Temp below freezing, should I be worried?

[chrissybird]

So, we leave tomorrow for a trip to the WV mountains (Bluefield area) to ride the Hatfield/McCoy and Spearhead Trails with our dual sports in our 2016 29HFS that does not have the Extreme package. Sunday weather looks iffy, calling for snow showers and high of about 37 and low of 28. High's on Sat and Mon are at least 50 or higher. Should I be worried about freezing pipes?? Any suggestions to help avoid that? We've never camped in below freezing temps. We will have full hookup at our campsite. Should I keep hot water dripping through the night on Sunday? Thinking of adding water to fresh tank and disconnecting water hose Sunday so hose doesn't freeze. Any and all suggestions welcome. Actually looking forward to this adventure! Thanks!

[WFD]

At those temps you will be fine...in late fall when we get our last trips in prior to storing for the winter we often encounter those kind of temps. You will have the heat on in the trailer, so no concern about any plumbing on the inside. Leave your water heater on and it will keep that water hot, even if you didn't, and turn your water heater off when you go to bed, that water will still be somewhat warm in there overnight, as those hot water tanks are insulated. No need to leave anything dripping overnight. Your idea of disconnecting the outside hose is a good one just in case the temps fall lower than what's forecast. Store that hose in the underbelly of your trailer, with furnace running that area will be kept pretty warm as well.
I would make sure your propane tanks are full though, just to be safe. With daytime temps reaching 50 you won't go through a ton of propane but better safe than sorry. One 4 day stretch for us with temps getting to upper 30's, lower 40's and night temps of 27-28, we went through a 30lb propane tank in those 4 days.

[jbhodj]

Asked similar question last fall when we got freezing temps here is IOway. Didn’t have any issues. Told same as above post and at those temps for short time you will be ok

[chrissybird]

Thanks so much! And good call on the propane. We are bringing two extra 20lb tanks just in case - one for the grill and one spare.

[PenJoe]

WFD has given you good advice. The most concern is if the temps drop into the lower 20s and it doesn't get above freezing for a day. If you decide to keep the hose connected, let a cold faucet drip to keep water in the hose moving. Having a hot tap on will do nothing to prevent freezing up and only uses more propane.

We once got caught in an ice storm outside Chicago. The eggs in the frig froze. We carry a small electric heater with a fan. The heater we have is about a half a cubic foot and keeps the interior tolerable in the conditions you describe. But, it does require a generator or hookup.

[kayo]

Just in case, If you have full hookups, I would leave the water run - a small but steady stream, making sure the gray tank valve is open. It was only supposed to go down to 34 last night here in northern New Mexico, but it did hit 30 so you never know and it is better to be safe than sorry

[TonyShope]

Better yet, go to your nearest Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, Tractor Supply Co, Farm & Fleet or Fleet Farms.

Spend $30 or less purchase a pipe heater tape, Then purchase $18 worth of foam insulation. Duct tape.

Wrap your hose add the foam and tape seal. The photo I sent is actually a backup and only 12 ft as I can run it inside from the feed line to the faucet. I have 30 ft outside & wrapped.

Then you need not worry until -10 or so if you cover the exposed areas. If you cover them well I have been at - 30 and no issues.

[Cold Lake Kid]

I have a 23 ft Sunseeker motor home.
While dry camping a couple of years ago, the temp went down to 27 overnight and I cracked a toilet coupling.
Your mileage may differ.

[Harris85]

Great idea, TonyShope! Thanks for the pictures.

[TonyShope]

Originally Posted by Harris85

Great idea, TonyShope! Thanks for the pictures.

I live in and love the cold. After I left the desert (Iraq, Kuwait etc) I am very uncomfortable over 75 degrees.

My unit is different as it is an ice fishing house. Yet I have winterized neighbors units even in the south when the odd 3-7 days appear.

It is inexpensive and safe to do so.

God bless al and learn to enjoy the cold. I can offer other ideas but the one I will tell you is never use hay bails to insulate.

I was in ND during the oil boom and many folks died because of fire and a unit not made for cold.

Many thought I have 200K 5ver and it should handle this.

There are safe ways to handle the clod with a 2-4 rating insulation wise.

Biggest point is do not rely on propane it could kill ya.

[helferdm]

Good idea to put both wastewater and fresh water hoses away.

[chrissybird]

Thanks to all for the advice! I'm happy to say that our RV made it through just fine, with only one small hiccup. The temps fell faster and harder than expected on Sunday, with a mix of rain then snow and sleet. I don't think it got above mid-30s on Sunday and dropped into mid-20s that evening. We had water in the fresh tank and disconnected the full hookup water hose and put it in the garage for the night. We hadn't connected to sewer yet since we just got there Saturday evening and it was raining when we arrived (yes, lazy).

