Cold Weather Concerns

Hi Everyone,

We purchased a 2017 RW 425 about 3 months ago, absolutely love it. This is our first RV, and have no experience in colder weather. While we have no plans to live in this through a winter in a cold area, we do need to pass through Northern Illinois & Northern Indiana in October and November, before heading south.

This unit does not have the Canadian Arctic Package, no tank heaters. It will be kept at a normal living temp inside with heat from electric and propane at all times. At what outside temperature should I start to be concerned about having issues? I believe all the tanks are in the heated underbelly? Would I need to add an electric space heater in the underbelly storage?

This is all contingent on what the actual temp will be when we pass through. Might be fine, but if a cold front comes through, I want to be prepared. Thanks in advance for any info and advice.

We spent about two weeks this past winter in low temps of 26 degrees. We kept the furnace running to heat the underbelly and I turned the light on in the UDC cabinet. The UDC light actually kept that area about 5 degrees warmer which made a big difference. You will want to be careful using the electric heaters, especially at night, as that will reduce the demand for the furnace thus reducing the amount of heat delivered to the underbelly.

Hi SparkyD,

A heater in the basement storage may not help much with the tanks as they're typically lower and heat rises. The rising heat can keep your thermostat from operating normally. And as said, if you use electric heat inside the coach, the furnace won't run and the underbelly will not get any heat.

One thing to consider is that weather reports usually project temps at the airport or at some location that may have a temperature different from your location. Sometimes the difference can be 5-10 degrees.

You may be ok down to 20 (F) if you run the furnace. Since you don't have tank heaters, it might be a good idea to keep minimum possible in the tanks. And be very sure you don't have any slow leaks at the gate valves or you could have an ice buildup in the sewer line.

For other tips, take a look at our owner-written Water Systems Winter Usage Guide.

You say passing through, are you just passing through or spending some time in those coldish climate states. October and November are still T-shirt and shorts months.
If just passing through you might consider winterizing your rig and using gallons of water for your needs.
We leave Wisconsin in early January when the temps have been in the low single digits. We use gallons of water till we get to Mississippi, then de-winterize.
Works for us but may not be your cup of tea.

Peace
Dave

Thanks for the info. We are planning on staying in Northern Illinois for all of October/early November, and have to swing by Elkhart (Heartland) for warranty work around mid-November. After that, headed to Florida for the winter. We grew up in Illinois, so I'm not too concerned about the "typical" weather that time of year. It's an early cold front that has me concerned. I will have to keep an eye on the weather forecast, and make my decisions from there. Thanks for the tips!

Being a cheesehead myself - You should be more concerned about an early cold snap putting ice on the roads...

Sarge

hi, I am still kind of a newbee and don't even know how to put up my own posts here. I am headed up to the mountains in a few days, and am concerned about the possible effects of the freezing temperatures on my 2013 Landmark 5th wheel. The temperatures are projected in the 7 to 39 degree range. Can anyone offer some good advice? Thanx, nodoubtthomas

Nodoubtthomas said:

hi, I am still kind of a newbee and don't even know how to put up my own posts here. I am headed up to the mountains in a few days, and am concerned about the possible effects of the freezing temperatures on my 2013 Landmark 5th wheel. The temperatures are projected in the 7 to 39 degree range. Can anyone offer some good advice? Thanx, nodoubtthomas

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Hi nodoubgtthomas,

In cold weather the primary issue is how to keep the holding tanks and water lines from freezing. If you have the YETI option, which includes tank heaters and heat tape on the underbelly portion of the fresh tank water feed line, you're almost ready. You'll also need to run the furnace so that hot air is pushed into the underbelly.

Our owner-written Water Systems Winter Usage Guide has tips on what else you should do to protect water system components in sub-freezing weather.

A search in the search bar at the upper right will bring up some threads that will help but basically if you have low point drains and fresh water tank drains below the bottom of the trailer be sure they are covered with some sort of insulation. Insulate the UDC to prevent cold air from coming into the UDC from below the trailer and freezing up lines and the water pump. Keep the heater running during the night and/or freezing temps to pump warm air into the under belly. If you will have 120 V connections a heat tape on the exposed low points and incoming lines will help but filling the fresh water tank and disconnection any water lines coming in will be better.

You are going to go through a bunch of propane if you depend entirely on that so use that to keep some heat into the under belly and supplement with ceramic heaters inside. When I am not dry camping and have 120V I set the thermostat to 60 and then use ceramic heaters to add heat inside. I have dry camped down to 10 F and not had a problem.