Temporary winterization....?
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Topic: Temporary winterization....?
Posted By: jcphotog
Subject: Temporary winterization....?
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2016 at 6:24pm
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I live high in the mountains in Colorado. I'm planning on taking off for California/Oregon coasts in two days, but the nights here are getting chilly. Forecast for tonight and the next night are in the mid to high 20's, and I'm starting to worry about frozen pipes, etc. Problem is I don't want to have to completely winterize for just a couple of days worth. Are there any intermediary steps I can take to tide me over...? Can I just circulate some antifreeze in the lines for now...? Thanks in advance..!! JC
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Replies:
Posted By: Pete Brayton
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2016 at 7:05pm
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Can you plug in a small electric heater inside overnight. That should probably keep things above freezing, being careful to keep it away from combustibles of course. ------------- 2021 Rpod 196 2013 Ford 150 V8 |
Posted By: jcphotog
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2016 at 7:56pm
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Excellent idea! I plugged in the camper (it's in my driveway right now), and hooked up a space heater set to 55F. Hopefully that is sufficient.... Look forward to being in California where it's warm. We had snowflakes today....
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Posted By: Blue Highways
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2016 at 8:24pm
| Great question, great answer.... thought about that a lot: a temp way to hold off a full winterization. We will be in the NC mountains for awhile as temps cool, but want to run the WanderPod down to family on FL Gulf Coast for Thanksgiving, before the step of putting it into full NC hibernation for the winter. |
Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2016 at 10:08pm
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The heater might be enough for mid 20s but a little extra insurance would be to take off the panel under the sink, exposing that plumbing to the heat, and to turn the heat on the water heater. Either electric or propane. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: Blue Highways
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2016 at 11:10pm
| Good idea, Tars. (On my 179, I would pull the three drawers out below the sink to let air circulate in there.) |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 04 Oct 2016 at 12:41pm
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Bingo, open everything up, and I would go warmer than 55, and put the heater on the floor where it is cooler. Even with everything open any piping on the floor by an outer wall may be pushing the freeze zone if it gets too cold.
Also dump the fresh water tank and run the pump with a valve open to clear the fresh water pickup hose. ------------- 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: Our pod
Date Posted: 04 Oct 2016 at 3:40pm
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And anything you can do to reduce the free passage of air underneath the trlr will help. Hay bales work well.
------------- Life is good. |
Posted By: jcphotog
Date Posted: 04 Oct 2016 at 11:29pm
| Basically I ended up setting up the heater with under sink cabinet door open, as well as running some fairly diluted antifreeze through the system that I can easily flush once I get to Utah tomorrow. Hopefully that will do it...! |
Posted By: john in idaho
Date Posted: 05 Oct 2016 at 10:56am
| We have camped several days on bottled water. We went from Idaho to Death Valley for a week in Feb. The trailer was winterized. They had a grey and black water dump there. |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 05 Oct 2016 at 10:57am
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On another forum I describe a solution to extend the camping
season into transitional seasons and deal with the short term freezes such as overnight
dips into the 20s followed by above freezing days. It utilizes the onboard pump
and water heater to circulate hot water through the FW piping and back to the
FW tank. The pump runs periodically for short intervals and is controlled by a programmable
timer for totally autonomous operation. It can be used when the camper is
stationary or being towed and, if adequate propane and 12V power is available, can be left unattended for days at a time. Space heating, either propane or electric,
can be added for protection of the toilet, faucets, and P-traps. The referenced post is
for a different model, but the basic concepts are applicable to any camper.
