Near-freezing temperatures

[AstroKing]

Ok, maybe this is a silly question, but this is my first travel trailer. I'm from Houston and it never freezes here (almost never or barely gets 32 degrees). We have reservations for Lake Ouachita State Park near Hot Springs, Arkansas next week and Saturday & Sunday night look to be anywhere from 34-36 degrees. We have a 21 ft. Gulf Stream Conquest Lite bunk house travel trailer. Is there anything I should be concerned about? We normally camp using city water hookup and full sewer hookup. I know this isn't freezing weather, but it's close to it, and I just wanted to ask here first if I need to bring anything extra given the lower temperatures. Again, I'm from Houston, where people freak out if it gets below 40 degrees, so those of you from up north can get a good laugh in! Thank you.

[AstroKing]

Thank you all for the many responses. Well, as it worked out, wife and child both got sick with a stomach bug last Thursday night. I escaped but we had to cancel. Turns out it got down to 27 degrees Saturday night there, not the predicted 34-36 when I originally posted. So for me, who is still pretty much clueless about those temps, it all turned out for the best, except for my wife and child but they are fine now. Thanks again everyone!

[rbpru]

Usually warm days and cold nights are not an issue. However last February we camped it NM and woke up to mid 20's. The pump did not like pumping slush.

I general if it is in the 40's and sunshiny and around freezing at night, there is enough thermal inertia to keep the water from freezing.

An extended cold snap is something else.

Our TT is not a four season unit so we dry camp in the winter.

[arkieguide]

I have spent the winter in my 22 foot 5th wheel, in upstate New York.I insulated and heat taped my incoming water line, my outgoing waste line and my holding tanks, under penned the trailer.And left the heater running full time, no trouble.

[Drbolasky]

We just returned from a long weekend getaway in Connecticut. Nighttime lows were 26-28 degrees. Ran an electric heater with a fan plus the LP furnace providing a blast of heat now & then to keep things warm everywhere. I carry a heated city water hose and the CG had a heat tape installed on the water hookup.

At 32 degrees (or a couple degrees below that) you should be fine inside. Fill your freshwater tank, though, as others have said.

[Huntindog]

Coffee Grinder wrote:
The folks @ Rockwood said my ultralite has heated tanks and is good for 10 degrees below freezing. Haven't put it to the test yet however.

The "heated" tanks on a stock unit usually rely on the propane heater running full tilt... Using Electric heat as you stated earlier will do nothing for the tanks.

Even at that, 10 below is getting pretty serious. My TT stock with heated tanks was not good to those temps.... So I would not count on that at all. Especially any ultralight.. The lighter units tend to cut corners on materials to make them light.

Now, a TT with such a package CAN be easier to modify for better performance than one that has no such package... So it is a good starting point.
I would not count on it as it now sits in single digits for long.

[Coffee_Grinder]

The folks @ Rockwood said my ultralite has heated tanks and is good for 10 degrees below freezing. Haven't put it to the test yet however.

[pconroy328]

AstroKing wrote:
Again, I'm from Houston, where people freak out if it gets below 40 degrees, so those of you from up north can get a good laugh in! Thank you.

I'm a Yankee who spent 13 years in Dallas. Those Ice Storms are nothing to sneeze at, and would scare any snow-experience person.

We just got back from 10,000' here and night time temps were 32-34*F.

I stuck an inexpensive space heater in the 'basement' of our motorhome. We have tank heaters, but the basement heater, even on the lowest setting (500 watts), warmed the pump and lines up to 60*'s.

Had the temps hit the 20's, I'd have warmed the 'fridge innards with a 40 watt light bulb.

[drsteve]

Don't worry. Even if it falls to 30-32 degrees, it'll warm back up before anything bad happens.

[Ken_O]

valhalla360, thanks. I do remember the name of the campground as "LoW", it was a Passport CG.

