Frozen Water System

I'm in Wisconsin.

We managed to not winterize our 2720SL, and over the weekend it froze.

The toilet and grey tank were empty, but the fresh water tank was 1/2 full, and I'm sure the water heater is too. The fresh water tank is a block of ice.

Any opinions on how much trouble I'm in and what is likely to need repair or replacement? Is there any benefit in defrosting it now, probably by hauling it in the garage and getting some space heaters, or should I jest wait for March?

Hi - If it was me I'd haul it in and thaw it out. Plus there may be places that didn't freeze yet and it will only get colder in WI. You might have more to fix if you wait.

It's the water pump that would worry me the most - I understand it isn't a trivial replacement job. The fresh water tank and the water heater may have had enough room for the water to expand.

Besides - then you have all winter to fix it at your leisure and be ready to camp in the spring!

The water heater can burst if the ice is left in it. I would do all I could to thaw it out and drain it - if it's not already cracked. I have seen a lot of cracked water heaters - I hope your's isn't.

I hope your TM is okay with this too.

I would defrost it and remove the water at least, because if your temps are like ours, it will probably get above freezing at some point. You don't want things thawing and refreezing, as that will continue to stress things. You might have expanded the diameter of some pipes and such, but not quite broke them - but if a thaw occurs, more water will run down into those now expanded pipes, and when the next freeze occurs it will try to make the pipe yet bigger, etc. Obviously it will burst at some point.

I'd turn on the water heater and furnace and look for leaks. Open the faucets and drains. If the holding tanks are frozen, try running some hot water in. The plastic fresh water tank should be pretty durable to expansion. After everything is thawed, close the openings and run up the pump to see how you faired.

Well, the TM gods have smiled on me. No leaks, water heater works fine and the liner seems intact.

The water pump makes a noise, but doesn't seem to do much pumping, so I'm going to replace that. A relatively contained fix that is a lot less expensive than it could have been