Frozen pipes no hot water

Hi my husband and I have a 33ft Travel trailer parked on our farm in Kentucky .. we full time while we build our home. This has been very tiring and every day we seem to have more difficulties. The cold weather is playing havoc. We have no hot water today. Valve into water tank was frozen this morning but that is now resolved ... have cold water hut no hot ... anyone have any ideas...please.. we really want this experience to be kinder to us but it is a struggle....we have an electric tracer water hose but as the valve is not protected this froze .... feeling desperate

Use a hose only to fill the onboard fresh water tank, then drain the hose and keep it in a warm place.

RV's are not equipped to handle freezing weather despite any claims.  That said, you can make do by adding protection as needed.  For example, I ran a line from my bath sink hot water line to the fresh water tank.  By running the hot water slowly thru that line, the plumbing is protected as well as the water in the tank is kept from freezing.  Models vary quite a bit and you need to find the plumbing that might freeze.

If you have a "heated underbelly" then you must run the furnace and not just electric heaters.  Propane consumption will be extreme.

CTRV said:

we have an electric tracer water hose but as the valve is not protected this froze ....

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Welcome to the forum and sorry for your troubles.

You've already identified the problem, an unprotected valve in below freezing weather. As lynnmor said, RVs don't do well in in cold weather (there are a few exceptions). Plus, just like the house you are building, if you leave a valve (or anything) unprotected it's going to freeze. You have to be very vigilant on checking everything outside or under your rig. If you haven't already, you should skirt all around your trailer with skirting taped to the rig and tight to the ground. If it's really cold you can then add a small heater under the trailer to heat the now sealed off area. Inexpensive thermostats are available which will turn your heater on and off to maintain temperature in the 30s or so. In the "wet bay" (the area with your water fill connections etc) you can run a small extension cord with a 60 watt light bulb (not LED).

As far as unfreezing the valve which is already frozen, there are no magic answers - you'll have to apply heat, carefully. Once even a little water starts flowing it will rapidly open up.

Usually the pipes inside will not freeze if it gets really cold open the cabinet doors to allow heat inside.
The outside valve you can put a trashcan over with  light bulb inside same as your wet bay.

Where in Kentucky? I'm in Indiana across from Louisville and ours is OK.

[quote author=link=topic=118501.msg1075129#msg1075129 date=1543344952]
Hi my husband and I have a 33ft Travel trailer parked on our farm in Kentucky .. we full time while we build our home. This has been very tiring and every day we seem to have more difficulties. The cold weather is playing havoc. We have no hot water today. Valve into water tank was frozen this morning but that is now resolved ... have cold water hut no hot ... anyone have any ideas...please.. we really want this experience to be kinder to us but it is a struggle....we have an electric tracer water hose but as the valve is not protected this froze .... feeling desperate
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I suspect that the water line supplying the water heater is still frozen OR that the check valve at the water heater is frozen or has failed.

There simply isn't enough info to guess why you have no hot water. Is your water heater running on electric or gas? Is it hot but the water isn't flowing, or flowing but not hot? Can you use the heater bypass valve and get water from the hot faucets (it will be cold, but it should run ok). If you get cold water from the hot faucets without using the bypass valve, the heater isn't frozen. If no water unless using the bypass, it may be frozen, or a check valve may be stuck. However, it would be quite rare for a water heater to freeze is its heater in functioning, and the hot tank is usually sufficient to keep the inlet pipe from freezing as well, at least the foot or so of pipe near the heater.

Please give a more detailed description of the hot water problem.

Gary RV_Wizard said:

There simply isn't enough info to guess why you have no hot water. Is your water heater running on electric or gas? Is it hot but the water isn't flowing, or flowing but not hot? Can you use the heater bypass valve and get water from the hot faucets (it will be cold, but it should run ok). If you get cold water from the hot faucets without using the bypass valve, the heater isn't frozen. If no water unless using the bypass, it may be frozen, or a check valve may be stuck. However, it would be quite rare for a water heater to freeze is its heater in functioning, and the hot tank is usually sufficient to keep the inlet pipe from freezing as well, at least the foot or so of pipe near the heater.

Please give a more detailed description of the hot water problem.

