Question about having camper setup in near freezing temps.

[JoshuaH]

We own a Forest River Wolf Pup 16BHS,

https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/travel-trailers/wolf-pup/16BHS/1330

My wife is an ER nurse at a local hospital, and she is currently living in the camper to have some isolation from myself and my 4 year old son. She works the night shift so her routine is to come home about 730-8am shower then go straight to bed and sleep in the camper during the day.

Tonight it is supposed to get down to 30 degrees, and a few more nights in the forecast for lows of 32 and 33.

My question is, if I disconnect the water supply, and bleed off pressure, leave the heat on inside the camper, will this be safe? This camper has low point drains, these obviously will not receive any heat, so I'm worried about those freezing, however my thought was if there was no pressure on the lines and the temp only slightly below freezing maybe that would be OK?

Next question, if my above plan is OK, will it be OK to leave the water heater on, it will be full of water, just no water pressure in the system. I'd like to leave it on so when my wife does get home she can take a shower right away and go to sleep as she works usually 12.5-13 hour shifts and needs to get to work as soon as possible.

I know there are ways to permanently heat your water supply to prevent freezing, but I was hoping to avoid that as I doubt we will have many more nights this spring that get below freezing (Central Missouri), and I sure hope we are past this Pandemic by next winter!

Any thoughts?

[Grit_dog]

Phew! I wuz worried...
Ever put out that cup of water?

[JoshuaH]

All has been well so far, no problems.

It was quite windy last night, the forecast said low of 31, but still no problems.

[Grit_dog]

^Thats too practical. I suggested that but the OP is setting a heater for peace of mind...

[Flapper]

To reassure yourself, fill an ice cube tray, and find a thermometer, and put them in the freezer of the RV.
While it will be below freezing, it won't be as cold as your house fridge. Check how long it takes to make cubes! You'll be surprised at the time it takes. And the warmer it is outside above that temp, even longer.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

We camped in water in Yosemite with temperature going down to 25 degrees. We have had no problem.

[drsteve]

I live in Michigan, and my experience is that 30 degrees at night is nothing to worry about.

[Ride_S40T]

You should be fine if it's not combined with howling winds.

Got caught like this in Feb while camping on a warm weekend. Unexpectedly dropped to upper 20's and slight wind in the forecast. Grabbed a few of the thickest, fluffiest towels we had and wrapped the low point tubes and and fresh water drain tap & secured with bungee cords. Disconnected fresh water hose.

Checked in the AM, both low points were barely cold to the touch but the fresh water hose we'd left beside the trailer was frozen solid. May have gotten lucky, actually. Next time will just pop the caps off the low points and let them drain. A mere 5 minutes to prevent a crack is worth it.

And yes, most new trailers should have pex rated to 100psi. The fittings and valves, however...that's probably our weak points.

[ndrorder]

If the drain is connected, leave the hose connected, leave the cold water trickling in a sink, and the gray water drain open letting the water trickle until morning.

[Grit_dog]

JoshuaH wrote:
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the input, I figured I would be OK, but we are on the edge of town, a bit of a rural area, sometimes the temp drops a few degrees below the forecast so I just want to be safe. I do have second propane tank to exchange when it gets low and I'm keeping a close eye on it.

You still won’t have issues with freeze up based on this, not even close. Did you test some water out last night? Did it freeze?

God bless nurses.

[JoshuaH]

spoon059 wrote:
30 degrees for a couple hours isn't enough to damage anything. I'd put water in the tank though, because that large mass of water will take substantially longer to freeze. I would use an electric heater rather than propane... the propane costs will quickly start to add up, but a 1500 watt heater will do fine heating that small of a camper. Heck, you could even put the heater on a timer that comes on an hour before she comes home to save from heating the camper all night.

Tell her to stay safe!

Actually this is exactly what I've done with a heater and timer, I just didn't want to give a bunch of extra un-needed info on the thread. I set it to come on at 5am this morning to be safe.

[spoon059]

30 degrees for a couple hours isn't enough to damage anything. I'd put water in the tank though, because that large mass of water will take substantially longer to freeze. I would use an electric heater rather than propane... the propane costs will quickly start to add up, but a 1500 watt heater will do fine heating that small of a camper. Heck, you could even put the heater on a timer that comes on an hour before she comes home to save from heating the camper all night.

Tell her to stay safe!

[wa8yxm]

You can drain the fresh lines. Blow the lines out with an air compressor and a blow out adapter (Any RV store, even Wal-Mart) use a decent size tanked compressor (Mine is six gallons) and do multple blows if you are worried.

If you are not worried and at 30 overnight low I'd not be. Just drain 'em an leave the low point vlaves open so they do not gather water

Put some gallons or a 5 gallon container INSIDE for use.

[pbeverly]

I tend to think you really don't have to worry. Typically the coldest part of the night is at daybreak. That low will be very short lived.

[wopachop]

I havw the pipe insulation around my low point pipes. Could wrap a towel around it and tape it up. Instead of making a trip to home depot.