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Old 09-22-2013, 07:49 PM   #1
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How cold before concern?

Going camping next weekend (Friday-Sunday). Temps will be 25 one night and 36 the other night. Days will be in the upper 60s.

I am concerned about freezing and how to deal with it.

We will be in a full hookup site.

Anybody have experience camping when night temps get below or close to freezing? Any tips or tricks?
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Old 09-22-2013, 07:58 PM   #2
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We have been out in the low 20’s. At night I ensure the water line from the hose bib is disconnect and use from the fresh water tank. I also crack open cabinets that have water lines just to be safe.

We also typically use an electric space heater as our primary heat source.
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Old 09-22-2013, 08:29 PM   #3
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We have been out in the low 20’s. At night I ensure the water line from the hose bib is disconnect and use from the fresh water tank. I also crack open cabinets that have water lines just to be safe.

We also typically use an electric space heater as our primary heat source.
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Old 09-22-2013, 08:44 PM   #4
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Great thought to disconnect the water supply. Do you guys fill your fresh water or just put a gallon or two to get through the night? Any problems with the fresh tank freezing?

Also, why electric space heater as opposed to gas, assuming you have one built in?
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Old 09-22-2013, 08:57 PM   #5
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You'll hear that most people use the space heater because the furnace uses quite a bit of propane. Our table top elect heater keeps our trailer warm even when it was in the upper 20's. We keep it far away from our bed at it still keeps us warm. I've heard some people say its good to drain the fresh water tank if gets down in the mid twenties. I'd be afraid of freezing the drain line if not. You could always keep a jug of water on hand to wash hands or flush. I take some rv antifreeze to throw in the holding tanks if when go when its cold.
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Old 09-22-2013, 09:11 PM   #6
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Yep,
Portable eLectric heaters because the electric is free with your campsite.
I set the furnace on about 68 and supplemented with electric.
I did keep a couple gallons of anti-freeze handy so I could winterize if needed.
I also did put some in the holding tanks.
Below freezing for a few hours didn't seem to be a problem.
I looked at hour by hour predicted temps. 3-4 hours wasn't a problem.

My FW tank seemed fine and the HW tank was on propane.

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Old 09-22-2013, 09:15 PM   #7
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The wind is probably our biggest enemy in colder temperatures.
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Old 09-22-2013, 10:27 PM   #8
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I fill the fresh water tank full, for a couple of reasons. 1) the large volume of water has a large thermal mass. 2) Water freezes from the top down. Also the dip hose from the TT will then be in water and will less likely have any issues.

The electric heater is usually free to run. I place a small (1500 watt) ceramic unit on the stove top during the day. Then at night we typically place it on the floor, in front of the stove. We also use electric mattress pads during the fall and early spring.

The electric heater does pull a lot of power so you may have to turn it off if you are using the microwave or a coffee pot.
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Old 09-23-2013, 03:20 AM   #9
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A good question is how long will the temp be below freezing or will the temp during the day warm up above freezing.
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Old 09-23-2013, 06:21 AM   #10
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I never had any problems here locally in our local cold spots when it warms up again the next day. Seems like it needs to be below below freezing for couple of days to do harm to us. I unhook the fresh water hose and run electric heater in our POPUP setup.

We can also blow out our water lies real quick with our compressor setup but if I know it is going to warm up the next day I don't bother with ding that. These are temps just below freezing I am talking about here... Might be a different story it it gets down in the teens and never warming up above freezing during the next day...

Of course my only freezing problems are the fresh water tank and sink lines... Have never had a freezing problem with my cassette pottie flush water source...

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Old 09-23-2013, 06:41 AM   #11
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We've been out when temps have hit the teens both when we had our FW and now with the MH. All we use is electric heaters and the heat strip in the a/c. As was mentioned if you don't have a heated water hose definitely disconnect and work off the tank. I don't leave the sewer hose connected either since those are more suseptible to cracking in the cold.
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Old 09-23-2013, 07:52 AM   #12
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If you have a newer camper,plumbed with pecs pip,you don't have near the chance of freeze busting a water line.I think its good to 20 below or so.
I plumbed our horse barn with it and never winterize, just gravity drain.Freezes all the time and has never split.I'd be more more concerned about drain traps and tanks but if it only gets to 25 for an hour or 2 there shouldn't be a problem.
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Old 09-24-2013, 07:04 AM   #13
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The wind is probably our biggest enemy in colder temperatures.
Why?
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Old 09-24-2013, 08:31 PM   #14
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A heated undercarrage means that one of the heat ducts is opened into the area around the water tank. To work, you have to run the furnace as thats the only way to push heat down there. Somebody already answered the ?? about "Why space heaters", but I'll do it again. My propane is expensive and their electric comes with the campsite. Free is better. The crazy thing I discovered long ago when fall camping in Indiana state parks was that they drop the rates to off season prices when everyone cranks the electric heaters. Well back in the day, our pop up didn't have air so it was just lights and microwave in the summer. We will run 2 space heaters, one in the main area and a second back in the bedroom beginning about an hour before bedtime. In our previous TT, the 2 heater kept us toasty with temps down in the low 20"s. If colder, we set the tstat on the furnace to kick in if the temp fell below our comfort zone. Never really worried about the stuff below the floor and never had a problem.

Keep a small 12V compressor handy when cold weather camping. You can blow out the lines in less than 5 minutes once you get the hang of it. The water heater won't freeze if it is heated. I've even pulled into a rest area along the interstate on the way back to the midwest in late Feb and blew out the lines while the wife walked the dogs.
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Old 09-24-2013, 08:46 PM   #15
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Quote:
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Why?
The wind will freeze water quicker in freezing temperatures
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:53 AM   #16
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The wind will freeze water quicker in freezing temperatures
The wind does not affect liquids that are not exposed to wind (in containers). Here is a quote from NOAA's site.
What is Wind Chill Temperature?
It is the temperature it “feels like” outside and is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by the effects of wind and cold. As the wind increases, the body is cooled at a faster rate causing the skin temperature to
drop. Wind Chill does not impact inanimate objects like car radiators and exposed water pipes, because these objects cannot cool below the actual air temperature.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/windchill...l-brochure.pdf
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Old 09-25-2013, 03:18 PM   #17
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I found NOAS question and answer on the web and it reads "The only effect wind chill has on inanimate objects, such as car radiators and water pipes , is to shorten the amount of time for the object to cool." So from that I gather it would take less time to cool the pipes in windy conditions as apposed to no wind. I realize the outside temperature has to be below freezing to freeze.
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Old 09-26-2013, 08:15 AM   #18
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Correct on the wind causing things to freeze up in a shorter period of time. The surface temp of the object will never drop below the actual air temp, but the wind will increase the heat transfer in the same way that passing air thru the radiator of a truck will cool the water in an engine faster than if the truck/fan was not moving air thru it.

Blow on the top of that piping hot cup of coffee for a few seconds and then see if the top layer is a bit easier on the lips.
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