Thank you Polar Package!

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by Festus2

Steve -
Come Sunday or Monday, it will be a lot "warmer" and everything that is frozen now will start to thaw and you should be "ok". OK, that is, until the next time the same thing happens but by now you should know what you need to do to make your RV completely winterized so you can live it without having your pipes freezing up on you.

And there will be a next time. Count on it.

Yeah but I noticed that they think it's going to snow, guess the vortex is coming

Dee said to me this morning "Hey babe does this packing water and no shower feel like we're camping in the Teardrop? lol"
The teardrop is in front of the trailer, maybe she wants to move out there.

[Western Traveler]

I know this isn't practical or even available in a lot of places but in a time crunch straw bales will make a good barrier for skirting in a pinch and they are cheap and sometimes free from the right source. Haul them and drop them in place then skirt any openings left. A lot of barley being grown these days. Yes not the prettiest but they will withstand wind, rain and snow for a very long time.
If you are on your property who is going to complain.
We helped an elderly neighbor who's septic system was freezing one year and it took all of 10 minutes and solved the problem for the whole winter.

[dwyleecoyote]

Originally Posted by Festus2

Steve -
Come Sunday or Monday, it will be a lot "warmer" and everything that is frozen now will start to thaw and you should be "ok". OK, that is, until the next time the same thing happens but by now you should know what you need to do to make your RV completely winterized so you can live it without having your pipes freezing up on you.

And there will be a next time. Count on it.

All part of the fun right?

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Western Traveler

I know this isn't practical or even available in a lot of places but in a time crunch straw bales will make a good barrier for skirting in a pinch and they are cheap and sometimes free from the right source. Haul them and drop them in place then skirt any openings left. A lot of barley being grown these days. Yes not the prettiest but they will withstand wind, rain and snow for a very long time.
If you are on your property who is going to complain.
We helped an elderly neighbor who's septic system was freezing one year and it took all of 10 minutes and solved the problem for the whole winter.

Be careful stacking anything "organic" around your RV. Straw will stop the wind, but it attracts rodents and insects, when wet will grow mold and many a barn fire has been caused by hay bales "smoldering" as they dry out. It might "do" to get you through "this storm" but as soon as it stops snowing and the wind stops blowing, I'd be for pulling the "hay away" and replacing it with something noncombustible and more "user friendly"

[geo]

Originally Posted by Steve S

Hi geo, I'm on my tablet and I can't do searches here for some reason but can on other sites, if you could post a link that would be great
-5 here, everything is frozen, trailer living at it's best
There's nothing like learning as I go, can't complain though as we're nice and warm and everything else is working great in the cold.

So, Steve, I'm just curious. You can start posts, reply to posts, and can attach pictures to posts . . . But you can't click to use the Search function? Or click on the username and click on "Find Posts . . . "? That must be some limited tablet you are using, and very selective. And I trust that you do realize this is a Forum of future, present, and past Keystone RV owners - and that the Keystone RV Corporation has no connection or monitoring of this site.

Your 2010 Cougar probably is like my 2011 Alpine - the gray and black tanks, and the fresh water tank, have a 3cm thick R-7 sheet of white insulation below them that doesn't even extend to the edges of the tank. The galley tank has no insulation. The underbelly is a cavern of nothing but cold air. You are lucky, though, that you are in the warm Fraser River Valley - if you were down here in Texas' crosstimbers ridges it would take months to thaw out!

If you could use the Search Function, you would find dozens of posts concerning the Polar/Glacier/Arctic Package. You would find at least three members (including myself) who have modified their Keystones with underbelly insulation and some with tank heaters. There is a wealth of information to be seen from past posts from many knowledgeable members. You might try visiting a library and using their computers as a solution.

Ron

[Steve S]

Ron it's only on this site that the tablet won't let me do a search, it works on any other site. It could just be a tablet thing but I'm on my laptop now so searching isn't a prob.
I know that there's a lot of other other threads on the b.s about the 4th season that involves how great the winter package is but I started one about my delema here in mid B.C.
I know that this site isn't connected to Keystone but I'm sure they drop in and read and maybe they can learn, listen and make changes.
As for any insulating underneath there's nothing at all, not even anything under the tanks.

John, I agree with you about the bugs and rodents in the hay. The thing also for people is that once the hay is removed the rodents need a place to live and the closes place would be under the trailer and they will make holes and live underneath.
I've built house foundations with concrete filled styrofoam blocks that are 2 x2 by 18 and empty they would make a great wind block and being white they wouldn't look too bad!

[Geoffwhite18]

When you click on search you have to use the advanced search option. I've never been able to use the search on my tablet unless I click advanced.

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by Geoffwhite18

When you click on search you have to use the advanced search option. I've never been able to use the search on my tablet unless I click advanced.

