Frozen Water Lines? - Montana Owners Club

Montana_1424 · 01-15-2006, 10:34 AM

Well, here in Syracuse, it got down to -5 last night, and tonight, -10. I think some of my water lines frooze, but I cant find where. Since I knew the temp was dropping, I unhooked our fresh water hose and we are running off tank water, working fine, our kitchen sink works. BUT our toilet, shower, and bathroom sink, nothing, pump does not even kick on. I looked all over today, the understorage area, under the bathroom sink, I cant find anywere the lines are frozen. The low point drains were, I thawed them with a hair dryer, but that didnt work. Any ideas from the full timing pros out there would be great. It is not supposed to get above 30 again until Tuesday, so I could wait if I have to, but I would love to use my own shower tomorrow.

prariepoodle · 01-15-2006, 12:09 PM

Ed, We froze up like that once while in Nevada what we did was put a space heater in the basement for a while and it was not long before everything was working. After that we would just leave it there and set the temp. to come on when it got so cold. I don't know if this will help you but it is what we did. Good luck on getting the water running, We also left the doors open in side so the heat can get to the lines.

Illini Trekker · 01-15-2006, 01:55 PM

Ed sorry to hear about the problems you are having. Look at the trend winter camping. I must use my trailer at time in the winter and have froze up before(but so far not in the Montana). To get the pipes going you may need to drop part of the under belly and put a heat source in there??

Has a full timer you may need to add another heat duct to the bottom of the trailer. The heater should have another knock out on the heater so you can add it there. Good luck. See-Ya

HomeOnTheRoad · 01-15-2006, 04:03 PM

You are probly frozen where the water lines are on the frame in the underbelly. Turn the furnace high 24x7 for a day or more and it will probably thaw them out. Good luck. You can cover one or more vent to make more hot air go in the belly area.

Montana_1424 · 01-15-2006, 05:06 PM

Thanks for the tips. I dont want to add another duct, becasue this is the only winter we will be camping, we are sticking it out until our new house is built. I will try putting a space heater in the basement and see what happens in a few hours, if that dose not work, I will run the heater more, trying to save on propane, it is below zero here, and becasue of he holiday tomorrow I dont know if I will be able to get more, and we only havbe one full 30# left.
Thanks again for all the tips.

sreigle · 01-16-2006, 03:25 PM

Trying to save on propane is what got me in trouble with freezeups. I finally had to decide between saving propane and having running water. Not a difficult choice for us. -5 and -10 are awfully cold, though. I'm not sure if anything will keep you from freezing at those temperatures.

If you can get some heavy plastic or other material and duct tape it along the edge of the belly pan, draping the ground with something to hold it down, that would keep the wind from whipping through there. And you then could put an electric heater underneath to heat that area and let the heat the bottom of the belly pan. I don't know it would help but would sure think it would. It may be too cold to get out and put a skirt on the rig, though.

Montana_1424 · 01-16-2006, 04:37 PM

The underbelly is pretty tight right now, I filled all the openings with expanding foam. I tried the electric heater down in the basement area, but didnt really do much. I insulated the pipes down there, and when I looked at them yesterday, they were not froze, so I can only guess they are froze either in the underbelly ( Which I really dont think thay are, all my lines are abouve the fram, tight to the actually floor of the trailer), or where the run in the walls (Which I am leaning more towards). I actually they are juts froze in a few spots, but enough to keep it running. It is supposed to warm back up tomorrow, and by wedensday, be back near 40, so I am hoping they will thaw then, I juts hope none of them cracked. I will need to find a way to keep this from happening again. Now I already insulated the pipes I can get to, and tightened up the underbelly as much as I could, any more ideas out there?
Thanks again

sreigle · 01-18-2006, 10:20 AM

Ed, we've frozen up three times in the past three winters and no damage to the pipes. No leaks attributable to freezing. Those newer pipes they use seem to handle expansion from freezing without cracking far better than the older pipes. I cannot for the life of me remember the material they are made of. Someone else may help on that.

This is Wednesday so I hope you are thawed out by now. I know well what it is like in your situation. I hope you were close to the park's restrooms or else have water to manually flush your toilet.

Thunderman · 01-19-2006, 04:22 AM

Our Monty froze recently also. The water pump would not make a sound when turned on. I directed heat from a electric heater into the lower cabinet area where the pump is located. This solved the problem or perhaps the frozen area thawed coincidentally at the same time.
The Monty was not occupied at the time the cold weather hit. The water remaining in the kitchen faucet froze. When the water thawed out we had a leak from the base of the faucet. I had to replace the kitchen faucet....the old faucet was a very cheap model.

Weldon

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