How Do We Stay Warm and Prevent Frozen Pipes?
A few years ago, when we both attended the National RV Training Academy in Athens, Texas, one of the students asked a question about “winterizing” an RV. The instructor, a native of southern Texas, replied with, “What does that mean? Winterize an RV?” He continued with, “If you have to winterize an RV, you’re RVing WRONG!” Haha! Indeed! The idea is that if your house is on wheels, you should move it to somewhere more climate friendly!
Well, seeing as how we are from northern Illinois, we are well used to winterizing our RV. We are currently in the panhandle of Texas (the square at the top of the state), and while it doesn’t get Chicago style frigid temps, it certainly can get cold, and have some below freezing temps overnight. So how do we handle staying warm while living inside a fiberglass and aluminum box on a steel chassis in the cold weather?
NOTE: Keep this in mind~ When workamping, we are at a complimentary full hook-up site, we aren’t paying for electricity. However, if we choose to use propane for heat, we have to pay to refill our own propane tanks. So, being frugal people, we don’t choose the propane option very often!
Outside~ We have a heated water supply hose. We can keep this plugged in all the time and the hose thermostat will automatically start heating the hose when the temperature falls below 45*F. This will keep the supply from the campground hydrant (supply) from freezing all the way into the RV water bay.
The water bay is heated two different ways. The first is from the onboard propane, forced hot air, furnace. There are two duct vents, one in the pass-through storage and one behind the pass-through storage wall where the water supply and distribution system is housed. This keeps that bay warm. However, the furnace ignition temperature is based on what the living space of the RV is set at. To save on propane costs, we will often opt for option two which is to plug in and turn on a small office (desk) type of electric heater. This will warm the water bay quickly and easily. There is also a vented opening from the living space into the water bay so that heat from the living space can warm the water bay. We have three holding tanks on board; fresh water (we rarely have water in it because we use city water from the spigot), gray water (sink and shower) and black water (toilet). All three tanks have thermostatically activated electric heating pads on them. This will keep those tanks from freezing.
Inside~ Refer back to the NOTE above, before reading this bit. On the inside of the RV we have many options. We have a 1500W thermostatically controlled heater with blower. We have another small 1000W desk type heater with blower. The RV has a 1500W fireplace with blower. In the bedroom, we don’t need any additional heat source…It’s too hot to handle! OK…for real, we have a 1500W oil heater as well as a dual control heated blanket.
During the day and evening, if it is cold in the RV, we will run some combination of fireplace and portable heaters. We don’t heat the bedroom during the day. At night, we don’t heat the living space, just the bedroom.
We can already hear our RV friends asking…What’s your amp draw? How many watts are you pulling through those electric wires??? Fear not, the living room 1500W heater is plugged into its own outlet at the pedestal, not into the RV electrical system. We ran a super heavy duty 10 gauge extension cord through the slide seal. We never run a number of appliances / heaters at the same time and we monitor our draw with our WatchDog EMS app.
Still not comfy??? Old school…wear a hoodie, sweatshirt and a hat, cover up with a blanket!
We monitor temperatures all around the RV. We have a Bluetooth thermometer system set up so we can tell temperatures from 4 different areas; Outside Air Temperature, Living Space Air Temperature, Water Bay Temperature (behind the panel), and Pass-through Storage Temperature. This system will alarm if any of the RV readings fall below 35*F. We also have a thermostat in the bedroom and one in the “hallway.” The hallway thermostat controls the furnace (propane usage) and air conditioner in the living area.
We hope this explanation answers the question of how we stay warm, when we aren’t “RVing correctly” and how we keep from having to deal with frozen pipes.
What other questions do you have? Drop them in the comments below.
We can access the portable electric heater plug through one of the “tool” drawers.
Behind the middle drawer is the access to plug in the portable heater to heat the back side of the water bay.
This is the front of the water bay. There is a wireless thermometer velcroed to the back of this panel telling us what the temperature is on the “business” side of the bay.
You may need to zoom in on this pic. Beyond the white portable heater is the back of the water bay.
In this pic you can see the blue heater water hose. It is a regular RV water hose wrapped in a heating element. It is thermostatically controlled and will turn on on its own when the temperature drops below 45*F (so long as it is plugged in).
We’ve never had a real fireplace…and we still don’t! But this electric fireplace can generate 1500W of forced hot air to heat the living space of the RV.
This electric oil heater is practically an antique! But, it does a great job of providing supplemental heat in the RV.
This is just a closer pic of the water bay and the electric heater.
When necessary, we can plug in the water bay heater. That white thing you see plugged in is an electronic “rodent” deterrent We have one here, one under the RV, and one in the kitchen.
That black vent at the top/center of the photo is a furnace vent. The propane-fired furnace can provide 30,000 BTU of heat. The ductwork runs through the RV’s floor and also into the pass-through storage bay.
This is a 10 guage extension cord that is plugged into the pedestal outside, on a separate circuit breaker. We run the cord from the pedestal through a small opening in the slide corner into the RV. Then we plug in one of the auxiliary heaters, if necessary. The steel wool is our effort to keep out critters!
This organized chaos is actually pretty well organized! We have the Power WatchDog Electricity Management System (EMS) plugged into the pedestal and then the RV plugged into the EMS. We have the cord connections inside the plastic tote to protect it from the rain.
This is the campground’s water hydrant. It has a freeze-proof hydrant that shuts off the water several feet below the frost line. The blue hose is our heated hose. The white thing you see hanging off is the thermostat for the hose.
A closer shot of the Watch Dog EMS and the “rain-proof” container.
This little gem is priceless at $30!!! There are 3 wireless thermometers connected to this main display. The top reading is the temp and humidity outside in the elements. #2 is the reading from the pass-through storage bay. #3 is the reading in the behind the water bay area. It is vented and gets heat from the living area of the RV. This is also the area we have a portable heater that we can plug in if the temperature drops to freezing. Inside you can see we are at a toasty 70 degrees!!!
If you are curious about any of the RV supplies used in this article, you can find most of them in our Amazon Store! Please feel free to ask us any questions you might have! We really enjoy educating on RV living!