Our first, into the teens, couple questions

[rbs]

In Marfa TX after early exit from central Texas' brutal forecast, but we will be looking at the coldest temps we have ever encountered unwinterized. The forecast for today calls for temps dropping to 32 by midnight and reaching low teens by morning, and remaining below freezing till mid morning, warming to 50 by afternoon, sunny. Tuesday night into Wednesday, still getting into the low 20's for a low, but warming back to the 60's. We'll unhook the city water, and drain our holding tanks, but wondering about how much water we should put into the fresh water tank, and should we do anything to prevent possible freezing of the city water inlet? We normally just put a few gallons in the fresh water tank to suffice, but we're in uncharted waters with the temps going this low. As always, any and all advice appreciated.

[Lily&Me]

I have dealt with temps in the teens a number of time, a blizzard with 5” of snow a couple of years ago, and never frozen up.

I leave my fresh tank filled, run my furnace, open cabinet doors and bathroom door so heat can reach your pipes and any freezables in your pantry.

Unless your holding tanks are full, I would leave them alone and run your tank heater.

Microfleece and warm footwear for yourself, and you should be fine.

Maggie

[GetawA-S]

Heat transfer is a time dependent process, and with temps rising above freezing during the day, you aren’t likely to have problems. Factors such as wind velocity and inside temperature make a difference. A lot of heat needs to be transferred before water will freeze.
Do disconnect and drain the water supply hose, of course, and walk around looking for exposed, water filled pipes (like the low point drains). A bit of reflection or similar held on with a bungee cord of duct tape should provide enough short term protection.
More water in the fresh tank will slow any freezing that occurs, but it is insulated and heated through your furnace, so not likely a problem.
Try to have your electrical storage topped off, in case of a power outage. (Including fuel for a generator, if you have one)
Good luck, stay warm!

[kry226]

A little late to this, but our trailers are awesome for camping in cold weather! If you're staying in the camper with the furnace on, all should be fine.

I thought I'd share our experience camping in our 2010 Classic 30 in extremely cold temps during the polar vortex about 10 years ago, when we happened to be full-timing in Maryland just west of Baltimore for a couple of months in Jan and Feb of 2014. It was COLD. I'm talking highs of 12-15 degrees, blistering wind, and lows around zero.

Our trailer took it like a champ! SOBs were busting pipes AND tanks all over the place, but we never had to do the walk of shame to the bath house and the mobile RV repair guy never had to visit our coach. After filling the fresh water tank, we disconnected from city water each night (although I had a heated hose that I built) which was plenty of water for us until morning. When we were connected to city water, I did keep an incandescent mechanic's light in the city water inlet compartment.

Now I could have heated a full house with what I spent on propane during those cold snaps, and our poor furnace almost never shut off, but we did just fine.

The only issue that caught me by surprise was that our dump valves did freeze closed once during the night, but a very carefully-watched small propane heater was able to get things thawed after a bit of time. After that, we just managed when we dumped a little better, and never had another issue with the valves. Our sewer hose didn't fare well as it was one of those cheap plastic coiled hoses and it got very brittle in the frigid temps. After that, the Rhino Flex hoses have served us well.

Hope this helps y'all camp a little easier when the chill comes on.

[rbs]

Weather reports actually provided us with a plan to escape the biggest threat, freezing rain, snow and brutal unrelenting cold. We spent three nights in Marfa, enduring one night low of 8, the next in the high teens, then 20's, all with zero issues with the Airstream, just frozen dump valves. The daytime temps were 50's-60's. Kept our furnace set to 62 for the nights, ran our Dyson, opened cabinet doors under kitchen sink, and removed the panel under the dinette closest to the water pump, and cracked open the shower door. Moisture was minimal by opening the exhaust fan in the bathroom. All in all a confidence booster, wouldn't want to do it often though. Currently in AZ and things are getting more to our liking.

More info, we filled our fresh water tank to 1/2 full, and back flushed the dump valves with warm dish water by pouring into the sewer hose to finally unthaw it, so we could shower. Also add that the city water inlet had also frozen, but quickly thawed, probably will add a work light to provide protection there

Many thanks to all that responded