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Old 03-31-2005, 12:35 AM   #1
Montana_139
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Freezing Water Lines

We are camping for the first time in really cold weather. We have a 3295RK. The water lines for the kitchen and the water heater go under the floor from the front of the basement to the sink and the water heater in the rear. When the temperature drops below 20° the water lines freeze. So far they have not broken.
We have tried drilling holes in the heating duct below the floor to add more heat under the floor. That didn't work.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
 
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Old 03-31-2005, 01:39 AM   #2
hodag
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first of all,it is good to see a post from you. i own the 3295 you saw at burlington rv when you ordered yours. seems to me that all the posts made re.,lines freezing, is the first place it starts is down by the low point drains under rear of unit. lots of other info in old post. again, good to see post from you. don't know if many others know this, but these are the folks who designed the montana owners bumper sticker. great job.
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Old 03-31-2005, 03:55 AM   #3
Countryfolks
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I'm going to look into the possibility of mounting a regular heater/fan that will blow into the sub-basement area or a light bulb. Maybe in the basement wall. We used a light bulb to heat a water well pump room at one time.

Skip
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Old 03-31-2005, 05:06 PM   #4
Montana_139
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Thanks for the responses Countryfolks and hodag.

Hodag,

I remember you from when we first joined the forum. I will Pass your comments on the bumper sticker to KK. Thanks

So far the best we have been able to do is get a lot of cardboard boxes from the dumpster and duck tape them around the bottom of the 5er. Then we run a small ceramic heater inside the cardboard. This helps until the wind blows the cardboard away. The duck tape doesn't stick too well when it is cold.

When we get to a warmer campground I am thinking of dropping some of the bottom panels and putting a heater tape along the water lines. Of course this will only work when 120 volts is available. Until then I hope that nothing bursts during the month that we are in the Colorado mountins.

Thanks again,

Glenn
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Old 04-08-2005, 05:48 PM   #5
sreigle
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The low point drains are the first to freeze on ours. Wrapping them with insulation isn't enough. What has worked is wrapping them with heat tape and wrapping that with insulation and duct tape. This only works when you have 110v to plug the tape into, though. The inside lines will freeze in the belly on 2004 and earlier models but only, from our experience, well below that 20 degree mark, like around zero degrees. This assumes you are making sure the furnace runs enough to keep warmth in the belly.

I also used spray foam insulation to plug all openings into the belly. I also assume you have heat taped the outside hose so it's not freezing on you.

With all this we were fine at 3 degrees fahrenheit, with furnace set on 62 all night and the door to the bed/bath area closed so we could run an electric heater up there without affecting the thermostat. At 5 below we froze up anyhow.

Before all this insulation and heat taping we used to freeze up at around 20 degrees. A hair dryer on the low point drains thawed us back out. At 13 or below the hair dryer wasn't effective, it froze too far up into the belly or it froze inside the belly.
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Old 04-09-2005, 04:57 AM   #6
Montana_139
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Steve,

Nice to hear from you. I did a search and found a previous thread on this subject. I have now heat wrapped and insulated the low point drains. No more freezing, but the lowest temperature has been 19°F. We had been down to 5°F before the fix.

Thanks,

Glenn
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Old 04-09-2005, 03:41 PM   #7
sreigle
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Glenn, if for some reason you still freeze up the lines in the belly or the low point drains, we found we still have cold water to the toilet and the bathroom sink. Nice to at least be able to use the toilet and have cold water we can heat on the stove. We have the same model as you so yours should be the same. The incoming water line location and/or the pump location is why we had water at those locations even when frozen up.

Sure hope you folks are out of the cold stuff soon.

When you et to Crossville, TN, are you planning to stay there awhile? If not, which way are you headed from there? We're about 110 miles from Crossville, in Gatlinburg. Sure would be nice to meet you folks if it works out. If not, then maybe another time.
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Old 04-09-2005, 04:15 PM   #8
Montana_3368
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We spent Oct Nov and Dec of 2003 in the Rockford IL area thinking our 3575 was bullet proof(freeze proof) and found out the hard way Artic Package does not mean freeze proof...after several times getting under the unit in the cold and snow,loosening the bottom wrap thawing the same pipes with a hair dryer, wrapping them with pipe wrap with no success we finally found the solution to freezing pipes.....

Move to warm weather, We have not been winter camping since....no problem!!
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Old 04-10-2005, 09:36 AM   #9
Montana_139
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Steve,

We will be arriving at Bean Pot Campground in Crossville, TN on May 21. We will be staying until the end of September. We would love to meet you. If you arn't coming to Crossville, maybe we could meet somewhere halfway for dinner.

butdoit,

The trouble is you can't snow ski usless it is cold enough for God to make snow.

Glenn
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Old 04-10-2005, 11:35 AM   #10
Montana_2825
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steve, question along the lines of preventing freezing: If you are going to stay out anyway and aren't going to drain the system using the low point drains, can you tuck them up inside the belly pan and thus provide them more protection?
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Old 04-11-2005, 07:10 AM   #11
VanMan
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When those low points freeze up, they push the ice back up into the main line and that's what "stops up" the works !! I had the same problem over the Christmas holidays when we had company staying in the RV. A floodlight pointed at them did the job once they were thawed out with a hairdryer. Someone posted on the "other" forum how they made a neat little box with a light fixture out of a small styrofoam ice chest, then suspended it over the low drains with a bungee cord. I like the heat tape idea better, but will probably just cover them with a styrofoam outside faucet cover stuffed with fiberglass insulation before next winter - it's already been in the 80s here - a little cooler now after some rain.
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Old 04-11-2005, 04:00 PM   #12
sreigle
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Wingnut, those low point drains are pretty stiff. I don't know how I could tuck them up inside. Good idea if I could figure out how to do that.

VanMan, you might want to rethink about that insulation. I first tried covering them with that tubular pipe insulation, then wrapped over that, on each, with roll insulation, then duct taped, then another layer of insulation, more duct tape. They still froze. The freezing didn't stop until I heat taped those lines. I got a 3' heat tape from Tractor Supply for this purpose. It's the kind that can be wrapped around the pipe. Some heat tape says not to wrap, just run parallel to the pipe. I use that kind on my outside water hose but not on the low point drains.

Maybe the insulation will work for you but it didn't for me.
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Old 04-12-2005, 04:51 AM   #13
Bob & Lee
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Last year mine froze at about 16 Deg so I had pulled the bottom open and moved all the lines off the cold steel frame and insulated with fome pipe covers and tucked the low drains up in the belly and covered the openings with the covers you buy for the outside faucets $1.00 at wal mart on your stick house and so far this year no freeze I dont know if lucky or it workes, it has not been as cold this year. if it freez again i will heat tape, I have bought them so we will see.
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