Cold weather problems

[Mountain Nomads]

I am new to 5th wheeling with my 2015 36FB, and plan to spend a couple months in the mountains this winter. How do Redwoods handle below freezing temperatures? Is there anything I can do to make the coach more comfortable? Or to prevent freeze-ups? Does anyone have any experience with this and suggestions? Thanks. We expect some evenings to go to -10.

[lwg]

Much below 15* and you'll want to skirt the rig. I put a small heater in the basement and pulled down the wall to keep that area warm. The biggest issue is getting heat to the tank area. Skirting is about the only good option that won't keep you up worried every night.

[johnboytoo]

drain and turn off water to your icemaker as the tubing goes under and outside the coach to the slide and WILL freeze .

[lwg]

Originally Posted by johnboytoo

drain and turn off water to your icemaker as the tubing goes under and outside the coach to the slide and WILL freeze .

Excellent point. I unhooked both ends (one is under sink, other behind fridge) and just blew really hard through the line. It took a few mins and I almost fainted (seriously) but quite a bit of water did come out and most importantly, it was very easy to do. Be sure to turn off the valve first.

Also, it goes without saying use a heated hose. If you'll be staying in one place for a while you might wrap your sewer hose with some insulation unless you have a really good drain angle where there's no standing water. My last sight had the drain at the rear of the Redwood. It took about 30' of hose and the drain was really tall. This meant that the hose was basically full of water the entire time. When that froze at night it made it rather difficult to drain the tanks when needed... Had to really think ahead.

[JerryL]

Originally Posted by lwg

Excellent point. I unhooked both ends (one is under sink, other behind fridge) and just blew really hard through the line. It took a few mins and I almost fainted (seriously) but quite a bit of water did come out and most importantly, it was very easy to do. Be sure to turn off the valve first.

Also, it goes without saying use a heated hose. If you'll be staying in one place for a while you might wrap your sewer hose with some insulation unless you have a really good drain angle where there's no standing water. My last sight had the drain at the rear of the Redwood. It took about 30' of hose and the drain was really tall. This meant that the hose was basically full of water the entire time. When that froze at night it made it rather difficult to drain the tanks when needed... Had to really think ahead.

Mine is like that right now. My solution was to run 3" pvc, angled like permanent plumbing, from the site drain up until about 2 ft away(about 25 feet) from the RW outlet, then adapted to hose the last 2 feet. That way, the flex hose keeps anything from putting any extra pressure on the RW outlet. It works great.

As for the tanks, I leave both greys open to free flow, and keep the black closed, and set the furnace to 63 during the day, when I'm gone. I run the fireplace, and an oil radiator upstairs, when I'm home. I also keep the furnace at 68 while I'm at home during the evening and night. I keep an oil radiator on all the time in the basement. I have had zero problems with the black tank freezing, and I have been down to zero degrees. I have no skirting, although I wish I had, just for the extra warmth, and lesser propane usage. I get 3-4 weeks out of a #100 pound bottle, using the furnace, and cook stove. I use a pirit heated hose for the water hook up.

[sinder]

We've been down to 16 degrees outside of Las Vegas for couple of nights. I have a Camco heated hose and had to wrap the spigot to prevent freezing. Like Jerry we set our furnace on 62-63 when gone during the day and we set our electric heater on 65 at night and if really cold I will compliment the electric heat with propane set at about 63. We also use the fireplace quite a bit. My tanks have not frozen so far.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by lwg

Excellent point. I unhooked both ends (one is under sink, other behind fridge) and just blew really hard through the line. It took a few mins and I almost fainted (seriously) but quite a bit of water did come out and most importantly, it was very easy to do. Be sure to turn off the valve first.

Also, it goes without saying use a heated hose. If you'll be staying in one place for a while you might wrap your sewer hose with some insulation unless you have a really good drain angle where there's no standing water. My last sight had the drain at the rear of the Redwood. It took about 30' of hose and the drain was really tall. This meant that the hose was basically full of water the entire time. When that froze at night it made it rather difficult to drain the tanks when needed... Had to really think ahead.

Are you in Albuquerque LWG? c-c-c-c-cold here with a little snow this morning.

[travelin' texans]

Be sure to run furnace when really cold as it has duct to tank area, I think running auxiliary heat sources reduces furnace run time & that causes some freeze problems. As stated by others we have been in sub zero temps with no underpinnings & only freezing at the faucet.

[lwg]

Originally Posted by atom ant

Are you in Albuquerque LWG? c-c-c-c-cold here with a little snow this morning.

