Solution: A One Night Freeze In Your RV
If you’re camping somewhere with moderate daytime temperatures that dip to freezing overnight, you may wonder if that presents a problem. If the freezing temperatures only last for a few hours, probably not.
Most, if not all, of your water lines, are inside the RV; unless the inside of your RV drops below freezing long enough to freeze the lines, it’s not an issue. Likewise, the water inside your tank would take quite some time to freeze solid.
Preventing Water Lines From Freezing While Camping
The first thing you should do is check the weather report; look to see exactly how long it’s projected to freeze overnight. Often, the freezing temperatures are only for a couple of hours, right at sunrise. If that’s the case, you probably don’t need to worry. Likewise, if you’re heating the interior of your RV, a few hours of freezing temperatures should not affect you.
However, an entire night of freezing temperatures could be an issue. The most important thing to do for one night of freezing temperatures is to keep the interior warm, since most of the water hoses are inside, under the sinks and behind the shower.
If you’re at a campground with a water hook-up, unhook the hose before you go to bed, to prevent that from freezing. Turn on the water pump overnight. You can also open the doors to the cabinets under the sinks, to let warm air in. Running water won’t freeze, so run the faucets every so often to keep the water moving. If you get up to go to the bathroom during the night, run the faucets, just a little.
The Snowbird Lifestyle
One of the beautiful things about the RV lifestyle is the ability to follow the warm weather; most full-time RVers are “snowbirds” who “fly south” as the winter sets in. Rather than staying somewhere cold, you might consider moving to someplace warm.
If You Can’t Move
If you’re living in your RV somewhere cold, and you can’t move, there are a few things you can do.
- Get an insulated or heated freshwater hose. You can buy water hoses with an electrical heater built-in.
- Skirt your RV; that means blocking off the underside, to prevent cold air from blowing underneath it.
- Once you skirt your RV, you can also place a small electric heater under there to keep it warm.
- Keep the interior warm with a heater.
- Cover the windows to keep the cold air out.
The bottom line is, most RVs are not built to withstand prolonged freezing temperatures. RVs are built with snowbirds in mind. If you must stay in a cold place, the best thing to do is to skirt the RV and keep it heated.
Related Video: