Florida’s cold snap!

[WhereStream]

Going to get cold (down to 30 degrees) tonight and really cold (11 hours of freezing temperatures, down to 25 degrees) Saturday night.

I typically do not winterize our 19-footer, but these are not typical temperatures.

Will running the heater do the job?

[nitzo]

Originally Posted by WhereStream

Going to get cold (down to 30 degrees) tonight and really cold (11 hours of freezing temperatures, down to 25 degrees) Saturday night.

I typically do not winterize our 19-footer, but these are not typical temperatures.

Will running the heater do the job?

Yes, I'm also wondering this. We are a bit further South of you and on the coast, so it's not going to be as cold, but still in the freeze zone. Mine is stored in a covered facility, but the sides are open. I was thinking of not doing anything.

[Rich W]

We were down by Starke, FL and it went down to 27° the other night. I put noodle floats on the water line from the spigot. The heater is on and we had no problems. We're 30 miles south of GA now and the freeze is coming. Tonight is just down to 30 for maybe an hour, no big deal. Tomorrow night it's going down below freezing from about midnight to 7 AM. If your water lines were blown dry using an air compressor they should be okay, or if you have the heater on inside.

If in doubt, put the water heater in bypass and pump a gallon of RV AF into the system. It's $5 and 15 minutes for piece of mind. Or just use an air compressor to blow out the lines.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Disconnect the outside "city water" supply hose. Also pull the "hose" from the outside shower (if you have one).

If you have a line to the sewer, put that up and shut the gate valve(s).

Bob

[link2dks]

What Uncle Bob said above plus leave all the cabinet doors open, water pump off and all faucets open. Run your furnace or some other type of heater if you can.

Dave S

[Jeff7176]

We had some cold weather last week or two in North Texas. I disconnect all lines outside, (fresh, sewer hose, shower hose) fill the fresh tank, put a small soft foam block in the water fill and shower compartment (not sure if that helps), and run the heat at about 60. We live in our trailer and have had no problems down to the low 20s…but we use a LOT more propane when it’s that cold.

[WhereStream]

I’m not camping. The Airstream is up next to the house.

So, no hoses connected.

The freshwater tank is close to full (maybe 90 percent).

Key question — what about the water lines?

I emptied the water heater’s tank (easy to do), but I did not empty the water lines and blow them out. Never done that.

I’ve taped towels in place over the outside shower and the city-water connect, and draped a towel over the dump valves.

I’ve done nothing for the low-point drains (don’t even know where they are).

[Jeff7176]

Before we were full timing we camped year round. After each camping trip I would rewinterize by blowing the lines. If you have access to an air compressor, I would do that. Open the low point drains, drain the water heater (sound like you have that done) and run the lines and flush valve and water pump to clear them out. I’d also drain the fresh water tank in that case.

If you would rather not do that I would run the furnace at 60 (I choose that because it’s where I keep it at night when we’re in it) for the duration of the freezing temps. If you do that, make sure you have enough propane.

[link2dks]

How could you have previously winterized without knowing where your low point drains are? Never mind just follow # 5 above, if you can get some heat going inside and open all the cabinets and bath door you should be fine. It wouldn’t hurt to drain your fresh water tank, check your manual for the drain valve location and open your low point drains.

Good luck
Dave S

[link2dks]

Also remove the drain plug from your water heater, not all the water will come out but if what's left freezes it won"t cause any damage. The fresh water tank will take a couple of hours to drain but the low point drains will empty much more quickly, won't get all the water out but will allow for some expansion if the water left behind freezes. Again turn on your furnace or another source of heat inside the trailer.

30degrees tonight is not so worrisome but by tomorrow night take care.

Dave S

[WhereStream]

Originally Posted by link2dks

How could you have previously winterized without knowing where your low point drains are?
Dave S

I've never winterized the trailer.

Florida living!

[GetawA-S]

Originally Posted by WhereStream

I've never winterized the trailer.

Florida living!

But you know not to park under a tree with iguanas living in it!

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

I just disconnected the fresh water line and left the heater on in our rig. I was under the impression that the freezing temps in Florida were very brief and it couldn’t freeze lines if it’s warm inside.

I’ve never winterized either as we have always wintered in Florida and full time in our rig.

[1StreamDream]

I've been through those temperatures several times now, in southern texas. The #1 thing to do is be sure you run the LP furnace, not an electric heater, because the LP furnace ducting routes some of the warm air down around the tanks and some of the plumbing. I am not recommending this, but if only for a few hrs below 32, and stays near 32, I don't even disconnect the city water but if longer, it is prudent to do so for sure. You mention 11hrs, I would disconnect it in that kind of duration. Run the LP furnace and you should be fine, watch out for condensation, you probably don't want an internal temp much above the low to mid 50's, to minimize condensation inside the trailer.

