Phoenix freeze = nothing good

[brockeverly]

Aside from losing plants, the freeze brought me another headache. We do not winterize out here because winter is like summer for some of you. We had four straight days of below freezing temps this week, and with a newborn I was not thinking about the TT. Thought of it this evening and no surprise found damage. Seems to be isolated to the kitchen sink faucet which has around a 1" slit in the metal faucet section. The bathroom faucet sprayed all over at first, but the aerator was halfway off so that was an easy fix. Looked through the cupboards at the pipes both with water running and water off and there did not seem to be any damage going to the bathroom, and the water I found under the kitchen sink area all appears to be water that ran down from the faucet leak. I cleaned up the water that I could get to under there which seems to be most and plan on going back out to the storage yard in the morning to check again. Is there anything else I should look for? When I shut off the water in the trailer I always turn the faucets on until the stop dripping so that may have saved all my lines, but the faucet having an 8" rise on it kept some water in there and that seems to be what killed it. I really hope that nothing else went bad

[pm1stnau]

Originally Posted by brockeverly

Aside from losing plants, the freeze brought me another headache. We do not winterize out here because winter is like summer for some of you. We had four straight days of below freezing temps this week, and with a newborn I was not thinking about the TT. Thought of it this evening and no surprise found damage. Seems to be isolated to the kitchen sink faucet which has around a 1" slit in the metal faucet section. The bathroom faucet sprayed all over at first, but the aerator was halfway off so that was an easy fix. Looked through the cupboards at the pipes both with water running and water off and there did not seem to be any damage going to the bathroom, and the water I found under the kitchen sink area all appears to be water that ran down from the faucet leak. I cleaned up the water that I could get to under there which seems to be most and plan on going back out to the storage yard in the morning to check again. Is there anything else I should look for? When I shut off the water in the trailer I always turn the faucets on until the stop dripping so that may have saved all my lines, but the faucet having an 8" rise on it kept some water in there and that seems to be what killed it. I really hope that nothing else went bad

As soon as possible, I would check to make sure the water pump from the fresh water tank is still operational and the outside shower, if so equipped, is OK. The dealer that sold me our Jayco fixed my faucet as a warranty claim when mine froze a couple of months ago. If for some reason they won't fix it, I'm pretty sure that faucets are inexpensive and easy to fix. Good luck, sorry for your troubles, congratulations on the newborn, and, most of all, Happy Camping!!

[brockeverly]

Thanks!

Water pump is operational as that is how I got the water spraying everywhere LOL. I did not check the outside shower, I will check that after I fix the faucet (cannot really turn on the pump now without a leak from there that I have to clean up). I snatched up a new one on Amazon for $30 shipped, so I cannot complain. Is the faucet the only thing that froze in yours as well?

[OnTheGo]

If you want to check for other damage now, you could plug or crimp the line to the kitchen sink faucet and turn the pump on.

[chipper]

If you have not yet done so, check the toilet. The flush valves may have damaged.

[Jagiven]

With the pump, check the clear cover for the filter screen. I had to have mine replaced under warranty last summer. Mine looked like it had hairline cracks from the time I bought it. Then one day this past summer it just stop holding a prime.

[pm1stnau]

Originally Posted by brockeverly

Thanks!

Water pump is operational as that is how I got the water spraying everywhere LOL. I did not check the outside shower, I will check that after I fix the faucet (cannot really turn on the pump now without a leak from there that I have to clean up). I snatched up a new one on Amazon for $30 shipped, so I cannot complain. Is the faucet the only thing that froze in yours as well?

All my faucets were frozen, my pump was frozen and obviously all of the lines underneath. I was underneath the TT with a heat gun thawing lines, and then inside thawing the pump. The kitchen faucet was all that sustained damage, thank God, and I really haven't tried the pump yet since it came back from getting fixed at the dealer. It appears that in the future, so long as I live in Michigan, I will winterize in October!! Happy Camping!!

[muelldawg]

A couple of "Phoenix winters" ago we did not drain the water from our TT. The result was a frozen kitchen sink spigot. Then shortly after we had a leak in the toilet. The leak was in the pump behind the toilet. The RV parts people had seen this before and believed it was the result of the freeze also.

[brockeverly]

How did you know the toilet was leaking? I assume the pump cycled without water being used? That worries me :/

[muelldawg]

It leaked, at the small pump on back of toilet, when flushing. And it did not always happen.

At first I saw it on floor; then on repeat occcurances I narrowed it down to the source. I was able to easily replace the part and fix it myself. Although the exercise required me to remove the toilet because I did not have space to work.

[3firetrucks]

Originally Posted by brockeverly

Aside from losing plants, the freeze brought me another headache. We do not winterize out here because winter is like summer for some of you. We had four straight days of below freezing temps this week, and with a newborn I was not thinking about the TT. Thought of it this evening and no surprise found damage. Seems to be isolated to the kitchen sink faucet which has around a 1" slit in the metal faucet section. The bathroom faucet sprayed all over at first, but the aerator was halfway off so that was an easy fix. Looked through the cupboards at the pipes both with water running and water off and there did not seem to be any damage going to the bathroom, and the water I found under the kitchen sink area all appears to be water that ran down from the faucet leak. I cleaned up the water that I could get to under there which seems to be most and plan on going back out to the storage yard in the morning to check again. Is there anything else I should look for? When I shut off the water in the trailer I always turn the faucets on until the stop dripping so that may have saved all my lines, but the faucet having an 8" rise on it kept some water in there and that seems to be what killed it. I really hope that nothing else went bad

When I purchased my used trailer last year it had never been winterized either since it was always somewhere warm until its last year before I owned it. I bought it after it, had 1 year in the North West Winter. Same as you, it was the split faucet that grabbed my attention ( the water had been drained from the system prior to storage ). I replaced the faucet, and one of the next things I found when I started testing the systems was a mysterious puddle at the front storage compartment of the TT. I tried tracing it back to where ever it came from with no results. So I removed the fresh water tank to check if it was damaged ( the water was coming from underneath ). Then with the tank removed I was able to find the leak back at the pump. Just a small leak, but since the pump is right up against the tank I couldn't see it, until it formed a puddle at the storage compartment. I replaced the pump myself and luckily since the trailer was new to me and I was checking all the systems, I noticed the leak right away, averting disaster.

[brockeverly]

Fixed the faucets and last night we almost hit freezing temps again. Tonight is supposed to be the same so I have the pump off and all faucets open to let any water run out. Climate change, I moved here to avoid crap like this.