RVing in cold weather

Thanks for all the great information. I think we will go ahead and make the trip. It will be something that we have never done before.

Great tips above, but with the overnight temps in the 20s and daytime temps in the 40s only thing I would do is remove water hose before nightfall and run off the freshwater tank. You stated you have a heated underbelly so run furnace as you would normally do. Keep an eye on the weather just in case a sudden winter storm decides to swing your direction, otherwise enjoy the trip.

We often camp in this type of weather and have a fully exposed underbelly, most times without any hookups and have never had issues with freezing pipes or tanks with overnight temps in 20s and daytime temps above freezing. With daytime temps in the 40s it would be difficult for your plumbing to experience a hard freeze with just a few hours of temps in the 20s overnight.

If you want to make sure your black tank valve will open when it is time to dump, start with 1 or 2 gallons of RV antifreeze in your empty/closed black tank. We don't mess with lights and such in the basement. We run a ceramic heater in the basement. The way ours is configured it also heats the convenience center, the bathroom floor, and part of the bedroom floor.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Sue,

The two links are the same?

Thanx, fixed!

-40 in a motorhome, also along the Alaska Highway
http://yukonsights.ca/20011215_AlaskaHwy.html

Was -7 this morning with a -30 wind chill(yeah), order 100 gal propane tank from dealer (lease/rent) and have heated water hose. We stay hooked up but all tanks closed. Dump when needed, just make sure sewer hose has no water left in it when finished (by lifting and walking it out).Campground should have heat tape on their side of city water. You can skirt your trailer to keep wind and snow from underneath trailer. We have did skirting before and it does save a bit of coin. This winter no skirting as we got to this location later in season. If I think of anything else later I will add another post.

In a Cedar Creek.

Hi Sue,

The two links are the same?

sue.t wrote:
Overnight to 5F along the Alaska Highway in March
http://yukonsights.ca/20130329_Rancheria-Liard.html

-40 in a motorhome, also along the Alaska Highway
http://yukonsights.ca/20130329_Rancheria-Liard.html

Check the bottom of the second link for my lessons learned with the motorhome.

Are your dump valves also enclosed within the heated under belly? If not the grey water line dump valve will freeze. Black seems to take longer to freeze because it ferments and warmer but it also will freeze if exposed. If you have a wet bay use a light bulb in the bay. Like other posts only connect to take on water and connect sewer to dump. If you have a wet bay use your furnace heat higher to keep wet bay and under belly warm. Using electric heaters inside can be a problem because it is the furnace that heats the under belly.

I fulltime in my 3 season TT in Alberta. I frequently see minus 30 or more.
Not without issues but with careful planning it can easily be done.

You can fill the fresh water tank 3/4 full and just remove the hose connection to the spigot at night. If your waste lines or valves are exposed they may freeze. If so check again late in the day or just hold it until you get off the mountain. Do check propane level every day at least one hour before the local propane dealer closes. Otherwise run the furnace and you will be fine.

My fair weather trailer has some cold weather prep and has been fine down to -5F.

Hi,

I would fill the fresh water tank, then disconnect that water line, and only fill the water tank on days that are warmer than about 40F. (32 if you must, and I guess if you must fill, then at whatever temp it is).

If you could get some hot water into the fresh water tank, it would really help things out. I was able to heat my fresh water tank to about 80F using a portable propane tankless water heater. This way my hot water heater would not go cold in the first 4 minutes of a shower, but I could stay warm for a 15 minute shower once the fresh water tank was at 80F.

If you have electric hookups, you will be fine. I would recommend 3 portable heaters, each with thermostat, and hopefully with high heat and low heat settings too!

If you only have a 30 amp electric set up, then you must use care not to trip the main breaker. Each heater is about 12.5 amps. The converter will use 1-2 amps, TV and other small electric things another 2-3 amps. Refrigerator if on electric will use about 3 amps - but only run about 5 hours per day if it is 30F outside.

If you have a 50 amp service, you will be fine - except that you might trip your internal 20 amp circuit breakers if you run 2 heaters on high heat output (25 amps total). Once you tripped a CB, go around the RV and find a "Live" circuit that has not yet tripped. Then you can plug in one heater to the still live circuit, and leave the second heater on the tripped circuit. Re-set the CB, and you will know what sides of the RV are on the tripped and not tripped circuit breakers.

You still normally need to run the furnace a little bit. Say 5 minutes per hour when it is less than 28F outside, and a little more when it reaches 15F. This normally brings warm air into the basement as well as keep the floor warm, and not allow the walls to freeze.

Have fun camping!

Fred.