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Old 01-04-2010, 01:21 PM   #1
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Cold Weather in GA!!!!!!!! Help!

What's up everyone! I'm new to the site but looking around I see I'm going to love this place!

I have a bit of an issue at hand...the weather in GA turned COLD just about over night and I was not able to winterize my camper prior to having 15 degree temps over night and the high being only 32....

I have a feeling that I may already have frozen lines(pretty sure actually). I am wondering if there is anything I can do(ie turn heater on, etc) to maybe thaw the lines and get it winterized to save any further damage to the camper?

I have a 2005 Cherokee 28A

Thanks in advance

Matt
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Old 01-04-2010, 01:59 PM   #2
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Turning the heat on is the best bet. Open any cabinet doors that are along the floor. Also, you might put a space heater in the trailer to speed up heating and reducing the gas usage. The furnace will consume a large amount of propane.

If the lines do not burst, then you will be OK. The problem with them is that when the water freezes and expands, the lines will burst from the pressure. If there was air in the lines, there may have been enough open area in the lines for the ice to expand. You will be lucky if that is the case.
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Old 01-04-2010, 02:25 PM   #3
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Thanks Kim! Kind of what I was thinking....I did drain some water out of the water heater and open the faucets, when I open one of them a little "sludge" came out...so I am hoping that there was some water in the lines....I'll give the heater thing a try this afternoon and hope for the best!

Thanks again and happy camping!
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Old 01-04-2010, 02:37 PM   #4
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I would try and do a visual of any water lines and drains you can possibly see. If there's any splits you'll know where to place some towels or a bucket. I don't know if you've ever used any of the Oil radiator type heaters but they do work very well in close areas. Plus once the oil in the radiator is hot it stays that way for quite some time without requiring the electric to constantly run. They also have three settings 600 watts or 900 watts or combined for 1500 watts. Inside your trailer I'd use 2 and set them at 600 watts each. Good luck and hopefully you'll have no problems with any leaks.
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Old 01-04-2010, 02:40 PM   #5
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cfsoistman...thanks, I actaully have one of the type oil heaters you are talking about! I'll take it out of the garage and put it in the camper to see if it helps do the trick!!!!

I'm hoping for the best...but kind of preparing myself for the worst!!!!!!!
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Old 01-04-2010, 02:44 PM   #6
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It might not be too bad. Sludge is better than nothing. It all depends on how solid the water got when it started freezing. Sludge may just be a clear Slurpy, started to freeze but not solid.
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Old 01-04-2010, 03:38 PM   #7
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If temps are supposed to be below freezing I also will turn on the electric element in my water heater to keep that water warm. The residual heat from that will keep the pipes in the immediate area of the heater just a bit above ambient temperature too.

I also found that a set of plain old rope lights which a lot of people seem to have hanging around wrapped around the pipes will put out enough heat to keep the pipes safe at least into the low teens.

Weclome to the forums too.
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Old 01-05-2010, 10:11 AM   #8
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Thanks again guys! I checked everything out alst night, at least the pipes and hoses I could see or gain access to see and so far(knock on wood, cross your fingers, etc...) I haven't found any cracks or splits. I ran the furnace for about 2 hours last night to get it nice and balmy in there then left the oil radiator heater going over night....stayed fairly warm in there....so far so good....thanks for all the advise....
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Old 01-05-2010, 10:18 AM   #9
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matt, if you have an enclosed underbelly on your Cherokee with the duct work of your gas furnace running under the floor, running the furnace will help keep that area warm....just in case you have pipes under the floor. That would also help any residual water in the waste tanks from freezing. I know that in my SV 263, it is hard to completely drain the tanks.
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Old 01-05-2010, 05:47 PM   #10
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Often the "pipes" are flexible to withstand a freeze, but faucets and other valves certainly will not.

I winterized by using air pressure this year instead of the "pink stuff"

We returned from Dauphin Island yesterday about 5:00 pm. With the whole family helping, we had the rig stripped out of food and anything else that could be damaged by 15 deg. cold and winterized in about an hour.

Then I turned on the tank heaters (for the first time!) and set up a space heater. Pulled the slide in to reduce the amount of exposed exterior and interior space.
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Old 01-05-2010, 06:51 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtnguy View Post
matt, if you have an enclosed underbelly on your Cherokee with the duct work of your gas furnace running under the floor, running the furnace will help keep that area warm....just in case you have pipes under the floor. That would also help any residual water in the waste tanks from freezing. I know that in my SV 263, it is hard to completely drain the tanks.
Don't know how accurate this is, but the mechanics at the dealership where we bought our Surveyor said that unless they are full, it will do no damage if the contents of the fresh, gray and black tanks freeze.
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Old 01-05-2010, 08:04 PM   #12
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Don't know how accurate this is, but the mechanics at the dealership where we bought our Surveyor said that unless they are full, it will do no damage if the contents of the fresh, gray and black tanks freeze.

That is true because there is plenty of room for ice to expand in the tanks whereas in the lines there is little room which can cause them to burst, particularly at joints. So don't worry too much if there is a small amount of water in your tanks. It won't hurt them.
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Old 01-06-2010, 08:01 AM   #13
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Another note about the pipes in the enclosed underbelly. Our Surveyor uses the heat from the furnace duct to keep the pipes in the underbelly from freezing so adding a space heater inside the unit won't help there, you actually have to run the furnace to heat that area. I keep ours set on about 45-50º to prevent anything from freezing. It does use a good bit of propane but the cost of freezing pipes and other things would be much more expensive.
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Old 01-06-2010, 11:28 AM   #14
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Thanks again for all the information and suggestions. So far so good...I did leave most of the faucets open so I don't think there is an issue there....the oil radiator heater has been doing a great job of keeping the inside of the camper warm...the furnace did or course turn out some major heat when I had it on....but electricity is much cheaper than the propane!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 01-20-2010, 10:42 AM   #15
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One last update...thanks again for all the information. The weather has warmed back up here in the south and I have gone over the entire unit and tested the water pump and everything else and I am happy to report that all is well and working! ( I did have to replace a fuse....LOL)

Thanks again fellas!
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