Froze Up, I Think

[campingfeen]

I just bought a 30 foot 2021 Image 2600RB trailer last month. I full time and work in Kansas. Its 8 degrees outside and the only running water I have is cold coming from the kitchen sink, no hot water anywhere. I'm using the water in the fresh water tank, the water pump is working since I have water in the kitchen sink. Up until this cold spell I had hot and cold water everywhere. I've had several campers through the years but this is my first Grand Design. I think the fresh water tank is located under the kitchen sink somewhere and this is probably why I have cold water in the kitchen and the water pump is under the kitchen sink. So what is keeping the cold water from reaching the bathroom sink, toilet and shower from the pump and kitchen? Since there is no cold water getting to the bathroom means there's no water pressure for the hot water to be pushed through the hot water lines. Does this sound correct? I've had electric heaters blowing hot air under both kitchen and bathroom sinks which isn't helping. Question, the water lines from the kitchen (cold water to the bathroom and hot water coming back from the hot water tank) going back to the bathroom, are they in a heated duct or plenum? Is there a check valve somewhere that's keeping the cold water from reaching the bathroom and hot water tank and shower? Does Grand Design have a troubleshooting telephone number for assistance? Thanks for any input!!

[FT4NOW]

Are you using the furnace along with the electric heaters? If you don't run the furnace, you wont provide any heat to the underbelly which would explain the freezing.

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[Ynot4me2]

What @FT4NOW said. Its your furnace that heats the underbelly where your tanks and pipes are so if its not coming on then the underbelly is not getting heat. Is your hot water heater also on? So if I understand your situation, you only have cold water in the kitchen and neither hot or cold in the bathroom.

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[campingfeen]

Thanks for the reply. I have been running the furnace along with the electric heaters. According to the brochure it appears the underbelly is heated which makes me think the water lines are not frozen but theres something else stopping the cold water from getting from the water pump located in the kitchen to the bathroom where the hot water heater is located. Plus theres no cold water back at the bathroom also. I look at the water pump and theres a white hose with blue stripes going from the pump into the and under the floor and appearing to going back to the bathroom. Under the bathroom sink there is a white hose with blue stripes coming up from the floor and splits. One split sends cold water to the water heater and another split goes to the bathroom sink and a third split goes to the shower. I'm thinking the 15 foot white and blue striped hose coming off the pump is blocked, maybe with a check valve, cutting off cold water to the bathroom and hot water heater. I'm hoping this is not the case because this would be a bad design putting a valve in the duct to where you can't get to it without tearing up a lot of stuff. I'm kind of at a loss on this.

[campingfeen]

Thanks for the reply. I have been running the furnace along with the electric heaters. According to the brochure it appears the underbelly is heated which makes me think the water lines are not frozen but theres something else stopping the cold water from getting from the water pump located in the kitchen to the bathroom where the hot water heater is located. Plus theres no cold water back at the bathroom also. I look at the water pump and theres a white hose with blue stripes going from the pump into the and under the floor and appearing to going back to the bathroom. Under the bathroom sink there is a white hose with blue stripes coming up from the floor and splits. One split sends cold water to the water heater and another split goes to the bathroom sink and a third split goes to the shower. I'm thinking the 15 foot white and blue striped hose coming off the pump is blocked, maybe with a check valve, cutting off cold water to the bathroom and hot water heater. I'm hoping this is not the case because this would be a bad design putting a valve in the duct to where you can't get to it without tearing up a lot of stuff. I'm kind of at a loss on this.

