unanticipated freezing temps

[herewer]

Hello all,

We are living in our travel trailer in south texas and there is a possibility of lows getting down into the mid 20s next week. About 20 degrees below "average". This should be 1 or 2 nights for a couple of hours total with day temps in the 40s.

We will run our furnace and keep the cabinets doors open to allow heat to the pipes. And I will bring in the slide.

What else can we do? It's been suggested to run water all night and adding antifreeze into the black tank.

Any other suggestions?

[Empty_Nest__Soo]

herewer wrote:
. . .
We will most likely just remove the outside hose and run the furnace during the night. We can reattach the hose in the morning after it warms up a bit.

Herewer

That's all you need to do. You'll be fine. I've camped like that many times with the furnace turned down to 50* or 55* overnight. No problems at all unless it stays below freezing for days, not hours.

I can't help but chuckle at the panicky replies from folks in the south, and a few in the north, about a few hours overnight in the mid-20's.

Wayne

[dadmomh]

Agree that there is no need for major panic. Most years we've waited until Thanksgiving to winterize and have had some overnights in the range you're looking at. We used electric heaters and opened cabinet doors. It's only going to be that low for a few hours and then warm back up...the term "warm" loosely used. Closing the slide will give you less area to have to heat, but if your furnace normally keeps things comfy, wouldn't worry about it. Either way is fine. Disconnect the water hose and drain it. You might check to see if your CG has freeze proof faucets and if not, what their plans are.
Guess you could disconnect the slinky, but have no idea what the thinking is behind that. Really do not think you're going to have any problems. Do they even SELL RV Antifreeze in that part of the country??

We're a toasty 33 right now - up from 16 - but the bottom is due to fall out - again - this afternoon. If it's going to be this blasted cold, might as well have some snow and really shut the place down. DH agreed to make a dog food run for me....he's not gonna be happy having to drive near Walmart to get to Petsmart, but doesn't realize that yet. Won't be a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk to be had....people!, this is not gonna last forever! Better if you can just enjoy this time of being closed in, grab a good book, watch yet another bowl game or make homemade bread. We'll be back to the real world before long.

[Tim_W]

mudpuppi wrote:
Hmmm...woke up this morning with no hot water in the bath sink or tub which is at the rear of the trailer. No shore water even though hose had heat tape and insulation. Furnace was run at 71 all night and came on about about every 6 minutes. Outside temps dropped to about 25 degrees where I'm currently parked near Richmond Va. The on board tank is providing hot and cold to the kitchen, but only cold to the bathroom. I opened all the access panels and none seem cold enough to cause freezing so I suppose the hot water pipe running from the kitchen to the bath under the flooring is the one frozen which I cannot access. In hindsight I should have dripped the faucet in the bath.

Funny I missed something ..... hahaha

The original OP is "Herewer" :?

You posted which made me think you were the OP, I got lost between both of your responses, LOL

[_tiredTeacher]

jdkd123 wrote:
Too many panic replys here. Mid 20's overnight for a few hours, with a heated interior will not be a problem. Your black tank is not going to freeze either. At most I might disconnect a water hose and drain that. Use your own water for overnight. Jmo from a cold weather new england camper.

A cold-weather Virginia camper agrees. We just did a New Year's trip and had upper 20s a few nights. We used the on-board tank (no water hook ups) and two space heaters. I did put a 60W trouble light in the bay with the water filter, just to make DW feel better.
As said before, as long as the majority of the time temps are above freezing, you'll have no problems.

Teach

[B_O__Plenty]

been through this many times. Disconnect your water hose and run off a few gallons in your fresh water tank. If you are parked and hooked up to sewer, leave gray tanks ope. Mine are always open when parked. Dump and flush your black tank then leave it closed as normal. Nothing else...Turn on your furnace and sleep tight. Nothing will go wrong. No need to pour anything in the traps you will be heating the trailer. If a little water freezes in your waste tanks, it will thaw out.


B.O.

