Freeze up?

[gratefulbruce]

Well, I'm new to this RV'ing, and thought I'd ask a question here. I've been living in my 338RETS since the second week of January, but have just now experienced the coldest weather since setting up. I woke up this morning, and all my faucets were running fine, but my toilet would not run? Upon further inspection my fresh water tank which had ~2/3 fill is now showing as empty. I'm wondering if my FW tank and toilet line could have frozen when everything else seems to be fine? I have kept the unit heat on the whole time, and it has the climate shield package which should be good to the single digit temperatures we experienced last night. Thoughts?

[Jagiven]

what kind of temperatures are you experiencing? for how long? Can you tell where the water pipe for the toilet run? For example mine run inside the main trailer, in and under all the cabinets. You might be able to open the cabinet doors to get a little more heat in one of the utility areas.

Tank could have froze, you could turn off the hose bib and turn on the pump and see if you have liquid water in the tank.

[troutslayer]

My guess is that your FW tank gauge has some ice on it. It looks like your furnace is well-positioned to heat the water lines in the sinks and tub but the toilet is further away and somewhat separated from the furnace. You may want to get under your trailer and see if there are any gaps that need to be filled with foam (Home Depot). I think Jayco does a nice job of closing in the bottom but there are always some gaps.

[Paintinfool3]

the fresh water tanks are forward and behind the axle the one that has the gauge on it is behind the axle where the two hoses exit the bottom for venting ... I wouldn't have thought it would freeze up though.... check behind the panel under your kitchen sink that is screwed to floor on the left side ... that's where the pump line from tank comes in and where your city water comes in also .... not sure how the water line to toilet runs though ... I would have to believe it would be above floor level ... maybe you can see that when you remove the pump access panel under kitchen sink ... good luck

[Skaling]

When I bought my trailer I ordered it with the thermal/glacier package.. Extra insulation and more importantly a heated underbelly to prevent lines and tanks from potential freezing.. However, upon further inspection, there was no ducting to my underbelly to provide the heat. I emailed jayco about this and they approved my local dealer to install heat ducts to my underbelly near my tanks and toilet lines.
What's my point? Just cuz you "have" the climate shield(and probably heated underbelly), doesn't mean it couldn't have been forgotten along the assembly line.. Something to look into maybe?

[gratefulbruce]

well the verdict is in ... the mercury rose to 41 degrees yesterday, and my FW tank reads 2/3 again (I think the electronic level device had some ice on it which gave the erroneous reading, not the tank frozen). I went back to the toilet and water was running again to the toilet. When I look at it, the lines to the shower and bathroom sink can and do run above the floor due to the shower being raised for the p trap, but the toilet water supply comes up from below, so it must run under the floor. I'll wait until the weather is much nicer to poke around underneath, and keep the bucket handy in case of another freeze up.