Not right now. Back in Northern OK for about another month and then headed back to Fruita. Hoping the really big cold snaps will be over by then...

[gridiron]

How do you get to the ice maker line behind the refrigerator? Does it pull out?

[lwg]

Originally Posted by gridiron

How do you get to the ice maker line behind the refrigerator? Does it pull out?

Do you have a Residential Fridge or the Norcold unit?

I have the Norcold and if you pull off the panel on the outside you'll see the ice maker line as basically the closest line to the panel.

For the Residential Fridge we'll have to let someone else respond as would only be guessing.

[gridiron]

I have a Norcold...Do you mean a panel on the outside of the RW?

[lwg]

Yes. Take that panel off and disconnect the water line that goes into the back of the fridge. Its a small 1/4" clear hose that ties into your standard water hose style connector. Once that hose is removed and hanging outside the fridge area go back in to the RV and access the cutoff valve and matching clear 1/4" hose under the kitchen sink. Turn off the cutoff valve and remove the water line (will need a combo wrench, I forget what size). Once that line is removed blow out into the line until you can feel little or no restriction to it venting. You'll likely not get 100% of the water out of the line this way but likely the only water that will remain will be in the heated area under the coach. This little bit of water shouldn't freeze if the RV is occupied and heated during real cold spells.

[gridiron]

Great thanks, should I make sure that the water line is turned off under the sink before I disconnect it from the back of the refrigerator? When I blow out the line do I use a device or manually by mouth?

[JerryL]

Originally Posted by gridiron

Great thanks, should I make sure that the water line is turned off under the sink before I disconnect it from the back of the refrigerator? When I blow out the line do I use a device or manually by mouth?

Yes.

I'm wondering why the forum is set to a minimum of 10 characters, when sometimes only 3 suffice(yes)?

[lwg]

Originally Posted by JerryL

Yes.

I'm wondering why the forum is set to a minimum of 10 characters, when sometimes only 3 suffice(yes)?

Nice catch. I should probably re-read my instructions before hitting submit reply.

[JellyStonePark]

Happy New Years everyone,

The wife and I have a general question regarding full timing. We moved out of the sticks and Bricks at the start of this month, with the goal of staying our 38FL for a test period of three months, we are referring to this as "Low Earth Orbit" with plans to head off to our first Workamper assignment in April. To say the least we have learned alot in this very short two weeks in very cold weather. Before we leave Low Earth Orbit in April we have a question for those of you who's been full Timing during the winter. Seems we have burned through a bunch of Propane. We don't keep the coach very warm (60-65 degrees) but it seems we are going through one 40lbs bottle approx every 2.5 days. Does that seem high. I think so. Your throughts would be appreciated.

[Shane Wood]

I have been living in trailers due to jobs that move me around for the last 4 years
I found if using the furnace on my other trailers and now the redwood at 30 to 40 degree overnight temps I go through a 30 lb bottle every week this is also with propane running hot water heater but very little use of stove

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by JellyStonePark

Happy New Years everyone,

The wife and I have a general question regarding full timing. We moved out of the sticks and Bricks at the start of this month, with the goal of staying our 38FL for a test period of three months, we are referring to this as "Low Earth Orbit" with plans to head off to our first Workamper assignment in April. To say the least we have learned alot in this very short two weeks in very cold weather. Before we leave Low Earth Orbit in April we have a question for those of you who's been full Timing during the winter. Seems we have burned through a bunch of Propane. We don't keep the coach very warm (60-65 degrees) but it seems we are going through one 40lbs bottle approx every 2.5 days. Does that seem high. I think so. Your throughts would be appreciated.

What is the outdoors temperature that you are experiencing? Last winter in Florida panhandle, with temps in the teens at night and 40's in the daytime, while using the furnace to maintain inside temperature at 68 to 70 degrees and water heater on electric, we would go through 30 lbs of propane in 7 days.

[0nTheRoad]

JellyStone,

It's difficult to say as we all have different levels of comfort, the temps and moisture levels vary, etc.

We tend to like our coach warmer, I like to dress in t-shirts, no socks where Ruth prefers to dress like an Eskimo so we typically keep our thermostat at 64-66 at night and turn it to 68-69 when I get up in the morning. I also kick on the fireplace when I get up.

Last winter we spent Thanksgiving week in rainy, 10-20º night temps going up into the 30-40"s during the day, we went through 2 40# tanks in 8 days, so averaged about 4 days per tank.