Coping with the deep freeze...advice?

[ChooChooMan74]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Wow...thanks for all the good suggestions folks...survived 26 degrees with no issues last nite. Will implement some additional measures before it drops lower!
Bill K gets the prize for best igloo

26 Degrees at night? We do that in New England in our Hybrid

As others stated, my biggest concerns would be the hose and any exposed plumbing.

[bigben]

Gotta fess up. Got caught in this same icebox. At Ft. Bragg last night - temps around 18, ice storm but no wind. Didn't have the options to stay where it was warmer so I stopped by Camping World picked up a 25' heated hose made sure I had plenty of propane and hunkered down. Heated hose worked like a champ but still cannot get out of here. Temp is going down to 2 degrees. Gonna stick a drop light in the water/waste water compartment, turn on the Arctic Pack and keep the furnace at 70 degrees at night and wait til next week. UUGGHH~

PS: during the day, we are using the heat strips. Unbelievably the are keeping the temp up without burning our propane. So by my count, we've saved the extra $100 per AC unit that we paid in just LP that we didn't buy.

[GABoy]

Same here. We camped for three days this past weekend and temps were in 20's at night. Ran no propane heat. Used heat strips on both front and back units and stayed cozy warm at 70. Save $ from buying propane!



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[Cornelius]

The freeze is finally reaching Florida tonight, though not nearly as bad as what some of you have been dealing with. I unpacked my two 60 watt utility lamps and placed them in the water pump and shore hook-up compartments. After dinner I'll plug in the lamps, turn on the Arctic pack, and disconnect and drain the fresh water hose outside.

There have been three occasions since I bought the Georgetown where using the 60 watt utility lamps in the compartments kept the plumbing warm, even though the outside park pipes froze.

[cjd10]

Originally Posted by GABoy

Same here. We camped for three days this past weekend and temps were in 20's at night. Ran no propane heat. Used heat strips on both front and back units and stayed cozy warm at 70. Save $ from buying propane!



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Ditto on the heat strips.
We spent this last weekend in Myrtle Beach and a few nights the temp dropped into the 20's. I have read a lot of posts scoffing the heat strips as useless in really cold weather but we used ours, and as GABoy said kept the coach right around 70° with no problem. We like the bedroom a little cooler when sleeping and ended up turning the bedroom down some.
I did turn on the arctic pak and put a light in the water bay just to be on the safe side

[camaraderie]

I re-winterized today while it hit 50 degrees this afternoon...bottom dropping out tonite & tomorrow nite...so we decided to just bite the bullet and have no worries and rough it a bit on the way home. This way we can head north with no worries and just park our coach when we get there rather than freeze my butt off winterizing.
Lots of good ideas to be better prepared next time...thanks all!

[Jim G]

I was talking to a Forest River rep once about camping in freezing temps. He advised me that there are heater vents from the furnace in the water storage and drain compartment. I use an electric heater to help with heating and save propane, but still run the furnace so the water compartments will be heated. The only problem I ever had was the water drain line under the coach freezing. I fixed it and wrapped it in insulation and duct tape and have not had another problem. When possible we open the coach grey water valve and let water drip in the coach overnight.