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Old 10-04-2018, 12:38 AM   #1
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Winter living

Hello all,
We just moved from Tampa to Ohio. We will be living in are camper until around January. I have never been in temps around freezing. So not sure what all I need to do to keep the pipes and stuff from freezing while living in the camper. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Old 10-04-2018, 12:45 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by Bay79 View Post
Hello all,
We just moved from Tampa to Ohio. We will be living in are camper until around January. I have never been in temps around freezing. So not sure what all I need to do to keep the pipes and stuff from freezing while living in the camper. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Move to Tampa...... . .

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Old 10-04-2018, 10:34 AM   #3
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hmmm... an escapee! Welcome to the forum. Tell us what type of camper you have and if it is an "all weather" unit. Take a few pictures of the gray and black tank area (to see if you have the exposed type of the type that is in the belly).
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Old 10-05-2018, 05:40 AM   #4
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I’ll try to up load some pics tomorrow. I have a Dutchmen kodiak 264rlsl ultra light express 2016.

I’m pretty sure I don’t have a winter package. All my tanks are under that black corrugated plastic. My grey water line and a few inches of the black tank line are exposed.
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Old 10-05-2018, 11:19 AM   #5
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I can tell you, from my experience, everything will freeze if you don't take the proper precautions. IF you unit is an all weather unit, that means, to 32 degrees. I can tell you what I did and you can take it from there.

First, the gray and black tank, if there is any water in the outlet, it will freeze, water in the sewer line, will freeze so if you leave your gray tank valve open (like most do), your sewer line will freeze so you will need to close your gray valve.

Second, I purchased heated water hoses. I found they worked really well.

Third, I purchased a heater for the water line at the campground or you can go on internal tanks for your water.

forth, all my water connections enter the rv in the bathroom area. I have a heater set on high (oil filled radiator type) that I leave in the bathroom when the temp drops WAY below freezing-like 20 and below.

fifth, I place heat lamps under the RV to help heat the underbelly near the fresh water tank and the black and gray tank area. I used one last year under the sewer outlet but it did not do any good. My tank valve was seeping and water got into the hose and froze.

There are many more things you can do, I have a TT but a 5ver, there are places to put heaters that will help lots. SNOW, that's a different issue, do you have slide covers?
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Old 10-08-2018, 08:17 PM   #6
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Sorry for the slow reply. Kids, Dogs, Life!

Thanks for the info. It will definitely help. I don’t have a slide topper. If the snow hits I was thinking I could tarp it with sand bags making it tight.

Again
Thank you for the info.
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Old 10-10-2018, 02:46 PM   #7
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Bay79,
Frank is correct. Everything containing water outside or underneath is going to freeze. The belly cover will help but is not protection enough for Ohio. It needs sealing and insulating. Tanks need heaters. The water heater will freeze if the power goes off or propane runs out.
A water line in my Kodiak Cub underbelly froze within 2 hours of the temperature dropping below 32 degrees.
It took more than $2000 and endless hours of mods to seal, insulate, and heat the underbelly. The fresh, black and grey water tank drain valves still freeze even with tank heaters on.
I only spend a few days at a time living in mine. I have tested the mods with nights down to 20 degrees F. Tank valves thawed with day time temperatures above 40 degrees. December and January in Ohio is going to be a lot colder than that.
Some TT's have remote drain valves so they can be located in a heated space. Mine are not. I successfully used a hair dryer to thaw my fresh and gray water drain valves once. I don't want to do that often.
One other post recommended dumping RV antifreeze in the toilet every time it is used to keep the drain open. However, RV antifreeze is not designed to be diluted and does not necessarily remain liquid at low temperatures. It will not expand and break things, but may turn to slush or hard.
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Old 10-10-2018, 03:14 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by franktafl View Post
I can tell you, from my experience, everything will freeze if you don't take the proper precautions. IF you unit is an all weather unit, that means, to 32 degrees. I can tell you what I did and you can take it from there.

First, the gray and black tank, if there is any water in the outlet, it will freeze, water in the sewer line, will freeze so if you leave your gray tank valve open (like most do), your sewer line will freeze so you will need to close your gray valve.

Second, I purchased heated water hoses. I found they worked really well.

Third, I purchased a heater for the water line at the campground or you can go on internal tanks for your water.

forth, all my water connections enter the rv in the bathroom area. I have a heater set on high (oil filled radiator type) that I leave in the bathroom when the temp drops WAY below freezing-like 20 and below.

fifth, I place heat lamps under the RV to help heat the underbelly near the fresh water tank and the black and gray tank area. I used one last year under the sewer outlet but it did not do any good. My tank valve was seeping and water got into the hose and froze.

