Frozen water pipe

[bounder35]

Just got home from a trip and stopped a few days in Gatlinburg. Last night it snowed 5 inches and went down to 18 degrees. Of course we had our heat on, both furnaces and also our heat strip. Our water worked fine this morning. We left Gatlinburg around 2 to go home to Cincinnati and we also had heat on the whole way home. When we got home it is now 14 degrees, no water out of any faucet. I am lucky to have a heated garage. In about thirty minutes the water started running again. I have a 2011 Fleetwood Discovery. Any one else ever have this problem . I thought running the heat always keeped the water lines and tanks protected. Any ideas ?

[mccsix]

When it's really cold open all the doors around your sinks and leave them open all night

[down_home]

The bounder has or had a cover where you put the sewer hose and two or three 1/2 in holes for any water to drain out.
I thought about it on a trip to Fla a few years ago when daytime high was in the teens, of putting piece of duct tape on the holes, temporarily. I didn't and all was good. There is power in the wet bay, 12 volt for the light and water pump.
120 is on the other side. Not too much of a problem to do some wiring and plugin there. Only would have to run the inverter going down the road.
A 120 bulb will operate on 12 volt, but I haven't done the math to see if there would be problem. Probably not.
Real solution would be a GFC equipped very small heater and fan,on either 12 or 120. On 12 volt, it would require at least 10 gauge wire from a DC breaker.
Don't know if there is an extra or space for one or not, but just bit more work if not. Just don't want too much juice from alternator, so I guess that woule mean Inverter and do the math on draw.

[Effy]

Happened to us once travelling in 14 deg weather. It was the actual pump. When I got home I used a hair dryer until it started flowing.

[pianotuna]

Or having a small inverter running.

sch911 wrote:
Many of us have been known to put a 100W light bulb in the water bay to keep things working. This means running the generator while underway.

[rgatijnet1]

sch911 wrote:
Many of us have been known to put a 100W light bulb in the water bay to keep things working. This means running the generator while underway.

\
My 100 watt bulb works fine off of the inverter and the engine alternator keeps the batteries charged.

[Two_Jayhawks]

Yes I have also had water lines freeze in my first two motorhomes. This one so far so good. You bet it can be more challenging when the coach is moving compared to sitting. Like your situation when I returned to home base in heated garage it thawed just fine. Mine thawed with no damage at all. I'm told RV plumbing is fairly forgiving hopefully that will be the case with yours also.

[sch911]

Many of us have been known to put a 100W light bulb in the water bay to keep things working. This means running the generator while underway.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

The dash heat did not allow the propane furnace to run often enough to keep the "basement" warm enough to keep from freezing the pipes.

I had this problem until I replaced the return air grill for the RV furnace with a dual fan intended to be used in a window. Now I have no worries down to -27 c (-17 f)

[time2roll]

Since it was the full MH it must have been the common feed pipe. Inspect and add heat to assist exposed areas in the future.

www.ultraheat.com

Or is your MH certified to 10 or less?

[RLS7201]

You may want to check the heater duct work for kinks and bends. Also have a look at the return air flow. Does the hot air travel all the way across the bay? In my case Fleetwood did install heat in both wet bays but the return air flow was screwed up and didn't travel across the whole length of the bay. I had to do some redesigning to get it right. Now the wet bays stay about 5 degrees below the living quarters.
I travel with the furnace off. The negative pressure in the wet bays, when traveling, draws heat from the dash heater into the bays.

Richard

[Trackrig]

The Mh going down the road is just like a house in the wind. When the MH is sitting still in one place, it's a mass of warm air. When you start driving it down the road it's like a 60 - 65MPH wind just came up seeping into every little crack forcing the warm air out from the various compartments where the water pipes and tanks are. If a 65MPH wind comes up at your house, it's going to get colder also.

Bill