Gyrophoenix
Senior Member
RV LIFE Pro
Occasionally we stay in locations where the temperature drops into single digits. The ability of coaches to be able to operate nominally under cold conditions varies widely, depending on the model coach, and if it has a cold weather package installed. Also, as a rule, we don't let the interior air temperature drop below 60, to be sure the water pipes in the walls don't freeze.
Our coach has an AquaHot system with a register in the wet bay to keep the gray and blackwater tanks, as well as the water pump from dropping below 42 degrees. Since we had the storage bay compartment next to the wet bay converted into an electric bay, a section of the wall between the two compartments was removed, allowing the warm air from the wet bay to circulate to keep the electric bay, with all of its components and LiPo batteries, from getting cold. (LiPo batteries don't like temperatures below 32. They will continue to supply power, but until they're warmer than 32 degrees, charging them will cause damage.)
Due to this set-up, freezing temperatures have never been an issue in the wet bay or electric compartment.
However, it's a different story for the compartment which holds the fresh water tank. Although that compartment is, as well as possible for a coach, air-tight, and insulated floor, ceiling and walls, we did initially have some freezing issues in the pipes which supply the water to the water pump (located in the nice warm wet bay). As long as the outside temperature didn't drop and remain below about 20 degrees for more than 2 days, there were no issues. But even with the System Heat running 24x7, if it stayed that cold for much longer, the pipe in which the water flowed out of the tank would freeze. (The water inside the tank never froze.) The fix was easy: Use a hair dryer on the pipe for 5 minutes, and water would flow. If the outside temperature decreased to the low teens or zero, odds are the pipe would freeze in one night. But the biggest hassle was if the water tank needed to be refilled while we are boondocking, and the temperature is below 30, and particularly if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, the pipe could easily freeze just in the time it took to refill the tank from 5 gallon containers using an electric pump.
To solve this problem permanently, a 4 foot pipe heating cord was installed, as seen in the photo. It's doubled, to increase effectiveness, and works like a charm. It starts on the blue outlet pipe at the bottom of the tank, then goes all the way up the blue piping on the right, and then a few inches on the top. (When freezing used to happen, it would always be in the bottom section of the pipe, and then a few inches upwards.)
There are a few options to provide power. If you're plugged into shore power, just run an extension cord to an A/C outlet in one of the storage compartments (or directly to an outlet outside the coach if one is available). If you need to draw on 12 volt power directly from the house batteries, plug it into a small inverter (the cord only draws 25 watts, so a very small and inexpensive 50 watt inverter may be used). Since we have plenty of storage in the batteries, and are on inverter almost all the time when boondocking, the extension cord is plugged into one of the A/C outlets in a storage compartment. At 25 watts, the power draw is only about 2 amp hours per hour.
I hope this info is useful to someone.....
Our coach has an AquaHot system with a register in the wet bay to keep the gray and blackwater tanks, as well as the water pump from dropping below 42 degrees. Since we had the storage bay compartment next to the wet bay converted into an electric bay, a section of the wall between the two compartments was removed, allowing the warm air from the wet bay to circulate to keep the electric bay, with all of its components and LiPo batteries, from getting cold. (LiPo batteries don't like temperatures below 32. They will continue to supply power, but until they're warmer than 32 degrees, charging them will cause damage.)
Due to this set-up, freezing temperatures have never been an issue in the wet bay or electric compartment.
However, it's a different story for the compartment which holds the fresh water tank. Although that compartment is, as well as possible for a coach, air-tight, and insulated floor, ceiling and walls, we did initially have some freezing issues in the pipes which supply the water to the water pump (located in the nice warm wet bay). As long as the outside temperature didn't drop and remain below about 20 degrees for more than 2 days, there were no issues. But even with the System Heat running 24x7, if it stayed that cold for much longer, the pipe in which the water flowed out of the tank would freeze. (The water inside the tank never froze.) The fix was easy: Use a hair dryer on the pipe for 5 minutes, and water would flow. If the outside temperature decreased to the low teens or zero, odds are the pipe would freeze in one night. But the biggest hassle was if the water tank needed to be refilled while we are boondocking, and the temperature is below 30, and particularly if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, the pipe could easily freeze just in the time it took to refill the tank from 5 gallon containers using an electric pump.
To solve this problem permanently, a 4 foot pipe heating cord was installed, as seen in the photo. It's doubled, to increase effectiveness, and works like a charm. It starts on the blue outlet pipe at the bottom of the tank, then goes all the way up the blue piping on the right, and then a few inches on the top. (When freezing used to happen, it would always be in the bottom section of the pipe, and then a few inches upwards.)
There are a few options to provide power. If you're plugged into shore power, just run an extension cord to an A/C outlet in one of the storage compartments (or directly to an outlet outside the coach if one is available). If you need to draw on 12 volt power directly from the house batteries, plug it into a small inverter (the cord only draws 25 watts, so a very small and inexpensive 50 watt inverter may be used). Since we have plenty of storage in the batteries, and are on inverter almost all the time when boondocking, the extension cord is plugged into one of the A/C outlets in a storage compartment. At 25 watts, the power draw is only about 2 amp hours per hour.
I hope this info is useful to someone.....
