Winter living

[atherton42]

Hi All - I'm new here. I live in Albuquerque but I work alternate two week period up in Farmington, NM on the Colorado boarder. While working I live in my 1995 Excella 25. It gets cold in Farmington - in the teens to 20s at night. I know about heat tape on the water line - do I also need it on the dump line? Do I need to put some sort of barrier around the outside of the trailer below the trailer to the ground ? Will the interior pipes freeze if I leave the furnace set to 50 degrees? Will they freeze if I turn off the furnace and heat with an electric interior heater? How about the water heater tank if I don't leave the hot water turned "on" all the time?

Help! Thanks, Atherton42

[Mel]

Hi Atherton42, welcome! You might want to check out the "Winterizing & Winter Living" forum and also the search feature at the top of the page. This is a topic that comes up often, especially at this time of year. Good luck!

[Airstream25]

Originally Posted by atherton42

Hi All - I'm new here. I live in Albuquerque but I work alternate two week period up in Farmington, NM on the Colorado boarder. While working I live in my 1995 Excella 25. It gets cold in Farmington - in the teens to 20s at night. I know about heat tape on the water line - do I also need it on the dump line? Do I need to put some sort of barrier around the outside of the trailer below the trailer to the ground ? Will the interior pipes freeze if I leave the furnace set to 50 degrees? Will they freeze if I turn off the furnace and heat with an electric interior heater? How about the water heater tank if I don't leave the hot water turned "on" all the time?

Help! Thanks, Atherton42

Hi atherton42,

Yes!

I have the same year, model & size Airstream as you do.
I purchased mine in Seattle in Feb. 2003 and hauled it back to ABQ.

While overnighting in Utah, I thought I would save on propane and run an electric heater inside instead of using the furnace.
Big mistake!
The holding tanks froze up and I could not dump them.
When I got back to ABQ they thawed out without any apparent damage.

Later I learned that the furnace heat ducts are routed down by the holding tanks for the express purpose of keeping them from freezing.

By the way, Ken J from Durango, CO and I are trying to form a new WBCCI unit called the Four Corners Unit. If you like to camp in the scenic areas of the Southwest, then feel free to join us. More info at the web page link in my signature.

Jerry

[atherton42]

Hi - nice to hear about the 4 Corners area Airstream group. Please add me to any emailing list you have.

I'll keep in mind about the frozen holding tanks. I actually plan to deal with that issue by adding some antifreeze to the tanks in really cold weather. I am more concerned about whether the pipes will freeze if I use an electric heater and leave the cabinet doors open at night? And how about the water heater tank? I sure don't want to have to drain that daily - or leave it on all the time - too much propane.

I suppose in the final analysis it's cheaper and easier to spend the $$$ on heat than to have to repair burst lines or tanks - but is there some other way? (No - I can't haul to southern AZ for the winter!)

Mike Atherton

[SafeHarbor]

Hi, Mike,

I've camped in freezing weather in my rear-bath Argosy, and the only issue I had was with the trap under the bathtub freezing. I made up a very short fresh water hose and used electrical wrap from the pipe under the faucet all the way to the trailer.

But this may be less of a consideration on the Argosy because two of the tanks - fresh water and black water are above the floor line and get non-forced air circulation from the trailer.

In the Excella, I plan to run the furnace this winter whenever it gets down near freezing. Happily, it lit off for me today without any problems, strange noises, or odd odors. (Then I remembered that the trailer door was open.)

Lamar