any experience with freeze damage?

[nmken]

[p]All:[/p][p]
[/p][p]We were camping at the end of last season and the temperature dropped to 26.    The trailer was brand new and we erred on the side of caution and got out of the mountains quickly.  From what I am reading now though, I don't think we had much to worry about.  The PEX underneath the camper is minimal and PEX does not burst easily - and we had the heat on in the camper.  Between those two items I'm thinking that we could easily lower our temperature threshold of worry quite a bit - thinking we could weather a 20 degree overnight temperature drop while we were camping (and had the heat on).   But I'm interested in any experience - what's been your coldest night out in your CL?[/p]

[leslie]

We have camped down to 29 degrees with no problems. Dealer told us we should be good down to 20 overnight if we are running heat and the temperature rises above freezing during the day.

[david]

In another RV but similar to the Camplite the low got down to 26 overnight in Lake Tahoe. It quickly warmed up to 50 the next day so that the below freezing temps didn't last long. But don't drive off in freezing temps. The airflow at 60 MPH underneath dramatically increases heat transfer and will quickly freeze it up. But at 32 and above you are ok to drive, no matter what the "wind chill factor" may be.

Freezing occurs the lower and longer the sub freezing temperatures exist. Even if the temp only gets down to 26 you could freeze if the low temperatures last all night. Running a gallon or so of water a couple of times at night also helps flush the tubing with slightly warmer water from the tank.

In an emergency, ie unexpected low temps, put a curtain around the bottom of your unit to form a warm pocket underneath. Use towels, sheets, whatever held up with duct tape. You should be fine down to the teens with that in place. The crawl space under my house never freezes even at 15 deg outside temps. The ground underneath is a huge heat sink and keeps that space warmer than outside.

David

[charliem]

[font size="3"]A short dip to the lower 20s should be OK as long as it warms up he next day. David's comments are well taken, particularly about not driving in sub freezing temps. I'll add a few points:

[ol type="decimal"][li]Keep the fresh water tank near full. The large thermal mass of the water will keep it from freezing.
[/li][li]If at a campground, disconnect both ends of your fresh water hose and drain it before going to bed. It will freeze overnight. Use the pump overnight.
[/li][li]If you're worried, run a hot water faucet once or twice before dawn until you feel the hot water. That will draw water from the tank and warm most of the water system.[/li][li]If you haven't put some insulation on the floor, be careful. The bare aluminum gets very cold and can collect ice.[/li][li]Leave the lower cabinet doors sightly ajar to allow heat to circulate around the plumbing.[/li][li]If you winterize remember the toilet flusher hose. The foot operated valve is vulnerable and may be the first thing to break if there's no heat inside.
[/li][/ol]

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[shovelhead]

Going out to check my rig.  It's winterized but it was pretty cold here last night.

[mozmichael]

I did have freeze damage in my 2012 16DB, when I was negligent in properly winterizing the water lines. Apparently the shower knob assembly/diverter ruptured when the temps dipped down into the low 30's/upper 20's, which is about as cold as it gets in Portland, OR.  I found this out when we took it out on the road in late February and water started running onto the floor, beneath the shower pan, during showers.

Opening up the rear shower panel revealed not only the source of the leak, but an unanticipated piece of WOOD underneath the shower pan. I know I am not the first person to find wood in a Camplite trailer, nor was it the first time I'd found wood in unexpected parts of the camper.

[livinthegoodlife]

Ha, Just for a joke I looked at my husband the other night and asked him if he wanted to sleep out in the camper.  I told him that this would certainly be trying out the winter camping.  It was only -12 out.  lol  Sorry, I had to throw this in!!

[livinthegoodlife]

Ha, Just for a joke I looked at my husband the other night and asked him if he wanted to sleep out in the camper.  I told him that this would certainly be trying out the winter camping.  It was only -12 out.  lol  Sorry, I had to throw this in!!

[jeffrey]

thing that would worry me on mine are the pipes that drain the gray water tank. 1" UN-insulated and about 6' or so long black plastic of some kind.  Far enough away from the floor to receive no benefit from heating. Especially since I insulated my floor. Doubt heating my unit would help any of my plumbing. Pex lines I don't worry about as much cause they are supposed to be able to expand and contract when they freeze. And experience has born this out for me. So I might be inclined to buy some of that black foam they commonly use on ac lines for the drain pipes.  My experience is the second the temp reaches 32 my hoses outside are frozen. I suspect that is the same with any exposed pex under my unit. Almost certainty the drain plugs for the pex freeze as soon as the temp reaches 32. So there wouldn't be any last minute chance of draining the unit if I decided later I didn't want to chance it.

[shonsu]

We took our 16DB out for the first time mid-January.  In south Louisiana we don't normally have to worry about freezing but that night it got down to 28.  We had the heater running but I made the mistake of leaving the bathroom door shut and the toilet valve froze and cracked.  If I had left the door open I don't think that would have happened.  Lesson learned!