Hook up a hose or fill fresh water tank in cold weather ?

We are full-timing, and have to be in the Salt Lake area. We have a Valterra heated water hose (well worth the money) and a small amount of heat cable that I put around the park water supply and our pressure regulator. I also keep a couple of feet of the split-insulation for pipes to put over the top of that. Temp was about 12F this morning, and nothing frozen.

We also keep the water tank full. The way Grand Design set this up is great. If the park water has to be shut off (happened 2x last summer/fall), just flip the switch to turn on the water pump. No other changes required.

rockhillmanor wrote:
Houston, 115 degrees, break down, tow to CG without hook ups.

After THAT day was all done and I was safely parked off the highway I jumped into the shower to cool off using my fresh water tank ........only to be shocked with 115 degree water!

Now that's a scary story. What can you even do in that situation? Get some crushed ice and pour it down the fresh water inlet?

I guess you'd have to wait until morning to take a shower. Thanks for bringing this up. Although it's rare, I could easily see this happening in my lifetime.

Flip side of fresh water tank in hot weather. :C

My first trip south as a newbie full timer in my MH:

Houston, 115 degrees, break down, tow to CG without hook ups.

After THAT day was all done and I was safely parked off the highway I jumped into the shower to cool off using my fresh water tank ........only to be shocked with 115 degree water!

Yup, learned real quick the fresh tank water takes on the ambient temperature of what ever the air outside is. :S

DutchmenSport wrote:
How many times have you (or me) attempted to warn our kids about something that could potentially not turn out they way they expected. As children they throw temper tantrums. As adults, they simply turn away think Mom and Dad are crazy, until IT happens! But then they are often too proud to admit parents were right.

Well, unfortunately, there's a LOT of people "out there" who have this same mentality. They know it all! You can try and try to reach them, but some folks just know better than you! So ... you just have to let them make their own mistakes, and then silently cry under breath ... "if only they would have listened."

I definitely agree. Last summer I was watching a camper set up beside me in his Class A. I first met him the year before when he was a brand new RV owner. I remember at that time he wouldn't take any suggestions even one about pulling his awning in during bad weather times. One time when he was gone from the park a wind storm blew up and 3 of us took his awning down before it was destroyed. Two weeks later he left the park again for a long period of time and his awning WAS destroyed as well as several places on his roof and screws pulled out of is RV side. Soooooo....

When he was setting up this past summer I noticed he was too close to the power pedestal and his slide would hit it when extended. He stopped, got out and leveled and put his slide out or attempted to anyway. It hurt me to watch it but I didn't say a word. The power pedestal was pushed over about 30 degrees and some damage was done to his slide (not a lot but some) and the slide wouldn't go out all the way.. After discovering his problem, he pulled the slide back in and fixed the positioning problem. Never a word was said and he did straighten up the power pedestal.

I still feel guilty for not speaking up.

I think there is a variety of reasons why people do both. Those that leave them connected may not have experienced really cold weather in their travels and may get surprised by a sudden cold spell or early morning temperature drop. Some do as Holstein stated where you need a lot of water and can go through it fast. Others like the pressure they get with a hose.

On the other side, those who travel in cold weather know when their hose is going to freeze up, which is not at 32 degrees, and depends on some different factors. I like the pressure from using the hose, but really hate trying to coil it up after a cold morning. Many with hydronic heating can be affected by too cold ground water entering the system and need to run off of their tank.

So there are reasons to use a hose in cold conditions, but obviously you need to know at what temps you'll have issues.

I prefer to use water from the tank when it is cold. Most rigs have the FW tank inside, so it stays warm if the furnace is on. Then, if it gets near empty, attach a hose and fill it up. That, or just winterize with compressed air, and a couple jugs of cheap vodka.

I do it two ways.. Just now I'm here for an extended stay.. So I use my "Winter" hose, this hose is a standard white hose likly from Wal-mart or Camping-World (Frankly it's old enough I do not remember which) possibly Meijer's in Michigan. but fancy duct tapeed to it is a string of standard incandascent rope lights from Big Lots.. These are plugged into an outlet sold at Farm supply stores for tank heaters or at Home Improvement stores for eves heaters that turns on between freezing and 35 and turns off between 40 and 45. (i have two of these one from each source above).

When the mercury goes down,,,, the hose lights up

on the far end (Park end) of the hose is a 100 watt lamp, this is under a box, around the park's part of the plumbing.. Keeps things liquid to aroudn 20 degrees.

But where I NORMALLY park in the winter for chemical reasons (Too Much Bleach in the water) I fill the on-board and pump... In the 2 week park I may stay hooked up, but in the week out park I just use what I put in at the 2 week membership park.

Also the membership park has measured over 100 PSI, so I use a regulator.

Some people are just plain ignorant or can't be told anything. They have offspring and vote, too.

DutchmenSport wrote:
Perhaps one reason why some folks will run a hose and then have it freeze up and then are surprised is simply because of lack of experience, and sometimes ONLY the school of Hard Knocks is the only teacher they will listen to.

...........

Murphy Defines Experience;

"Experience is what you gain, just after you need it!"

If the day time temperature is above freezing, I hook the hose up in the morning and remove it at night if it will be below freezing at night. I hate to use the pump, because it is right under my spot in the bed. It wakes me up every time someone uses water at night. I use the pump as little as possible.

We always travel with 10 - 15 gallons of water in the tank. When we camp long term, we usually fill the fresh water tank in the event of a power outage. Has happened twice. Once was a 12 hour outage, mostly overnight hours. This past summer, we were without power for 5 days. However, on the second day, the campground owners rented a generator to power the well pump.

-Michael