Travel to Florida

[Doug S]

We are planning a trip to Florida from MA to Florida in early December. I am concerned about water pipes freezing in our 1982 airstream coach. Do i need to worry. We plan to take 6 days to get there. Does any have thoughts?

[Bill M.]

I would leave it winterized and carry bottled water until I got to GA. After that you might get some barely freezing nights but they should not affect the coach if you are staying in it. Or it might be 80 in Florida.

[n2916s]

You can, if you desire, run with your furnace set to 60. The furnace is ducted to the tanks. Might go through some propane but pretty easy to find more at Tractor Supply or Flying J.

Bonus is that when you stop for the day, doesn’t take as long to warm up your rig.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Even without the run to Florida, December is past the point most people winterize in New England. Best bet is that you will start out with the coach winterized.

You *can* (but probably won't) go the whole way sticking to the coast. That involves fun stuff like the ferry from New Jersey to Delaware. (actually it is fun). Along the coast, the chances of a day long freeze are near zero. Heading over to I-81 and going that way, your chances of cold are a bit higher.

The simple answer is to watch the 10 day weather forecast at the various stopping points along your route. If it shows below freezing all day, don't de-winterize yet. Once you get to an area that's got lows in the 30's and highs in the 50's, de-winterize and operate normally. Depending on how your coach is set up, lows in the 20's and highs in the 40's may be equally good.

A bit of anti-freeze in the waste tanks makes them cold compatible and keeps things livable ....

Bob

[Overstreet]

I live in Northeast Florida and don't normally winterize. A "hard freeze" to us two hours at 32 degrees. (stop laughing) Once you are down here it should be no problem.

In the panhandle things get a little different. "Lower Alabama" , local for the panhandle of Florida can get a lot colder. Watch the weather. Keep the heat on.

[HowieE]

32 is not the critical point. You need at least 24 hours of subfreezing temperatures or a significantly lower temperature to freeze your pipes.

We have overnighted without hookups and without the furnace on to wake up at 17 degrees.

If you can maintain your rig with an electric heater around 40 before leaving and are not looking at below freezing temperatures on the way you should be fine.

Keep in mind the latent heat of freezing states it takes 80 times the energy to move water at 32 degree liquid to 32 degrees solid as it does to drop that liquid 1 degree.

[eliset123]

I have gone from RI to Florida in December and as said watch the weather. If temps are above freezing then your ok. I try and leave around 10am and try and get to Fredricksburg , va. If you can leave on a day with temps above freezing up here you should be ok as others have said. I usally watch on the way back as well as we tend to get the cold days after the New year up in NE. I am lucky to have a heated garage so no winterizing unless its frigid coming home.

[eliset123]

I have also left winterized and bring a couple gallons of water for brushing teeth etc. stop at cracker barrel and turn on the furnace go eat dinner and come back to a warm trailer. Have fun.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

How fast things cool down depends a lot on the wind. Some RV's have plumbing close to the outside "over here" and in others it's "over there". Get a good stiff breeze going from the "wrong" direction and you can indeed freeze pipes overnight with temperatures in the 28 to 30 degree range.

A shut down trailer rolling down the road at 60 MHP is very much a trailer in the wind. Usually daytime temperatures are well above the night temps. Usually we warm up the trailer when we pull over for the night. That's not *always* the case ......

Another issue is - where is the temperature being measured? If you are depending on the weather service, that may not have a lot to do with your campsite. If you are off in the deep woods by a lake, you may be at 35 when the weather guy thinks it's 25.(Been there / done that). Equally, if you are up on top of Mount Windy out in the wide open, you could be a bit colder than the weather guy. (done that as well ....).

People have lost pipes from a single night at 28 degrees (weather man temperature). Since most people don't carry a logging thermometer, it's rare to know what the real temperature was.

Bob

[Overstreet]

Experience of my daughter and her 5th wheel is that the water hose and blue filter freeze first and crack. Then when it thaws it sprays all over.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

. . .
How fast things cool down depends a lot on the wind. Some RV's have plumbing close to the outside "over here" and in others it's "over there". Get a good stiff breeze going from the "wrong" direction and you can indeed freeze pipes overnight with temperatures in the 28 to 30 degree range.
. . .

Bingo!

Every situation is different, and unless you are very experienced with your Airstream, Doug, and with its quirks and follies in freezing weather, you would be well-advised to leave fully winterized, and to use the "aluminum tent" until you are confident that there is little or no risk of a freeze-up IMO.

Have fun,

Peter

PS -- Doug is your unit a trailer or motorhome? ["coach"]

Originally Posted by Doug S

We are planning a trip to Florida from MA to Florida in early December. I am concerned about water pipes freezing in our 1982 airstream coach. Do i need to worry. We plan to take 6 days to get there. Does any have thoughts?

PS2 -- Lots of good info here:

Winterizing forum: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f458/
Sticky topic therein: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f458...rize-7222.html

[Fawudd]

I have a similar question, but for a 2007 Bambi. Planning to go from FL to CA in December along a very southerly route. I am expecting cold in higher elevations and wondered if running the furnace during the day is enough to handle what I might encounter.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Fawudd

I have a similar question, but for a 2007 Bambi. Planning to go from FL to CA in December along a very southerly route. I am expecting cold in higher elevations and wondered if running the furnace during the day is enough to handle what I might encounter.

Probably more productive to start your own thread IMO, as your route is much different than the OP [original post].

These "I-10" search results should lead to some productive discussions on the southern route across the US:

https://www.google.com/search?q=I-10...com&gws_rd=ssl

Happy trails,

Peter

[uncle_bob]

Hi

+1 on starting a new thread.

====

Since it's relevant to both threads:

Running the furnace on propane while in motion probably will burn a lot of propane. The trailer cools a bit from the "wind" of going down the road. (it's not 100% air tight). I would always keep at least one propane bottle full at all times if I was going to try that. Yes, that probably means shopping for propane if it's a long drive.

Bob