Always nervous taking out

[kennewickmik]

We are getting the time of the year where I live that it is getting into the mid 50's to lower 60's but 29-32 degrees at night. I am always nervous when to take the trailer out for the first time. If it is only 32 or lower a few hours of the night would the plumbing be ok or do I need to make sure it is always above freezing????

I have a 2008 Safari

Thanks for any advice

[Alcoa Roller]

You should be fine. I assume you have working heat of some sort in the trailer. Remember 32 outside is not 32 inside unless you open all the doors and windows.

[yourplce92]

I have had to repair copper water lines from leaving my water system pressurized with no heat on with the weather as you have described. If you don't have a heat source I would suggest keeping the lines drained until the temps are above the freeze mark. If your furnace works set it to the lowest temp and then you will have no worries.

[yourplce92]

Fresh water anti freeze will do the trick also, but it makes the water smell and feel funny if you shower with it. Don't drink it if you use anti freeze!!!

[kennewickmik]

Thank you all for the responses. I do have a working furnace. I am guessing I would need to unhook the hose going to the water source at night though and just depend on the water pump if needed

[n2916s]

I work in Yellowstone from mid-May to the end of September. Early and late in the season it isn't unusual to have the temp drop into the teens at night and have a high in the 40's mid-afternoon.

So, unhook the water line and use your fresh water tank. Set the furnace to 60 or 65, run a space heater. Most space heaters are 1500 watts so, with temps in the teens, the furnace will still cycle on a few times overnight. This will keep the tanks from freezing.

On my rig, the furnace thermostat is directly above the head of the bed so about 1/2 an hour before we have to get up we run the thermostat up to 70 or so.

All is good.

Mike

[Del Gurney]

It takes all of 5minutes to winterize.
Remove plug on water heater, open all spigots, shut of "shore water" and open the valve on the bottom of the water tank and the two drains near it
Assuming Black and Grey tanks are already empty.
Once all the pressure is out of the system I have a little hand air pump (for an air mattress) which I put a hose fitting on. This I attach to the water inlet and pump till nothing comes out of the lines anymore. I use the same pump to push water out of the P-traps (sinks and shower). Run the pump till it's obvious it's almost run dry...shut off.
Then you're done.
We've not had much of a winter this year so I did'ent winterize....but it may not be over I'm told by gardeners. Maybe if I was in Chicago I'd be more worried.
Cheers

[tuffr2]

I always wondered the same thing. How long does it need to stay below freezing before water will freeze solid. Obviously it freezes faster at 10 degrees than at 30. And what is the temp inside the trailer and how much of that heat affects the water lines.

I do not worry about 28 degrees for a few hours.

I do worry about 15 degrees for a few hours. I open cabinet doors and keep furnace on.

It would be nice to see a chart of outside temp vs water line temps. Plus a chart of outside temps and water freezing solid.

Fyi - water expands 10% when frozen.

[OrangeKid]

We camped near Barstow in mid-January. It was in low 20s when we went to bed and 7F when we got up. We had a smell electric heater set to the low 900 watt setting. The trailer as in the 30s when we got up. No water lines froze. Plastic water bottles in our TV did freeze.