fallonator22
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Joined 8 years ago
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Re: What is your favorite YouTube RV channel?
Our favorite would have to be Road Warriors. Sean and Caro are so entertaining and do give a lot of different information during their daily lives as full-time RVer's. When we found out about them in Aug 2017, Sean had just passed away however. They were in am accident on their Vespa while on a trip. There haven't been any more new videos, but they have over 100. I also keep up with how Caro is doing with her physical therapy and whatnot via Facebook. It is a good channel to check out - they also do reviews on products they purchase for the RV as well.364Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
hotpepperkid wrote: Your living in it and things froze? So how **** cold did it get anyway. Have been in mine with night temps in the low teens and never had a problem Yeah, during our stay here it got to below 10 some nights. Our first night here, we dripped off the fresh water tank, evidently that ran out because we had used it on our way here - my fault i didn't check it. After it ran out, things froze I'm assuming. Two days later, we had been running the furnace inside, nothing happened, then we took down some of the underbelly and all hoses were frozen. Stuck 3 small electric space heaters in between the underbelly and the frame (air intake was outside still so they wouldn't burn up) and that thawed things down after a few hours. Since then we have been running a pencil sized stream of water in both sinks and in the shower so it won't happen again. We have a Sandpiper and there really isn't any insulation under there, so not really surprising. Will do something about that when we get back to home base.603Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
wvcampers wrote: Leaving the water running when the outside temps are below freezing will result in more problems. Your sewer hose will slowly freeze into a smaller and smaller opening until it is frozen completely off. When that happens the water will back up into the camper. That is good to know - the park actually told us to leave all valves open and do exactly what you are saying not to do lol. it makes sense though. We are here for 2 more nights and I have been checking it daily. Either way, we stop the water, the lines freeze. We run through, the sewer hose possibly freezes, so it's one over the other I would think? I have been keeping an eye on it, but I will actually lift it up today and make sure it's OK, i'd almost rather take a chance and watch the hose rather than all water freeze up again! Thanks for the advice!604Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
DiskDoctr wrote: OP- If you post what rig you have, chances are good there are folks here with the same or similar rig and setup and we can better offer suggestions when you hit these "snags" At the end of the day, that is all they are, snags. You'll get through it, but many of us would like to be neighborly and help- if you'll let us ;) I think something that most RVers realize is that when something goes wrong, it usually happens away from home where you have limited tools and resources...and you have other things planned for your day ;) Quite a few here have had our days saved by a fellow member offering experience or looking it up for us while we were a million miles from home. Even more have offered the same for others on a trip. Like many forums, this one has a variety of folks and personalities. And just like other forums, when you meet up with one that you don't like, skip over it. Give what you want, take what you need, don't sweat the rest of it :) I can't really picture your current issue (when it rains, it pours, right?), but with your rig's model and year we could see the layout online and likely even some pics that could help. You might be surprised to learn there are many RV techs here, not just DIYers. We also have many, many DIYers who have done quite professional work. All with a generous desire to help out in some small way for other RVers. It really sounds like you are on your initial trip with this rig? We call that a "shakedown trip." There are usually numerous things that happen, you have to fix, have to figure out in a new rig, etc. We even have a standard way to work with it called "camp driveway" Camp a day or so in your driveway near all your resources to address whatever you find out and get familiar with your rig. But since you are out- and in really cold weather- you don't have the luxury of going back into your house while you figure out what to do about it...you are LIVING right in the middle of it. That triggers our sense of urgency to help you work out the issues you are finding. So you may sense some of that intensity in responses, too. If you're still having some troubles, tell us what you need help with and give us enough info to work with and we'll all do our best to help our neighbor :C Thanks, I appreciate it. This is our 2nd ‘long’ road trip, other than that, we full time in it in a park in Texas and I think bc of the cold and freezing temps, are running into different issues since it is a first. I appreciate your response and will continue to search out answers on here from people bc the group does help a lot. In this particular circumstance, we did get it taken care of right after that one person posted asking what model the RV was, so I wasn’t quick to respond to that. I will provide as much info as possible in future posts so people will have enough info to answer - thanks again!!603Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
