Yet Another Question About Freezing

[handycoordination]

Hey all, sorry if there's already a thread on this, I was having trouble coming up with keywords that pulled up relevant threads.
This is my first year full-timing and therefore my first winter. I'm trying to figure out what to do about keeping pipes from freezing. I live in middle Georgia and don't do much moving around, so typically we don't get much cold, so this snap that's been happening has really hit here.
My furnace does a good job of keeping the interior pipes warm so far, but I got freaked out when I saw the temperatures would be hitting the teens, so I closed off my water overnight. Problem with that was the valve froze shut so I couldn't get water in the morning. I don't think it gets cold often enough to warrant getting a heated hose like every listicle says, so what should I do to keep my exterior hose from freezing solid? I have it insulated with polyurethane foam tubing right now. Would it be worth dripping the faucets? Should I just winterize for the 5 cold nights a year?

[Bill-2020]

Fill your onboard tank with water, use that and the pump (obviously) for your water needs until it warms up and things thaw out for those times. After you fill the tank drain the hose and put it in the storage area to keep it out of the direct cold air.

[notanlines]

Under NO circumstances should you drip your faucets. The sewer hose freezes and then the water backs up and floods your floors.

[NH_Bulldog]

When we camp and encounter cold weather, we fill the freshwater tank, disconnect hoses and run the furnace (and tank heaters if you have them). Everything remains functional until the weather breaks. Our waste tank dump valves are in the heated belly and we have not had any issues doing it this way. But do not drip or trickle the water, there is no point if you are using your on board water tank. It avoids the potential for your tanks to fill and overflow unexpectedly. We all know that tank level sensors are worthless so you will not know you are full until it’s too late.

If you are full-timing, I would also suggest a dehumidifier to keep indoor humidity in check and avoid condensation and frost build-up on exterior walls/windows

[handycoordination]

Originally Posted by notanlines

Under NO circumstances should you drip your faucets. The sewer hose freezes and then the water backs up and floods your floors.

Even if I keep the tanks closed? I don't usually keep them open anyway. I'll probably just run off the tanks like was suggested above, but now I'm curious lol

[notanlines]

The water will fill your tank and then back up into the RV. Keeping them closed is even a worse idea.

[JRTJH]

^^^ What Bill and Jim said... Just fill your fresh water tank, use your "self contained system" (that's what the artic package protects) and keep your lower cabinet doors open to keep warmer cabin air close to the lower perimeter of the underbelly. Keep the furnace/thermostat running, maybe augment with an electric heater in the cabin, but don't use electric only, since the furnace is the only way to get warm air to your underbelly.

Disconnect the fresh water hose, drain it and store it in the passthrough. Disconnect your sewer hose and keep all the dump valves closed so the tanks collect waste water and keep it in the warmer belly without any of it being exposed "outside the belly at the sewer connection"...

You may still get some frozen pipes but when the temperature goes up during the day, the trailer plumbing should thaw without any damage.

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LEAVE A FAUCET DRIPPING IN AN RV !!!!! As soon as your sewer hose freezes (from the slow water fill from the dripping faucet) then you'll flood your trailer. Any effective "faucet dripping" will send 2 or 3 gallons of water to the tanks and then to the sewer hose. That's enough to back up the tank in 8-10 hours with a couple faucets running, one in the galley and one in the bathroom. That amount of water will fill the tanks overnight.

[handycoordination]

Ok thanks for the info!! I'll work on getting that dealt with. I honestly forgot about the fresh water tank since I never use it.

[Bill-2020]

In that case, give it a rinse first if you can, fill it and then drain it on the ground at the outside single valve under the camper. Should be a white pipe with a valve. Then fill it back up.

[dutchmensport]

Agree with others. Fill your fresh water tank, disconnect and drain your garden hose (both ends), crank the heat inside the camper and ride out the weather. I'm doing that myself right now. It warmed up enough today I was able to dump my tanks and re-fill my fresh water tank. I then disconnected the garden hose again, drained it and walked my sewer hose to make sure it was completely empty. I have no control over the shore water, water spigot. But that belongs to the park, not me.

So, 2 nights ago it got down to 17 degrees (F), and last night it got down to 15 degrees (F), and all my systems were just fine. I did crank the furnace up to 72 degrees so good hot air would be forced under the floor, and still used electric heat in our bedroom on top of that. The camper did just fine. Everything continues to work as expected.

So, fill your fresh water tank, disconnect and drain your garden hose, and use your on-board water pump. Do not dump your tanks until day temps are above 32.

[bobbecky]

Also make sure you have plenty of propane in your tanks, because at the very low temperatures, you likely will go through a lot of propane, but that is much batter than allowing your plumbing to freeze.