Cold Weather RV Safety Tips

[Bethers]

Probably nothing everyone doesn't know ... but good things to be reminded of

http://www.explorerrv.com/tips-on-RV-tr ... afety-Tips

[Sandersmr]

Thanks for posting this. I wouldn't have thought of keeping my water tank full. I would think you would want some expansion room or totally empty.

Mark and I have a couple of collapsible carboys that we were planning on using up at the Grand Canyon when it got really cold.

[MrsHomeSweetRoam]

It's gotten unusually cold in our area...and we were ready to deal with such things yet...hoping we didn't ruin anything as we're noobs to this whole thing...we definitely need to go buy some winter worthy equipment... wish our rig came winter prepped... hose was frozen outside...

[Dawn309]

I need to get some heat tape for my water hose. That is something I don't have. Have been lucky this winter and so far, it has only been cold enough one time for my water hose to freeze.

[Bethers]

I need to get some heat tape for my water hose. That is something I don't have. Have been lucky this winter and so far, it has only been cold enough one time for my water hose to freeze.

I don't use heat tape ... but it does work. Since I have sewer connections, last night I simply rain the water in my tub to keep the water flowing (cuz the hose would have frozen last night). When I was at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, they put heat tape on my hose AND I had to run the water overnight. I really don't like doing that because if something goes wrong (like your sewer hose gets clogged ... you'll have the back up (saw that happen to someone). Usually I just disconnect the hose overnight when it's going to freeze. But if you're going to be somewhere for a long period of time with freezing temperatures, the heat tape can be worthwhile.

[monik7]

Thanks Beth. Those are all good things to know. I've been wondering what it's going to be like for this newbie and her pups in cold Quartzsite while boondocking.

I'm a little worried about how cold it will get there inside the RV at night. What do people do for heat at night with no hookups? I'm still here in SF Bay Area and when I went to my storage this am, it was 32 inside the RV. Not sure my poor little puppies can take temps like that or me either for that matter. Or am I just a California wimp?
Sandi

[Bethers]

Sandi, you run your gas furnace. Now I don't run mine as much as many, but I hate cold, too. I've learned in most cases I can turn my furnace off overnight, as I stay nice and toasty in bed. But I turn it on in the morning and don't get up until at least the bathroom is warm. The furnace blower pulls a lot from your battery, so you need to be careful about overdoing it overnight.Yep, I've done that, too. Many set their furnace at a lower temp for overnight.

[Dawn309]

Thanks Beth.

Sandi, when it's cold, I run my furnace too. I do set the temperature for lower at night. I have not been anywhere I did not have hookups though. Only problem I have had is my water hose freezing once until the sun came out and the temp got above freezing.

[bluepinecones]

Thanks, Beth.
Really hoping I don't have to test any of this but know it could happen.

[Sandersmr]

Mark also found out the hard way if you just disconnect from the trailer. We went to leave before it was above freezing and when he tried to disconnect the hose from the filter that we put on the spigot, he broke of the end of the hose connector. Fortunately, our next stop was the KOA where they had hoses in the little store at a not bad price.

Also, make sure you crack one of your roof vents open when using any heating source. Not only do you want to vent any combustion gases, you want to get rid of the moisture or you can have condensation issues. I also read on the teardrop forum where the homemade ones may be really airtight, you can actually start running out of O2. My trailer is not that tight :0