Overnight Freeze Protection Choices

[gregpallen]

We will soon be heading to Florida for the winter and departing from Michigan. Looking at our first overnight stop weather forecast, I noted that overnight temperature in Clinton TN will be around 20F. So thinking about choices for freeze protection of my water supply there are a couple of choices that come to mind.

1. Purchase a heated water supply hose and use the city water setting. (50 ft is around $150). Seems a bit expensive for a one night deal that may not get used again for another year.

2. Fill my holding tank and use the on board water pump. Disconnect and drain the supply hose before temperature drops below freezing. I am assuming that with heat on inside the trailer that the fresh water holding tank will not freeze. ( this is the option I am leaning towards)

3. Don’t connect water supply and use campground facilities for showers and bathroom. (Not a preferred option due to inconvenience depending on location of campsite relative to facilities.)

I would like to hear from those of you that have dealt with this situation and am interested in your experiences as well as pro and con.

BTW - we will arrive in Clinton TN at around 4:00 pm and depart at around 7:00 am next morning. Our next stop is Jennings FL on the way to St. Pete FL so no worries on cold temperature after TN.

Greg

[Calbar]

We will soon be heading to Florida for the winter and departing from Michigan. Looking at our first overnight stop weather forecast, I noted that overnight temperature in Clinton TN will be around 20F. So thinking about choices for freeze protection of my water supply there are a couple of choices that come to mind.

1. Purchase a heated water supply hose and use the city water setting. (50 ft is around $150). Seems a bit expensive for a one night deal that may not get used again for another year.

2. Fill my holding tank and use the on board water pump. Disconnect and drain the supply hose before temperature drops below freezing. I am assuming that with heat on inside the trailer that the fresh water holding tank will not freeze. ( this is the option I am leaning towards)

3. Don’t connect water supply and use campground facilities for showers and bathroom. (Not a preferred option due to inconvenience depending on location of campsite relative to facilities.)

I would like to hear from those of you that have dealt with this situation and am interested in your experiences as well as pro and con.

BTW - we will arrive in Clinton TN at around 4:00 pm and depart at around 7:00 am next morning. Our next stop is Jennings FL on the way to St. Pete FL so no worries on cold temperature after TN.

Greg

When I have done this at March Break or at Christmas we put water in the fresh water tank and use that. It has always worked great. Next week we head down to Florida and I plan to put some water in the fresh water tank.

Rob

[gregpallen]

When I have done this at March Break or at Christmas we put water in the fresh water tank and use that. It has always worked great. Next week we head down to Florida and I plan to put some water in the fresh water tank.

Rob

Thanks Rob. I suspected that the fresh water tank would be ok for a short duration freeze

[gordofuchs]

One of the things we did was to purchase a remote temperature display with three sending units. I put one in the hook up panel and one right next to the water pump and keeping the last one for a spare. We keep about a third of a tank full and draw off the tank. I have been surprised at the temp readings and how much higher they are even during temps below freezing, although we do not camp in extreme cold. The remotes give us a good idea of what's happening near the water distribution area.

[BB&LAB]

For one night or even just a few nights and if cold weather camping is not in your future, I would just fill your tank and use it via the pump. If you do decide to get a heated hose, I would get a 25' rather than 50' as it is rare you will need more than 25', so you can save some $. Make sure you have your furnace on overnight rather than just a portable heater and if your rig has tank heaters, turn them on if much below 32 degrees to protect the plumbing and tanks.

[Keebler]

Bruce makes the key point above; turn on the propane furnace; don't just use space heaters. The furnace diverts some warm air to the basement.

[D2Reid]

I choose door number 2, put some water in the tank and drain the hose. What I typically do for short term freezing conditions. Turning on the tank heater (if you have them) is a good idea also.

Hose length is of course a personal preference. If you know the place you are going to then you will of course know the length that you need. While a 50' heated hose is way more expensive than the 25' heated hose I have chosen to get the longer hose. It's heavier, harder to handle, but when sitting for a month or two in freezing conditions I like to be able to reach the water supply no matter where it is.

[AustexGP]

We where in Heber City Utah during the first part of October and the morning temps were around 17 degrees. The campground told everyone to fill there tanks and disconnect from the campground water supply by nightfall. We ran the heater and fireplace to get and keep the camper comfortable then left the furnace set around 68 overnight. We had no problems.

[WE-C-USA]

For an overnight? Are you already winterized?
If you're not winterized, then put your normal amount of fresh water in and hit the road. Using the pump.
If you are, one night you can go without a lot of water. I'd just carry a couple 1 gal. jugs of water to use for an overnite stay.

[Elhunter853]

We stayed in our 2016 Solitude for the winter in Colorado and it got down to -17 degrees and we had a heated hose, for our overnight and short time freezing temps we just use the fresh water tank and pump and in three years have not had any issues.