There are many more things you can do, I have a TT but a 5ver, there are places to put heaters that will help lots. SNOW, that's a different issue, do you have slide covers?
by the way, the old trick of leaving your water trickle to keep it moving will NOT work. Fills up your gray tank and it freezes anyway. I managed to survive -5 degrees below with 50 mph winds with no damage and minimal frozen "stuff" because of all the junk I set up. It can be done but that being said, my RV has a "heated" underbelly and limited things out in the cold. I purchased faucet covers and put them on the fresh tank drain, the hot and cold system drains. They seemed to work some.

https://www.ruralking.com/duck-produ...waAtTHEALw_wcB


this is my heated hose..

https://www.cheshirehorse.com/pirit-...oaAnvzEALw_wcB

and I bought one of these for the RV park's faucet and wrapped it...

https://www.lowes.com/pd/EasyHeat-AH...-Cable/1069433

because if you burst the water pipe for the park, they charge you to fix it... LOTS! i also purchased a hot water heater blanket and put it around my water softener and the park's faucet to keep the heat in. I used the second outlet in the park electrical box (110 plugs) for the heated hoses and the heat lamps. Putting RV antifreeze in the gray and black tanks and expecting them not to freeze in the dump outlet, doesn't work. I had a seeping valve that would fill the space between the tank and a secondary valve at the outlet and that froze.
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Old 10-10-2018, 09:02 PM   #9
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I live full time in mountains of Colorado. All suggestions are good, however, you will need to put some kind of skirting around your unit. It helps a lot with keeping your unit warm. I have a 24' 5th wheel and with all that I have done insulating inside, I can heat my whole trailer with one oil filled radiator. It was 28 this a.m. when I got up and inside I was 70. I've covered all my windows with Insul-Bright (got it from Wal-Mart) and all my curtains are floor to ceiling thermal drapes lined with felt. I even have the lined drapes over my door. Hope this helps.
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Old 10-10-2018, 09:33 PM   #10
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Be prepared to get a new camper in the spring.
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Old 10-10-2018, 09:45 PM   #11
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Be prepared to get a new camper in the spring.
LOL... unfortunately, that is probably true. Our camper is a 2016 and we are thinking that something better and less troublesome in the winter would be nice.
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Old 10-11-2018, 02:56 PM   #12
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There is another thread discussing setting up a TT for full time winter living. I think it is on "Dutchman Owners" but I can't find it at the moment. It was active last winter.
Sunny Island RV of Rockford Ill does this for multiple customers every year. There may be a dealer near your destination who will help.
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Old 10-11-2018, 04:55 PM   #13
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If you have an all season camper you will have switches to turn on “tank heaters”. One for each gray, black and fresh. I also got the plug in heated hose from Amazon. It’s important to spread out that hose. It wants to coil up and if you allow it to do that it will blow and stop working.”this is from personal experience” Last year was my first full time winter. And even with leaving the water drip my sewer froze. I purchased a canvas skirting this year and I am hoping that solves the issue mostly.It was so cold last year that we had to get construction heavy duty plastic and taped it to camper to simulate skirting. But I also put heat tape on the sewer line that comes out from under camper and is exposed to the weather. I would be happy to give you name of place I used for skirting. I am in PA and these are Amish people who did an An amazing job. And it was actually a bit cheaper then if I purchased it and put it up myself. They add zippers at each place you would need to access. And after the fact I purchased a tripod for front of 5th wheel. They returned to do a neighboring 5th wheel and added another zipper to accommodate that as well.
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Old 11-02-2018, 07:01 PM   #14
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Four days with a low of -6F and a high of 40F before there was too much ice in the storage tank for water to work. But I was amazed at how well the propane heater kept things functional otherwise. No issues with plumbing or grey/black water tanks. I kept the interior at 72F to be safe and because I'm a bit of a cold weather wuss. I think the only reason I froze up was I didn't fully move the propane tank switch over all the way. The heater stopped working just before dawn and that's when it was -6F.
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Old 11-07-2018, 08:09 PM   #15
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Ok so I got everything wrapped and covered. I put heater pads on my water and holding tanks. I put heat tape on my sewer lines that are exposed and then wrapped them. I also made a water line heater. Only thing I don’t have is the skirt. I hope I have everything thing winter tight. We will find out this weekend, as it’s going to get around 29 at night.

Thanks for all the advise.
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