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The Frozen North

My first winter in my trailer. Oh what friends don’t tell you!

Everybody made a big deal out of telling me how to keep the water hose from freezing. You change to a hard plastic hose called an “ebony hose” which you purchase at an RV store. Then you tape a heat tape along it’s length and around the faucet to the ground. I was told to get 5 feet longer than what is needed. I ended up using 2 feet longer which is quite adequate. Over that you use rubber insulation tubing which is self sealing. Black rubber is better than the gray foam I was told. Duck tape here and there at junctions. Use the rubber aluminum wrap on the RV connector and angle adapter as well as lots on the faucet pipe. More duck tape to hold that in place. Connect to standard 110v outlet which usually requires a short extension cord. Tip: buy the heat tape and insulation at your local hardware store where it is cheaper.

That part worked very well even when the temperature here dropped to 4 degrees one night with the wind chill. I had cold water in the bathroom where it comes in for the sink and toilet.

I did add a little water to my water tank which is under the bed and I have the bed propped up just enough to let warm air under there. I left the bathroom door and other cupboard doors open to circulate the warm air. Yes, it was quite warm enough in the trailer with the propane furnace and an electric heater. I have twin propane tanks with an automatic switchover and the park has propane. The tanks are actually lasting longer than expected. 🙂 My little cart for laundry that folds up to briefcase size works quite well for hauling tanks too. 🙂 🙂

Nobody said a thing about the waste tanks and of course I chose a trailer where they are fully exposed to the temperatures. Both of mine froze and were 1/2-3/4 full at the time. The gate valves froze shut as well. Ah a typical newbie mistake. RV stores and places like your local Walmart sell pink RV antifreeze for those tanks which you are supposed to throw down the tanks during cold weather. I was later told to add 1 gallon to each tank. It took some heat tape that we taped up against the bottom of the tanks, a hair dryer on the valves, and my trusty heating pad (without the cloth cover) taped up against the tank and pipe connection of one tank along with warmer temperatures to thaw the tanks out and dump them. No visible damage so far.

I also lost water for a short time to the kitchen sink from a pipe freeze somewhere under the floor which I will need to look into.

Anyway, I was still able to use the toilet during the freeze and this campground has very nice showers nearby. The hot tub here got a lot of action too during the freeze. 😉

One thing that did surprise me is that though skirting is allowed, very few actually have skirting on their rigs here. Only a handful who live here all year had skirting and they have the fancy, expensive vinyl skirting that attaches to their rigs. I thought I would see more improvised skirting especially with so many full-timers living here. I have heard that the foam school project board from office supply stores is sometimes used to make skirting.

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