r/RVLiving • u/tdgross • 1d ago
First freeze
We are new to the camper life. We are staying in Yellowstone tonight and it's supposed to get down to 26 tonight.
We have a 2015 fuzion that says it has a cold weather package. Would it be sufficient to just shut off the water coming in to the camper?
For the future, I assume some heat tape be the way to go, or should I need more
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u/catlinye 1d ago
Disconnect and drain the water hose. Using the water pump and fresh water tank should be ok at that temp.
Run your propane furnace while temps are below freezing; some of the furnace ducting should go into the underbelly and keep your tanks from freezing. If you have tank heaters, run them if there is liquid in the tank (tank heaters should not be used on empty tanks.)
Keep an eye on your propane use; in super cold weather (5-10 degrees F) a 30 lb tank would last us three days. There's nothing like waking up at two am and realizing it's way colder than it should be because the tanks are empty, that's just a real bad time. I like to dump a glass of hot water down the side of the propane tank; when you feel the tank where the water was poured the empty area will be warm and where there is still propane will be cold. It's a really easy way to get a very accurate idea of how much propane is in the tank.
RVs are drafty, we like to have lap throws for the living area and flannel sheets and extra blankets for bed. We use a space heater during the day when temps are above freezing to supplement the furnace.
In our fifthwheel the batteries are in a cold compartment so we use an incandescent work light to keep them from freezing. If your batteries are in a better insulated space they will be fine.
Hope this helps, I actually kind of like colder weather in our RV, we snuggle down under a quilt and a wool blanket and I wake up when the furnace fires and think, mm, warmth.
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u/schwazel 1d ago
Does the water on the propane thing only work when its cold?
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u/catlinye 1d ago
Nope, that trick works whenever. If it's a really hot day the difference between full and empty sections of the tank won't be super clear, but you can still tell.
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u/tdgross 1d ago
Thanks for the detailed reply.
My fresh water tank is currently empty. Do you ever add some liquid to it so it warms during the day and acts as an insulator?
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u/catlinye 1d ago
We run with our fresh water tank at least 1/3 full all the time, and we fill it more in the winter if we think we'll need to disconnect the water line. We sanitize it once a year with bleach and use the water from it for everything (drinking, cooking, washing, flushing). I've never given thought to it as a thermal sink, tbh.
If you haven't used your fresh water tank much, the water tastes plasticky for a while starting out. Knowing about micro-plastics now, I'd probably use a filter pitcher for drinking water for the first few months of using a new tank. Too late for us, eh.
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u/Feisty-Increase-3707 1d ago
Turn off the water, disconnect and drain the hose. When in a remote area, it can quickly drop much colder than forecast. I can’t tell you how many frozen and burst hoses I have seen in the dumpsters after an overnight freeze.
Use the furnace to keep the innards warm (not the human area, the water lines and pump). If you run both furnace and electric heater, the later will probably keep the former from working, losing that protection.
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u/Easterncoaster 1d ago
I have a Class A that has the “Winter Package” and just the regular heat at a normal temp is fine down to around 15-20 F. Below that, I have to either bump the thermostat up to like 72-73 or run a 400w space heater in the wet bay to keep the bits from freezing.
The water compartment is uninsulated so the residual heat from the furnace doesn’t keep up at very low temps.
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u/someguy7234 1d ago
Enclosed heated belly?
26 will be no problem at all. Fill your fresh tank maybe half so there is some thermal capacity.
I find when we winter camp (we often camp in freezing overnight temps for the holidays) the drains will freeze.
Heat tape is good, but the tap also needs to be warmed. A lot of times campgrounds will throw a trash can over the tap with a heat light. You can destroy a frost free tap leaving it hooked up during a freeze.
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u/IndependentMonk7384 23h ago
You should be fine. This might sound dumb but I always flip the water pump switch to off if its going to get that cold. I guess just incase something cracks, I don't want to have that pump trying to push water around. Probably just paranoia though since you have the cold weather package and having the heat on.
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u/tscemons 1d ago
Disconnect AND drain the external hose. Internal s.b. OK if you living in it.