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Chuck_thehammer's avatar
Chuck_thehammer
Explorer
Nov 29, 2013

North West Georgia and pipes freezing

Hello, Yes I am new. and New to TT.

question. Help.
water pipes freezing in north west Georgia. my concern.

I am 700 miles north of Georgia. camper is at Brother-in-laws place.
I use told by in-laws they do not get freezing weather.. almost never.
I see now that is not true.

I drained the water tank and water heater. and flushed the toilet until no water ran out. did this in September.
I was to return November 1.. well now it looks like January 15.
I called the past owner of camper.. in 7 years he did not winterize camper .. it was kept in Atlanta... now its 100 miles north.

Should I make a special trip down and blow out lines and install Pink stuff.. that would be a 1500 miles trip..
Camper is a 2007 GolfStream Ameri-lite. 21mb.
and does it have a drain for the water lines.. and where????

the manual for this thing is junk and almost useless.
brother-in-law is in poor health and can not do much.

He said I am over thinking this.

10 Replies

  • wbwood's avatar
    wbwood
    Explorer
    Dec 06, 2013
    handye9 wrote:
    Probably, cheaper to hire someone who knows what they are doing, than driving 1500 miles. Maybe there is an RV dealer (close to brother in law), who could send someone out to do it. Maybe, brother in law knows someone local, who could do it.

    If pipes are already freezing, it could be too late.

    Could be slush in the lines, P traps, and holding tanks. The pump may not have enough pressure to push it out. Blowing lines may not work either. It's possible, the trailer will need to be warmed up to do winterizing.

    All depends on how cold and length of time.


    I agree.. Hire a mobile rv mechanic to go do it. It doesn't freeze in Atlanta? BS. And 100 miles north, even worse. My sister lives south of Atlanta. They had damage to their rv after her husband blew out the lines and though he had all the water out. Costly mistake come spring time.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Dec 06, 2013
    I am 3 miles from GA as I type this.

    THere are several options.. Odds are if you have your relative in GA open all valves except the dump valves, INCLUDING LOW POINT DRAINS, you will be ok. PEX can take freezing fairly well, the fittings, elbows and such, they can not.

    But another option is to add a bit of heat.

    Temps where I am get down into the 20's,, Never seen it hit the teens in the five years I've been here.

    Tomorrow... I drive to Savanna Oh the miles. (not with the motor home though)
  • Chuck_thehammer's avatar
    Chuck_thehammer
    Explorer
    Dec 06, 2013
    Well, I called several "service" places .. all are over 30 miles away or more.
    One would not go because of the "Hill" 1 1/2 mile ruff road/driveway.

    but all said I should be fine until mid jan. with a small about of water in lower lines only. I sure hope so.

    Newbe worry and all.

    Thank You for all your advice and help.
    Mobile Service for RV. I thought they only fixed broken Rv's...
  • jaycocamprs's avatar
    jaycocamprs
    Explorer
    Dec 01, 2013
    We live in NW Georgis and we always winterize with antifreeze. Sometime over the winter it will get cold enough, below freezing for several days. Have someone winterize it.
  • johnwalkerpa1's avatar
    johnwalkerpa1
    Explorer
    Nov 29, 2013
    It's hard to say for sure, but unless the location is higher in the mountains, the odds are you will be ok.

    Cold temps happen in the south but the key is that it is (usually) short-lived.

    I often spend January near Auburn, Alabama and have seen temps in the upper teens. But, usually it is only for an hour or two early in the morning then warms to 35-50 in the afternoon. That is a big difference from my home turf where temps can stay well below freezing for days on end...
  • junmy3's avatar
    junmy3
    Explorer
    Nov 29, 2013
    I would definitely at least blow out the lines. However I think I would try to find a mobile RV service to go do it for me. There is a Camping World in Chattanooga that may be able to help you find someone. You also might be able to call a campground in NW Georgia that could help you locate someone.
    It does freeze in Georgia. We are camping in SW Georgia and it was 26 yesterday morning and 28 this morning. NW Georgia is much colder. We live in Middle Georgia and most of our camping friends blow out the lines, but not use the pink stuff. Good luck.
  • handye9's avatar
    handye9
    Explorer II
    Nov 29, 2013
    Probably, cheaper to hire someone who knows what they are doing, than driving 1500 miles. Maybe there is an RV dealer (close to brother in law), who could send someone out to do it. Maybe, brother in law knows someone local, who could do it.

    If pipes are already freezing, it could be too late.

    Could be slush in the lines, P traps, and holding tanks. The pump may not have enough pressure to push it out. Blowing lines may not work either. It's possible, the trailer will need to be warmed up to do winterizing.

    All depends on how cold and length of time.
  • alid's avatar
    alid
    Explorer
    Nov 29, 2013
    It only takes one hard freeze to cost you a lot of money in repairs.
    how much would a 1700 mile 2 day trip cost????

    here is what I would do.
    Have your in-laws turn the heat on in the rv. (make sure your propane is full)
    This will keep things from freezing until you find a local mobile rv repair shop in the area where you in-laws live.
    Have the mobile RV guy winterize your camper.
    Saves you a trip and most likely cost less than you traveling there and back.

    It's worth the piece of mind getting it done.
  • Thomas_NH's avatar
    Thomas_NH
    Explorer
    Nov 29, 2013
    I wouldn't worry about it... It takes a real hard freeze (below 30 all day & night) before any damage can be done inside. The PEX tubing can expand with the freeze and not split. Faucets; well they are cheap junk anyways as well as the toilet, buy new ones that you like better. Drains; only the traps have water in them and open on both side and cheap to replace, but I doubt you'll have too. Holding tanks: no big deal there either, the worst that can happen is you could blow the valve seal, just take them apart and put in a $1.00 "O" ring...

    You'd blow 10 times the repair amount just in fuel alone let alone the stress level you're causing yourself.

    Take the advice from a licensed plumber (48 years) here in NH... Relax, don't be worrying about it.
  • Klueck's avatar
    Klueck
    Explorer
    Nov 29, 2013
    I don't think you are over thinking it at all. We just left our RV lot in Blairsville, Georgia. We gook our motorhome with us, but before we left we winterized our little cabin which had a washer in it. We drained and winterized our hot tub as well. It got down to 17 degrees a few nights before we left and it's been colder since. Our water connection froze one night because when we disconnected the hose, we left the pressure gauge connected and the next morning, it was frozen.

    All the rv's that remain in the park for the winter have been winterized. There is a mobile Rv medic that does most of them. I don't know where your RV is, but if you want his name, PM me and I'll send it to you.

    We wintereized our MH when we used to live in South Georgia.

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