Aridon wrote: If you were running the furnace, there shouldn't be anything frozen downstairs unless something is borked. Most rigs have tank heaters as well so you shouldn't have frozen black / grey tanks either. Maybe a frozen exit valve if the ding dongs at the factory decided to put that on the exterior but most that i've seen put the flapper on the inside. Now IF you are frozen, you need to drop the false wall in your storage compartment and get behind there to see what is going on when the furnace is on. You shouldn't have to leave cabinet doors open to get warm air down there. There should be some vents and heat escaping into the belly to keep it warm. If there isn't, you absolutely must make yourself a vent to keep that space heated. Pretty simple to do, any home depot or lowes will have the parts and tape. In a pinch you can put a space heater there. While you're in there you should consider adding a smoke detector down there as well. This is also a good spot to look and see what is going on down there. If there is Ice in the tanks or if you have a frozen water line or even a leak. You can feel the water lines, if something is iced up, you should be able to feel the difference in the line. This has been many hours now of trying to get water, it is either frozen or it isn't. Temps there will either indicate is is possible to freeze or they won't. Otherwise, make sure your valves are working. Try and get heat to the CG water so you can test on city. Maybe your water pump blew a seal, runs but isn't actually pumping water. Maybe your valves are in the wrong position. Maybe you really do have a freeze, but you should be able to verify that if you look. Nothing beats the laws of physics, it will either be cold enough or it won't. If any pipes run near the extremities check there as well I just can't imagine the underbelly getting cold enough with the furnace running unless they forgot to open a vent down there. Anyway, good luck tracking down the issue. thanks for the advice! yes, we were running the heater for a day and a half prior to finally pulling the underbelly and the flex hoses were frozen solid. got the issue fixed though - thanks!603Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
We thawed all lines and now have water running to shower and both sinks and were able to take a hot shower after thawing heater lines. Plan to leave heaters running for now, but there is no insulation underneath the underbelly where the flex hoses are for the water, although there is some in other places, so will resolve that issue when we return home. Water pump is right behind where connections are in the storage area come to find out as well. Learned a lot, and will be leaving a pencil sized stream running to both sinks and the shower until we leave. Thanks for all the advice from everyone, and to those who were a bit condescending, comes with posting in here I guess!603Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
time2roll wrote: fallonator22 wrote: it is now warm in the storage. furnace is still running, it is warm in the RV, cabinets are open, there is a heater pointing at the blank cabinet behind the bathroom, where i guess the pump is?? i have no idea where the pump is. either way. still no water. will never travel in the winter again. Just need some prep and old man winter can be kept in control. Very difficult to troubleshoot in harsh conditions when just living is taking most of your energy. BTDT. Anyway you need to start at the start and verify what is frozen. Start with the fresh water tank and the water pump. Get some heat to these items until you can verify water flows. You may need to disconnect a fitting to verify. Then move along and see if the WH is getting water pressure and any fixtures along the way. Continue along into all areas until water is flowing. Hard to access areas could prove difficult. This is all a pitn and you might be better off to just go south. Heated shop sounds good but will only last one day unless they also prep your RV for the conditions. I have added a circulating system for my pipes to keep hot water moving around the blind areas. Also added electric pipe heaters and tank heat pads where needed. No more worries and I have an entry level trailer made for Summer use. thanks for the advice. i'm not sure where the water pump even is, we are going to take off the wall in the storage that is along the connections side of the storage and see if it is there, i have already removed some of the blank cabinets and nothing. will probably do all this in the morning. you are right, it is taking everything out of us to try to figure it out, and not being uber familiar with all the inner workings of our fifth wheel, we are just guessing. very frustrating. water won't go thru city, but will flow to fresh tank. pump is frozen i'm assuming, so need to heat that and possibly the fresh tank can supply the water. furnace has been on last 2 days and heater has been pointed directly at where connections go in, and still city water won't run past where you hook it up. just frustrating. on top of all this, black tank valve is frozen and i need to try to heat that up, open, and there's a chance everything in the tank could be frozen as well. so then there's that to deal with!317Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
it is now warm in the storage. furnace is still running, it is warm in the RV, cabinets are open, there is a heater pointing at the blank cabinet behind the bathroom, where i guess the pump is?? i have no idea where the pump is. either way. still no water. will never travel in the winter again.317Views0likes0CommentsRe: Frozen Pipes.
ToddD wrote: fallonator22 wrote: our water heater may be frozen as well, our water pump also, and i dont know where TF either of those are. i am hating myself for not doing more research right now. Yikes, how did that happen? You didn't run out of propane again, did you? (Sorry, bad joke). Seriously, though, unless you turned it off or lost electric, how did your hot water tank freeze? Is it a tankless system? if the water heater is electric, it may be frozen. i turn on the pump because i was thinking MAYBE we could fill the fresh water tank and run that, but when i click the button i can't hear it turn on as normal, so i'm assuming it's frozen. heat fan is in the storage underneath pointed at where the connections are. nothing seems to be helping. we still have propane. furnace is still running. nothing is changing and it is only supposed to get colder. i am kind of afraid of pulling the thing with all the bouncing with frozen sh*t in the black tank which is one of the reasons we haven't left yet. and we are hopeful i guess that things thaw out and we can use the water.316Views0likes0Comments
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