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I asked pretty much the same questions here:

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=124998

Good day again. We are using propane to heat our hot water tank. We still do not have any water coming out of the hot water faucets (bathroom or kitchen).. however at the hot water tank when we open the valve there it is very hot water ... we are using a trace heat pipe for water connection from city water (frost free connection) to the trailer. The cold water in the faucets is flowing but not at full strength. We have heated the area where the water tank is and added more trace wire to all pipes etc BUT still no water coming out of the hot water faucets. We are completely stuck.

I will take a shot.....
Assuming you had water before the cold weather.......
It sounds like you have a frozen line not to far from the WH. Try to trace where the main line off the WH. In my case the water line runs behind the WH under our stove. If I had your problem I would remove my access panel to open up the WH. I would also remove the drawers and open the cabinet doors in order to get more heat to the pipes. As a last resort I would use a hair dryer to help thaw out the lines.
That said......
Your layout may be different that mine so you will have adjust your plan of attack.

Good Luck

Thank you for your reply... we have a heater ... heat trace cables ... everything we can think of but still no water out of hot water faucets...

Are you getting any water at all?
If all you're getting is cold water, the bypass valve may be in the wrong position.
If you're not getting any water at all, probably the check valve on the output pipe (top pipe) has failed. It would stop the flow of water out of your heater. Just remove it, knock out the internals and put it back in. The only reason for this check valve is to stop antifreeze from going into your water heater when winterizing. If you need to winterize later on, you'll need to replace it with a new one. They're cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-P23415LF-Lead-Free-Check-Valve/dp/B00HJ6P0Z8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543437904&sr=8-2&keywords=rv+water+heater+check+valve

Rene T said:

Are you getting any water at all?
If all you're getting is cold water, the bypass valve may be in the wrong position.
If you're not getting any water at all, probably the check valve on the output pipe (top pipe) has failed. It would stop the flow of water out of your heater. Just remove it, knock out the internals and put it back in. The only reason for this check valve is to stop antifreeze from going into your water heater when winterizing. If you need to winterize later on, you'll need to replace it with a new one. They're cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-P23415LF-Lead-Free-Check-Valve/dp/B00HJ6P0Z8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543437904&sr=8-2&keywords=rv+water+heater+check+valve

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X's 2 ......I always forget about the check valve.

No water will come out of the hot faucets unless cold water can enter the tank via its inlet. Regardless of how hot the tank is. It appears you have either a frozen line going to the tank or a stuck inlet check valve.

I suggested using the water heater bypass to see if you can get any [cold] water out the faucets that way. That would show whether the problem is in the line up to the heater or the tank itself (including the inlet check valve).

If you are getting water form the cold faucets, it is obvious the city supply line is functioning and the cold water pipes in the RV are not frozen, so something is blocking flow to or thru the heater tank.

Put a portable heater in the basement of the trailer to keep the belly and water pipes warm.  Run a separate extension cord if you need to.

I?m in Kentucky also, and we are doing exactly what you are, with a couple differences. We are staying in a fifth wheel camper until our house is finished. But the camper is in a pole barn. The barn is insulated and we installed a 4 ton heat pump system in the barn this summer. Also, when we had the well drilled a couple months ago, we put the pressure tank and all the controls inside the barn so we have water inside. We are going to run a water line about 1000 feet to the house when it gets to that phase. The way I see it, you are in for a long miserable winter and that really ruins the experience of a house build, which is stressful enough. We have a thaw coming this weekend, so if you ?no hot water? problem goes away, then you know it?s a frozen line somewhere.
Depending on your personal situation, there are a couple things you could consider. If in the future you are considering having a barn built, maybe go ahead and do that now. It took them three weeks to do ours, insulated, concrete floor, 30x50x16. It was like $30,000 to have done two years ago.
If that?s undoable, you could buy a heat pump furnace combo. This is a self enclosed unit that has the heat pump and furnace in one unit and sits outside. All you have to do is hook up electric, a thermostat, and some temporary ductwork.  I would run temporary ductwork to a window or two and a duct or two under the trailer. Naturally you would have to underpin the trailer to hold the heat in. I had one of these units in a double wide I once had and it did a good job. Maybe you could reuse it after you are done fulltiming in the camper.
I wish you luck!