Freezing Temps in Florida - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Barb and Frank · RV-Dreams Family Member

Freezing Temps in Florida

dianneandsteve · RV-Dreams Family Member

We're at Kartchner Caverns, AZ and are experiencing freezing temps for the next couple of nights. i just finished filling my fresh water tank and draining my filters and hoses. I have electric heaters but will also set my furnace to 60F to keep the basement warm.

Cheers!

Russ Ranger · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tomorrow will be the first day of the Winter that our daytime temperatures will not reach the 80's. We will top out at 79 degrees. Think of us as we suffer through our cold spell, it will only last a day and we will be back in the low 80's all of next week.

Remember us in our time of need. We will push through.

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good advice - fill your fresh water tank, dump black/grey tanks, put all hoses away, and run off your tank until you need to dump again. Hopefully by that time it will be warmer. We never worry because our basement (including the wet bay) is heated when the furnace runs - so we always make sure the furnace ran in the early morning hours when temperatures go into the 20s. Generally, if you are comfortable your whole rig is comfortable.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

We’re also having a one night freeze ... we’re going to drip our cold water and that’s it. Not really a big deal unless it goes on for several days. Electric heat is primary and furnace keeps it from going too low. So much better than up north.😎

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

Russ Ranger wrote:
Tomorrow will be the first day of the Winter that our daytime temperatures will not reach the 80's. We will top out at 79 degrees. Think of us as we suffer through our cold spell, it will only last a day and we will be back in the low 80's all of next week.
Remember us in our time of need. We will push through.

Stop gloating ... HA!! 😜😜😜

-- Edited by RonC on Thursday 7th of December 2017 11:06:32 PM

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barbaraok wrote:
{Edit} . . . our basement (including the wet bay) is heated when the furnace runs - so we always make sure the furnace ran in the early morning hours when temperatures go into the 20s. Generally, if you are comfortable your whole rig is comfortable.

For those that use the electric "fireplace," or electric space heaters, recall, as Barb noted, the LP furnace is what heats the holding tanks and water lines in many cases. (There can be exceptions but not may.) So if the inside is warm and toasty and the furnace isn't being used, or used much overnight, those lines and tanks are not heated. Much of this depends on rig design so best to know how yours works.

Barb and Frank · RV-Dreams Family Member

RonC wrote:
We’re also having a one night freeze ... we’re going to drip our cold water and that’s it. Not really a big deal unless it goes on for several days. Electric heat is primary and furnace keeps it from going too low. So much better than up north.😎

Ron,

Are you using water from your tank, or, from a water hook-up? One of my concerns is whether to disconnect from our water.

Daytime temps here in Florida will be in the mid 50’s and Saturday and Sunday nights are expected to hit lows of 32 and 30.

Barb

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Generally your basement, including the tanks, are safe down to about 25 at night without doing anything as long as it goes above freezing by mid-morning. Your water hose might freeze up between 25 and 32, but dripping it should stop that if you don't want to unhook the hose for the night. If the forecast is 27 or below I unhook the hose. If below 20 I use the furnace to keep the basement warm. We have been down to 13 at night and this has worked for us. We have not been anywhere where it did not get above freezing during the day, so I have no experience with that.

We just left central Florida and the lowest temperature in the extended forecast here in Fort Myers FL is 40.

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

In Mid-Tennessee I wrap my hose with a heat tape and pipe insulation, Empty the holding tanks, leave the gray water valve open and open the bathroom sink faucet to a steady drip!

Bruce and Robin · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barb and Frank wrote:
We have been on the road for two months as full-timers and we are spending our first winter in Florida. Currently we are in the Ocala area and the weather forecast is calling for freezing temps at night over the weekend. Since this is our first winter experience, we are looking for advice on how to prepare for this cold wave. Do we disconnect from our water? Is there anything else we should do? Your insight and recommendations are welcome.
Thanks,
Barb

-- Edited by Barb and Frank on Thursday 7th of December 2017 04:04:58 PM

Frank,

If I was in your situation I would probably run the propane furnace a little to keep the coach warm, water manifold, and tanks, and run a trickle of fresh water flow into the sink, maintaining a trickle flow through fresh water hose. That should take care of any concerns in this short cold snap. I should be ok down here in FT Myers. I did ask this question before I headed to Yellowstone in May. I received a similar answer as I stated above.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Keep in mind that if the grey tank valve is open and one is trickling water, the water going into the sewer hose could very well be freezing in the hose, especially so if it is a slinky hose. I remember some years ago of a couple in Missouri that had the entire slinky hose freeze up. Of course, in their case, the freezing weather lasted much longer.

Terry

cpaulsen · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have had mid 20's for the last week. Use my heated water hose and a 250watt heater in the basement with an Easyheat thermostat. Worked well last year when we hit 12 degrees for a few nights and 28 degrees during the day.

