Freezing Overnight and Hoses

[NY_Dutch]

Perhaps I'm missing something... If the overnight temps are that cold, isn't there some concern that the water supply lines inside the coach can freeze? Assuming of course one doesn't have heated storage compartments. Or if the daytime temps rise above freezing is the thinking that the lines aren't cold enough for long enough to freeze?

More than idle curiosity as we'll be venturing out on our first extended trip headed south from NY in January.  ;D

We'll be leaving upstate NY for Georgia and then Florida the first week of January after spending the holidays with our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. We live in our motorhome fulltime, and our fresh water tank is under the bed, so no danger of freezing there. Our pipes have never frozen even at the -4 deg F we saw in southern VA one winter while in transit.

 

[jims94vmx]

Our "winter water" hookup is actually below ground. They blow out all the regular water lines used during warmer weather. Only part of the cc we are at for now is considered winter sites.

 

[PancakeBill]

For the utility compartment on our Southwind, I found a 12v heater, called Backseat Heater, you can still find them.  JC Whitney has them.  I had it connected in to 12v system, and there is a trigger wire I ran to the dash to turn it on. 

Our new coach does not have that, so first I tried a lightbulb in a trouble light, but bulbs seem to run cooler now, so I found a small cube heater, only 250 watts, fits in the compartment in a corner, last night it was about 20 and the compartment stayed at 50.  I want to find a thermostat to plug into, and maybe just keep it at around 40 deg. 
My heated hose is on the truck for delivery, so tonight will have new system.

 

[jymbee]

If you are in NY you probably have the coach winterised, right? Most would take some gallon bottles of water to flush with till you get down to warmer temps. Then you can add some water to your tank and de winterise.
One tip on using a non heated water hose is to fill your tank then  unhook it, drain it and store it inside so will be ready for the nex time.
I haven't had a problem with lines freezing as long as the heat (including water heater) are on, but your luck may vary.
Bill

Right-- currently winterized. We also plan to do the gallon bottle/flush thing as well. Thanks for the input.

 

[jymbee]

We'll be leaving upstate NY for Georgia and then Florida the first week of January after spending the holidays with our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. We live in our motorhome fulltime, and our fresh water tank is under the bed, so no danger of freezing there. Our pipes have never frozen even at the -4 deg F we saw in southern VA one winter while in transit.

Yikes-- 4 below is just a tad on the chilly side.  But of course us New Yorkers are pretty accustomed to dealing with temps like that here in the mountains.  :-[

Obviously everyone's coach has different factors that affect the frozen pipes situation but I'm coming around to thinking that as long as we're staying in the coach with the heat on that temporary, overnight lows below freezing aren't going to be a real problem.

 

[vito55]

I have a travel trailer with zero insulation. At the tail end of our long road trip we encountered some freezing temps in Montana and Wyoming where the campgrounds had turned off the water at the sites, but in one campground had a working spigot at the office. We filled up our small fresh water tank (25 gallons) and kept the hot water heater on all the time, as well as an electric 1500 watt ceramic heater going inside the camper while hooked up to shore power. Even though we had two nights with temps in the teens we had no problem. Once home, I hooked up to the 20 amp line in my garage so I could run the ceramic heater, and kept the water heater running on propane for about two weeks so we could use the camper as an extra "bedroom" for the Thanksgiving Day holiday since we had 20 guests staying at our house. Despite all those days of really cold weather, by the time we winterized I did expect some damage to the lines and valves, but luckily, not a drop of damage done. Now the camper will stay winterized until next April or May.

Glad I read this thread. I did not know there was even such a thing as insulated hoses for use in freezing weather.

 

[PancakeBill]

My heated hose has arrived and is now installed and my hands are almost not cold.  Between it and the little heater in the plumbing bay we should be good to go.  I ave one more item on order, and it is a thermostatically controlled outlet for the heater so it does not run constantly.

 

[John From Detroit]

Regarding water INSIDE the coach. .

Deprends on how low the tremps go and the coach
I drive a class A tansks and all plumbing (So long as I'm not hooked up) is enclosed and heated, so I can go down to 20 degrees as designed just by using the furnace (It heats the basement) or even lower by adding aux heat to the basement (about 350 watts of light bulbs on a thermostat).

On most trailers the tanks themselves are enclosed and you can add heat panels (Electric) to them (peal and stick heat tape) the waste pipes hang outside but you can heat tape them if you feel the need. Waste water does not freeze at 32. but I can not tell you what temp it does freeze at. (lower is all I know) WHY. water is not pure.. Pure. distilled water freeze at 32 degrees on teh equator at sea level.. Higer. lower either Altitude or latitude and it will change the freezing point.. Add impurities. Salt, Sugar, S***, and the freezing point goes DOWN (Boiling point goes up).

 

[PancakeBill]

John brought up a good point, the furnace keeps the basement area warm, or at least above freezing.  So if you are trying to save propane by using space heaters, your basement is not staying warm.