Winter Camping

[mohok1]

I have a question. If you are living in your RV and the temp drops below freezing into the high teens and low twentys for a few hours, can you not put RV Antifreeze into your black tank to prevent it from freezing? My daughter and son-in-law will winter in the Charlotte, NC area and live in their camper. No Artic package on the unit. They will have city water. The fresh water tank will be empty and the grey tank will be left open. They can run the water heater off and on to keep it from freezing. The furnace will be run as needed to keep the unit liveable. I have winterized the water hose with electrical heater tape and insulation. We are hoping for the best as the temps are not as bad as further North. Might have to get a dehumidifier for the condensation.

[Jagiven]

If it is just dropping down below freezing just at night and not for any extended periods, the tanks should be fine over night. I have been down to 20 deg at night, and back in the upper 40s during the day. No issues. What I do is fill the fresh water tank, and disconnect the hose so there is no chance of freezing it up, and utilize the pump at night. If the heat is on in the TT, there is little chance of the plumbing inside will freeze, but there could be very cold spots depending on the TT design, and possibly cold enough to freeze. So I leave a few cabinet doors ajar where the plumbing is running through them. In the colder months we always have electric sites, so I leave the water heater on (electric mode). With our plumbing layout, if I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I turn on the kitchen facets (it is at end of the water distribution pipes in my HTT) for a moment to move a little water through the pipes. An empty tank (grey water) or nearly empty tank will more likely to freeze than a full tank. So we do not stay connected to the sewer system. As a full or partially full tank has a lot of thermal mass and will freeze up very slowly in comparison. One other thing, I would not leave the sewer hose connected if the temps are going to be below freezing for extended periods. What will happen, warm moist sewer gas will rise up and condense on the flexible RV sewer hose walls and freeze, with time it could freeze solid, or when it is time to move on it is frozen in whatever shape it is sitting on the ground. If they are sitting in one spot all winter, putting an incandescent light bulb under the black tank will radiate enough heat to keep the tank from freezing. If parked long enough it could be worth adding some insulation board around the base of TT to help keep the floor warmer.

[RedHorse1]

The bride and I took a week's trip to New Mexico this fall and it got down to the upper 20's at night, the days were pleasant tho. My point is: there were a fair number of full-timers in our CG. One of them was building a skirting around his TT using foam insulation panels from the local big box store. He was cutting it to shape using a box cutter and securing it with tape (I think it was tape - didn't look real close). Seems like that would keep the "under parts" a bit warmer as well as the floor. At the end of the season or when moving, toss it in the dumpster.

[wwsmith111]

We fill our fresh water tank to use when below freezing because the city water may freeze up. We have been camping down to 20 degrees with no problems except the city water freezing up at night. The campgrounds may ask you to turn off the city water at night because they know it may freeze. I usually disconnect the city water and put my hose inside other wise it will be a hard frozen the next morning and useless until it thaws. Usually campgrounds don't want you to let it drip either as this uses too much water.

[NewBlackDak]

http://m.campingworld.com/shopping/i...ted-hose/58246