Cold weather rv'ing

Mostly travel (Denver, Seattle) and camp in winter. We do not add anything, I keep the fresh water as full as possible and don't drain the grey/black until needed. We use the fridge. We are in below freezing commonly, we do not have heat pads. Never had a problem.

One thing we do different is we ONLY use the furnace (70-74, cycles about 20 min on 20 min off at zeroish, we also updated to the digital thermostat, it cycles better). If you use supplemental heat it will not run the heater enough and heat does not get to the tanks.

BTW we use bottled water for drinking.

Enjoy camping in snow is awesome! Make sure you have chains for TV.

I doubt the rv antifreeze will do much. It freezes just like water but does not expand like water would. vehicle antifreeze is made to mix with water and not freeze. rv antifreeze is not really made to be mixed with water. It is to be used in place of water. As mentioned above I would carry rv antifreeze and put it in traps to chase out the water and put a fair amount in the waste tanks so the rv antifreeze fills any narrow tubes and surrounds the gate valves.

Never put rv antifreeze in your fresh water supply! Flush the toilet with buckets with rv antifreeze in it. Do not worry until you are down in the low 20F range overnight. Drain your fresh water, blow out your lines with air, use antifreeze to flush, use bottled water to drink and wash, good for as low as you can go out and still enjoy it.

I regularly camp to -20C/-4F and sometime colder up here in Ontario. Want to run your tanks all the time? Electric tank heaters. Like these Ultra Heat

That way if your out you can use electric heaters and cut down burning through propane. Those little hoses into the belly of the rig from the furnace do for the most part almost nothing. Trust me on that. Never mind running the furnace full time to keep the heat down there.

Depending on where you go you can skip using your own tanks and use the park facilities. I hate doing that so I use mine. Have a Flojet macerator to unload my tanks at home as well as some parks dump stations are snowed in on occasion.

Lots of fun!!!

Love winter camping. Only a few hardy souls and no bugs :)

While in use most RVs are good to about 25 degrees overnight if running the furnace.
RV antifreeze does not do much if diluted in the holding tank. And besides it will be very difficult to remove so let that idea pass.

If you have any access you can add a heat pad to the tank.

A lot depends on how your RV is constructed with regards to cold weather operation.

Many (but certainly not all) RVs have the piping and tanks enclosed within the heated envelope of the RV, so the plumbing system can be fully used in freezing weather so long as the furnace is used (and the water heater at least occasionally fired up). You do have to use water from the fresh water tank rather than leaving a hose hooked up to the campground water supply (connecting only to fill the tank and disconnecting and draining out the hose afterwards).

If the RV is not set up for cold weather use, and has exposed piping and holding tanks and so forth, it's a lot harder to use the plumbing system. Some put rock salt in the holding tanks (to prevent freezing) and flush with water from jugs etc.; some flush with RV antifreeze and don't use the sinks.

In very cold weather, the fridge may have trouble; some put a light bulb or other heat source in the outside fridge compartment to keep it somewhat warm, or cover some of the lower vent cover's holes with insulation of some sort to help keep the compartment warmer. Searches here will turn up good information on the problem. For a short trip, it may be just as easy to use a cooler and put snow or ice in it to keep it cold.

eichacsj wrote:
Mostly travel (Denver, Seattle) and camp in winter. We do not add anything, I keep the fresh water as full as possible and don't drain the grey/black until needed. We use the fridge. We are in below freezing commonly, we do not have heat pads. Never had a problem.

One thing we do different is we ONLY use the furnace (70-74, cycles about 20 min on 20 min off at zeroish, we also updated to the digital thermostat, it cycles better). If you use supplemental heat it will not run the heater enough and heat does not get to the tanks.

BTW we use bottled water for drinking.

Enjoy camping in snow is awesome! Make sure you have chains for TV.

sooo...if you are in a place with no electric hook p what runs the furnace ?? And traveling home you don't worry about the tanks freezing ?? Water heater ??

If you want to use your black tank in cold weather use straight (100 percent) pink RV antifreeze in the toilet and NO water. It could still freeze but it will not expand and burst pipes.

Furnace runs on battery and propane. Make sure you have plenty of charge on the the battery and plenty of propane in the bottle as you head into the evening.

Yes if off-grid you will need to find a way to charge the battery every day.

If enroute you should have enough battery to get through the night assuming a long day driving. At least two batteries is pretty standard for camping without power.

Going to take some time for a full tank to freeze. 3/4 full tank will not be hurt from freezing a bit overnight as there is room to expand. Actual pipes would be more of a worry. Water heater can stay on propane.

luberhill wrote:


sooo...if you are in a place with no electric hook p what runs the furnace ?? And traveling home you don't worry about the tanks freezing ?? Water heater ??

luberhill, please don't take this wrong but based on your questions, you need to learn more about how things work in your RV, before taking it out in freezing temperatures.