So on Thursday night, they are expecting the temp. to drop below 32 degrees for about 4 hours throughout the central FL area. Should I be concerned about pipes freezing, etc. I'm thinking not as the ground will clearly not freeze. As a newbee, I want to know if I should take precautionary action like bring the RV from the storage location and running the heat over night? I'd more than likely just sleep in it.

No. It takes sustained 25 or below type temperatures to be any concern at all. Get your night's sleep at home.

In the 41 years we have lived in Orlando there has been only one time that it got as cold as predicted.Not that it is not possible. I have seen one morning when it was 19 degrees here and one afternoon with snow flurries (in 41 years), but it generally is not quire as cold and not quite as long as the TV weather spooks predict.I have never done anything to protect a trailer yet, and I'm certainly not starting tonight.Sleep well.

The only "just in case" action I'm taking is to unhook and drain the fresh water hose. Our fresh tank is full, so it's no hardship to use the pump for a couple of days.

In Arizona, we'll usually hit the mid 20s once or twice every winter. I've never had a pipe freeze up at those temps.

KRex-Tampa wrote:So on Thursday night, they are expecting the temp. to drop below 32 degrees for about 4 hours throughout the central FL area. Should I be concerned about pipes freezing, etc. I'm thinking not as the ground will clearly not freeze. As a newbee, I want to know if I should take precautionary action like bring the RV from the storage location and running the heat over night? I'd more than likely just sleep in it.Do you have water in the tank and in the lines? Or did you drain everything down before you put it in storage?Keep in mind there are no water pipes per sa in an RV all the water lines are very small diameter plastic tubing with crimp on connectors. And contrary to what others said yes 32 degrees freezes water within these small hoses and the crimp on connectors are cheap and not always installed as good as they should.The frozen water May not completely blow out your lines but a freeze can cause leaks in the tubing,cracks in the pvc pipes, and if there is water in your water pump it can freeze there also that sadly you will find these leaks out later when you go to use the RV.I am in central Florida right now. I bought a house for the winter months that I am remodeling and the MH is parked out front and I just winterized the MH yesterday for these 2 days of hard freeze.$30 bucks of antifreeze IMHO is well worth the price of protecting the lines and avoiding costly repairs from water leaks later.I pour about 6 gallons into the fresh tank and turn all the faucets on till they run pink, same with the toilet and shower. Then I pour the last gallon of antifreeze in all the p-traps.Takes all of 15 minutes to do to protect your RV.

Central Florida Freeze | Good Sam Community

31 Replies

SlowBro
Explorer III
Feb 27, 2015
cdevidal wrote:
Well I couldn't get any water to drain but I didn't see any water in the tanks anyway so probably it's dry. There's no power OR battery so no furnace or 110V shop light. No antifreeze. Currently 32 but no wind. Expected to hit 24 overnight. Below freezing between now (10:48pm) and 9am so there may be damage if there is any water in the lines, and I have every reason to expect that there is some. Guess we'll see tomorrow.

Update: The plumbing is fine. LP lines on the other hand...
bguy
Explorer
Feb 22, 2015
I'll bet if you put a shot glass full of water on your outside porch rail it wouldn't freeze in that length of time. As someone mentioned, the wind is what really does the damage. If you have a small draft that hits a water pipe somewhere that's where the freezing will start and spread from there.
IMO you may get a little ice in the lines but it would be more like slush that you pump could push out. There's no way to freeze hard enough to do damage for the duration described.
SlowBro
Explorer III
Feb 22, 2015
That was quick :B
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Feb 21, 2015
cdevidal wrote:
This went around last year. It needs to be updated for the 2015 "winter." Lawl

OMG! Now that is too funny! :B:B
SlowBro
Explorer III
Feb 21, 2015
This went around last year. It needs to be updated for the 2015 "winter." Lawl
SlowBro
Explorer III
Feb 20, 2015
Last night hit 28 and the low is predicted to be 32 tonight. They've been running a few degrees high, and if any damage was to be done it would have been yesterday.
C-Bears
Explorer
Feb 20, 2015
To late now, probably won't dip back down to last night lows again. We are camped in the Ft. Myers beach area and we didn't get much below 30 last night.

If I was the OP this is what I would do next year when storing in Central Florida. I would empty my fresh water tank and my water heater. Bypass water heater and drop about 4 gallons of RV antifreeze in my fresh water tank, run all faucets and flush the toilet, then dump all tanks and close all valves.

I wouldn't worry about antifreeze in traps or doing any of the other winterizing methods some of us snowbirds have had to do. For the price of 4 gallons of pink stuff and about 20 minutes of your time when putting your RV in storage you won't have to worry about these freezing Florida temps!
SlowBro
Explorer III
Feb 20, 2015
rockhillmanor wrote:
Probably to late now but boy, I SURE would have beat feet down to walmart or any parts store and picked up a couple of gallons of RV antifreeze to avoid 'anything' in an RV from freezing.:R

I didn't think I had time (I actually did) but thought I was going to put on the furnace instead (then found I couldn't) and it simply didn't occur to me at that point to try the local Wally-world. We'll see what tomorrow's inspection turns up. Probably nothing to be concerned about as I didn't see any water; I think it was all dry.
2112
Explorer II
Feb 20, 2015
cdevidal wrote:
Well I couldn't get any water to drain but I didn't see any water in the tanks anyway so probably it's dry. There's no power OR battery so no furnace or 110V shop light. No antifreeze. Currently 32 but no wind. Expected to hit 24 overnight. Below freezing between now (10:48pm) and 9am so there may be damage if there is any water in the lines, and I have every reason to expect that there is some. Guess we'll see tomorrow.
If it makes you feel any better mine has been through a few nights like that and it has survived without problem. Nothing you can do about it now anyway. Relax.
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Feb 20, 2015
cdevidal wrote:
Well I couldn't get any water to drain but I didn't see any water in the tanks anyway so probably it's dry. There's no power OR battery so no furnace or 110V shop light.
No antifreeze.
Currently 32 but no wind. Expected to hit 24 overnight. Below freezing between now (10:48pm) and 9am so there may be damage if there is any water in the lines, and I have every reason to expect that there is some. Guess we'll see tomorrow.

Probably to late now but boy, I SURE would have beat feet down to walmart or any parts store and picked up a couple of gallons of RV antifreeze to avoid 'anything' in an RV from freezing.:R

Just so you know, you will not just open the door to the RV in the morning and immediately know WHERE a busted line is or where the leak might be.

There are hundreds of connections where it can leak from if water froze in the line and compromised the cheap connections used in RV's.

A leaking hose can be 'buried' anywhere within the bowels of an RV and you won't know until you one day you start seeing carpet soaked or mildew smell. Gee I hope for you nothing does freeze.