JimMels-Rig
Tempe
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Friends and family are going to spend a few days in northern Arizona.
We have a 38 ft 5er with a good heater from propane and at least 2 electric heaters. Have reserved a 50 amp hook up.
We will have hookup's but my concern is freezing up the water pipes and holding tanks. I have looked into the Ultraheat pads,but a little expensive. I figure I'll need at least 5 pads then what about the connecting pipes. ANY SUGGESTIONS! HELP!!
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Ovaleye
Iowa
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Joined: 10/22/2005
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How cold do you think its going to get?
Tim
2003 Safari Sahara
2006 Jeep Liberty
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rv2go
Somewhere between Knoxville, TN and the coast.
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I know that water is a precious commodity in AZ, but could you let the water drip at a good pace. This should keep the lines from freezing inside. Thats what I did last night. Dump your holding tanks and keep the grey valve open.
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skipnchar
Topeka Kansas USA
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Ultra heat is a really good product. Along with an enclosed and insulated underbelly they take the worry out of winter RV use. Good luck / Skip
2004 F-150 HD 3,050 lb. payload
Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
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JimMels-Rig
Tempe
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Ovaleye,it is possible for temps to get to overnight low of -5 maybe lower as we get into mid january!!
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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A lot of fifth wheels built now have a furnace heater line going into the basement storage compartment where the tanks are located. Also they put the battery charger there too, and that will give off some heat as well.
What I am doing is running a 1,500 watt heater inside and if I had a 50 amp service, then a 1,500 watt heater set on low heat with a thermostat set to about 55F will keep the tanks from freezing, and keep the area below the bedroom kinda warm under your feet.
You can run a heater in the bedroom, another in the kitchen, and a third in the living area. You will need to find 3 seperate circuits to put the heaters on, so you don't exceed 16 amps per circuit. Running two heaters on low will also work.
Then you will only need a little bit of furnace run time.
I don't like the oil filled electric heaters because of their large size and hot surface temperature. I also don't like the very compact ceramic heaters due to the 140F+ air output temperatures. I think it is hot enough to ignight something.
I have a small portable heater with a fairly quiet fan. Make sure you test the fan before getting one. It seems much noisier at night! It also must have a thermostat in order to leave it on at night - for automatic opperation.
Fred.
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tatest
Oklahoma
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Some fivers have all the fresh and waste water tanks and plumbing inside the space heated by the furnace, either in the living area or insulated basement areas fed by ducts from the furnace.
Others have some tanks exposed underneath the floor, plumbing hanging outside (especially waste plumbing and dump valves) with no consideration for winter use.
There is a whole lot of variation in between, i.e. partial enclosure, with or without heating, enclosed tanks but exposed drain plumbing, etc.
What to do, to handle how cold, depends on where your trailer falls in this spectrum. If you have a well made four-season RV, most likely all you need to do is keep the furnace running. If you have a warm season RV, one of the best ways to cope with cold weather is to surround the RV with an insulating skirt, so that heat leaking through the floor will keep the space under the RV warm. This is how mobile homes cope.
Tom Test
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Ovaleye
Iowa
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JimMels-Rig wrote:Ovaleye,it is possible for temps to get to overnight low of -5 maybe lower as we get into mid january!!
To cold think I'll stick with Yuma........
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BurbMan
Long Island, NY
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Joined: 09/20/2001
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Also bear in mind that the fridge won't work properly at temps below freezing....the ammonia absorbtion process gets pretty inefficient. There was thread recently in Tech Issues on this.
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Mousefart
New Jersey
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Golden_HVAC wrote:I also don't like the very compact ceramic heaters due to the 140F+ air output temperatures. I think it is hot enough to ignight something.
Fred.
Just an FYI to make you feel safer...
The ignition point of paper (probably the most flammable thing you would have in your RV) is 451 F. The ignition point of gasoline is actually HIGHER at around 496 F.
The hot air blowing out of you RV furnace AND the forced air furnaces in people's homes can be up to 200 F.
Hot water baseboard heating systems run between 180 F and 200 F.
As long as they are UL approved (with overtemp cutoffs), those little heaters aren't going to ignite anything at 140 F.
Paul (Mouse)
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