[Ken_O]

It was below zero, as I said the water mains in town froze up. It was a big deal there. I-10 was closed down, as it started as freezing rain. It was end of January or beginning of Feb. I'm not going to search weather temps, I was there, and it happened. Don't care if you believe or not.

[valhalla360]

westend wrote:

Ken O wrote:
I have a little story...
About 5 years ago I was spending the winter on I-10 running between AZ and FL. Coming out of Phoenix in February, and going into Deming, NM, a cold front came on like the area has never seen before.

I found a CG in Deming to hunker down. For four days the temps were well below zero, and didn't get to zero until about noon. I put the water hookup hose in the bath to keep it thawed, and just put hooked it up when needed. But, the city water main froze anyways. The CG supplied water in gallon milk jugs in the laundry room.

I was worried about the grey/black valve breaking with the water, as I still was using the sink, toilet, etc. Stuff did freeze up hard, but nothing broke. It was quite an experience, the trailer got much smaller since I couldn't get out and do anything.

I've done the whole winter trips a few times, and had lots of below freezing temps, and don't worry about the plumbing. I ended up buying a S&B in FL, so the RV is back in MI with RV AF in it now.

Hope your trip goes well. Buy a small quartz heater, might as well use the power you paid for at the CG, instead of your propane.

I believe things get distorted with time or you mistyped "below zero" instead of "below freezing". In Deming, the record low for Feb. is -.8f.

Not sure but I think we were in Deming at the same time and it was -5F.

Not sure if it was the same park but we left the dump valves open and the hose was a solid mass of ice towards the end of the cold snap.

We did put a small electric heater in the underbelly (carefully placed so it was away from anything that might catch fire).

The park refused to sell propane to people outside the park as they were running low. We were going thru a 30# tank per day.

To the OPs question: just not an issue if you are using the rig and will have the heat on.

[westend]

Ken O wrote:
I have a little story...
About 5 years ago I was spending the winter on I-10 running between AZ and FL. Coming out of Phoenix in February, and going into Deming, NM, a cold front came on like the area has never seen before.

I found a CG in Deming to hunker down. For four days the temps were well below zero, and didn't get to zero until about noon. I put the water hookup hose in the bath to keep it thawed, and just put hooked it up when needed. But, the city water main froze anyways. The CG supplied water in gallon milk jugs in the laundry room.

I was worried about the grey/black valve breaking with the water, as I still was using the sink, toilet, etc. Stuff did freeze up hard, but nothing broke. It was quite an experience, the trailer got much smaller since I couldn't get out and do anything.

I've done the whole winter trips a few times, and had lots of below freezing temps, and don't worry about the plumbing. I ended up buying a S&B in FL, so the RV is back in MI with RV AF in it now.

Hope your trip goes well. Buy a small quartz heater, might as well use the power you paid for at the CG, instead of your propane.

I believe things get distorted with time or you mistyped "below zero" instead of "below freezing". In Deming, the record low for Feb. is -.8f.

[Ken_O]

I have a little story...
About 5 years ago I was spending the winter on I-10 running between AZ and FL. Coming out of Phoenix in February, and going into Deming, NM, a cold front came on like the area has never seen before.

I found a CG in Deming to hunker down. For four days the temps were well below zero, and didn't get to zero until about noon. I put the water hookup hose in the bath to keep it thawed, and just put hooked it up when needed. But, the city water main froze anyways. The CG supplied water in gallon milk jugs in the laundry room.

I was worried about the grey/black valve breaking with the water, as I still was using the sink, toilet, etc. Stuff did freeze up hard, but nothing broke. It was quite an experience, the trailer got much smaller since I couldn't get out and do anything.

I've done the whole winter trips a few times, and had lots of below freezing temps, and don't worry about the plumbing. I ended up buying a S&B in FL, so the RV is back in MI with RV AF in it now.

Hope your trip goes well. Buy a small quartz heater, might as well use the power you paid for at the CG, instead of your propane.

[hohenwald48]

If it's only going to 34 like you said then you have nothing at all to worry about. Water freezes at 32 no matter where you are. 🙂