Each application is highly camper specific and requires detailed knowledge of
the plumbing paths within the camper. An
added benefit is the circulator can minimize wasted FW and gray water
storage waiting for hot water to reach a faucet or shower. Great when camping
without hookups. For those interested please follow the thread at: http://livinlite-owners.com/thread/1477/fresh-water-anti-freezeup-system - http://livinlite-owners.com/thread/1477/fresh-water-anti-freezeup-system ------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 06 Oct 2016 at 10:18am
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Interesting concept. We are anticipating a winter trip. This is something I will be looking closely at to see if it will work for us. Thank you for the detailed information to which you provided the link.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: dr2428
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 8:15am
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Hello, I like this forum, I have never seen a forum with so much activity, almost like a paid support service. I have a question related to this topic so I did not want to create another thread. We plan to take our 179 out this Friday but expect a possible mile freeze tomorrow night, not enough to freeze the streets but certainly enough to kill flowers, and freeze the small amount of water in my 179's water lines. I don't want to add antifreeze as I am taking it out Friday but want to simply blow the lines clear, is there any problem doing so without bypassing the pump and water heater? I am hoping for a quick operation without having to flip the bed and dismantle my way to the valves. I think the "blowout" could clear the pump but not sure if it would cause damage. Appreciate any ideas for a quick fix. Thanks Dan ------------- 2017 RPod 179 2018 Chevy Colorado Z71 4x4 |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 8:56am
Blowing out does nothing for the pump and it's prefilter. They are on the "other side" of a one way valve. A mild freeze is generally no big issue. The WH is insulated, and holds 6 gallons. Takes a while for that to freeze. Can you heat the pod, is it somewhere it can be plugged in, even to a 15A outlet? Just put a small ceramic heater in it. That's what most of use in the early and late season if we have hookups anyways. ------------- |
Posted By: dr2428
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 9:48am
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Furpod, Thanks for the fast reply, I should have figured the pump was isolated. Good to know I won't damage the pump blowing the system out. I will do a quick blow out for peace of mind, and can connect to a 15A supply at home to run a heater inside. I'll also pull the anode rod from the water heater and drain it to be safe. I don't expect a hard freeze but am willing to go to great lengths to prevent a possible freeze, we've had far too much fun since getting it in late August to end our season early. Thank you ------------- 2017 RPod 179 2018 Chevy Colorado Z71 4x4 |
Posted By: Taospod
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 11:05am
| All of these suggestions for quick winterization make sense, but being a visual person, it would help very much to see a schematic of the entire R-pod water supply and waste water system. Does such a thing exist? Thanks. |
Posted By: MDPaddlersPod
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 12:48pm
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I have a question for the group. I am in a similar situation as I have a couple more camping trips planned through November. In Maryland we only have a night or two that barely touch the freezing mark in the time I am planning. At what point do you really need to winterize? I can't see a problem with the temp dipping at or slightly below freezing during the night. Thoughts please. ------------- MDPaddlersPod 2017 RPod 179 2002 Silverado1500 |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 4:21pm
We pretty much live for early and late season camping. All the summer camping is mostly rallies with friends and podders. ------------- |
Posted By: Blue Highways
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 9:39pm
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I'm no colder conditions camping expert yet, but from what I've gathered from our community, when the temperatures "flirt" with 32 degrees, it's not a hard line in the sand. What will protect you is that you are in the trailer at night keeping the interior relatively warm all night either by propane ( including cooking & heating water too ) plus body heat. That radiates downward to benefit the underbelly tanks. We had some cold nights up in the northern Yukon Territories and I just temporarily disconnected a city water hook up over the night hours, and had pulled open the drawers beneath the sink and left a few cabinet doors cocked open (including bathroom door ajar) until morning to benefit systems via the heater thermostat.
I've heard that others run a small ceramic heater (with shore power) placed strategically facing plumbing as well as setting the thermostat. Somebody else mentioned placing a ceramic heater carefully (away from combustibles) somewhere under their rig for a couple nights. Where you do risk some beginning partial "icing up" is upper to mid 20s WITHOUT any significant daily mid day warming and also taking no other precautions I believe. I would interested in seeing any body else's thoughts in our pod community on the risks (or over concerns) regarding what I call the "flirting with 32" issue while sneaking in some more podding in colder fall conditions.... whether this involved the R-pod or any other RV you've owned & operated previously in colder conditions.... We all have our own personal levels of "risk vs. rewards" I guess. I love crisp fall mornings and less completion for my favorite places but don't want to put in jeapardy the Pod internals either.... |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 12 Oct 2016 at 10:13am
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Last fall, late Nov, we were out for 7 days. (pretty much had a 360 site CG to ourselves) We had several nights below freezing, mid 20's, and 50's for daytime highs. Electric only. filled the FW holding tank when we arrived, ran our little cube ceramic to keep the pod warm. No issues with any freezing. The WH was on elec. We did use the CG shower facilities after day 5, as the grey was getting pretty full.
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Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 12 Oct 2016 at 2:43pm
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On our first camping trip with our new R-Pod, we headed out for Nevada and Arizona from North Carolina on I40. This included some higher elevations and freezing temperatures. There were some nights in the low 20's. During the days, it warmed above freezing. We did not winterize on that trip. We had no problems. The furnace worked well to keep us warm. We used a fan to help circulate the heat since the output for the furnace on the 179 is under the bed. This coming winter, we will make another trip. This time, it will include Utah. Since we can anticipate temperatures to get below freezing and stay there, I will most likely winterize before leaving and take our water in portable containers that can ride in our tow vehicle during the day. We will keep RV antifreeze to pour into tanks and traps as needed. If we take a more southern route across and then head north to Utah, I may wait to drain and winterize until we get to an area where the weather will be below freezing before winterizing. If we have a mild winter, we may be able to make the whole trip with water, but I can't guarantee that. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2016 at 11:46am
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If you aren't camping, a dip into the mid-20's is ok as long as it gets well above freezing during the day. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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