So my family and I have been full time in the trailer since June. Two adults, 2 kids under 3. My 12yr old was also with us but is now staying in TX with his grandparents so he can go to school. We just got back to MD and had a few cold nights. 10-20° overnight. I figured since we were living in it and had the heat running and kept the water heater on, we shouldn't have an issue with anything freezing.....I was way wrong.

We woke up this morning with no water whatsoever. We were using the on board water at the time. Water pump would not kick on and nothing was coming out of the faucet. We shut everything off, put a space heater in the front storage next to water heater and water pump and hooked up to city water. Also had to pout heated water down the drains to be able to dump the grey water tanks. It is no dark again and we have the faucets dripping but can only get cold water. Nothing comes out of the faucet when only the hot water is turned on.

This kinda sucks, hopefully we didn't damage anything too bad but have to wait until it gets above freezing on Tuesday to get everything thawed out and running again.... Time for a new traielr with a heated underbelly and arctic package...

 

A fairly common misconception and one that a heated underbelly and arctic package may not necessarily cure, but might. There is no commonly accepted definition of "arctic package" and they are not all the same. When camping in really cold weather make sure all the cabinet doors are open if there are any water lines in them. If you are using city water, let a faucet drip.

The good new is you may well have dodged the bullet and if not, the damage is usually minor and not very expensive to repair.

Steve

 

Well crap, what the hell is the point then? We are not in extreme cold a lot but it can get down to single digits at night. Monday we get hay bails in to stack around the outside of the trailer to help insulate the bottom a little better as well.

 

It really depends a lot on where you are in the price point and reading the fine print as manufacturers use the term"arctic pack" in very different ways. As a general rule, you get more when you pay more in terms of insulation. Once you get the hang of it, freeze ups are not generally hard to avoid. I did have manufacturers in face-to-face conversation tell me that once things get below freezing few RVs winter well. One of the mistakes folks often make is attempting to use electric cube heaters rather than their furnace which almost always guarantees a freeze-up due to the limited circulation.

Sorry to hear of your trouble,

Steve

 

Wait, i should be using the furnace more than space heaters? I didn't it really made a difference?

 

Speaking in a general sense, using the furnace will often distribute heat better than using a couple of cube heater. The worse freeze up I ever worked on took place when an owner's furnace decided to take a break and they kept right on with cube heaters so they didn't have to stop fishing. They were fine, the water lines no so much. They had a trailer with an enclosed belly and the manufacturer ran the water lines right next to the duct work until it went up through the floor and that was where the line broke.

Usually not a very big deal at all. Maybe an hour's worth of work, but in this case the trailer was set up permanently and rather than put it on blocks the owner dug one side down until the frame almost was on the ground. That led to a lot of me belly crawling through the mud and a kinda expensive repair bill.

Steve

 

We have camped in the teens a lot. I can't recall any single digits though.


Our unit is advertised as an extended stay 4 season as well.


But the difference is our tanks have heaters and the basement has a heating vent.


The underside is heated as well. There is a ton of insulation and wrap on the underside where all the tanks are too.


That is what you need to look for at the min. 12 this morning. If you are near and I can help, let me know.

 

Steve has it right about the furnace. We've had ours out in the + teens, and you have to run the furnace to keep the underbelly warm. The one time we had problems was my fault. I thought I'd be "smart" and run the space heater full blast overnight to "save" propane, and woke up to frozen pipes. Opened all the cabinets and put the furnace up to like 80-85 and it took until afternoon for the pipes to unfreeze. We were lucky and had no damage, but lesson learned with the new fireplace space heater. So we don't use it to heat the entire 5th wheel (even though it will), but more as a supplement and for "coolness" when we're in the mood for such things.

And yeah, ignore what the manufacturer calls "arctic kit" or "4 seasons kit". Just look at the R values in the roof, side walls and floor.

 

We have done single digits a few times (very few) in motor homes without arctic packs or heated bellies or tanks. It takes some thought and planning and I am not saying it was toasty, but it is possible. Froze the dump valves, but it doesn't take long to thaw those out with a hair dryer.

Steve

 

We run the furnance at night around 65. We like to sleep with a lot of blankets.


We will only run space heaters during the day when we are present.

 

install electric water line heaters with additional insulation... inside and out.

12 hours below freezing can freeze a line. in winter that is one night.
heat only works if its moving.. like wind chill in reverse.

best of luck ..

 

Very well put!

Steve

 

Thanks for all the info everyone! Everything is still frozen but it should start being able to thaw out after tonight. I am currently in Taneytown.

I starting making the framing for a skirt using old pallets




I will let you all know what I find once it thaws.

 

Up to you but personally I would stick to the hay bales instead of what you're building. That skirting will provide very little if any insulation, folks use hay bales all the time around here.....FYI

 

Well I'm not done yet. I have an inch of foam going on and then the plan is a tarp that attaches to the trailer and covers everything.

I was going to do hay, but that got turned down by the boss due to the fact that is is highly flammable and things like to live in it.