Thanks, I just tried that and it works great

[Steve S]

K back on track here, while I was snaking wire under the shower there was yet again another cold area coming through the floor where the drain drops through.
This I'll just be insulating with batten as I might need to get to these pipes one day.

[BillnDeb]

We have the Polar Pack and managed fine in many days when it hit 20 degrees between November and January in Virginia, Myrtle Beach and Panama City Beach (we followed the southern polar vortex 😁.). The day we left Myrtle Beach, it was so cold, the water froze as it hit the concrete pad when DH unhooked the water. Common sense had to rule. We let water drip when we knew it would be below 32-during our six weeks out, that happened at least 10 times (we wonder what the campgrounds water bill is during these freeze spells), we used the propane heater and supplemented with 2 small electric heaters, one in the main area and the other in our bedroom/bath area.
We just bought our RV Sept 2013 and never dreamt we'd get caught in the Polar Vortex! Maybe we were lucky as we didn't do any modifications!

Debbie

[mguay]

By no means am I in the same caliber as "The Lord of the Underbelly", GEO...but here's a link to my Spray Foam job. Everything that I ..."might" want to gain access to at a later date, I wrapped in FG batt before I sprayed it. It will be much easier to get through the SF with it like that.

http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10892

[Steve S]

I guess with all this rain my pipes have thawed. I drained the pink stuff, pressure tested the lines @ 40 psi for 1/2 hr and no leaks. I flushed the tank and filled it up and I have water now!
I did change one thing out though before I started as my brain is in construction mode and it's against bylaws to have taps concealed in in closed cavities.
So I swapped out the tap and picked up a compression cap.
Next on the bucket list will be the insulation.

[Steve S]

K boys I found this under the trailer this morning and I thought is was dog turd but no it's proof that KS actually attempted to insulate the underbelly!
I guess the can ran out, the guy went to find another one, he got lost then the go home horn blew and he went home!

[FullTimer]

Lol, hope you didn't end up with to much foam in you're hair.

[Steve S]

I found this on Ebay, has anyone tried it? I read up about it from a dealer here and it must be used in warmer weather so I'm kind of screwed at the moment!
One of my suppliers said to just use normal insulation but this doesn't make sense as it'll get wet.

[mguay]

The substrate must be a minimum of 45° F and the tanks must be heated to at least 75° for it to work properly.

Sent from my XT1055 using Tapatalk

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by mguay

The substrate must be a minimum of 45° F and the tanks must be heated to at least 75° for it to work properly.

Sent from my XT1055 using Tapatalk

Yeah I noticed when reading on the site that you can buy heated bags to keep it warm if spraying in the cold but I think I'll wait.
There sure is a price difference from one dealer to another though. I see them from $190.00 to $470.00 for the same product.
I searched another thread here where the guy did his under belly but all the pics are gone. This sucks as I wanted to see what he wrapped and left exposed.

[mguay]

Originally Posted by Steve S

Yeah I noticed when reading on the site that you can buy heated bags to keep it warm if spraying in the cold but I think I'll wait.
There sure is a price difference from one dealer to another though. I see them from $190.00 to $470.00 for the same product.
I searched another thread here where the guy did his under belly but all the pics are gone. This sucks as I wanted to see what he wrapped and left exposed.

Don't know which post you were talking about...but here's mine all spray foamed,http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10892

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by mguay

Don't know which post you were talking about...but here's mine all spray foamed,http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10892

Thanks for the link, I was looking at it last night, looks like a nice job.

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by Steve S

So here's the plan: First thing I did was kill the power to the hot water and drained it, poured antifreeze in to the fresh water tank. I'm not going to mess around with hairdryers, I'm going to wait a few days till things warm up a bit.
When the pipes are thawed I'm going to drain everything, pressure test all the lines and check for leaks and repair anything not that I expect any leaks as nothing is cracked.
All the exposed pipes will be wrapped in the grey pipe wraps I picked up this morning.
All cavities will be filled and glued in with ridged insulation, all perimeter edges will be caulked.
The underneath of the floors and any other voids will be spray foamed if I can find my spay gun! I think my brother inlaw has it.
I'm also going to install a tank heater for the fresh. If anyone can point me in the right direction on this that would be helpful

Well after all these months the plan came together and it took me the day but everything worked out well.
There was a lot of cutting the ridged insulation and spraying voids but it's done.
I laminated three layers of 2 " ridged and siliconed it to the bottom of the floor and sprayed the perimeter.
Anything that I need easy access to if there's a problem like water, slide, etc I have fitted cutouts that I can pull down if need be.
I truly am amazed @ what Keystone calls a Polar Package as there was nothing but dead voids under the trailer.
Here's a few pics of the Polar Package air space! lol!
I never took anymore pics as I turned my phone off and concentrated on the job @ hand and now this has a real insulated floor!
Now to test this out......hey look the Galileo thermometer is dropping, hope it means snow