Dutch · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've been in cold weather down to -4 deg. F without any freezing problems. We do fill the water tank and unhook/drain the hose below 28-30 degrees though. In sustained cold, we only hook the water hose up as needed to refill the tank. Depending on the expected low temperature, we also run one or both of our two furnaces to keep the waste tanks above freezing. Our water tank is under the bed, so it needs no extra heat.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barb and Frank wrote:
RonC wrote:
We’re also having a one night freeze ... we’re going to drip our cold water and that’s it. Not really a big deal unless it goes on for several days. Electric heat is primary and furnace keeps it from going too low. So much better than up north.😎
Ron,
Are you using water from your tank, or, from a water hook-up? One of my concerns is whether to disconnect from our water.
Daytime temps here in Florida will be in the mid 50’s and Saturday and Sunday nights are expected to hit lows of 32 and 30.
Barb

I did not disconnect from the Resort water ... here, as in Ocala, the overnight temps might drop below freezing, but the daytime temps warm up. The dripping keeps the input line from freezing overnight. I would only disconnect and go on “internal” water if the temps were going to stay below freezing for 12 or more hours. We normally just run our electric fireplace and one electric space heater both set at 70 degrees. The furnace is set for 68 degrees. In this way, the electric heat carries the bulk of the work, but if outside temps drop below 40, the electrics can’t keep up (in our rig) and the furnace comes on which keeps the interior at 68 and heats the basement, tanks and interior water lines. Hope this helps.

mycroft8 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks for the advice. I'll be getting my fifth wheel "soon" and starting south from Oregon.

I've seen water hoses advertised that have a built in heat tape. Would it be useful to carry one of those?

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

mycroft8 wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I'll be getting my fifth wheel "soon" and starting south from Oregon.
I've seen water hoses advertised that have a built in heat tape. Would it be useful to carry one of those?

I have one of those, but I have never used it. It would be helpful if temps were to drop below freezing and stay there for a day or two. That is what heated inlet hose is for ... prolonged below freezing temps. I do everything I can to avoid that.😬

travlingman · RV-Dreams Family Member

If your Landmark has the Yeti package and you are using it, don't drain the tanks. You need water in your tanks to disperse the heat from the pads that are attached. Leaving the tanks empty could damage them.

Barb and Frank · RV-Dreams Family Member

travlingman wrote:
If your Landmark has the Yeti package and you are using it, don't drain the tanks. You need water in your tanks to disperse the heat from the pads that are attached. Leaving the tanks empty could damage them.

Yes we have the Yeti package, but we are hooked up to city water so we are not using the fresh water tank. I am not certain that we can turn on the Yeti if we don’t have water in our tank.

travlingman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Barb and Frank wrote:
travlingman wrote:
If your Landmark has the Yeti package and you are using it, don't drain the tanks. You need water in your tanks to disperse the heat from the pads that are attached. Leaving the tanks empty could damage them.
Yes we have the Yeti package, but we are hooked up to city water so we are not using the fresh water tank. I am not certain that we can turn on the Yeti if we don’t have water in our tank.

I would go ahead and put some water in your fresh water tank. Easy to do with the valve in the water control panel. Don't have to fill the tank, just a few gallons. Then with something in all tanks, go ahead and turn on the yeti package. With water in your fresh tank, you could unhook hose tonight and run off the tank.

To fill the tank, turn the valve in water control panel to tank, and your water hose will fill it. When you unhook your hose, turn the valve to normal and the water pump will pull from the tank. The hose from the tank has heat tape on it with the Yeti package.

Not knowing your floor plan, if you have the residential fridge and it is in the slide, you have a water line to it for the ice maker/water dispensor. This line will come out of the underbelly and go to the slide exposing it to the elements. For the temps you are experiencing, I don't think you will have any issues with it. If it is going to freeze for an extended period, don't forget this line. Its turnoff is under your sink, and there should be a valve outside on your frame where the line comes out of underbelly that you can use to drain the line.

Your rig should handle the temps you have easily. We have been to -13 with wind chill of -30 and only had a line to island sink freeze because it was up against the frame and we had not been above freezing for 7 days.

If it was me, I would unhook hose and use water tank to be safe. Turn on Yeti and when you go to bed, open the doors where you have a sink/water conection to let a little heat in.

Barb and Frank · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you everyone for all of the great information! Now we know to partially fill our fresh water tank, disconnect the hose to city water, and turn on the Yeti! We’ll keep the furnace on at night to keep us, and the basement, warm - no space heaters!

Barb

cpaulsen · RV-Dreams Family Member

mycroft8 wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I'll be getting my fifth wheel "soon" and starting south from Oregon.
I've seen water hoses advertised that have a built in heat tape. Would it be useful to carry one of those?

Mine is a Camco heated hose. Hooked mine up in November here in Oregon but never plugged it in till a few weeks ago. Works great....have had the last week of temps in the mid 20's.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

The hoses with heat tapes built in seem to be a bit iffy. We've had a couple of the Pirit hoses, one of which only lasted for one winter. Another one, with the name of FreezeBan, seems to have its own issues, but it seems to be more that it doesn't work when the temps get below 20 degrees. At least, that's what I've read with some of the reviews for that model. And then, considering the cost for either of those being over $100 for a 25-foot hose, I'm inclined to think that a regular hose, regular heat tape, and some kind of insulation around both is a better option.

Terry