19 Degrees- Not 35 !!

[John&Vicki]

Dread. When I woke up this morning in my little mountain town of Sisters, Oregon, the temperature was 19 degrees. I haven’t winterized yet because we’re heading out Thursday to Cottonwood Canyon State Park for a few days.

The overnight forecast on weather.com was a low of 34 degrees. And now it’s 19!!!!??? That’s quite a difference. I had drained the fresh water tank and run the faucets until they sputtered. But I’m dreading going over to the storage area later today to test things. The good news is that the trailer is parked in the sun and it was 60 degrees yesterday and the duration of freezing temps was relatively short. But 19 is scary. What is most vulnerable?

And I was feeling so good after the Red Sox win.

John

[DKB_SATX]

The toilet valve and the check-valve by the pump are probably the most at risk if you left your faucet valves open. Do you have an outside faucet/shower on that trailer? That would be the first candidate for freezing since it's outside...which is something I've only JUST considered about my own trailer, since previously I've relied on leaving the furnace on for the vanishingly brief freezes (I'm in south TX.) I doubt the furnace will help protect the outside shower faucet at all.

[Wayne&Sam]

It depends how long it was at 19. I'll bet you're ok.

BTW, Sisters is a nice town!

[Mattirs]

Originally Posted by John&Vicki

Dread. When I woke up this morning in my little mountain town of Sisters, Oregon, the temperature was 19 degrees. I haven’t winterized yet because we’re heading out Thursday to Cottonwood Canyon State Park for a few days.

The overnight forecast on weather.com was a low of 34 degrees. And now it’s 19!!!!??? That’s quite a difference. I had drained the fresh water tank and run the faucets until they sputtered. But I’m dreading going over to the storage area later today to test things. The good news is that the trailer is parked in the sun and it was 60 degrees yesterday and the duration of freezing temps was relatively short. But 19 is scary. What is most vulnerable?

And I was feeling so good after the Red Sox win.

John

I spent 5 days boondocking in unexpected 14 degree overnight temps with days in the high 50's to low 60's and all turned out all right. The furnace keep things from freezing at night. One thing we did have was the windows frosting over on the inside until I cracked the shower vent a little. The furnace was set at 52 degrees and I had to run the generator a couple of hours before going to bed to make sure the batteries lasted all night.

I did start with a full fresh water tank.

[Thiss]

We were on Sisters this weekend. I too got caught by the off forecast. We had a non power spot in the downtown campground.

We got in late Friday night and I didn’t fire up the furnace. I woke up pretty chilly early Sat, but all was alright, and I made sure we had the furnace for Sat night (I have an old Suburban with a picky procedure).

Best you can do is charge up the system, run the waterpump (avoid utility) and see if you have anything broke. You will learn in a hurry if the pump keeps running.

PS boy I wish I had found a job and home in Sisters a after college in 2007.

[Caffeinated]

John and Vicki, how did it turn out? Are you OK?

Mike

[Ray Eklund]

When you get one of these unexpected Canadian Clippers... several things you need to do.

Open up all of the lower cabinet drawers to let warmer air circulate towards the exterior walls. The water lines are insulated from the interior with the cabinets and air space to the outside walls.

The less volume of water in your water tanks, lines, the easier it is to freeze overnight. Turn off the water pump, open the taps. When water freezes, it expands. You have few options if you are not hooked up to electrical power. Do not turn the water pump ON, in the morning. Try a quick ON/OFF to determine if the water pump is frozen. If so, be patient. Open the cabinets and let warm air into this area, circulate.

A hair dryer blowing into this area is helpful.

A temporary freeze below 20F degrees can be defended against. A longer period of these low temperatures can have bad consequences and where? Time will tell and you cannot not undo the damage once done.