temp living in RV

In NJ, I would think a heated water hose is only going to be one of your considerations. Addressing the livability and comfortability issues may take most of your time and planning. You don't state how many folks are going to be living in the 5'er but that would bear on the situation. Having two teenagers can tax even a residential water and sewer system.

There is a full-timers section on this Forum and I'd bet there are some folks living in the climes like NJ that have a lot of good ideas about how to make it through a few months. You may wish to start a thread in that section.

For making things comfortable, there really isn't anything above the installation of skirting. Skirting will help keep the floor from getting cold in Winter weather, especially if you can run either auxiliary heating in that space or use heat lamps. One of the best skirting materials is straw bales as the dimensions are big, i.e. best R-value, and can be easily disposed of later. If using bales, it would be a good thing to install a barrier between the bales and the underside of the trailer. That will tend to keep wandering critters from Wintering-over underneath or in your rig. Mouse traps are a good deterrent with any skirting.

An alternative is to use foam board insulation and plastic film. With foam board, you can fashion containments to enclose dump valves, water entrances, and even run it up the sidewalls for additional thermal breakage. It may be possible to use the foam board after your encampment to insulate spaces in your house. That would mitigate costs.

Good luck on your stay in the 5'er. Keep us posted on how that worked out.

I lived in a 36' FW for 5 years in central Oregon. Temps did get to zero several nights without any problems with water hose or dump valves.

I had a brown hard sided drinking hose (better for heat tape than the soft white hose). I taped a heat tape to this hose and covered it with foam insulation. I covered the dump valves with tin-foil and taped a heat tape over the tin-foil and covered this with pipe insulation.

I left my grey valve open and dumped the black tank when needed. The sewer hose was connected and placed on a hose support without any low spots. Worked great for me - good luck.

We "wintered over" in Montana twice. Once in a 32 foot class A, and once in a 32 foot fifth wheel.
Both times I fabricated the water line out of hard copper tubing, heat taped and insulated with fibreglas pipe insulation. The water faucet was heated and insulated by the park owners for year-round use.
In the motorhome, I bought a 100 pound propane cylinder and a 12 foot hose. I used the motorhome regulator. I would load it in the truck and take it to the nearby Flying J to get it filled.
In the fifth wheel, I rented an 80 gallon tank (100 gallon, 80 gallons usable). The propane company delivered the tank, hooked it up, filled it, and kept it full all winter. That was wonderful.
The water line for the fifth wheel was nearly 40 feet long, as was the sewer line. No problems.

huskyfan68 wrote:
I may be forced to live in my 31' 5th wheel for a few months while I renovate house- I live in NJ but the winter has been mild.

"...has been...."


Are you familiar with the expression "hindsight is 20/20" ?

Forgive my scepticism but my name is Murphy, maybe you've heard of Murphys Law?

2oldman wrote:
Yes, use the pump.

beemerphile1 wrote:
Fill water tank and then disconnect and empty hose?

X3!
If you worry about gunk in the FW tank first flush and sanitize, then enjoy!
We have had some real cold temps here on the Oregon Coast while hosting and just filled the tank and used the pump!

I did a few winters with temps in the single digits a few nights.

I made my own heated hose with a standard RV white water hose, heat tape, pipe insulation and electrical tape. I determined the length needed, bought a heat tape a couple feet longer. I then bought a splice kit for the hose and a new end, cut the hose to the length needed, put the tape along the length of the hose with a wrap of electrical tape every foot or so, then put the pipe wrap around the hose and tape once more securing with electrical tape. The excess heat tape on the female end I wrapped around the end of the faucet and covered all of the connection with insulation then put a empty 5 gallon bucket over it.
On the end connected to the trailer I put the other excess length to use wrapping it around the connection to the RV, pushed a piece of insulation in the compartment and closed the door with. This worked for me for 3 winters using same heat tape. I did replace the hose after the second winter.
I also skirted around the bottom, I bought the bi-fold foam board made to go behind vinyl siding, used 1x2 lumber secured to the ground with gutter spikes, screwed an upper piece of 1x2 to the bottom of the trailer, cut the foam to the right height and stapled top and bottom and taped the seams, it did make a big difference in keeping the floor warmed.
I also had a 100 gallon propane tank that the gas company filled for me prior to winter, I used an average one gallon per day by supplementing my heat with 1500 watt ceramic heaters.

If I were to make one recommendation, I'd see about a propane company leasing and delivering a 250-500 gallon propane tank, with the appropriate regulators (usually two, one to step it down from the tank, one at the RV to the pressure there. Just one regulator may result in not enough pressure to run the stove or furnace.)

Barring that, I'd probably go for a few 100 pound cylinders.

We did this exact thing for an entire winter in Northeast PA. I had a water spigot in the basement of the house so hooked up there. I wrapped a hose in foil then put pipe heat tape and wrapped in pipe insulation. Pretty much a redneck heated hose I guess. Only time anything would freeze was in single digits or less and then I just put a torpedo heater under FW for a little while. I did have skirting that a made up around most of the unit and heat lights in the under belly in a couple of spots.
When renovating my focus was bathroom then kitchen so we basically were sleeping in RV at that point. I also ran a hard sewer line through a basement window for sewer drain.
It can be done, but you will burn through lots of propane. Looking back I should have gotten a 100lb tank instead of cycling through 30 and 40 lbers.

We recently lived in our motorhome during a remodel of our house. I just pulled out a hose and refilled it's built-in water tank every few days. The bathrooms in the house still were operational so we only had to empty the motorhome's black tank a very few times and at the same time we emptied the grey tank.

However, we live in a mild weather area and have a tank dump on our lot a few feet from the house.

If you can put some wind-block material for skirting around the bottom of the RV that will help your heat situation.

Sanitize your water system and hose. Use a drinking water grade hose. Use the hose to fill from a freeze-protected faucet, then remove the hose and store it in a heated area (in the house somewhere.)

You also have to think about your waste tanks. You can't leave a sewer hose connected. Flush thoroughly when you dump, and then put about a gallon of RV antifreeze down to protect the valves.

This whole thing would be a lot simpler if you could wait until warmer weather to do the remodel. Spring or fall would be much better. I've given this some thought, as I might be in the same boat in a couple of years.