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Old 04-12-2018, 10:46 AM   #1
Ksupaul
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Winterize for One cold night?

Couldn’t really find this answered this way with a search.

Thinking of spending a few nights this weekend and dewinterizing. Not worried about freezing while camping with heat. However, Sunday night after I put it away, she gets down to 22 to 27 depending on the forcaster. Temp then back above freezing hopefully for the summer. If under belly is covered with chloroplast, how high is the risk of possible damage? I would think low especially if it only drops to 27, but wondered your thoughts about one cold night below freezing and damage risk. The boat world says things like a formula depending on how long and how long, but these RVs are a more delicate beast.

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Old 04-12-2018, 11:00 AM   #2
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Boats and RV's have a lot in common, especially a boat on a trailer. But boats sitting in the water have a "built in heating element" in that the water will stay above freezing (for just one cold night) which actually warms the boat, helping to prevent damage from frozen components. Not so with a travel trailer, where the entire structure is exposed to the cold temperatures "all night long"....

Usually, if it's only going to be below freezing for a couple hours, you "should' be OK, but on the other hand, if it's going to be 27 as soon as the sun goes down and won't warm up above freezing until well after the sun comes up tomorrow, you're really looking at many hours of "sustained freezing temperature".

If possible, and you don't want to re-winterize for one night, you might consider simply leaving the furnace turned on (to heat the underside as well as the cabin) and turn the furnace off once the sun comes out the next day. Alternatively, you can use a compressor, blow out the lines, leave the faucets open and either step on the toilet flush and prop it open so the valve won't freeze and cause damage or disconnect the toilet and drain the valve.

Should you "go to that much trouble" ??? Depending on the forecast, you might be OK, then you might find problems once you do apply water pressure "next time".....

My way of thinking is, better safe than sorry. YMMV
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Old 04-12-2018, 02:38 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ksupaul View Post
Couldn’t really find this answered this way with a search.

Thinking of spending a few nights this weekend and dewinterizing. Not worried about freezing while camping with heat. However, Sunday night after I put it away, she gets down to 22 to 27 depending on the forcaster. Temp then back above freezing hopefully for the summer. If under belly is covered with chloroplast, how high is the risk of possible damage? I would think low especially if it only drops to 27, but wondered your thoughts about one cold night below freezing and damage risk. The boat world says things like a formula depending on how long and how long, but these RVs are a more delicate beast.

Thanks
As flexible RV PEX water lines are more tolerating of sub-zero temps than copper lines in a stick-n-brick structure, the biggest risk of water damage, leaks, or a rupture is in and around the hard fixtures and water pump. I would think you'd be okay for a day or two if you emptied your FW tank and ran the pump until air comes out each faucet. Open up the low point drains, and keep all faucets open. I did this after I bought my coach 2 years because I had just un-winterized it. Temps dropped into the mid 20's for 1 week after. Never had a problem when it warmed up the following week.
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Old 04-12-2018, 02:48 PM   #4
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I wouldn't worry about it. Run the heat on lowest setting it looks to be going down to the low 20s. I've survived numerous nights in the 20s before I winterize in the fall. Usually just had a small space heater running and the trailer didn't have an enclosed underbelly.
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Old 04-13-2018, 06:02 AM   #5
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A few years ago it got to 17 at night and 40 during the day for a week. I didn’t do anything and no issues. YMMV
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Old 04-13-2018, 08:24 AM   #6
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Paul, I'm going to just put a space heater in mine and drain my lines. It looks like it is just going to be two more cold nights only in our area. Not really doing more than that for 2 nights.
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Old 04-13-2018, 08:49 AM   #7
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My only real concern for one night would be the expose low-point drain on mine, so I would open it up, drain, blow out with air and leave it open. I would also drain the water heater since it's exposed through the metal grate on the outside of the trailer. I wouldn't expect trouble at 27 but if your weather people are like ours, they are never accurate.
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Old 04-13-2018, 10:18 AM   #8
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If it were me, I'd probably just drain as much water as I could out of it and not worry about it. Meaning all the low point drains, FW tank, HW tank, etc. If you have the ability to run the heater, that would be best too, but you said you were putting it away, so not sure if thats a storage place, the backyard, etc.

We had one time while we were camping at the end of the year that I too thought this would be an issue, especially since we had water hooked up to the trailer at the time. Turned out it wasn't a sustained cold for long enough so nothing happened. It was under freezing though for 4-5 hours if not longer.

We left the next day. The bigger problem was the condensation that built up on the inside of the windows and constantly wiping them down lol. But the outside hose didn't freeze or anything. Nice cold water though!
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Old 04-13-2018, 03:15 PM   #9
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All good stuff guys. We will see Sunday how the temps look. Thinking of draining everything I can and letting her go. She will be in dry storage so don’t have heater option to leave on really otherwise that would be perfect.
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Old 04-13-2018, 05:01 PM   #10
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All good stuff guys. We will see Sunday how the temps look. Thinking of draining everything I can and letting her go. She will be in dry storage so don’t have heater option to leave on really otherwise that would be perfect.
Hope you survived the storms today. Snow on Sunday....maybe!
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Old 04-13-2018, 05:19 PM   #11
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It started snowing about 4 this afternoon, there's at least 6" of new snow on the ground on top of the existing 5 or 6 that is left over from last week's 15" "slight chance of snow"..... They're predicting another 3 or 4 tonight and then clear tomorrow followed by another 5-6" on Sunday..... Around here, if it's not winterized or heated, it'll be in the service department for repairs to the plumbing.....
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Old 04-13-2018, 05:25 PM   #12
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And I was wrenching on the driveway at 9 in a tee shirt. Would have been fun taking your bike for a quick drive LOL.
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Old 04-13-2018, 05:29 PM   #13
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LOL I'm beginning to think that if this keeps up, I'll have the only "one year old, new slingshot" at the end of the summer.
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Old 04-13-2018, 07:16 PM   #14
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I finally got down below 80 degrees today near Phoenix. It sure is great not having to deal with the white stuff
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Old 04-16-2018, 09:43 PM   #15
Ksupaul
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You all are killing me. In both directions. Ha!!

So fun weekend in the cold. We dewinterized. All was well until Sunday morning when she froze up. Outside hydrant and hose were both froze up. Inside seemed ok. Brought hose inside to thaw. Threw blanket on outside hydrant to protect from wind. A couple hours at 33 and above and hydrant was running again. Hooked up hose and no issues.

The delima was Sunday night. Turns out WC says only got down to 29 at storage location. Has a bit of antifreeze in alll drains, just not from city water inlet to the taps. So we will see. Assuming and hoping she is ok, but prepared to learn a lesson.

Will report back but probably not for a month till we meet again.
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Old 04-17-2018, 05:50 AM   #16
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our temps are going down again here in penna.will be a few weeks before using the trailer again,so i just took a little time blew out the lines,low point drains,and put more antifreeze in the traps.
id rather be safe then sorry
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Old 04-22-2018, 06:44 PM   #17
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We spent 5 days at GCNP at the end of March, and it got down to the teens at night. We rarely use the furnace, but do carry a space heater that we normally use for heat. We did not hook up the city water and kept the heater on at night and had no problems. Of course it did warm up to near 60 during the day. If it were to stay cold, I would haul my small compressor along and blow out the lines. We have done that in the past and never had a problem. Home winter storage prep consists of pouring a few gallons of AF down the drains and blowing out all lines and leaving low point drains open. No problems even with _15 to -18 degree temps.
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Old 04-22-2018, 06:46 PM   #18
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We are supposed to be in the 70s this week, very unusually warm and dry. Wish I could get a few days off and go camping!
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