Camping in freezing temps - what to know?

[gravedgr]

We are going camping this weekend in the N. GA mountains (Vogel state park, to be specific). As is common in GA, we are having wild temp. swings (sometimes 30+ degrees single day changes).

It is going to get down to 25 degrees Sunday night, and I've no idea what to do differently to prepare or manage the TT during the cold. We've only had it since Sept. and as a child, I don't recall every camping in weather this cold (we did more 3-season camping).

Do I need to let the faucet(s) drip inside the TT during the night?
Do I need to worry about the hose outside freezing?

Ours came with an insulated undercarriage and the dealer said not much, if any, would be needed to winterize it for storage given the mild winters in GA. But camping in the winter is obviously different.

FWIW, Vogel has shore power and water hookups, so we won't be using the TT fresh water tank - just the grey/black tanks. Would love some advice from the experienced folks here.

TIA!

[NewBlackDak]

Just turn off and disconnect the water, or the hose(and possibly up into your hookup) will freeze. As long as your furnace is running, everything else should be fine at those temps. You can prop open any cabinet doors where pipes run through for extra precaution, but it’s probably not necessary.
Early spring/late fall camping for us often means 40 degree temperature swings with below freezing at night, and I don’t even have an enclosed/insulated underbelly.


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[gravedgr]

Okay, thanks. Any need to open faucets or do any draining after disconnecting?

[SOMBATFAMILY]

If you are in camper and it is not freezing then your water supply line wouldn't either. With enclosed underbelly you probably have some heating in there.

[curver900]

even if it gets down to 25 degrees it would take about 25 hours before your stuff would freeze without any heat... so if it is going to get to 25 for 5 hours ... sleep well and don't even think about it... nothing will freeze...


and if you have pressure in the system it takes longer to freeze as well... have fun...

[bdreinv]

If we have shore power we use portable electric heaters,as well as the FP heater works pretty well.Might as well heat the camper on there buck!

[Jagiven]

1st have fun! We have put ours to bed already. We have camped in those conditions many times, with no issues. We do not have an enclosed underbelly.

We put water in the fw tank for night use. Disconnect the hose and sewer at night. Drain the water hose, or it might be tough to get going in the morning. I have not experienced but have seen, sewer hoses fill full of frost over night.

We use an electric heater as our primary heat source, and in the morning, I'll turn on the propane furnace to bring the htt up to temp.

[travelingjw]

We just got from Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Temperatures dropped during the night to the high 20's. My suggestion (which is what I ended up doing) is to take everything from your city water supply to your TT and disconnect it. If you want to leave the hose outside, drain it completely. I ended up using my heater outlet to warm up my regulator after it froze the first night. My MRB had no problems inside. But, the 26 foot Keystone next to me had the water in the back bathroom freeze but the front bathroom was fine. On the first night, where everything outside the TT froze, I put it in the sun and everything was back to normal by 10:00 a.m. Temperature was in the 40's - low 50's. Have fun.

[wags999]

We were in Colorado a few weeks ago, got down as low as 13 degrees. We had a water supply hose almost 50' long. I left the water drip, got up a couple of times and opened the faucet for 30 seconds and had no issues. At 25 I would not expect you would get any freezing in your water line if you left once faucet drip. As others have said it takes a fairly long time for a hose to freeze and especially if the water is moving.

Good Luck...watch your propane as the heater will burn through it fairly fast.

[Kidd280]

Just worry about your hose outdoors and make sure you have full propane bottle. If cold for long a full 30 pounder will be gone in 2 days.

[Bassdogs]

Originally Posted by bdreinv

If we have shore power we use portable electric heaters,as well as the FP heater works pretty well.Might as well heat the camper on there buck!

Electric heaters do fine keeping the interior warm but don't put any heat under the floor where the pipes are. You have to run the furnace to do that.

[gravedgr]

Thanks all for the tips. First couple of nights were in the high 30s/low 40s and last night was down to 25. As suggested, we disconnected everything outside, drained it and let it sit and warm up in the bath tub. No issues at all.

BTW, we are still on our first propane tank despite running the furnace for about 60-65 hours. We also run our frig to/from sites, so it has about 12-15 hours of use on the first tank as well.

Next step is a propane monitor so I have some idea of when a bottle is going to run out. It would suck to go to sleep and have the furnace run out a few minutes later in 10s or 20s weather.

[Redwing]

I just completed a 8 night stay in northern MI. Low temps ranged from 23 to 28 high temps 35 to 44. We had 1 minor issue because the feed from my fresh water tank to my pump was exposed. We got some heat tape and pipe insulation. We used a generator when in camp and the battery when sleeping or not in camp with no issues.

[Merrick]

Heres my forecast in 2 days:

Day 1 High 54 - Low 26
Day 2 High 46 - Low 30
Day 3 - Getting warmer. Probably will be colder than this, as we are on a mountain and this is the nearest city forecast.

Thinking about just putting pipe foam insulation on DW hose and leaving hooked up to CW all night, and maybe just run some water occasionally. Does pipe foam insulation really help any?

Or unhook hose at night and just use a jug of drinking water as needed.

I have no insulation underneath my TT, but will be running propane heater. Im safe right?