[herewer]

Hello all,

Thank you for all your responses. I am a bit relieved that we should not have major problems. We will watch the forcasts over the next few days and decide what to do.

We will most likely just remove the outside hose and run the furnace during the night. We can reattach the hose in the morning after it warms up a bit.

Herewer

[mudpuppi]

No basement and tanks are not heated so that's why I worry so much

Ok, got the shore water working, so seems like my on board pump is shot and not pumping versus frozen pipe. It only makes a humming sound so guess what I will be doing today!

.

[Gr8life]

What I do is drag my trailer another few hundred miles south. Works for me. Nothing frozen in eleven years with my method.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Is the "basement" heated?

[Tim_W]

When you open the valve nothing comes out or its just not hot?

I agree with others, furnace at 71 in 25 degrees over night should have caused no problems

[mudpuppi]

Hmmm...woke up this morning with no hot water in the bath sink or tub which is at the rear of the trailer. No shore water even though hose had heat tape and insulation. Furnace was run at 71 all night and came on about about every 6 minutes. Outside temps dropped to about 25 degrees where I'm currently parked near Richmond Va. The on board tank is providing hot and cold to the kitchen, but only cold to the bathroom. I opened all the access panels and none seem cold enough to cause freezing so I suppose the hot water pipe running from the kitchen to the bath under the flooring is the one frozen which I cannot access. In hindsight I should have dripped the faucet in the bath.

[BobsYourUncle]

Mid 20's? Seriously, it is certainly no big deal at all.

It is absolutely a non issue whatsoever.

Nothing is going to freeze, nothing is going to burst or break.

With the furnace going, keeping your inside temperature at 70 or so, EVERYTHING will be fine. You don't have to do anything.

I just spent 5 weeks in Alberta in November and December, and when it was that warm, (mid 20's) All I did was keep my furnace going and absolutely everything was fine and water flowed. I left my HWT on 24/7 too.

When it got down in the low teens for days on end, I still had no problems at all. Nothing froze. There is enough ambient temperature leaking out of the RV to keep things working.

When I got down around 0F, I started to take a few precautions, but everything still flowed, except my dump pipes.

It was when I got down to the MINUS mid 20's F that I had to be a lot more careful. I had my kitchen water feed freeze up and even though I had a heat tape on my dump pipes, the gate valves ceased functioning. It was at those temperatures that things got a bit challenging for me.

But at the temperatures you describe? Trust me, you have nothing to worry about. No insult intended to you well meaning guys that hit the panic button, but you are seriously over-reacting.

But yeah, like post above, disconnect your water hose if you feel the need. It won't freeze up either at the connection. Maybe in the hose to the tap but thats all.

You don't need to run your water and you don't need antifreeze in your tanks. They are not going to freeze in a couple hours a night. No way! I wish it was that balmy for me when I was in Alberta!

You will be fine without doing anything, trust me on that one.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt! 🙂

[jdkd123]

Too many panic replys here. Mid 20's overnight for a few hours, with a heated interior will not be a problem. Your black tank is not going to freeze either. At most I might disconnect a water hose and drain that. Use your own water for overnight. Jmo from a cold weather new england camper.

[Davidlatham2012]

You should never use a 110v or 12v anything to warm propane tanks up. It creates a fire hazard. If you should get a small propane leak, which can happen at tank or line. The heating element can be enough to ignite the propane then you got a problem...

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

Dump your tanks before closing up. Then put about a half gallon or so of RV antifreeze in both the black and grey tanks. Need to try to get it down to the bottom of the drain near the gate valves for the dumps. Those are usually exposed and you really, really don't want them subject to expanding freezing water.

I have a small heating pad - for my shoulder at times - that I wrap around those valves and set on low. If I'm expecting temps down near 15 like north of Dallas is expecting - I'll wrap a AC duct sleeve around the area also.

Another concern is your propane tanks. Propane is less efficient at temps that low. I have one heating pad I use inside the cover on the tanks/ valves when temps are that low when we are in the rig.