Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
Jayco RV Owners Forum
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 11-29-2014, 09:23 AM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Full time the USA & Canada
Posts: 19
Cold weather camping.

Any thoughts on camping in below 32 degree temps? Particularly is the fresh water tank heated, can't find it the manual.
JMAT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2014, 10:30 AM   #2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Upperco, Md.
Posts: 807
It requires that most of your heat has to come thru your furnace that warms your tank area to some degree. I am not comfortable going below the mid 20's even with using your heat system working. Jayco does not use dedicated heat ducts into the tank area. They rely on the radiant heat coming off your existing heat ducts. I had a cold water line start to freeze in the high teens on our FW. Caught it in time and didn't have any damage but won't go there again. If you are going to go camping in really cold temps, i would not use my water system.
Ela1948 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2014, 08:17 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
reitrof's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 360
what rv do you have?
__________________
Bruce

2012 Greyhawk 31 FK
Flat towing a 2008 Miata.
reitrof is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2014, 09:03 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
spoon059's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Silver Spring, MD
Posts: 1,795
Chances are that none of your tanks are HEATED, though if you have an enclosed underbelly and run your furnace then some heat will make its way to the underbelly and provide some minimal heating.


If you are camping somewhere that is above freezing during the day and dips below freezing by a couple degrees at night you should be okay. If it is steadily below freezing, you will eventually freeze your fresh and waste water.


If you plan on camping constantly in cold weather, you might want to invest in tank heaters. They are pads that you attach to the bottom of your tanks and run on either 12 volt or 110 volt electricity and physically heat the bottom of the tank. That prevents your tank from freezing down to a certain temperature.


Obviously camping in January in Alaska will overwhelm either system.


Worst case scenario... dry camp. We've been to the Pocono's in October when the temps never got above 32 degrees. We didn't have any water in our tanks. Brought bottled water to drink/make coffee and used the bath house for cleaning and toilets. We've been to NYC in December... same thing. You can camp cold, but you can't escape the inevitable freeze of winter.


My suggestion... heated blankets for the bed and plenty of firewood.
spoon059 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2014, 10:10 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Brownie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Greater Grand Rapids
Posts: 1,392
I recently camped at Clear Lake State Park (in northern L.P. Michigan). Got there a week before the Nov. 15 firearm deer season. Temps were pretty decent the first couple of days, then turned cold . . . cold as in never got above 22 degrees. Water lines froze overnight on November 15, and never thawed out. I got by for 2 days on bottled water, but when the weather forecast called for 18" snow and 35-45 mph winds, I decided it was time to get out of Dodge. Decided to start my trip to my winter home in the Texas Foothills a week early, and it took another week before I got into warm enough weather to thaw things out - fortunately without any damage. Moral of the story is "If you're going to camp in cold weather, do it dry. Even running the furnace at 80 degrees won't keep your pipes from freezing." It will, however, eat up a 30# propane tank in about 3 days.

Just sayin' . . .
__________________
2013 Eagle 266RKS
2011 Ford F-150 w/3.5L Ecoboost & H.D. Tow Package
Brownie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2014, 12:59 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
SmokerBill's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: PNW
Posts: 5,195
Well, it's 19 degrees where I'm at right now, 11PM. I have the furnace set to 70, and the cabinet doors open.

I will let you know tomorrow how the plumbing held up. Wish me luck.
__________________
Bill
2011 Dodge Ram 1500 HEMI Quad Cab
2011 Jay Flight 26BH
SmokerBill is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2014, 09:10 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Dale Hollow Lake Tn/Ky
Posts: 2,525
Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokerBill View Post
Well, it's 19 degrees where I'm at right now, 11PM. I have the furnace set to 70, and the cabinet doors open.

I will let you know tomorrow how the plumbing held up. Wish me luck.
Keep in mind its not the lines under the sinks that will be your problem. They are above the floor in a Heated space. Its the lines under the floor and exposed to unheated or marginally heated space that are at risk. Go dry and sleep with both eyes closed.
Bassdogs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2014, 09:23 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Beautiful West-Central Florida
Posts: 166
Perhaps slightly off-topic, but when we came down here to FL from IN 2 weeks ago, the temperature was consistently below freezing, and we found that our Norcold fridge would not cool down at all, neither on AC or LP.
I suspect that it was so cold out that the system that heats up and recools the ammonia solution to run the refrigeration system could not function properly, but I do not know for sure. Now that we are here in the warmer South, the frig works just fine.
Any input? Anybody else had this happen?
__________________
Mike
2012 Greyhawk 31DS
2012 Ford Edge Toad


If I had anything better to do I would be doing it :)
snowbird47 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2014, 04:18 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
SmokerBill's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: PNW
Posts: 5,195
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassdogs View Post
Keep in mind its not the lines under the sinks that will be your problem. They are above the floor in a Heated space. Its the lines under the floor and exposed to unheated or marginally heated space that are at risk. Go dry and sleep with both eyes closed.
Slept like a baby, and had no problems. It got down to 14 degrees last night.

Just curious, which lines under the floor are at risk? All pressurized lines are inside the trailer, and all of the lines outside under the floor are unpressurized reinforced vinyl hoses. I don't see a potential break happening if those vinyl hoses freeze. I guess I will eventually find if I'm wrong or right.

The black tank valve isn't a problem if it freezes, since it's right next to the tank. As long as the valve isn't actuated when frozen, I don't think it will be a probem. And I leave the gray valve open, since it's at the end of a stretch of PVC pipe. If it was full and froze, well then that would be a problem.
__________________
Bill
2011 Dodge Ram 1500 HEMI Quad Cab
2011 Jay Flight 26BH
SmokerBill is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2014, 07:41 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
anav8or's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Grove City, OH
Posts: 238
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowbird47 View Post
Perhaps slightly off-topic, but when we came down here to FL from IN 2 weeks ago, the temperature was consistently below freezing, and we found that our Norcold fridge would not cool down at all, neither on AC or LP.
I suspect that it was so cold out that the system that heats up and recools the ammonia solution to run the refrigeration system could not function properly, but I do not know for sure. Now that we are here in the warmer South, the frig works just fine.
Any input? Anybody else had this happen?
We've had this happen as well and, from what I've read, you are correct about the outside temps. The RV fridges need heat to function and have a tough time when it's really cold outside. I've found that the LP mode works better than electric when it gets cold.
anav8or is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2014, 07:47 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: near Englewood, FL (South of Venice)
Posts: 1,237
If you have tank heaters as an option, the fresh water tank is heated (all three tanks are). There would be a switch to turn the heaters on/off somewhere on the inside - check the bathroom. The plumbing lines are not heated unless you have that as a separate option. I don't remember the line heaters being offered as an option by Jayco. Probably not popular. Easier to drain the lines.
OnTheGo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jayco, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:40 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2002-2016 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.