De-winterizing for trip...question
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Topic: De-winterizing for trip...question
Posted By: wildflowerz
Subject: De-winterizing for trip...question
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 8:35am
| My husband and I are leaving tomorrow for a 10 day trip to Florida. Right now we are winterized. Our first day out we are driving to Emporia, VA and we are planning to de-winterize once we are there. I just checked the temps and it will be freezing at night. Since we will be running the heater is if ok to de-winterize or should we wait until we get to GA? |
Replies:
Posted By: this_is_nascar
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 9:41am
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I'm of the opinion that the temps here in the NE are still warm enough during the day that unwinterizing should be fine. A couple hours of below freezing temps overnight, with rebounding temps in the daytime should be fine, although there's always a risk.
------------- "Ray & Connie" - 2017 R-Pod RP-180 - 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road |
Posted By: P&M
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2012 at 3:04pm
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We camped last weekend over the holiday when it got down to 26 degrees and had no problems. We disconnected our water hose from the Pod just in case, though, which was good since the water in it did freeze up. ------------- P & M ... and Comet too! 2012 171 -- The Monkey Pod 2018 Ram 2500 |
Posted By: wildflowerz
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2012 at 2:23pm
Thanks for the replies and the reassurance. Our trip was delayed a day. We are headed down 95 today and will be pulling into Emporia, Va this afternoon. Looks like we won't have freezing temps for the whole trip. 
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Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2012 at 3:27pm
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We went to a winterizing class at our dealership and they advised that it would take two full days of the temp staying below freezing before you would incur any damage. You should be fine. ------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: this_is_nascar
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2012 at 7:29pm
I totally DISAGREE with that. Is the dealer willing to fix whatever breaks if you follow this advise? Two full solid days of freezing temp has a high probability of damaging something. Maybe what they meant to say is that if it dropped below freezing for a couple hours at night and rebounded during the day, then all would be well.
------------- "Ray & Connie" - 2017 R-Pod RP-180 - 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 2:20pm
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Well, the pex lines are near indestructable. And if your water heater is turned on, it's not going to freeze.. And if it's not it will take several days at end of season "freezing temps" to freeze 6 gallons. That leaves the p traps under the sink and the shower, and of course your holding tanks. Guessing most won't see "above freezing" go overnight to 20 below for days on end.. a couple days "below freezing", actually shouldn't hurt anything. If worried, pour some anti freeze in the sink and shower traps. At 28 - 30 degrees, it would take many days to freeze up the contents of the holding tanks. And as long as they are not mostly "full" even them freezing won't hurt anything. Polypro does just fine at freezing temps, just don't want the contents swelling with the freeze. ------------- |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 9:26pm
nascar is right. You can dip below freezing for a few hours and be ok but even after one solid day below freezing you are going to have damage in the valve seats in each faucet. The first thing that will freeze is the low-point drains and the fresh water intake from the fresh water tank (if you have water in the fresh tank), since those parts will be full of water and are outside of the pod. Depending on how close the interior temp of the pod is to freezing when the outside temp dips below freezing, the damage to the valve seats may only take a half-day. I wouldn't want water to freeze in the pex lines even though they are flexible, they aren't designed to handle the expansion of the water. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: TIDALWAVE
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 9:44am
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Any plastic parts not made of pex have a good chance of freeze cracking (drain points, waste valves,etc.). Even if the interior is kept above freezing, any valves below the Pod could be badly damaged. I can't believe that a dealership in Vermont would tell you that freeze up would take two days to do any damage. Maybe they wanted to sell you a new Pod? ------------- TIDALWAVE |