2018 35DB about to camp in the COLD

[jthorpe]

Hey guys I am going to be using the coach for about 5 days on business to VA. It's supposed to be super cold this week. It's going to get down to 15-12 degrees. Should i blow out the water lines and keep them empty while im on this trip or will the furnace be enough to keep them all from freezing? Would love to hear your thoughts.

[NewToTheForce]

Originally Posted by jthorpe

Hey guys I am going to be using the coach for about 5 days on business to VA. It's supposed to be super cold this week. It's going to get down to 15-12 degrees. Should i blow out the water lines and keep them empty while im on this trip or will the furnace be enough to keep them all from freezing? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Do you have the extra heater and insulation in your wet bay? If not, I'd think you'd be really pushing it in the teens. Also imagine if the forecast is off a bit and it drops even further.

[clockcuff_66]

That's a tough call there, I used my 36DS in temps that cold during hunting season. My water pump froze up, just couldn't keep enough heat in the compartment outside. I had heat lamps there but the cold and wind one that time. Added more insulation the following year and made it through.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Difficult call, but I'd blow out the lines at the very least to protect the plumbing. Might want to winterize the rig too.

It looks like a nasty storm is coming and by winterizing the rig and using jugs of water for flushing and drinking, you'll be able to concentrate on business and not worrying about the pipes breaking.

If you're going to a campground, they might not give you a choice if they shut off the water to protect their plumbing.

Drive safely. Looks those roads might be icy.

[BLT4SPD]

Originally Posted by jthorpe

Hey guys I am going to be using the coach for about 5 days on business to VA. It's supposed to be super cold this week. It's going to get down to 15-12 degrees. Should i blow out the water lines and keep them empty while im on this trip or will the furnace be enough to keep them all from freezing? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Will you have hook ups or no?

We’ve used our 35DB in temps that cold before but it takes planning for sure. If you have shore power for electrical needs, then I would plug in some small heaters in both wet bays (the one on the left with the sewer hook ups and the one on the right with the fresh water tank). Anything close to the floor of the wet bays will be the first thing to freeze. So, the water pump in the fresh water bay will freeze first on that side. The outside shower is close to the floor AND the door, so it will be the first things to freeze in the bay with the sewer hook ups…..and the sewer valves themselves will be the next thing to freeze.

I’ve used a couple of small ceramic heaters from Home Depot (and turn the temp all the way down on them) for a few years now and they keep things from freezing up. There is heat from the furnace coming into those bays, but it’s just from a holes cut through the floor and up into the heat ducting that runs in the floor to the registers you see inside the coach. Since it’s not ducted into the bay and it’s all the way up at the top of the wet bays, anything that is down low won’t feel the effects of it. It’ll cover you for temps down to something around 24-25ish (lots of factors, but you get the idea), but much below that and stuff down at the bottom of the bays will start to be unhappy.

….and certainly, keep any water and sewer hoses disconnected and the sewer hose access hatch in the wet bay closed up.

[RV_Lee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjK0cGAO06k

[jthorpe]

Guys thanks for the tips. I just got back from 5 days in freezing weather. Everything was fine. I made sure to put a heater in the wet bay and the rest of it was no big deal. Only hooked up water and sewer when needed, then disconnected. I did go through a full tank of propane in 4 days though, because of the heat constantly being on in 10 degree temps.

[FORCE of Nature]

Originally Posted by jthorpe

Guys thanks for the tips. I just got back from 5 days in freezing weather. Everything was fine. I made sure to put a heater in the wet bay and the rest of it was no big deal. Only hooked up water and sewer when needed, then disconnected. I did go through a full tank of propane in 4 days though, because of the heat constantly being on in 10 degree temps.

Glad you made out well!
On that note, I am not sure if the Isata tank is also 20gal like the FORCE has, but I wish the LP tank was a little bigger myself on our rig. We use ours throughout the winter too, and the furnace can really suck up the propane when its running a lot. I even have the local company who fills our home tank contracted to fill up the camper when they deliver to the house. I am plugged into 50amp and run a couple small space heaters inside the coach and the 2 bays that house the holding tanks. That works for 90% of the northeast winter temps. However, the electric coach heaters usually need some assistance from the furnace when the single digit temps show up.

I also added a tank warming pad that keeps things flowing a little better in the cold. It runs off of one of the coaches inverted plugs so in winter time it can get power when it wants it. The heating pad pulls about 1.5amps when its running. When push comes to shove, we also added the "Extended Stay" LP valve that lets you add an additional external tank to feed the coach. (One of the easiest mods you will do if you haven't done it yet) I have not found myself in the situation where we run out on a trip yet (just had to spread the love around with 20lb BBQ tanks), but I definitely make it a bullet point to make sure LP is topped off before we leave, and that we have a couple full 20lbs-ers on reserve.