Should I use fresh water tank in cold night?

[Hobbit]

I have the Lippert sensors in my frig, freezer, basement, and extra frig in the garage. They work great when in the RV. Integrated nicely into the one control app. I am not a huge fan of the app, but it works, and is good enough .

Not to get off on a tangent, too much....so I'll start by saying that I found out from the previous owner of my 397TH that "winterizing" is a complete waste of effort, since I'm living in the RV. He assured me it's rated down to ZERO degrees F, with just setting the furnace around 50. No worry of any pex, Nautilus, etc, and tank heaters will take care of the tanks.

This is great news. Only thought I have is that next time (I'm in TX, SW of Houston, where it's supposed to hit about 19-degrees F on Thursday night, and be freezing for a few days) is that I'm just going to use electric heat and likely put a 60-watt bulb or two in the basement. That way I wouldn't even need to use propane.


OK, so onto my tangent: Lippert Refridgerator and Freezer monitors: Can I adjust the temps independently?!?! (Norcold refridgerator/freezer) I've had an issue with the temps being too close together...when I get the freezer cold enough, stuff in the fridge starts freezing...and when I get the fridge at the right temp, the freezer isn't cold enough. I only have one display and one setting that I know of. Does someone know if I can control the setting for the freezer separately? If not, anyone have a mod that might get these temps a bit further apart (I'm at 6 on the setting, with the refrigerator plenty cold, so there's room to go up or down as needed).

[huntindog]

Not to get off on a tangent, too much....so I'll start by saying that I found out from the previous owner of my 397TH that "winterizing" is a complete waste of effort, since I'm living in the RV. He assured me it's rated down to ZERO degrees F, with just setting the furnace around 50. No worry of any pex, Nautilus, etc, and tank heaters will take care of the tanks.

This is great news. Only thought I have is that next time (I'm in TX, SW of Houston, where it's supposed to hit about 19-degrees F on Thursday night, and be freezing for a few days) is that I'm just going to use electric heat and likely put a 60-watt bulb or two in the basement. That way I wouldn't even need to use propane.


OK, so onto my tangent: Lippert Refridgerator and Freezer monitors: Can I adjust the temps independently?!?! (Norcold refridgerator/freezer) I've had an issue with the temps being too close together...when I get the freezer cold enough, stuff in the fridge starts freezing...and when I get the fridge at the right temp, the freezer isn't cold enough. I only have one display and one setting that I know of. Does someone know if I can control the setting for the freezer separately? If not, anyone have a mod that might get these temps a bit further apart (I'm at 6 on the setting, with the refrigerator plenty cold, so there's room to go up or down as needed).

Electric heat WILL NOT do it.There is simply no getting around using the propane furnace as it heats the underbelly and storarge/nautilus water control system.

[Dadeo6472]

As long as you keep the water heater on, you don't need to empty it. Use either propane or gas. When we camp in extreme cold (nights below zero F, days below 20 F) in our Imagine we fill the water tank and live off that for days. As long as we use the furnace to heat our camper, the fresh water tank does not freeze.

Grand Design designed these things to withstand really cold weather. The problem is that they don't actually build them that way. Until I did my little project, there were too many warm air leaks.

[Dadeo6472]

Electric heat WILL NOT do it.There is simply no getting around using the propane furnace as it heats the underbelly and storarge/nautilus water control system.

I SECOND THIS!!!!!

The propane furnace with a duct to the belly is the only way to heat that area for sure.

[IBEW Sparky]

@Hobbit

I can't offer any advice on the fridge/freezer temp settings but I can tell you that your making a HUGE mistake by not running the propane furnace on those 19° nights and below 32° days. If you set the furnace around 50° and use only electric heaters in the RV to stay warm the furnace won't run.... the T-stat doesn't care what source of heat is satisfying it so your underbelly and nautilus system won't be getting any heat. Please do yourself a favor and just listen to the advice from people on here that actually camp in sub-freezing temperatures!

[Hobbit]

@Hobbit

I can't offer any advice on the fridge/freezer temp settings but I can tell you that your making a HUGE mistake by not running the propane furnace on those 19° nights and below 32° days. If you set the furnace around 50° and use only electric heaters in the RV to stay warm the furnace won't run.... the T-stat doesn't care what source of heat is satisfying it so your underbelly and nautilus system won't be getting any heat. Please do yourself a favor and just listen to the advice from people on here that actually camp in sub-freezing temperatures!

THanks for all the input. I've been running furnace heat for the basement, and limiting electric heating (except when the thermostat for the furnace is turned up enough to keep it cycling.) As noted, I'm running furnace now, but was simply questioning whether electric in basement might be an option next time around. Looks like consensus is that in really cold weather (I'll be in the Colorado mountains in the winter, down the road) we really need all the heat output of the gas furnace to put out enough heat to keep the basement from freezing. Electric won't do it, is what most are saying....Still, seems like a good, ceramic space heater could do it, if it were located in the basement....and using electric space heater and fireplace inside the living space. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Thanks guys.

[gailngrant]

New to this site and we just purchased a 2020 Reflection 337RLS. We are heading out of the Seattle area in a couple weeks, heading south and may encounter some freezing weather. I thought this unit came with tank heaters but not sure how to figure that out. Does anyone know if this model has them? If they do have them, are they turned on manually or are they thermostatically controlled to come on automatically. Thanks in advance for any replies. gng

[FlyStar]

I have a switch on the command center that turns on all 4 of the tank heaters. They have thermostats built in also. Note: they draw a lot of juice, recommend only using them when on shore power.

When I run them you can hear the cooling fans on the converter speed up.

[Hobbit]

Sorry, don't know if a 2020 Reflection 337RLS has tank heaters or not. 2020 Momentum 397TH has them and they must be turned on to be operational, which is done in the control panel (Lippert One Control) in the "Monitor Panel" menu. There is an option to turn on the "tank heater" (but I believe it's on both fresh water tanks...and probably on other tanks as well...two grey and two black). I've read that once the setting is "on", the thermostat will activate them at 45-degrees and off at 67-degrees, so you can just leave them turned on in cold weather. I would guess that the owner's manual can be found online for your model at Grand Designs. Good luck.

[Texdan]

Sorry, don't know if a 2020 Reflection 337RLS has tank heaters or not. 2020 Momentum 397TH has them and they must be turned on to be operational, which is done in the control panel (Lippert One Control) in the "Monitor Panel" menu. There is an option to turn on the "tank heater" (but I believe it's on both fresh water tanks...and probably on other tanks as well...two grey and two black). I've read that once the setting is "on", the thermostat will activate them at 45-degrees and off at 67-degrees, so you can just leave them turned on in cold weather. I would guess that the owner's manual can be found online for your model at Grand Designs. Good luck.

Just curious, we have a 2020 Reflection 29RS which has the tank heaters. We were camping during the frigid Texas weather over Christmas, I didn't know if the heaters would keep tanks (Black, Grey and Fresh) warm or not in low teens so I drained all of them and unhooked hoses. Would the warmers protect me from this type of temperatures?