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Old 09-24-2021, 08:19 PM   #1
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Quick freeze coming up

We have a 22 degree and 28 degree nights coming up. I am not ready to call the season quits cause we have a few more outings. What say you? Should I turn on the furnace? Or have a space heater going? Or nothing.
TIA
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Old 09-24-2021, 08:57 PM   #2
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If you have shore power, use an electic heater. If boondocking the furnace works good as long as you have battery power. Make sure that any exposed water line is drained. Your holding tanks and HWT will not be bothered with a shot frost, but any exposed water line will. If you run the furnace, you should have a CO monitor!
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Old 09-24-2021, 09:13 PM   #3
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Old 09-24-2021, 10:20 PM   #4
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Huh??? 22 to 28 at night and thinking about doing nothing?....from a 3 rivet poster. This must be a troll post for sure?
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Old 09-24-2021, 10:41 PM   #5
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quick freeze

Better safe than sorry. A little RV antifreeze down each drain. Run a 1500w space heater (pointed in a safe direction). Enjoy!
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Old 09-24-2021, 10:50 PM   #6
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troll? Did someone say troll?

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Old 09-25-2021, 09:29 AM   #7
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Hi

Simple answer this time of year:

Pop open the faucets and low point drains as you pull out of the campsite. Don't have a lot of water in the tank or this gets messy. Do the usual black and gray tank dumps.

When the "weather alarm" goes off, head over and put a bit of RV antifreeze in each of the drains, stand on the toilet flush for a bit.

No it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than nothing. The cost of the antifreeze is pretty small. When you go back out camping, there's not a lot to undo other than closing this or that valve / faucet.

A somewhat more involved approach would be to run a compressor and blow out the lines. You also can blow out the hot water heater at the same time. You have better protection, but still not a lot to reverse when you head out again.

This all assumes the trailer is stored someplace sheltered. If it's out in a good strong wind and it will be below 32 for >12 hours with 21 as the low .... you need the full up process and / or heaters.

Bob
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Old 09-25-2021, 09:41 AM   #8
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I have camped numerous times with temps in the teens, and never frozen up.

Run your furnace, open cabinets to insure pipes receive heat.

And go on.

You could winterize out of an abundance of caution, but it’s then an abundance of dewinterizing when you’re not ready to pack it up for the season.

Maggie
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Old 09-25-2021, 10:17 AM   #9
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The thing is there are many different configurations of airstreams and depending where valves, pipes, and heat ducts are your experiences may differ from others. On our 27 FC FB the black and gray tank valves are enclosed with the tanks. We routinely camp with overnight lows in the upper teens using our freshwater tank and black and gray water tanks like normal and use the propane furnace to keep things warm enough to not freeze. We often set the thermostat as low as 50 to conserve propane and battery power when boondocking. I do drain water from the outside shower by opening the valve, then the low water drains, and after I hear the water drain from the outside shower fixture, I close the valves again so there will be air in outside shower fixture and pipes to it even if we use the rest of our water system. --Frank
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Old 09-25-2021, 10:22 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by bweybright View Post
This must be a troll post for sure?
Really? Could be they just moved from a 4-season area to a new colder location that requires winterizing...don't be so harsh. This question comes up many times every season...I see it as one of the true signs of fall!

Shari
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Old 09-25-2021, 10:34 AM   #11
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We just camped for several days with overnight lows in the 20's, daytime highs 40's to 60's - no problems - kept the furnace on 58F (comfortable for us under lots of covers), kept the hot water heater on, left kitchen sink cab door and water pump access door open. We also made sure no exterior water hose hooked up - just used fresh water tank.

In our 27FB, the furnace routes a bit of heat to the holding tanks. A space heater wouldn't work, since it wouldn't get any heat to the tanks.
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Old 09-25-2021, 04:42 PM   #12
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"IF" it only gets down to 28 for a couple hours there is little risk of damage. A couple years ago someone posted of freeze damage after his trailer was in storage and they predicted a low of 34, then actual low of 22.
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Old 09-25-2021, 09:52 PM   #13
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Turn on the furnace run at 50 degrees temp - you’ll be fine.
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Old 09-25-2021, 11:07 PM   #14
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Thank you all

Thanx all. I am not a troll. Just have not really experienced a freeze while still having season left. My husband the first winter we owned the trailer did not winterize. Guess what? So with your input, you confirmed my thinking. Except the addition of the water heater thoughts.
I am not a troll............
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Old 09-26-2021, 05:02 AM   #15
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BessieB,

Good luck with the freeze potential. Unprepared the damage can be annoying to ugly. Last winters freeze in Texas really messed up a bunch of RV'ers.

Gary
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Old 09-26-2021, 09:43 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BessieB View Post
Thanx all. I am not a troll. Just have not really experienced a freeze while still having season left. My husband the first winter we owned the trailer did not winterize. Guess what? So with your input, you confirmed my thinking. Except the addition of the water heater thoughts.
I am not a troll............
Fair enough, thank you for checking back. I owe you my apologies for jumping the gun.
Good luck with your temperatures!!
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Old 09-27-2021, 09:29 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BessieB View Post
Thanx all. I am not a troll. Just have not really experienced a freeze while still having season left. My husband the first winter we owned the trailer did not winterize. Guess what? So with your input, you confirmed my thinking. Except the addition of the water heater thoughts.
I am not a troll............
Hi

Folks have reported significant damage to trailers stored at the FL / GA line with a single night and temperatures reported at 29 degrees. Others seem to do fine. It is very much a function of how lucky you get .....

Since you could be talking thousands of dollars in repairs, is saving $2 on a jug of antifreeze (and the hour or two to deploy it) that big a deal? It's up to you.

If you really want to freak out, there are YouTube videos from Texas showing trailers with frame damage due to water tanks freezing. Not on an Airstream, but the trailer was totaled..... yikes ....

Bob
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Old 10-03-2021, 09:45 AM   #18
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It depends on when you will use the trailer again. If it's short term then we will turn the furnace on and set the thermostat to 10C (50F) and all has been fine. Open drawers and cabinets to allow circulation. If the temperature is dropping to the lower range, I heat up the hot water tank and then turn off but it helps that our trailer is stored close by or in front of the house. When not in use, the holding tanks are emptied routinely so no problem there but we would keep the fresh water tank at least half full.

If stored for longer, I would winterize so you don't have to worry. You can go through a lot of propane if the temperature remains below freezing. When in Montreal one November, we got caught in a freeze with similar temperatures and we went through a 30 lb. tank of propane in five days.
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Old 10-03-2021, 09:53 AM   #19
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Hello,
I just finished camping in 16 degree weather with water in camper. 2019 Bambi 22 sport Fb. I set heat to 50 and had no problems. So I would turn on the heat and not worry.
Sean
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Old 10-03-2021, 02:56 PM   #20
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What "wulfraat" said, but I will add to it. We do this often and turn our furnace down to 45 when we are not ready to winterize and temps are dipping below freezing. Pick your safe number, but it is important to run the furnace, not the heat pump or a space heater. Reason is there is ducting from the furnace to the underbelly area to help keep things from freezing. This is why it is OK to camp in your airstream in sub-freezing temperatures and not end up with frozen pipes. We have camped many times down into the teens with no issues.

p.s. - We never just "do nothing" when temps are dropping below or even approaching freezing. Too risky and way too often the forecast is not that accurate so better safe than sorry.
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