Puzzled about winter camping - Escape Trailer Owners Community
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×

Go Back   Escape Trailer Owners Community > Escape Tech > Maintenance, Winterizing and Routine Care
Click Here to Login
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 01-23-2014, 08:03 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
Greggo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
Puzzled about winter camping

I'm a lifelong Southern California boy and don't have a clue about winter camping. We're headed to the Arizona desert in Feb which will be 50-70's but want to take a detour for 4 nights to the Utah high desert where we expect the weather to dip into the high 20's at night. Will this be ok? Anything I should do in advance of or when we're there?

Greatly appreciate any help.

Greg
Greggo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 08:27 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
What will be the daytime temps? I don't think you need worry about a few hours of a few degrees below freezing at night, especially since I presume you'll be keeping the trailer comfortable for yourself.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 08:28 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: _, Texas
Trailer: Escape 5.0 SA
Posts: 544
Hi Greg,
Prolonged high 20's may be an issue with a fully charged water and drain system. I would be nervous about freeze damage. Especially anything outside such as the black & grey water drain piping, outdoor shower, and maybe your freshwater drain valve and water hose connection. You should be able to keep inside plumbing thawed with a heated trailer. Can you drain everything and dry camp with water containers and use camp restrooms during your high desert stay?
daveandsandyclink is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 08:40 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
soultrek's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: New Meadows, Idaho
Trailer: 2008 Escape 17B
Posts: 206
We have camped when nights dipped into the mid to upper twenties with no problems. Also, during early and late season storage outside our garage, I have not had any problems when night temps dipped into the 20's as long as I kept the interior above freezing. This in a trailer without thermal windows and extra insulation.
soultrek is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 09:42 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Greggo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
Thanks all. Daytime temps will be 50's. How about I drain the freshwater tank and leave the water heater on at night? I'll have hookups and can keep both valves open to drain away from the trailer. I should also shut off the incoming freshwater and drain the hose at night?

I travel with a small plug in heater. So I should use it at night to keep things above freezing??

Greg
Greggo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 09:50 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
Found this on the web, so consider the source:
Colder than you would experience. Just keep the heat on in the trailer and you should be fine.
Attached Thumbnails
Screen Shot 2014-01-23 at 7.46.27 PM.png  
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 10:01 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
Draining tanks won't help, BTW, since those would take forever to freeze solid. It's small amounts of water in small spaces that you have to worry about ( water lines and valves ).
Given daytime temps in the 50s, a heated trailer and short periods below freezing you should be fine. But, if you aren't satisfied with "should", then you really have to drain the entire system and charge it with RV anti-freeze.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2014, 05:45 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
bvansnell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2010 Escape 13
Posts: 431
Winter camping

We winterize our trailer when it is cold, including blowing out all lines and draining the hot water tank. Draining the hot water tank is the biggest job so we do this only once each year.

When we want to camp and it is below freezing we bring some water in plastic containers. Grasser's Lagoon with ice | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

In our most recent trip January 20-23, 2014 the temperature was just above freezing. We hooked up to the water supply at the campsite but left the hot water tank on bypass. We did use the sink. Our electric kettle produced hot water for coffee and for washing dishes.

Since we may get freezing temperatures again I'll blow out the water lines and put RV antifreeze in the trap under the sink. Easy.
__________________
Brian

2003 Subaru Forester
2012 Toyota Highlander V6
2010 Escape 13 "Ladybug" Feb 2010
bvansnell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2014, 06:43 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
sjnuss's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Trailer: 2018 Escape 19
Posts: 374
During the recent holidays we spent a week at Big Bend NP with a few night time temps in the mid 20s. Disconnecting the water hose was the only outside precaution I took but I did keep the water heater on all night and of course ran a small cube heater. No problems at all. Also note that my fresh water tank is inside under the bed.

Steve
__________________
Steve and Cynthia
San Antonio, TX
Escape 19 "Why So Serious?"
2019 Chevy Silverado RST 1500, 5.3L
sjnuss is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2014, 10:53 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
PGDriver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Southern Alberta, Alberta
Trailer: 2015 Escape 5.0TA
Posts: 1,734
Quote:
Originally Posted by sjnuss View Post
During the recent holidays we spent a week at Big Bend NP with a few night time temps in the mid 20s. Disconnecting the water hose was the only outside precaution I took but I did keep the water heater on all night and of course ran a small cube heater. No problems at all. Also note that my fresh water tank is inside under the bed.

Steve
Hi Steve

We also had Reace put our fresh water tank under the bed. What a great winter camping option you can pour a jug of RV antifreeze down the black and grey tanks and it camping as usual.
__________________
Cheers
Doug
PGDriver is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2014, 11:15 AM   #11
Senior Member
 
Vermilye's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Oswego, New York
Trailer: 2017 Escape 21C, 2018 Ford F150
Posts: 5,363
I've done a few low 20's nights with daytime temps in the 50's without a problem. If you have hookups, I'd suggest disconnecting your water hose overnight - it has always been the first thing to freeze, and if you have to leave the campground before the faucet unfreezes enough to be able to turn it off, you (well, actually the campground) have a problem. Don't ask how I know.
__________________
Jon Vermilye My Travel Blog
Travel and Photo Web Page ... My Collection of RV Blogs 2018 F150 3.5EB, 2017 21
Vermilye is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-24-2014, 01:06 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
Kountrykamper's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Middle, Tennessee
Trailer: 2017 Escape 19' #2
Posts: 1,441
We were camping with some friends on Thanksgiving several years back. It dipped down into the 20's that night. They left Thanksgiving morning to spend a few hours with family. What they did not realized was that when they had gotten up their daughter had turned on the bathroom faucet only to find out there was no water because the hose was frozen. After a few hours we were sitting at our table and I glanced out the window to see water coming out of every possible opening in their camper. The water hose had thawed out and water started running from the faucet that the daughter had opened but not closed. When the gray tank fulled up water started running everywhere in the camper.

Scratch one stick built.

Disconnect your water hose
__________________
Tom
Kountrykamper is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off




» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Escape Trailer Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:40 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2023 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.