Not Winterizing Question,use year round

Question

Detailed info.....2005 Fleetwood Bounder 34 foot Class A w/3 slide-outs, under covered carport. I live in upstate SC and it is now unusually cold....I normally leave an electric oil filled radiator type heater on high an set gas heat at 45 Degrees (lowest setting)leave all cabinet doors open with all faucets open for expansion if occurs. This normally works fine , sometimes took out water pumps on past Rv's because they were located in storage compartments on the outside. Then started putting ceramic heater there to avoid that.

NEW ( to me ) RV stated above upgraded last April 2014.

*** Problem****
Fleetwood in its infinite wisdom placed water pump in same compartment outside above PROPANE TANK.
Not comfortable placing 100watt light/ceramic heater or anything electrical above tank to prevent water pump from freezing.
Are there any cold weather campers or people with cold weather experience out there who have safe way to remedy this.
I DO NOT winterize because we take 1 road trip a month.

fleetwood_coupl · Answer

Propane gas is heaver than air, so if there would be a leak it should not rise up to the area were the heater is but I understand the concern. Some folks have made a box to go over the water pump area out of insulation board. Not sure if that would help with very cold weather but you might be able to make it oversize and then stuff more fiberglass insulation in around it. Maybe some heat tape if you can get a short one.

popeyemth · Answer

Your water pump is electric and they thought it was safe.A light bulb would be safer than a pump with brushes.

rockhillmanor · Answer

I will just add that you should put your hand on the 'plug' of that oil heater.

Everyone I bought for the RV the plug heated up almost to the point of melting. I no longer use them I use ceramic heaters plug stays cool.

jimm68 · Answer

Yikes. I would move the water pump.Propane tank is supposed to be in an unlockable compartment that is open at the bottom, hard to imagine having a water pump there.Our monaco, pump is in the wet bay, along with all the plumging and the "west end" of all three tanks. There is a factory thermostat controlled 12v heater in there that can maintain 50 degrees when it is zero outside (fact. just back from a trip... it is supposed to be thermostatically controlled to maybe 35, but went on and never shut off, I'll have to look at that)Short answer is, we survived overnights at 9 and then at -3.Again, I'd think it wouldn't be too hard to move it.Ours, the achilles is the whole house water filter. It's in a small basement compartment opposite where the propane is. the place where I store my firewood and lanterns and such...It did not freeze this week, when we were heating the rv wirth lots of propane, but it has frozen and broke in the past. On my list to move it.

wa8yxm · Answer

I too am not a fan of Oil Filled.A few options.. NOTE: Last night I went to a church fish fry I was wearing a polo shirt that proclaimed I belong to the church Choior,, St. Paul the Apostle, Seneca, SC.. So I know about the weather there :)  First: are you living in the rig?  If not you might drain as much of the water from it as you can, Open the pump inlet strainer and let it run for like a mintue to blow air into the pump,.  Lowes and Home Depot sell a Styrofoam "Faucet Cover" that you could put over the pump, with that a simply C-7 Night light inside the cover should do the job, or (Depending on the day time temps) just the cover.Finally.. The site next to me is open, shold get down to around 50 tonight.  It's only 200 miles away  (Google Cathead Creek Ranch RV Park).  Several other parks in area too.. Come visit.. Oh here I sing in the Navitity of Our Lady church choir, Darien GA.

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Not Winterizing Question,use year round

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