Camping in the Teens

Well, we have cold weather camped for two seasons in the TM now, but this year brought some firsts. This February brought nights in the low teens here in VA and we had some issues with freezing water.

Item 1. Quick hose connections for water hoses must be allowed to drain unless you have installed heat tape (for home pipes) under the pipe wrap and plugged it in.

Item 2. In extremely cold weather (10 F and below for us south of the Mason Dixon) the condensation accumulation inside the TM will actually freeze your damp linens to the walls of the trailer. My remedy--a slightly opened vent and door window, and a piece of foiled bubble insulation from the home center placed between the mattress and the TM shell walls.

Item 3. The potable water line running from the tank to the bathroom in the 3023 passes behind the fridge and next to the open fins of the compartment cover. This piece of pipe needs to be insulated because IT WILL FREEZE. Fair warning!

Item 4. Even after you have insulated this particular piece of pipe, don't expect your shower to work unless you have left warm water dripping through the showerhead overnight. The pipes in the 3023 run from the bathroom sink area through the wall to the shower. Since the insulation is now half what it should be, they freeze.

Item 5. When you suspect that the weather will be getting near freezing level or below before you use your TM again, do pour anti-freeze down the drains after emptying the gray water and allow the traps to accumulate enough chemical to keep your pipes running. We didn't the last time we shut down and our gray water valve (and tub) was all stopped up with ice. Even though we were not prepared with a heated water hose at the outset, it was a good thing we had purchased the heat tape (pipe heating type)to "fix" the hose. Bill wrapped it around the "sewer" pipe, plugged it in and allowed the heat to melt the ice.

Item 6. The wheel wells of the TM have NO INSULATION AT ALL You can feel the cold just pouring off of the bare metal, especially in the bathroom. Solution: more of that wonderful foil covered bubble insulation and some duct tape. Cut a pattern from newspaper before cutting the insulation. Tape the half moon section in place and then tape everything else to it and to the well itself.

Hope our foibles help you to avoid similar problems. Enjoy your TM no matter what the weather--we do!

Lisa