In the winter time I have heard that you should let the faucet run a little so the pipes won't freeze but have also heard that running the faucet can do more harm than good. So which is the best way to go about keeping your pipes from freezing? Let the faucet run a little bit or not.
Terry and Jo said
02:26 PM Aug 23, 2013
Coly,
I would imagine that it can be done, but you would want to make sure that your grey water tank valve was opened so that the tank didn't overflow. In addition, your discharge hose may be accumulating ice and building up. Quite some time ago, one of the RV Dreams forum participants wrote about waking up to find that their "stinky-slinky" was completely frozen closed. The water had built up in the small "valleys" of the expansion folds and eventually just kept freezing until the hose was blocked.
If your underbelly is heated some by your furnace, it might not be a problem. In our fifth wheel, I use a remote, wireless indoor-outdoor thermometer with two remote sensors to monitor the outside temperatures, the underbelly temperatures and the interior coach temperatures. Even in 14 degree weather this last winter, our underbelly never got even close to freezing temperatures.
Terry
igotjam said
02:59 PM Aug 23, 2013
As a Canadian, we deal with below 32 often. We leave everything normal (taps off, water connected) as long as it doesn't get below about 28 overnight. Usually is OK. Colder than that, the fresh water hose will freeze up. If it freezes, those temps usually cause no damage and daytime sun and warmup with thaw the hose. When colder than that, we fill the tank and use the onboard pump. Also only dump when your tanks are full. Fresh water hose is disconnected then and we fill the tanks when empty. In the mid 20s the problem is usually that the park water supply is frozen or shut down for the winter and we get a water service (tank truck) to deliver water to fill our tank. As long as you run your furnace your water in your rv should be OK. There are folks who run a trickle of water through their system all the time and it works for a while but will eventually freeze up your sewer hose. Not sure its good for your taps either.
In the winter time I have heard that you should let the faucet run a little so the pipes won't freeze but have also heard that running the faucet can do more harm than good. So which is the best way to go about keeping your pipes from freezing? Let the faucet run a little bit or not.
Coly,
I would imagine that it can be done, but you would want to make sure that your grey water tank valve was opened so that the tank didn't overflow. In addition, your discharge hose may be accumulating ice and building up. Quite some time ago, one of the RV Dreams forum participants wrote about waking up to find that their "stinky-slinky" was completely frozen closed. The water had built up in the small "valleys" of the expansion folds and eventually just kept freezing until the hose was blocked.
If your underbelly is heated some by your furnace, it might not be a problem. In our fifth wheel, I use a remote, wireless indoor-outdoor thermometer with two remote sensors to monitor the outside temperatures, the underbelly temperatures and the interior coach temperatures. Even in 14 degree weather this last winter, our underbelly never got even close to freezing temperatures.
Terry