Water Pump - Advice Needed for Winter Travel

[rk911]

we're very experienced RV travelers having started back in 1986 but we've never traveled in winter. that's about to change next January.

we'll be leaving our home in our 2016 Itasca Suncruiser 38Q in mid January and heading towards Florida. after leaving here I am planning that we will be in freezing overnight weather for 1-3 nights depending on the time of day we leave home, driving conditions, etc. I've spoken with Winnebago Tech Support and gotten conflicting answers and opinions so I thought I'd reach out to those of you who have actual experience in winter travel.

the issue is the fresh water pump. because our trip to warmer weather will require at least one overnight..possibly more due to 'Murphy'...we'd rather not delay the de-winterizing. Tech Support assures me that our fresh tank is "heated" as long as the LP furnace is running but the two techs I spoke with disagree on how to deal with the water pump. I'm planning to keep the fresh tank pretty close to full during the trip south. that and the furnace should help against freezing. the water pump on the 38Q is located in a curb side compartment above the water heater. one tech tells me that the heat from the water heater will protect the pump while the other says to use a 100-watt incandescent bulb in that compartment. how do you protect the water pump from freezing (other than not de-winterizing)? and what about the wet bay on the street side...does that need protecting as well? how? same concept...use a 100-watt bulb?

thanks in advance.

[rk911]

thanks to everyone for their input. I posted this query on a couple of different forums and the responses seem to fall into a couple of different groups…

- spend the first night or two in a motel. this is a bit of a problem because we travel with our dog but it is an option we hadn't considered.

- take along X number of gallons of water in 1-gal jugs for drinking, etc. again, not something I'd considered and I like the idea of a gallon or two of pink stuff for flushing.

I like the idea of a wireless temp sensor in the water pump and wet bay compartments and will see about that as well as the feasibility of installing some sort of permanent AC-powered incandescent light fixture in the water pump and wet bays.

once again, I appreciate all of the responses.

[pianotuna]

A small inverter would handle the load from a light bulb. I travel with my inverter on for heating reasons in the winter time. I do have a thermostat to reduce the run time for the devices I use for freeze protection.

alfredmay wrote:
I agree with all those who say to keep the rig winterized and use jug water for drinking and antifreeze for flushing. Each rig handles cold weather differently. Your pump may be OK at night with a bulb heating it, but the pump might freeze during the day due to air leaks in your compartment and the bulb not being on. If you want to try dewinterizing, then I suggest you get a battery operated thermometer with a sending unit that will be mounted on the pump and a receiver on the dash. Get one that registers the high and low for the day. They cost about $15.

[pianotuna]

He may have a generator. Motor homes house banks charge better in general than towed rv's.

TomG2 wrote:
To the OP; Be aware that running the furnace will quickly kill your batteries if you decide to stop without hookups in cold weather.

[alfredmay]

I agree with all those who say to keep the rig winterized and use jug water for drinking and antifreeze for flushing. Each rig handles cold weather differently. Your pump may be OK at night with a bulb heating it, but the pump might freeze during the day due to air leaks in your compartment and the bulb not being on. If you want to try dewinterizing, then I suggest you get a battery operated thermometer with a sending unit that will be mounted on the pump and a receiver on the dash. Get one that registers the high and low for the day. They cost about $15.

[TomG2]

To the OP; Be aware that running the furnace will quickly kill your batteries if you decide to stop without hookups in cold weather.

[Beverley_Ken]

I'm in the group of using bottled water and the pink for the toilet.
AS others have said, delay dewinterizing until your far enough south to ensure no freezing. Its not a big inconvenience use bottled water.
The heating systems for the on board water systems would probably work fine if the lows were in the 25-30F range, but if the temperature was in the -25 - -30f, that would be a different story



Ken

[Community Alumni]

Ivylog wrote:

Not sure why you would use one of these??? Using your own toilet and the small amount of bottled water to flush is not going to hurt your black tank, even when it freezes the stuff in it as there will be air around the frozen stuff until it thaws when you get south. Once warm enough you can get water from the garden center at a Home Depot for your tank.

I would WalMart it at night and use your furnace to stay warm inside since you are still winterized BUT I still put in 12+ hour days when trying to get somewhere.

PS: You can probably get permission to spend the night at the HD when you get water.

Actually we just carry a 2 gallon jug of pink anti-freeze to pour into the toilet if we have to use it.

