Cold weather questions

[drphelps]

Good morning folks. Up here in northern Oregon. Weather is 29-32 at night but up to 45-50 in the da, so not real bad cold. Its saturday so got the rig out of storage and getting her loaded and ready for a trip over the holiday. I had drained all water so nothing there to freeze ( not winterize, just fully drained. That is the setup for question.

If i go ahead and put water back in the holding tank and energize the plumping do you think I run the risk of freezing anything up? I don't. Not with the insulation of these new rigs and with the temps coming up well over freezing. I will not be heating the coac while I am getting it ready to go. Your thoughts greatly appreciated. I know this isn't Michigan cold, but don't want to ruin anything either.

Also, at what point, temp wise, do you think it best to remove LCD tv's?

Long winded I guess!! LOL

[dieselguy]

I'm suggesting that you figure on keeping the furnace on some low setting as well as having the hot water heater on at least at night. The weatherman isn't always spot on ... say he calls for 30 and it dips to 25 some night ... a little prevention as in waiting till you get there to pump water in the system could save a lot of grief. The performance of the artic pack insulation you speak of is a bit overstated in the brochure. Others with more hands on experience will chime in here soon. As far as LCD TV's most all of us leave them in year round without issue and I'm talking well into the low teens if not Zero.

[Irlpguy]

Living in SW British Columbia we have the same kind of temperatures at the present time, although my Montana is winterized and yours only drained I would not put water in any tanks or the system until I arrived at my destination. If it may be warmer where you are going then no worries, however in the chance you are going where it might have similar or colder temperatures you might have a problem.

It takes very little time to hook up and fill the system again, in the meantime you need not worry. I assume you have also drained your HW heater, you don't want to freeze that up. Once you arrive you will be heating the unit as well one would think.

In January when we pass through Washington and Oregon we do not put water in our system until we are sure we will not have a freeze up, usually northern California we feel safe. JMHO

As has been mentioned the Arctic Package is much overrated.

[Overlord]

I'm in East County, PDX. I typically use compressed air @ 35 PSI (with RV antifreeze only added to the sink P-traps) to winterize during the transition between fall and winter, mostly because we get some freezing temps before we are done camping for the year. I made up a ball valve with a male air hose fitting on one end, and a male garden hose fitting on the other end, to make it simpler to turn off the air at the convenience center.

Just using the low-point drains is not sufficient, in my opinion, as there is still a significant amount of water that I see come out with compressed air after I use the low-point drains. I think you are asking for trouble if you do not purge the remaining water, either with antifreeze or compressed air.

Don't forget to turn off the water heater circuit breaker and drain the water heater, purge the black tank flush line, toilet, power fill line to fresh tank, shower head hose in the tub, outside faucet, and the water pump (i use 3 to 5 PSI for that so as not to damage the pump diaphragm). Antifreeze through the winterizing hook-up is the most simple and sure-fire way to go about it all, but as I typically have to "winterize" 3 or 4 times a year, it gets expensive to use the antifreeze every time. Thus, I use air until I am absolutely sure we are done camping for the rest of winter.

I do not heat the trailer at all while in storage, and have never removed any electronics. No problems with the LCD TV or anything else, and I have had my trailer since Oct 2008. The only reason that I would bother to remove that stuff is if I was concerned about theft.

on edit:

If you only use the low-point drains, I would definitely leave the propane furnace on at night to heat the rig and under-belly.

[WaltBennett]

I believe the only problem you might run into with an LCD freezing is if you tried turning it on while it was frozen. Rapid thawing might make it crack, but I've heard that some have done this (not on purpose) and not had that problem. Ours big one is 40" and I'm not going to try finding out.

[sambam]

I used to take my tv's and cd players out, but with cars coming with tv's in the back seat now, and other electronics, like GPS, I'm guessing things will be ok, so I leave them in. As far as traveling with water, I'd keep wind chill in mind.

[Overlord]

quote:Originally posted by sambam

As far as traveling with water, I'd keep wind chill in mind.

Wind chill factor is a perceived drop in temperature felt on the skin, it does not change the actual ambient temperature. For example, it is 34* F outside with a wind chill factor of 28* F, water will not freeze.

[K0LCB]

I think the only time wind chill plays in the picture is on exposed skin. But, cold and win feels much colder even with coat and hat

[DQDick]

I agree fully with Diesel Guy. Too much money at stake to worry about a minor propane expense. I also agree that low point drains do not drain all the lines and will not drain the washer dryer if you have one. Before we went full time we let our rig sit outside in Kansas winters some nights well below 0 and never took any electronics out and are still using the same electronics today.

[drphelps]

Thanks all

[mlh]

At 29 degrees your camper is not going to freeze unless it stays there for a long time. I have stayed in mine when it was in the low twentys or high teens without any heat on and no pluming froze. There would be a half inch of ice on a pond next to the camper.
Lynwood

[dieselguy]

Quote "I have stayed in mine when it was in the low twentys or high teens without any heat on and no pluming froze." Did you say what you really meant to say? No heat ... teens ... nothing froze except the pond next to you ... you didn't either? Was Jack Daniels involved ....

[mlh]

That is exactly what I meant to say. You go to bed cover up GOOD. You either run to generator all night or all the next day or cover up. I've stayed in a tent at near zero. I might sleep with Jane Daniels but not Jack.
Lynwood

[rohrmann]

It's supposed to down to 8 degrees here by 6AM. I don't expect any problems. We have our Pirit hose hooked up, use propane to heat. Have a small electric fan heater in basement aimed at the convenience center to keep the water softener and it's hoses from getting too cold. We do get almost two days out of a 7 gallon tank of propane, maybe less when it gets this cold, but it's not worth worrying about freeze damage, ours or the trailer. We are just north of Kansas City.

[Art-n-Marge]

Based on this weblink I wouldn't worry about cold storage unless you travel to the Alaska Arctic in winter and you'll have more problems than the LCD freezing over. While the link states most LCD screens aren't impacted until stored below -20 degrees, they are probably all about that range.

http://www.ehow.com/list_7320238_lcd...-concerns.html

On the other hand, here's a link of temps for Oregon you might want to gauge if you need to worry. There have been some pretty cold winter temps:

http://coolweather.net/statetemperat...emperature.htm

I wouldn't recommend you heat an LCD with Jack Daniel's. That only works on humans.