several repair shops and even they didn't have any - one guy told me he just traces what he can (electrical/plumbing) and hopes he can fix it.

I've never heard of a company manufacturing anything (especially motor homes) that didn't have schematics or at least "as-built" drawings detailing the unit. That might explain some of the differences in designs on some of the units - it depends on the day and the worker. (After finding soda cans, pieces of wood, scraps of foam in the heat ducts I'm wondering just who is building these units).

It's not like they are secrets - all anyone has to do is take one apart. There are times I've considered doing just that <grin>.

Maybe if enough of us got together we could get them to put them on the web so we could figure out how the stuff is built.

Hey, it's my world and I'm optimistic.

[Strider]

I am in VA in a travel trailer .. 30ft and last night my hot water line froze but not my cold. After tracing I discovered my lines run under the RV, exposed. The hot and cold run next to each other outside. Anyone have any ideas why the hot would freeze and not the cold? I have hot water in the kitchen but not the bathroom. I insulated and heat taped the park water line but did not realize the pipes where exposed underneath. I had a drip going in the bathroom, maybe not enough of a hot water drip?

[mbtelguy]

In 2010 I was told the same thing by forest, no schematics
are available. I also could not believe that are building units
without plans.

I wrote the president and was immediately contacted by
the electrical department asking me what I needed

I short time later they sent me 6 electrical schematics
for my 378.

I do not think they sent everything they have but what I
got has proven to be helpful'

The following was the president's name and address that
I used. Not sure it is still valid.

Peter J. Liegl
President
Forest River Inc.
Corporate Office
PO Box 3030
55740 County Road One
Elkhart, IN 46515-3030

I do agree with you all of use should get together
and put pressure on the RV manufactures to
provide documentation like is available for
Winnabago uits.

Hope this is helpful

Gary

[Sbryant]

Also available from Fleetwood for Bounders. At least we asked for and received the schematic for our old 2003 Bounder.

[ramair]

there's not enough room for a heater or anything but a drop light. I ran an extension cord from the compartment that has a plug to the drop light and now I don't have to worry about it. I've been down to -10* and no more freezing up. Thought about stuffing installation in there to fill the void but in winter camping once that compartment gets cold it will only keep it cold. Again drop light is the only answer I have for right now.

RobKat using propane will not add heat to the compartment, if you look up there the H/W heater is sealed inside the foam capsule