Thanks to D2Reid..Boucon..Ynot4me2..Chewwi (where in South Carolina are you? I lived in Summerville and still have kids down there)..Buckskin..FT4Now..Everyone had great ideas and ideas I never heard of, like the low point drain freezing, putting heat tape on the sewer discharge pipe and the water lines being under the belly insulation. I wasnt getting anywhere on thawing out my brand new grand design so I parked it into a heated rv repair garage. 18 hours later the rv tech had it thawed out, everything is working and no busted pipes. I told him to go ahead and winterized the camper, I'm done winter camping for now. The tech told me the hot and cold lines running from the pump, which is mid trailer and under the kitchen sink, back to the hot water heater in the bathroom had frozen. These pipes are about 15 feet long and in a heated duct, I'm assuming. I might be a little guilty of running to much electric heater vs the furnace but once I started freezing up I did start using the furnace more but apparently to late, it never got unfrozen. I called GD and talked with a warranty guy, he said he hates the term "Artic Package" or all season camper. We started talking about the testing procedures to get the artic package label on the camper. As I suspected, GD along with just about every other rv manufacture, the camper gets up into a freezer for eight hours, the they go in the camper and make sure the furnace, ac, radio, tv, water pump still work..thats it, test complete. I told the GD guy I thought the the artic package was misleading because a eight hour test is not enough. He kind of agreed with me but understandably doesnt want to dog the company thats paying him! I'm guessing that if I wanted to take this camper winter camping in the Wyoming back country I'd have to keep the furnace running 24/7. Thats my story, a little less electric heater and more furnace or head south for the winter! Thanks for all you help and positive attitude and answers. Be careful out there.

[D2Reid]

I'm guessing that if I wanted to take this camper winter camping in the Wyoming back country I'd have to keep the furnace running 24/7.

All depends on temp's and sunshine. Single digit and below our furnace pretty much runs 24/7. In the teens it runs a lot, but will quit when the sun shines on our black exterior. Double digits up, it cycles on and off. But you think you understand what's needed.

[skier8674]

All depends on temp's and sunshine. Single digit and below our furnace pretty much runs 24/7. In the teens it runs a lot, but will quit when the sun shines on our black exterior. Double digits up, it cycles on and off. But you think you understand what's needed.

I 100% agree with D2Reid's advice on furnace 24/7 in single and sub zero temps. I decided to pull our 31MB out of storage in the middle of the arctic blast here in Colorado. It was -2F when we showed up to the campsite. I only had the interior warmed up to 40 from 15F earlier in the day so we were starting in a hole.

Our main line from the fresh water tank froze because I was starting from behind so we were without water for about 12 hours. The next day/night only go to 4F and was also a -8F night the second night. I ran the furnace 24/7 (set it to 95F) so the fireplace, space heaters and heat pump were keeping the inside at a toasty 72F. This allowed the furnace to keep pumping hot air into the underbelly since it was set to 95F and after about 10 hours during the day we had water again. The following few days have been in the single digits at night but not negative temps. I'm sure if our underbelly and pipes were already warm going into the sub zero temps we would have been able to keep the pipes warm enough by running the furnace 24/7 at a high temp so the space heaters wouldn't shut the furnace off.

I love a good project and enjoy beefing up the specs so I am going to add tank heaters and heat tape/insulation on the lines in our underbelly. Though we are not full time we enjoy the flexibility of going when we want rather than letting weather dictate our plans.

[RVlife1967]

Good thing you got it sorted out and in your favor.

I am sitting in my 2670MK in North Texas right now - it is 10 outside and expected to get colder and stay WAY below freezing until Friday...

I have no flow in my hot water lines - trickled cold last night and its flowing (continue trickling and scared to stop but also concerned of sewer hose freezing...) - keeping an eye on grey tank levels...

Did the low point mod earlier today - running furnace on approx. 78-80 and hoping to have hot water soon (maybe tomorrow or Tuesday...) and no additional water/plumbing problems...

Based on reading I expect my pressure regulator needing to be replaced...its at the supply pole...

***BREAKING NEWS BULLETIN - ROLLING POWER BLACK OUTS NOW IN AFFECT***

Fun stuff!

[Chewwi]

Chewwi (where in South Carolina are you? I lived in Summerville and still have kids down there)

Live near Anderson.

[Buckskin]

Check air ducts coming out of air handler. My 2018 2250RK air duct tube was just hanging from air handler and not routed through hole in floor below air handler. I routed air duct tube through hole in floor to heat underbelly. Also electric heaters may prevent furnace from running enough to keep underbelly warm enough. I can only image at 8 degrees how hard it would be to keep underbelly water lines from freezing even if everything was perfect. You also may need to put a 1,000 watt quartz work light in cargo bay to help keep water lines there warm, make sure it has good clearance from other objects in cargo bay. Cargo bay is where my pump is located and not sure on yours.