Tacoma - Rv's and freezing Weather Can Mix, If You're Careful!
Hi friends. Today, I found out about Tacoma - Rv's and freezing Weather Can Mix, If You're Careful!. Which is very helpful if you ask me and also you.Do you know - Rv's and freezing Weather Can Mix, If You're Careful!
When we left off last, we were safe and sound in Tacoma and the Christmas holidays were fast approaching. I promised you that we would let you know how the Rv handles icy weather.
What I said. It isn't the conclusion that the real about Tacoma. You check out this article for facts about a person wish to know is Tacoma.About Tacoma
Lessons in Cold Weather Rving:
It was December, but temps below icy in Tacoma are rare. So, when the temperature the first night there got down into the 20s (-9 C) we were totally caught off guard.
Here's what happened:
The hose connecting us to water froze The plastic pipe prominent to the fresh water tank froze The gas/propane furnace ran most of the night
I need to tell you, our Rexhall Aerbus is a good ability motorhome and all the pipes are enclosed and entrance is through a sealed exterior bin. We view that would be enough if the temps got down to icy or just below. Truth is, had is only been a merge of degrees below freezing, we probably would have been Ok. The qoute was that it got more than just a microscopic below freezing!
Lesson #1 - How to Keep Pipes From Freezing
If your water connections or any of your water lines are exposed to the outside, even temperatures just below icy can ice and crack your lines. Even if your lines and fill points are enclosed in bins or compartments, if those areas are not heavily insulated and heated, just having the sewer line or water hose arrival up through an entrance hole can bring in the icy temps and problems... As we found out first hand.
Our simple explication was to wrap a heat tape with a built in temperature sensor (about .00 Us) around the exposed pipes and valves. We got it from the local hardware store. It's the kind meant for exterior or crawl space water lines. It looks like an electrical postponement cord that has no plug at the end.
When we are in an area that has possible icy temps, we just plug the heat tape into our full hookup power box via an extra postponement cord (heavy duty) and the sensor takes care of turning on when needed.
That's all we needed to keep the bin and connections from freezing. We don't join together the water hose in icy temperatures, we just fill the fresh water tank as needed. If you were staying in one place for the winter, you could use other heat tape and some insulation wrapped around it on the hose to keep your hose from icy too.
For boondocking or dry camping, you could also stuff the compartment full of insulation or heavily insulate your exterior water lines to keep them from icy in all but the coldest of temps.
Lesson #2 - Heat Guns and Plastic Water Lines Don't Mix
My dad had a heat gun he used for heat shrink on wires and windows. We decided to use that to heat up the pipes and get the water pump working again.
Big Mistake!
Well, using the heat gun was a good idea, we just didn't know how warm and how fast it could work. Instead of just slowly warming the whole compartment, I made the mistake of blowing directly on the plastic water lines.
In less than two minutes, I had heated up the plastic water line so well that it became soft and with the water line pressurized from the pump... It formed a bubble just like bubble gum and popped.
I was lucky, my dad had just been remodeling his kitchen and had just the right size plastic water line on hand. So, all I had to do was desist thawing things out, slowly, and then fix the popped water line. That was just two fittings, about 8 inches of new plastic water line, the heat gun to warm the ends and it all screwed back together in less than 30 minutes. Like I said, I was lucky to be where I had the tools and supplies to fix it myself.
It categorically could have been a merge hundred dollars of repairs if I had to have a fix shop do it.
In Conclusion: Motorhomes, 5th Wheels and other Rvs can deal with below icy temperatures. You just need to use a microscopic common sense and have a back up plan for when things don't work out.
Don't let the colder weather stop you from enjoying your Rv year round. Do test it's cold weather abilities close to home or family, just in case. Keep extra incandescent lights & insulation handy for backup & repairs all the time thaw icy pipes and tanks slowly - To fast and thinks can break
As we tour year round, we'll keep you up to date on what we learn (the hard way) and how you can avoid the same mistakes (the easy way).
I hope you get new knowledge about Tacoma. Where you can put to utilization in your everyday life. And most significantly, your reaction is Tacoma. Read more.. Rv's and freezing Weather Can Mix, If You're Careful!.
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