[Bill]

If you are staying in a campground with full hookups - electric/water/sewer - temperatures in the 20's don't have to be a big deal. And you should be able to use your water system. In most cases, it just takes some thinking about each aspect of your system, to clarify what to do. A hair dryer with a sturdy extension cord will be your best friend.

The fresh water hose from the campground spigot to your TM will freeze if left connected and full of water. So before you go to bed, fill your fresh water tank, and then disconnect the hose - both ends - drain it, and lay it out on the ground near its original route. In the morning, just hook it up again. Although the hose will be stiff, and may crackle with small amounts of ice from water left inside it, it will be easy to hook up since you left it near its original position.

Any water that is in the sewer drain pipes under the camper will freeze. So before you go to bed, open both valves, and thoroughly drain at least the gray tank. My preference is to close both drain valves, but some people leave them open. Residual moisture in those valves will cause both of them to freeze closed (or open) during the night, but won't hurt them. To thaw them in the morning, either use the hair dryer, or run a bit of hot water down the kitchen sink and some more into the toilet. When the water hits the valves, it will thaw them.

Any water that is in the sewer hose (slinky) from your TM to the campground's sewer connection will freeze during the night. So before you go to bed, after you have drained the tanks, disconnect and drain the hose thoroughly, then reconnect it. One non-obvious thing is this. When you drain the slinky hose, small amounts of water will stay in the spiral crease of the hose, and this water will freeze into small sharp crystals. If you bend or flex the hose, these small crystals will puncture and tear the plastic, causing small leaks. If this happens, you must buy another hose. So don't touch that hose until a significant amount of water has passed through it to melt the crystals.

It will be warm inside your TM, so none of the plumbing that is exposed to this warmth will freeze. This includes the fresh water tank, the water heater, the water pump, and all the plumbing under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, as well as the black water tank in the toilet. During the night, leave the cabinet doors and the bathroom door open so the warm air from the room can circulate around those items. Leave the water heater turned on, of course. In the morning, you can switch on the water pump. It will pump water from the fresh water tank, so you can shower, brush your teeth, or wash dishes as usual. In each of those cases, when the warm water runs down the drain, it will thaw the dump valves if they have frozen closed.

There is one more thing that few have considered, but many have paid for (including me). Your TM has an outside shower, and there will be water trapped in the shower head and the faucets. So before you go to bed, at a time when there is no pressure in the water system, open the compartment door, pull out the hose, and unscrew the shower head. Allow the hose to drain. Open the hot and cold valves to allow them to drain thoroughly, then close them. Either take the shower head indoors, or shake the water out of it and replace it on the end of the hose. Then, push the hose back into the compartment, and close the compartment door.

That's about it. Temps well below zero can be a different story, but for modestly freezing temps, it is not too hard.

Bill