Frozen Pipes?!! Help.

[capn chris]

Just lost water in vanity, shower, and toilet. Where should I apply heat to restore water? Temp here in CO is in 20s. Furnace is on all day but we have water in galley but not bedroom area. Ideas???

[Wrenchtraveller]

If you can get at the pipes you can try a hair dryer on the pipes. That worked for me in Banff Alberta on a ski trip in my camper
quite a few years ago.

[Imp]

How about your low point drains? Are they exposed to the outside. You can try the hair dryer there.

[mobrownies]

I think our trailers have the same layout. Sounds like your pipes are frozen in the basement. As you open the laundry hatch, if you look down and to the right you should see the pipes and a tee to the toilet. They are very near the cargo door and could freeze if air leaks around the door or if the furnace duct is covered up. You might try leaving the hatch open for awhile or try a hair dryer on the pipes.
Good luck and stay warm.

[richfaa]

Our camper is out in the driveway. I was in the process of cleaning out all the tanks from our winter trip so they are all full or part full. The temp dropped and has been in the 20's for several days.No water is hooked to the camper and the furnace is set to 50 degrees. Keystone tells me that the camper is good for 0 Degrees,( Artic package you know) I don't want to hear that they are frozen in the basement,,keystone says nothing about that..they say it is good to 0 degrees. If anything freezes or damage is caused ..??? there will be big trouble in river city.
On Edit...Went out in the camper..The outside temp reads 27 degrees and has been in the 20's for several days. Turned on the water pump and everything works normal..water everywhere. /The inside temp of the camper is right at 50..holds good. So far so good. I tore my ankle up real good last week and am in a walking cast so Helen is out blowing snow everywhere(with a snow blower of course) I can see her lips moving and am glad I can not hear her. She has already said that we are not returning to Ohio next year till May..

[VanMan]

We had some Christmas company year before last staying in the TT. They lost water to one side like you describe. What I found was the low points froze and the ice pushed up into the line and closed off all the water going beyond those points. I put a flood light on them and the problem went away.

[Illini Trekker]

Apply heat at the low end drains. Wrap the drain with pipe wrap, that will help!

[rvfirefighter]

I had the same thing happen to me this past Dec. The temps. were in the teens and lost water to the upstairs. I put heat in the basement area but the temp. there was above freezing. On close exam. the way the pipes run, I believe the problem was my low point drains were the problem. I made sure I insulated them better and had no problems after that.
Like some of the others have suggested, apply heat to the low point drains and re-insulate. Hope this solves your problem.

[SKOOBDO]

It looks like you have a 2005 model, and not sure how your water lines are running or if you have a an enclosed "convenience center", but I didn't have any issues with water lines freezing up and I was sitting in below zero temps for several weeks. I would suggest getting a small heater down in the basement area to warm it up. I just think it's strange that your lines froze up in the 20s. Actually right now my furnace isn't on, and hasn't been and we've been in the low 20s (22low and 31 high) and my basement area is registering 40degrees. A week ago I removed the plactic from the windows and other insulation stuff that I had installed and everything is dandy. However, my water hose is still wrapped with heat tape. I hope you're able to unfreeze your lines. Good luck to you.

[capn chris]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Put my heater in the basement to no avail. The consensus seems to be "low point drains." Mine stick down a ways and have icicles still on them from I70 in KS! Will apply heat this afternoon per your wonderful suggestions, this afternoon after a 90th b-day party here. Still in the upper 20s in Denver!

[hazmic]

These low point drains out side of the unit? My 3475 they are inside the compartment doors and the only thing out side is the tubes. I can see where mine also might freeze if cold enough. The doors are not the best insulated thing in the world.

[sreigle]

I'd also bet it's the low point drains. If they freeze far enough into the belly they will shut off the lines. The lines still having flow probably do not go through that point. The hairdryer trick worked for us on our 2003 3295RK.

You can try wrapping insulation on those lines but in my experience that only buys you a couple of degrees. I had to wrap mine with heat tape and then covered that with insulation and duct tape to keep it all in place. But in your situation you may not want to bother with that. The heat tape and insulation stayed in place for more than two years and probably 30,000 miles without a problem. If you do use heat tape, get the kind that can be wrapped on a pipe. Heat tape I found at Lowe's and Home Depot cannot be used that way. I got mine at Tractor Supply.

[capn chris]

Folks,
It worked just like you said it would! I love this forum. Knew you folks would come through on a new situation for me. Hair dryer cleared the "low points" of ice and water and is restored to bedroom/shower/vanity. Thanks to all for pointing me in the right direction. Sure was cold laying on the ground w/cool breezes blowing snow flakes, and hoping the hair dryer would work! Yea!!!

[Wrenchtraveller]

I am hearing all these cold weather stories about my neighbors to the south. Here on Vancouver Island, it hit 70 degrees yesterday and I washed my Montana in my T shirt. The Cherry trees are in full bloom and it is beautiful. Not all of Canada is a deep freeze.

[VanMan]

It's been snowing here in North Texas all day - REAL snow - not the little wimpy stuff, but fluffy flakes !! We'll see a freeze here tonight and we'll lose all our peaches, apricots, and plums !! It was 93 degrees Tuesday and will be 75 by next Tuesday. Good old Texas weather - if you don't like it, just wait a couple of days!

[sreigle]

Don, here in Williamsburg, VA, it was 86 two days ago. Last night got down to 32, we had two inches of snow on the ground (as in accumulated) and it never got above 38 today. But 38 was enough and the snow is now all gone. Thankfully.

[Native Tex]

Folks we have the artic package and don't believe the hype on not freezing until 0 Degrees. Until we put an infrared heat lamp in our basement, our bath and vanity would freeze when the temp dropped into the upper teens low twentys. The heat lamp in the laundry hamper in the basement makes a big difference. The Arctic Package is nothing but a layer of foil that is not even 1/8 of an inch thick. I'm sure it helps, but not like I expected.

[sreigle]

O.V., the hype on not freezing until zero degrees applies only to the late 2006 and the 2007 models that have the water lines in their own insulated channel between floor and subfloor and the inside (in the basement storage locker) low point drains and convenience panel. We've not got down to zero yet with this Montana but had a week with the highest high at 18 and lows of 8, 8, 9, and 11, and did not freeze. I didn't do anything other than make sure the furnace runs occasionally.

Now, with our 2003, Montana told me they were guaranteed to 28 degrees. That's why I had to do all the insulating, etc.

[capn chris]

Steve,
Once again, I suspect you're right re. temps and low points. Hit 27F last night and cold water line froze again, but not hot. Hair dryer for a couple of minutes had her running again. Made a trip to Lowe's this morning and the pipes are now covered and sealed. Should help a little. Thanks again!

[sreigle]

Chris, I hate to tell you but there's another area to check into should you still have freezing problems. Prior to the new models with the altered routing of water lines, the water lines just lay in the belly. Where they touch that cold frame, they freeze. The way I solved this was to open the bellypan just along the edges and cover each line with that foam pipe insulation tubes. Our lines fortunately were along the door side near the edge of the belly on the 3295RK. I opened one area, mounted a tube, then pushed it along the line until it wouldn't go any farther. Then put on another tube for the rest of the line forward of that. And also on the other line (one hot, one cold, in other words.) Then I opened the belly pan aft of the axles and did the same thing back there. I'm not sure the tubes actually met but after this and the low point drains we didn't freeze at zero. But we did freeze at minus 5. I probably didn't cover lines going from the edge to the kitchen but those aren't laying on the frame. I also covered the lines visible in the basement storage locker with those foam tubes best I could.