[Ivylog]

Not sure why you would use one of these??? Using your own toilet and the small amount of bottled water to flush is not going to hurt your black tank, even when it freezes the stuff in it as there will be air around the frozen stuff until it thaws when you get south. Once warm enough you can get water from the garden center at a Home Depot for your tank.

I would WalMart it at night and use your furnace to stay warm inside since you are still winterized BUT I still put in 12+ hour days when trying to get somewhere.

PS: You can probably get permission to spend the night at the HD when you get water.

[K_Charles]

Don't dewinterize, use a couple gal jugs of water to wash, flush toilet, and make coffee. If it's too cold the first night get two more jugs of water for the next day, if it's warm enough hook up and fill the water.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I can do -37 c (-34 f) in my class C. However, it has been modified to allow that to happen.

The risk is that the dash heat will "fool" the "house" thermostat and may not run. I solved that by replacing the cold air return grill with a dual window fan that I power from the inverter.

If would behoove you to read the "winter camping" thread. Here is a link:

https://forums.goodsamclub.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24160748.cfm

[PghBob]

We winterize in October, clearing out all water. When we head to Fla. in Jan. we keep the rig winterized. We use bottled water for coffee and food prep., and Camp Ground water for anything else. Mostly use rest stops for other "needs", but if we need to use the BR in the rig, that's OK. The only time we would not use the BR in the rig, is we expect to be in way below freezing temps. most of the day. This is not inconvenient for us, and we don't have to worry about freezing temps.

[rockhillmanor]

rk911 wrote:
we're very experienced RV travelers having started back in 1986 but

we've never traveled in winter

. that's about to change next January.

we'll be leaving our home

in our 2016 Itasca Suncruiser 38Q in mid January and heading towards Florida.

after leaving here I am planning that

we will be in freezing overnight weather for 1-3 nights

depending on the time of day we leave home, driving conditions, etc.

I'm originally from the same area you are from.

NO. Do NOT unwinterize the MH.

It did take me two trips to Florida leaving during the cold weather to completely figure out how to do it!

1. Leave MH winterized.

2. Bring jugs of water for drinking, washing hands and making coffee. You can always stop and get more along the way if needed. They sell water at all the gas stations.

3. Yes ALL the CG's in our area are completely closed for the winter I didn't even think about that my first trip down. Luckily I didn't need one until I was on the interstate where they were open.

4.I found out that all the CG's along the interstate ARE open. There are many of them on the route you will be on. You can just pull in any of them without even having to make a reservation and you will get a site and have electric and sewer but no water.

5. They do not shut off the water to the bathrooms and showers as those buildings are heated. So you can wash up and shower at a CG every night along your trip.

6.For me, because I do NOT like to use gas station bathrooms so I bought a thetford porta-pottie. And before you turn your nose up on this, it looks just like the RV toilet and is as tall as your RV toilet. Will fit right next to in your bathroom. In case you need to use it between CG's. I just felt better knowing it was there.

It has a cassette holding tank under it which you remove to dump. there is ABSOLUTELY no smell what so ever and when you dump it it has a swivel arm so you don't have to look at it either!

7. If you find you are using the toilet a lot while on the road. You just take the cassette, which just looks like a suitcase into the rest stop or gas station bathroom and dump it in the toilet.

That all said......
The biggest thing I learned is.
NO Kentucky is NOT far south enough to unwinterize the MH!!! :W

I was so excited to be so far south and the weather was so much nicer than up North I pulled into the CG and unwinterized and hooked up to the water with my inline filter in place.

Temps dropped that night and in the morning all I saw was blue plastic pieces all over from the filter freezing and blown apart!
My first clue should have been that the CG water hookup was wrapped in heat tape. :S

After that first trip my MH did not get unwinterized until I was firmly planted in a CG in Florida!

You can pick up a thetford porta-pottie at any Walmart. For around $50.


Hope some of this helps and enjoy your trip down.:C

[Community Alumni]

We only de-winterize once we know that we are no longer in freezing temps. For us it usually means that the first travel night is at a hotel.

I also do not have any freash water In the tank, until we've de-winterized.

This is how we proceed based upon years of experience; we learned after freezing and breaking a plastic fitting.

[TomG2]

Ivylog wrote:
I would not un-winterize...just carry 5 one gallon jugs of water for drinking and flushing.

X2. Make it an adventure. A night in a motel is not a bad idea either. When it is safe, enjoy your winter instead of possibly replacing plumbing.