How cold is "too cold" ?

Ralph Cramden wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
Sheep dip folks,

Some of you have obviously NOT been at any of the ski area's here in the NW US! Over 100 units on any given weekend at some places. NONE of them are winterized! I drained everything in the spring, refilled with water come Thankgiving to spend weekends at the local area. It got down to 10F many times, 20-25F max during the day for a weekend, ie friday pm to sunday pm!

ANy way, for the temps the OP is in, keep the heat going, inside lines will be fine! If you are going to be in sub freezing temps a lot as I was, get rid of any drains mid stream in the main lines, as water will freeze up and you will not have water beyond this point! Their are some other things one can do to make things better per say.....Unless you are going to be someplace as noted, below for a day or three or more, get some 2-3' of snow on the rig over those 2-4 days......you are worrying about nothing!

Marty

Not really sheep dip..............Just because you can spend a weekend in sub freezing temps with rig A which has all the water lines and fresh water tank inside the box, that may not be a great idea in rig B which has a tank under the trailer, may or may not have an underliner, and may have exposed water lines or uninsulated lines that are just laying on a sheet of coroplast.

You can freeze pex solid and not hurt it a bit, but you'll most likely crack every single fitting if they happen to be the plastic ones typically used in RV's.

Relooking at the OP's description, sounds like his trailer is equal to my 92 Prowler i had. Along with a few others trailers etc. Some granted had more protection. Still, had times where temps were below freezing from weekend to weekend including here at sea level near Seattle where I live. Along with the sub 20F temps for the 48-56 hours at 3000'! Its not a big deal.
water tank was in the main cabin, like OPs, gray ad blcak tank were un insulated in the open. Very rarely fully full, so plenty of room for material to expand in its frozen state when it did so.

Careful thought and planning, one can live in sub freezing temps for some time if the unit is heated etc. Our max was around five days IIRC. Came home one time with and extra 3000 lbs of snow in and on truck, 4000 on the roof of the trailer, That was after a 30 mile drive home, lost a bit of snow too! 5' over four days, chains all around on truck to get out of parking lot. Pass was closed going down, so had to hang out. No skiing too! grrrrr.

Marty