[Rich W]

My 2006 isn't ducted so the furnace won't help with the tanks, but I do have tank heaters. I don't think I'll need them. Saturday night/Sunday morning will be several hours below freezing where I am, just south of Ga. I have 2 space heaters running. The furnace is backup. The wife is a Chilly Willy so we're usually in the 70s. Most of our supply hose is on the ground and I'll add the foam noodles.

It wasn't as cold for as long earlier this week and we were fine. The spigot didn't freeze where exposed but there was plenty of frost in the morning. I think we should be all right.

We will be returning to storage with freezing temps so I'll drain everything an put a gallon of RV AF in the system like always.

[Rocinante]

We’re in central Florida where the Interstate van is stored under a roof. Yesterday we dumped our waste tanks, poured RV antifreeze in each and ran the macerator to ensure we had pink coming out the hose. That should protect the tank valves, macerator, and macerator hose. Poured RV antifreeze into the toilet. Drained the water heater. Fresh tank was already empty. We opened the low point drains for the water lines and all faucets inside and out, got out a good bit of water. We don’t have an air compressor, so I just blew on the hose connected to the outside shower and a bunch more water came out the low point. Stuffed reflectix into the exterior shower compartment and the macerator compartment. Set the heat to 45 and opened all doors / cabinets. Then went home and wrapped all our home’s exposed water lines in insulating materials (yes, in FL they build with exposed water supply lines to the house and to the on-demand water heater). Crossing fingers that this will all be enough for Saturday night.

[Dennis C]

Good luck with the cold weather everyone! It sounds like you’re all taking precautions and I hope you all make it through the cold snap without any issues!

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by WhereStream

I've never winterized the trailer.

Florida living!

Same here.
Moving to Florida IS winterizing!
I'm under cover, sitting on cement, not connected, and close to a major city. I'm not planning to touch it. The forecast here is lows of 34....Brrrrrrrrr!

[JMynes]

We’ve had temps of -20 at night, hasn’t been above freezing for about three weeks, so it’s hard for me to be sympathetic.
When I lived in Mt. Dora I used to put drop lights (aka trouble lights) in the vicinity of the water pump and major plumbing area.
Be sure to use incandescent bulbs. LEDs will defeat the purpose. And don’t rest the bulb guard on anything that could melt.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Here's the problem: There are a lot of this and that hanging out here and there on his or that trailer. If they still have water in them, that water can freeze if it's below 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how far below 32, simply that it's below 32. You can have just as much damage at 31.5 as at -55 degrees.

Wind blows from this direction or that direction. Your trailer is parked at this or that orientation to the wind. It hits (or misses) this or that gizmo that may or may not have water in it. You may get lucky, you may not get lucky. This model (or your example of this model) may not be put together quite the same way as another one. Who knows ....

Modern AS trailers are plumbed with PEX. It's Wonderfull stuff. The main lines are rated to withstand freezing and they very much appear to do so. The connectors may or may not do quite as well. The crimp connections that hold the pipes to the connectors are a bit variable. Just how well this or that one does .... who knows. They *should* do ok ...... It's the brass valves and other non-PEX stuff that is the most vulnerable.

Folks bring up the app on their phone to tell them about what the temperature is. The app comes up with the wind chill at 20 degrees and that's what they remember. It may or may not tell them the thermometer temperature is 33 degrees at that same time. It depends a lot on the app.

Temperatures reported are often from certain designated locations (like the local airport). The low temperature at night where you are may be *very* different than the low at the airport. Sitting down in a little hollow out in the woods it could be a lot warmer. Up on the top of "mount windy" it could be a lot colder. Without a thermometer on your trailer, you really don't know what's going on.

When you put a freshly filled ice cube tray in the freezer, you don't get sold ice in 10 seconds (at least not in my fridge ). It takes time for the water to freeze. Just how long is one of those "that depends" sort of things. Bits and pieces on your trailer are no different than the ice cube tray in this regard. How long to freeze "depends".

At least around here the weather guy *has* been known to get things wrong from time to time. He claims tomorrow will be fine and it rains. He says there will be a freeze and there isn't ( or says there will not and there is). How much you trust any forecast is up to you....

So, there are a lot of variables when you see a report of "I got away with ... at X temperature". Folks report what they remember. They may or may not have had a full picture of what was going on.

This rapidly becomes a "how lucky do you feel" sort of thing. Maybe you dodge a bullet, and maybe you don't. It's your money and your property. The worst that can happen is only a few (10's of ...) thousand dollars and couple months of repair work. Yes, you *can* save that $10 on a couple bottles of RV antifreeze and the entire hour (maybe two hours if it's the first time ) doing the work ....

Bob