Stop freezing pipes?

[Dean_Reynolds]

Hi friends, I have a business trip that is taking me to northern Montana late October into early November. I would like to take my RV; I would suspect I would see temperatures into the mid-20s.

While certainly I would take any tried and true tips for the coach… I’m far more concerned about the plumbing. It would be sweet to not have to winterize.

I have to drive there and back, so there are some obvious nights on the road. Unless we come up with some thoughts about temporary skirting, I would suppose that is out. I can’t really build hay bales or plywood with insulation backing.

Can anyone recommend tips to keep my pipes from freezing that also allows travel?

PS. There’s a lot of stuff on the Internet, I would love to hear from people who have actually done certain things… Or have actual links to products that they would recommend.

Thank you so much in advance. I love this community and being able to ask tough questions to folks who are wise, and have been through the fire before me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

 

[SeilerBird]

I would park the RV and take the car instead. Too much hassle and too many problems to use an RV.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

A coworker of mine uses his 5er to go elk hunting in the mountains here. Where he goes it can get into the teens and there's no chance of operating it unwinterized. What he does is use bottled water and flushes the toilet with RV antifreeze. So he gets the benefit of having comfortable living accommodations, just not running water. Seems plausible, probably the only thing you'd really miss is a shower but what's a few days among friends (or yourself). When I tent camped I used wet wipes to clean up, worked out just fine. Don't think I would want to do this indefinitely but for a span of a few days it's a workable method.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[UTTransplant]

Depends on your rig. We have had dozens and dozens of nights into 5he mid 20s without doing anything special except to stow all external hoses. Below the mid 20s we put a small 200 watt heater on a thermacube in the wet bay. We also make sure we run the rear propane heater which heats the wet bay plus our bedroom area. If you have something like AquaHot instead, just make sure you turn the wet bay heater on. We have even been in single digit temps a few times, and everything survived just fine with the propane heater and the thermocube-controlled electric heater. Make sure you keep an eye on the propane though! You can run through an awful lot pretty quickly.

 

[Dean_Reynolds]

Thanks guys— UTT it’s just a 24’ bumper pull. No slides. (No wet bay)

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Lots of variables that make it difficult to give a definitive answer. Generally, if the daytime temps are above freezing and you are using the trailer overnight, i.e.with furnace & water heater on, you should have no worries as long as the overnight low is no worse than mid-20's. But sustained sub-freezing temps, say 8 hours or more, could lead to freeze-ups at the waste valves, which are fully exposed. You might consider wrapping the exposed sections in some sort of insulating blanket if possible. It can also be a problem if your water tanks are exposed below the trailer "belly pan" covering. That isn't common anymore, but 20 years ago low end trailers often had a lot of exposed plumbing components.

 

[Mountain high]

Winterize it.

 

[UTTransplant]

With the info the Op just provided, I also recommend winterizing. You probably don’t have a heated underbelly which makes my advice useless. Note you can still take it after winterizing if you use bottled water you keep in a heated area and flush the toilet with RV antifreeze.

 

[Mountain high]

Way back in Mid-October 2008 Montana had a record snowstorm. Be prepared by carrying chains including for the TT.

Record October snowstorm across Wyoming and Montana

AWIPS images of the GOES-11 + GOES-12 water vapor channels (above) showed the large size of a major snowstorm that impacted much of the western US during the 10 October – 12 October 2008 time frame. This storm dropped as much as 48.8 inches of snow at Cole Creek, Montana and 29.7 inches at...

cimss.ssec.wisc.edu

 

[Tulecreeper]

Lots of variables that make it difficult to give a definitive answer. Generally, if the daytime temps are above freezing and you are using the trailer overnight, i.e.with furnace & water heater on, you should have no worries as long as the overnight low is no worse than mid-20's. But sustained sub-freezing temps, say 8 hours or more, could lead to freeze-ups at the waste valves, which are fully exposed. You might consider wrapping the exposed sections in some sort of insulating blanket if possible. It can also be a problem if your water tanks are exposed below the trailer "belly pan" covering. That isn't common anymore, but 20 years ago low end trailers often had a lot of exposed plumbing components.

Gary is 100% correct. I lived full-time in a MH and TT back in the day when everything was exposed and there were no such things as heated tanks and enclosed underbellies. Where I lived regularly got below freezing - mid-20's, or below - but it was only for a few hours late into the night, and daytime temps were always above freezing. I never had any issues with frozen water lines/hoses, or frozen dump valves. In northern MT in late Oct/early Nov you very well might.

 

[Jkoht]

I'd winterize and just use bottled water for drinking, and a basin for washing dishes or sponge baths so you can throw it outside. The bigger problem will be going to the bathroom. Your black and grey lines will freeze right at the blade valves and you won't be able to dump them. You could try pouring a gallon or two of rv antifreeze in both tanks but there's no guarantee that'll work. For me it would come down to number 1 outside and number 2 in a garbage bag lined bucket with kitty litter and an unlocked dumpster to dispose of it.

 

[IBTripping]

I lived 40 years in Montana. I've seen hard freezes in the fall and 40 below in the winter. Thus, I agree with the above comments.

 

[Ray-IN]

This website may prove useful in making your decisions: The Weather Year Round Anywhere on Earth - Weather Spark
My advice is carry full LP cylinders on the TT and a couple extras JIC you get snowed-in for a few days or weeks.
In freezing weather open cabinet doors and drawers where water lines are behind them to help forestall freezing and bursting plumbing lines.
As others said, flush your commode with RV anti-freeze instead of water; it might be more expensive in the short-term, but frozen plumbing can get quite expensive to replace, even though todays PEX tubing is quite forgiving in freezing weather.

I normally never carry bottled water, but were I doing this I would instead of filling the fresh water tank. I just travel with the TT winterized to eliminate the worry.