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How Cold is Cold?
Yahoo Message Number: 57039
Folks,

This is NOT a winterizing question!   This coming year, starting in late January and then through Feb. and March, we are headed from California across the southern states and then up to Virginia.
Our "intention" is to avoid snow and freezing weather, but sometime mother nature might not cooperate.

Question: If you are `actively' driving/living in your unit, (2003, 26.5 MB), how low would you allow the temperature to drop outside at night before you seriously starting to do something to be concerned about freeze damage???

Also, any tips/tricks for dealing with an "occasional" cold snap that would not require a complete winterizing procedure.  If I need to install and/or adapt something, now is a better time to do it!

THANKS

Ken
Re: How Cold is Cold?
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57044
Quote
Folks,

This is NOT a winterizing question!  This coming year, starting in late January and then through Feb. and March, we are headed from California across the southern states and then up to Virginia.
Our "intention" is to avoid snow and freezing weather, but sometime mother nature might not cooperate.

Question: If you are `actively' driving/living in your unit, (2003, 26.5 MB), how low would you allow the temperature to drop outside at night before you seriously starting to do something to be concerned about freeze damage???

Also, any tips/tricks for dealing with an "occasional" cold snap that would not require a complete winterizing procedure.  If I need to install and/or adapt something, now is a better time to do it!

THANKS

Ken
Hi Ken:
 I am not sure I understand your question - when on the road there are few things you can do to "winterize".

First - keep warm!  The built-in heater in the air conditioner will keep you warm down to about 40 degrees.  After that we also use a "heat cube" (120 volt) from Camping World, which keeps us toasty down to single digits, and below that we also use the furnace.  If you get to use the furnace, keep an eye on your propane.

Second, watch when you can dump.  If you are traveling when the air temperature is above freezing, you can dump.  The air blowing across the tanks acts like a convection oven and all you need is a few degrees above freezing.  But even a short time at freezing makes them solid ice.  We just watch the weather forecasts and so far have been able to dump tanks before they overfilled.
 Thirdly, open your cabinets at night.  The cold will freeze anything in the cabinet if it is not open to your warm air.  Remember to shut off the cab ventilation when you stop - otherwise there is a direct opening to the cold outside air through the vents.  We also crack the rear vent open a little bit when sleeping, and a lot when we awaken to shower.  Otherwise you will get a lot of condensation on the windows.
 The windows will not pass much cold, but the metal frames sure will! We carry spare towels to place along the frame bottoms to keep from chilling our arms when reading.

Never hook up your water at night = the worst nightmare is a frozen hose you cannot stow.  Use your built-in tank and just refill it when low and immediately stow the hose.

This is all I can remember right now.  Route 40 will have some freezing weather - route 10 seems to be warmer.  Good luck and E-mail me with any specific questions.

Warm and toasty trails

Gus Weber
Re: How Cold is Cold?
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57045
One other thought to add to the info from Gus:  you didn't mention insulating the tanks in case you didn't have it done at the factory already.
 If you are in a several day situation where the temps hover at or just below 32F you could dump first and put some RV antifreeze in your grey and black tanks and dump out the fresh water tank.
 You have to be careful not to put much toilet or sink water into those tanks before getting to warmer weather as a slush mixture doesn't flow out the dump hoses very well at all.  Personal experience last Xmas when the temps were in the upper 20's at Normandy Farms in Foxboro Ma. and we had to cart mucho gallon jugs of hot water from the campground bathroom to flush out the black tank.  That is when having a couple of empty gallon (RV anti-freeze) jugs came in handy.

Bob
Re: How Cold is Cold?
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57055
Hello: Did that trip in reverse last Spring.
In addition to the ideas already pointed out, I did the following:
1) Bought some fiberglass ceiling tiles; the type with white vinyl on  one side. About 3/4" thick. Cut shapes to snugly fit inside the  window  frames of the cab-over bed windows & bath window and used them as  added insulation. Insulated these windows because I never really use  them anyway. In fact the panels are still in place to help with the  Florida heat. Did the same with all of the ceiling vents.
2) Bought a few gallons of RV/Marine holding tank antifreeze from
 WalMart to use in case of very cold weather. Did just fine during an 11* night.

Ed
 
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] How Cold is Cold?
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 57141
Pete and I did this one a couple of winters ago. We hit 23° one night. Here's what I remember:
1. Stuffed newspaper up in the vents in the ceiling and tape it in.
 That was before we had the snap on vent covers to hold it in place.
2. Put the vinyl windshield cover over the windshield
3. Hung a quilt from your entertainment center or overhead bed area  to seal off that very un-insulated area from the rest of the coach
4. Placed a little fan in a location that would blow air on the water  pump. In our RB, it's under the bottom drawer in the closet, so I  found a space behind the toilet where there's a hole/access to the  pump area. I put the little fan down there.
5. Probably the most important thing is to go to a campground with  electrical hook-ups. You're going to need to run either your furnace  (the furnace uses mucho battery juice) or an electric heater, and/or  your catalytic heaters.
6. Open the doors under the sinks and any place else that you think  water lines might be running (all doors near the floor, in our case.)
7. Don't worry about the water in your tanks - it might freeze, but  there's space in there for expansion, and the freezing that happens  with the valves on your gray and back water tanks will thaw out the  next day or use a hair dryer on them if you're frantic to drain your  tanks.
8. Close all the blinds - some folks have that quilted stuff that  help insulate. We don't, but I'm sure it would have improved the  insulation.
9. Heat up the water in the hot water tank

There may be some more things, but that's what I can remember.
Nothing froze in the low 20's. (Thanks to Linley Gumm, who told us all of this when we asked the same question.

Sarah Orange Park Acres, Orange, CA