precautions for ice storm

Goldencrazy wrote:
The concept of tires freezing is rare. For that to happen you must be parked in puddles of water and still it is hard to believe you don't get unstuck quickly with a little power. All winter we drive and warm our tires and park and melt the ice and by morning it has refrozen and our cars are not stuck to the pavement. Is it possible you are pulling our leg?

Had it happen to me with a pickup truck in Fernley, Nevada. Parked in front of a friends house overnight, temp went to about 15 below 0.
Came out in the morning, couldn't move.

At first I thought my transmission was bad but then noticed the water that ran off off tires from the previous days trip from California had frozen to the ground.

Finally just kept pouring the power to it and broke free.

So it can happen.

Same trip we went to Lake Tahoe. Minus 20 there. Starter froze out by the lake. Had to go buy a small hand torch and lay under the truck and heat the starter.

Had called AAA but they were swamped and they couldn't help me. AAA reimbursed me for the torch.

klm wrote:
Slides in for sure, don't ask why I say that. Oh never mind, I'll confess. I left mine out during a snow/ice storm and tried to depart the next morning - with lots of frozen stuff on the topper - very difficult to bring slide in - ended up going on roof and cleared the stuff off - not a good situation - the roof was so slick - dangerous. So, I don't leave them out anymnore - one time is a learning experience, after that it is "duh".

If you put your jacks down, they could freeze to the ground - again don't ask - lets just say experience talking. Use jack pads. I'm not sure by your post if you are parked somewhere or will be in transit -

protect your windshield wipers - cover them so they don't freeze to the glass.

Good idea on protecting the windshield wipers. An alternative is to pull the wipers away from the windshield and simply flip them over to reverse the blades so that they're pointed outwards when the armature is placed against the glass again. That way only a small section of the armature is in contact with the glass. When ice danger is over, simply pull the armatures outwards again, reverse blade positions back to normal and push armatures back to the glass. Takes approximately one and one-half minutes?

The concept of tires freezing is rare. For that to happen you must be parked in puddles of water and still it is hard to believe you don't get unstuck quickly with a little power. All winter we drive and warm our tires and park and melt the ice and by morning it has refrozen and our cars are not stuck to the pavement. Is it possible you are pulling our leg?

bsinmich wrote:

crasster wrote:
"Hunker down". Keep faucets dripping. Keep the coach warm too.

Keeping the faucets dripping is one of the dumbest things I have heard. If your do not have the gray tank hooked up to a sewer you will get the tank full quick. What happens then? You sewer hose can freeze if it is open or the water can overflow your shower into the coach. It is also a waste of water that is very precious in some parts of the country,

And how do you know that he does not have full hook up with sewer?

One campground in Texas a few years ago encouraged water dripping to help keep their water hook ups from freezing.

We have 2 1500 watt oscillating heaters plus the fire place.
They draw about 10 amps a piece. Keeps our 41' MH GOOD.
The furnace does not kick on in the day time, especially if the sun is shining","l

J-Rooster wrote:
Put a little salt down under your tires! My neighbor got down here in AZ. the other day (from Illinois) he spent the night in Williams, AZ. and all four of his tires were stuck to the ice and he told me he couldn't move.

Really how did he get them free??What kind of salt should we use and how much?

Put a little salt down under your tires! My neighbor got down here in AZ. the other day (from Illinois) he spent the night in Williams, AZ. and all four of his tires were stuck to the ice and he told me he couldn't move.

Some great advice. This last ice storm across center of country was a reminder I might get some weather when I depart in a couple of weeks.

I keep a long extension cord and a hair dryer handy. Comes in handy for everything from stuck RV/toad doors or windows (I warm the frame, not the glass) to frozen sewer lines/handles.

You basically have two choices:

Slides in, Antenna down if you plan on moving any time soon.
Jacks up or down but on blocks or pads of some kind.. I like to use a 12 by 12 by 2" board for things like that, Odds are the jack won't freeze to the board and once the MH is "off site" a gentle tap from my 8 pound hammer and the board just naturally pops free of the frozen ground

Plan on parking till meltdown happens.