Avoiding freezing water hose..

HOW COLD IS COLD? Down to the mid-20's the trickle method works perfectly fine, assuming full hookups. Low 20's and below, you do risk freezing up your dump hose and need to look at using just the on-board water tank.

falconbrother wrote:
Night before last we were in Myrtle Beach and it was cold..cold, cold. I got up in the middle of the night for a bathroom trip and no water. I got dressed and went outside, about 4am, and everything from the water inlet to the ground where the spigot is located was frozen solid. The inside of the RV was not frozen, for all the good it did. They say, leave the water dripping. But, what about the gray tank? Do you leave the valve open and risk that freezing as well or, risk over filling the gray tank? The valve for the gray tank was frozen shut as well.. The next day, late morning, I went out there with a hair dryer and got the water going again. By about 2pm the gray water handle started working.

So, what is the solution to keep the water flowing in freezing weather?

Old-Biscuit wrote:
YEP.........
Use the fresh water tank & pump


Refill tank during warmer daytime temps and then drain/stow hose until refill needed

This is what I usually do.

With taking one shower every other day I could go 9 days between FW tank refills (4 showers, flushing toilet and washing hands). I also filled 2 - 7 gallon Reliance (Walmart) containers and brought them inside the trailer when outside temps were not going to get above 30 degrees for several days. My plan was to drop the pump winterizing tube inside a 7 gallon container and turn the winterizing valve if needed. Had to do it once when the pick up tube from the fresh water tank iced up for about a day and then temps went back up so I could top off the tank. I hate the jack knife sofa and plan on adding an auxiliary 30 to 40 gallon FW tank where the jack knife sofa is when I remove it and build a bench seat in it's place.

Well, if Niagara Falls can freeze, then leaving a trickle of water flowing down a 3 inch stinky-slinky is no match!

How I protect my hose (Supposed to hit teens either tonight or tomorrow night, let me check, HOSE will not freeze by the way. 25 tonight 17 tomorrow night)

I tank up, heated storage on the RV, and I've agumented that with about 350 watts of additional heat... Then I drain the hose so it is full of air, Disconnect Coil and stow in a heated bay.. It won't freeze cause there is no water in it.

Now where I am I'm only parked for a week, So when I get to the 2 week campground I'll take the hose out and when I need it,, hook up and re-fill as I did before I left.

Option 2 is a heated hose (string of incandescent rope lights with T-Stat turning them on at 45 Degrees) but the reason I tank and use stored water is ... NOT freezing. it is something else (Over chlorination of water by the supplier).

No frozen hose.. A side benefit.

Don't make the mistake to believe running water doesn't freeze. In Rhode Island I use to ice skate on a river. As a HVAC/R tech I have thawed hot water baseboard heat piping many times. Even had to thaw a fuel oil line once in Delaware that had a bit of water in the oil. Have entered homes that had a solid block of water in the kitchen sink with an icicle formed right up to the faucet. Even had a photo of our fish pond fountain froze floral ice sculpture. Shall I go on?

Simple answer was full and use the tanks when cold, but it's situationally dependent.
How cold, how long, what are the amenities, etc.
many methods depending on the situation.

lucy6194 wrote:
Red roof inn until out of freeze zone.

this is what we chose for the first 2-nights for our trek south between chicago and FL.

lucy6194 wrote:
Red roof inn until out of freeze zone.

Stay somewhere warmer. :)

Failing that, use RV A/F to flush toilet, and wait until the rest thaws during the day.

Red roof inn until out of freeze zone.

Wintered in ours for 9 months, left water running at the kitchen sink, stream about the diameter of a pencil. Had 220' of water line laying on the ground from next door. Both grays open and never had a problem. We experienced low temps in the single digits with the highs in the 20's. Alway had water.