I just bought a brand new 2013 Dutchmen travel trailer. Stupid me I opted out of paying the dealer to winterize it again in case of cold weather because I had RV antifreeze at home and wanted to do it myself. Well one thing led to another and I didn't get it all done as I got called away from it and last night it got down to 9 degrees here.I got to the water heater and got antifreeze out of the kitchen sink on both sides before I ran out of antifreeze so I know those and the pump is all good. I got some antifreeze this morning and got home from work tonight and quickly pressured the system back up to try again. I can get a very slow trickle of antifreeze out of the toilet and the cold water side of the sink. Nothing out of the hot water side, either side of the tub, nothing out of the outside water port or the high pressure water hook up. It must all be froze. Low of 6 tonight and high of 23 tomorrow and high of 42 on Tuesday. How screwed am I? Are the water lines under the trailer fairly durable or will they likely rupture? Bottom of the trailer is all covered so I can't look unless I pull that covering off.My plan is to wait until Tuesday and Wednesday while I am off and it is warm to try again. Once I get antifreeze flow my plan is to shut all the faucets and everything off other than the pump and see if the system will stay pressurized and look for antifreeze coming out of the bottom covering to know if I have a leak now.Any words of advice and how screwed am I?

It may not be as bad as you think Today most campers are piped with Pex that is flexible the fittings are not but the pipe will. We had our 2008 out in Oct camping and it got down to 13 one night no heat on and froze solid had to replace the spout on the kit faucet and the shower head that was it ya supper lucky. If not then you can fix most everything buying a $38 pex tool from menards and all the fitting and extra line it is really do it your self friendly. In the future remember if you cant get to it open every thing up and all the drains I have not use anti freeze for years other than the traps and a bit in the toilet I just hook up the air compressor and set the regulator at 50 and blow all the lines out no funny tasting water in the spring! Good luck .

Hopefully you have propane in the tanks... Get that furnace on about 65 degrees and open all the cupboard doors.Hopefully, it's plugged in to electricity too... Many times it's the outside shower that is the weakest link.. or the dump valves...

Is the heat on now? You are doing right as far as pressurizing and then shut the pump off and see if it holds pressure. The pump should hold for quite some time before the it kicks on.If you did hurt the pex, you can also use shark bite fittings in hard to reach places with no special tools.

Open all faucets, shower knobs, low point drains, prop toilet open etc. until you can do the winterizing right.With everything open any water in system can expand without bursting pipes/fittings.

Everything is opened up right now. The heater is off as I believe that the lines are frozen on the bottom outside of the trailer. At least I think that is where the water lines run to the back is underneath the trailer.

New camper frozen water lines | Good Sam Community

27 Replies

azrving
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
It wouldn't seem that any supply lines are exposed to the outside. If they are under the floor there should be an underbelly membrane so it holds heat from the furnace and keeps the tanks warm too. I dont own that style so others will know for sure.
wbwood
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
Heater needs to be on
bigtime_077
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
Everything is opened up right now. The heater is off as I believe that the lines are frozen on the bottom outside of the trailer. At least I think that is where the water lines run to the back is underneath the trailer.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Mar 17, 2014
Open all faucets, shower knobs, low point drains, prop toilet open etc. until you can do the winterizing right.

With everything open any water in system can expand without bursting pipes/fittings.
azrving
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
Is the heat on now? You are doing right as far as pressurizing and then shut the pump off and see if it holds pressure. The pump should hold for quite some time before the it kicks on.
If you did hurt the pex, you can also use shark bite fittings in hard to reach places with no special tools.
Artum_Snowbird
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
Hopefully you have propane in the tanks... Get that furnace on about 65 degrees and open all the cupboard doors.

Hopefully, it's plugged in to electricity too...

Many times it's the outside shower that is the weakest link.. or the dump valves...
calamus
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
It may not be as bad as you think Today most campers are piped with Pex that is flexible the fittings are not but the pipe will. We had our 2008 out in Oct camping and it got down to 13 one night no heat on and froze solid had to replace the spout on the kit faucet and the shower head that was it ya supper lucky. If not then you can fix most everything buying a $38 pex tool from menards and all the fitting and extra line it is really do it your self friendly. In the future remember if you cant get to it open every thing up and all the drains I have not use anti freeze for years other than the traps and a bit in the toilet I just hook up the air compressor and set the regulator at 50 and blow all the lines out no funny tasting water in the spring! Good luck .

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New camper frozen water lines

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