Here was our mistake - I had bought a ceramic heater to use in the garage as we expected to have damp motorcycle gear to dry out and the garage is typically cooler than the rest of the RV. Of course we had to ride in the snow on Sunday since it wasn't sticking to the ground , so we turned on the heater in the garage that evening to help dry the gear. All was good until the TV cut off, and further searching revealed other outlets were dead (and we unplugged the ceramic heater). We checked the RV fuses/breakers and none were tripped. We figured we were missing a GFI reset somewhere and went to bed since the fridge, furnace, water pump, and main cabin lights were still working.

Woke up about 4am and it was really cold in the RV, furnace wasn't working and neither was water pump, but still had some cabin lights. Checked the control panel and realized we were running on battery with only 1/3 left. Long story short, the 30 amp breaker on our full hookup had tripped, so we had been running on battery, and apparently there is a certain priority on what continues to run when the battery gets low. We reset the breaker at the hookup and everything worked again. Thankfully, no pipes froze and all was well.

Here is what we learned. The ceramic heater was rated for 12.5amps, so we were most likely trying to pull a full 30amps out of the hookup breaker. We knew we didn't trip anything in the RV itself. We have a Progressive Industries 50/30amp converter so we used that to plug into the 50 amp breaker instead of the campground's 30amp breaker, and all was well after that. We know that the 50/30amp converter doesn't give us any more than 30amp service, but we are thinking that perhaps the hookups 30amp breaker had an issue and couldn't give us a full 30amps.

Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this logic and our experience. But I'm very happy to say that despite losing the furnace in the middle of the night, our RV made it through just fine!

[chrissybird]

Forgot to add two thanks: PJ, great advice about leaving cold, not hot, tap running; and TS, most excellent advice regarding pipe heater tape and insulation!!

[WolfWhistle]

C, I don't know why your water pump...or really, your furnace didn't work if lights did. When the breaker tripped, you would have lost all things 120 vac including your converter /charger. It would have helped if you needed to, to switch water heater to LP and maybe the fridge as well, then you could have possibly used 2 space heaters. No need to check fuses at that point, only breakers. I think using the 50A to 30A adapter is better, because the plugs seem to be cleaner / tighter (usually) and your 30 amp main still protects from overload situations. You might consider installing a good battery monitor and not depend on those idiot lights (just saying Trimetric TM-2030 and a shunt... probably the 100A/100mV would do it... and a little rewiring.
WW

[clr]

Your furnace works off the 12VDC, but when you are plugged in the converter is providing the 12vdc that you require. When the breaker popped you were running off the 12vdc battery. When the battery gets discharged to about 1/2 of capacity the furnace fan does not blow strong enough to engage the sail switch and the furnace will not run. That is why you got cold at 4am. Same sort of thing with the water pump due to low voltage caused by the discharged battery. The lights are probably LED's and require very low power to work.

[510Rick]

That settles it im changing over to all LED. Definitely dont wan get in trouble with momma if the heater craps out over night . Im excited for our first winter in the new trailer . Tough waiting until after new years to be able to go though .

[chrissybird]

Thanks WW & clr - that explains things! And WW, good point about switching WH & fridge to propane if we want to run ceramic heater in garage. And yes, our cabin lights are LED, so that explains why they still worked. It's all a learning experience

[WolfWhistle]

Originally Posted by chrissybird

Thanks WW & clr - that explains things! And WW, good point about switching WH & fridge to propane if we want to run ceramic heater in garage. And yes, our cabin lights are LED, so that explains why they still worked. It's all a learning experience

I've since upgraded to 50A and changed a bunch of 120vac wiring, but did you know that all GFCI breakers (ALL the outlets) are on a single 15A breaker... nuts, I tell you! I added extra outlets (5) so I can run both ACs or 2 space heaters without issue *can't do this with 30A. I got tired of having to be OCD vigilant about power usage. When I had 30A and "camped" in Georgia winters, I bought a 50A to two 30A adapter (from our buddy youroo)... ran one side to the TH the other to a cord running the electric heater, to be sure I was on different sides (L1 and L2). This adapter also lets you pick with sides of a 50A feed to your 30A trailer so you can can get the highest voltage in a packed CG, which can be rather significant. When a CG provided 30A / 20A only, I still ran a cord out to the 20A outlet in the post for the heater, not knowing for sure if the 30 and 20 was on the same side or not. 50A lets me fa'get about 'it. I think clr's explaination is right on, by the way. Edited: I should say for those that might get on to me, I had a 20A breaker inside for the heater.
WW

[chrissybird]

Just thought I'd follow up my post with a picture of the visitor we had while camping in the cold and light snow He was two spots over from us, and he was a big boy!