Cold Weather Camping/Water Line Freezing

[RichieW13]

I have a 290RL. It has the plastic underbelly cover with ducted heat running under the floor.

I don't do much cold weather camping, but this week we did. The water lines have frozen up on me 3 nights now. It seems like they freeze when the temperature gets below 20 degrees. The nights that it didn't get that low, didn't freeze up on me.

Has anybody else had trouble with this? Am I just out of luck for trying to camp if it's going to get below 20 degrees at night?

[johnboytoo]

It can be done, but it takes preparation... if just overnight/a few hours of below 32, easy enough, but if prolonged or HARD freeze - more prep...
Some rv's have '4 season' packages including more insulation and heating pads for holding tanks.. many do not though.

Some use something like this, some turn off all outside water and drain the lines (including sewer), some just put put potable antifreeze in p-traps and sewer tanks (not fresh!)

You must protect the pipes from freezing - either by full winterizing, draining all lines and blowing out with air, or put heaters/lights in the basement..

You MUST turn on your furnace to keep temps above freezing - NOT electric heat/heat pumps as they won't warm basement...

good luck and if you are just asking this... I hope none of your pipes/connections/fixtures have frozen already. you'll find out the first thaw and it's part of the learning curve.

[harley]

Good recomendations ...only one that is not relevent to OP is that he has no basement..it is a pull behind. If you are doing alot of cold camping , you should unscrew the coroplast underbelly cover and make sure your pipes are not just laying on bottom or strapped tothe frame. If you are serious ,you should add foamboard to the inside of the frame and also add some to the lower area that the coroplast is at.

[Gourdhead]

We just got our 291RK. We wrapped out waterline coming in and no problem there. We got below zero last night and left faucets dripping . This morning our toilet water frozen and water. We discovered the outdoor hook ups for shower caused problem. We have heaters on them now.

[MoTreker]

Can you wrap your lines in those foam sleeves that they use for residential plumbing?


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[harley]

Originally Posted by Gourdhead

We discovered the outdoor hook ups for shower caused problem. We have heaters on them now.

About the outside shower , see if you can add shutoffs inside so you can isolate the out shower and leave those taps open to prevent them freezing.

[RichieW13]

Originally Posted by MoTreker

Can you wrap your lines in those foam sleeves that they use for residential plumbing?

I like that idea. I might do it in case I ever do cold weather camping again.

I'm not looking forward to dropping the plastic underbelly. That looks like a hassle. The side that the water lines appear to be on is the same side that the BBQ propane line is bolted on, so I have to drop that before I can drop the underbelly.

BTW, where is the water pump? Is that also mounted in the underbelly section?

[harley]

your pump should be on the left side of the bed in a compartment that is behind the water heater. 4screws on the top and pry off lid. If it there and you have water heater on then heat from that keeps that bay warm.

[harley]

Also . Do not re install screws , simply push lid back in place , it will not come out . And add a drawer type knob to the corner under the matteess to get lid off at a later date .