Newbies looking for prepping advice for the cold

[Court&jim2500rl]

Hi,
We are newbies and Florida natives, this cold front has caught us off guard as we did not plan to do any freezing temp camping. I have a few questions, but first some background on our situation. We have a 2021 2500rl. We are not currently living in our TT, & we only have acess for electric hookups. No water or sewer hookups available. Our black and grey tanks have little to no water in them and fresh water is less than quarter full. We are looking at temperatures of lows of 24/26/30f and highs of 60/43/48f for 3 consecutive days.
If we dont need the water, can we just empty all the tanks and use an air compressor to blow water out of the lines? If yes, does this pose any risks? Would we need to stay in the trailer to run furnace or just leave it be?
As mentioned above, we have the option to stay in the trailer and run the furnace? Is this a better option, if so should we fill, leave or empty tanks?
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated! Hope to see some of you fellow GDers on the road soon 😀

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Courtney & JImmy,

Welcome to our owners technical forum.

Any of your plans can work. Staying in the trailer and running the furnace would be my first choice . . . its going to be cold . . . but temps easily handled by your trailer . . . and would be a good camping experience if you have never done this before. Many owners just blow out the water lines with air, but the best way to do this is to purge the water lines with antifreeze following the procedure in your owners manual. Leaving the furnace on while not staying in the trailer can work if you have a way of checking on the trailer every few hours. Remember that the furnace uses propane at a fairly rapid rate and keep an eye on this. You also need to be plugged into shorepower to keep your batteries fully charged for best furnace operation.

Rob

[Sandridge4]

Your weather sounds similar to what we’ll be in for the next few days in the Florida panhandle. We live in our Solitude full time and the only thing I have done is added water to our fresh tank so I can pull the hose in overnight (I don’t think it will be cold enough long enough to freeze but don’t want to deal with it if it does and don’t want to bother with getting my heater hose out) and still use the toilet and sinks and turned on my tank heaters (they have a thermostat and only come on when cold enough). Of course we will also be using the furnace at night, typically during the day we use the electric fireplace to save on propane.

[JBill9694]

The only thing I would add is that if you elect to blow the water lines out, then leave faucets and valves open. Blowing the lines out will not remove all the water from the lines and what is left will collect in low spots in the line. It is fairly safe to assume that these low spots will be the most likely spots to freeze. With faucets closed, the freezing water will increase the pressure in the line as it expands outward. While the lines themselves may be able to withstand the increase in pressure, banded connections, fittings, and valves may not. The safest and easiest thing to do is open the faucets.

I would also leave the tank heaters on with the trailer plugged into the electrical service (to keep the batteries from draining).

[RedRiver7]

We have frozen pipes in our 21 BHE and from what I read it is due to low point drains. We are trying to thaw out with blow dryer. What is best way to insulate that area?

[Country Campers]

We have frozen pipes in our 21 BHE and from what I read it is due to low point drains. We are trying to thaw out with blow dryer. What is best way to insulate that area?

Owners that camp in freezing weather have recommended theseFrost King FC1 Outdoor Foam Faucet Cover, To Prevent Freeze (2 Pack) - - Amazon.com to cover the low point drains.

Brian

[Court&jim2500rl]

Thank you everyone for your help! I think we are just going to stay and run furnace and try an insulate the low point drains, seems like less of a hassle and we can work on more projects while there. We have stayed in it a few nights already but never with these kind of temps. We are hooked to shore power and will probably buy a backup propane tank and monitor how much we are using each night and refill as needed. It is nice to know we have to option to empty tanks and use compressor on the lines if this option wasn't available to us.

[Cate&Rob]

If you get caught without a better plan to insulate the low point drains, bundle and tie an old sweatshirt around then. If you are trying to get them unfrozen and it is windy, cut the bottom out of a bowl or bucket and hold this up to the underbelly to concentrate the heat from a heat gun or hair dryer.

Rob

[Court&jim2500rl]

Thank you. We have a heating pad used for plants we are considering for low point drains and some insulation.
Is it necessary to drain hot water tank or can we just turn on water heater to keep it from freezing?

[Cate&Rob]

Turning on the water heater will definitely keep it from freezing! Also a source of hot water to help keep your holding tanks above freezing.

Rob