What's Going to Freeze Next?

[Parker]

My wife and I are heading to Bryce Canyon this fall, where it's going to be cold at night. We've had some cold weather camping experiences when we had to disconnect our water hose at night to prevent it from freezing. What's likely to freeze next with nighttime temps in the 20's? This is somewhat model dependent, so I'd love to hear from someone with a similar Escape to ours who has been there and done that.

We have a 2013 19' model with extra insulation but without the spray foam beneath. We'll have either the furnace or electric heat at night, so I'm not too worried about interior plumbing. I'm guessing the combined drain trap for the shower and bathroom sink is the next most vulnerable bit of plumbing, since it sits beneath the floor. A little splash of RV antifreeze into the drains at night should eliminate that issue. Does this sound reasonable? I don't expect problems with the gray or black tanks, or the sewer lines, since daytime temps will be above freezing (if not, we're outta there!).

Thanks.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Parker

My wife and I are heading to Bryce Canyon this fall, where it's going to be cold at night. We've had some cold weather camping experiences when we had to disconnect our water hose at night to prevent it from freezing. What's likely to freeze next with nighttime temps in the 20's? This is somewhat model dependent, so I'd love to hear from someone with a similar Escape to ours who has been there and done that.

We have a 2013 19' model with extra insulation but without the spray foam beneath. We'll have either the furnace or electric heat at night, so I'm not too worried about interior plumbing. I'm guessing the combined drain trap for the shower and bathroom sink is the next most vulnerable bit of plumbing, since it sits beneath the floor. A little splash of RV antifreeze into the drains at night should eliminate that issue. Does this sound reasonable? I don't expect problems with the gray or black tanks, or the sewer lines, since daytime temps will be above freezing (if not, we're outta there!).

Thanks.

Beautiful place Parker . I have camped down to those temps but we do have the foam underneath . So I don’t know if that makes a difference. A course the outside water hose . Your inside with heater should be fine .I think if you are worried about your drains outside , what if you wrapped them up with reflex it or flexible foam packing etc. Something that would be hard to freeze . Open the cabinet doors so they can warm up .I don’t know if I have been helpful or not .Just some of my thinking . Pat

[Jack L]

I stayed in Brice in late September a few years ago. Had a great time. Daytime temps were in the 60's and late night and early (before 5 AM) morning temps were in the mid20's. I did disconnect the outside water supply, but probably would have been fine without disconnecting. The Bigfoot I had at the time was just a standard insulation package. I doubt you will have any freezing issues.

[cpaharley2008]

We have camped down to single digits in our 19 and 21. Both had thermal and foam spray. I installed a small electric wall heater which kept us warm with the furnace.

[padlin]

Does the 19 have the fresh water tank outlet exposed like my 5.0TA does? seems like this would be an item that could freeze easily without foam. This is what I'm talking about on my trailer.

[cpaharley2008]

Yes the fresh tank is exposed like yours without the foam....

[MyronL]

This picture taken early May, 2015. No hookups but our heater worked fine. No undercarriage insulation. I got up early that morning and drove to a lookout point. At 6 am it was truly bitter cold out there. Must have been around 17 degrees --anyway, that's what my un-gloved fingers told me.

[cpaharley2008]

Boy you would be hard pressed to park an Escape 21 there and with those big "21" on the front argue that it is smaller than that.....another reason to name your trailer and drop the stock front decal.

[Iowa Dave]

Being a member of the park guy mafia, I’d park our 21 there in a heartbeat. Three things could happen. 1. I’d have to move the trailer. 2. With the front window cover up nobody would pay attention. 3. I would be able to relate to the ranger and he or she would let this tiny infraction go. There are a few rangers who are totally no nonsense and inflexible, I understand that, but most are pretty reasonable if you’re not blocking traffic or negatively affecting the grounds. That’s my experience. Camp on.
Iowa Dave

[stephen99]

We got down into the teens one night in NM and the water hose from the fresh tank to the pump froze up. No such problem so far with lows in the mid to high 20s.

[Donna D.]

If camping below freezing is going to be your ongoing camping style, consider adding an accumulator tank. You can disconnect the water hose and still be able to flush the toilet at night. Which IMHO is better than having water in the fresh water tank because of yeah, possible freezing. Good luck!

[barry]

We were going to camp at Bryce this past March but there was 3 feet of snow in the campgrounds and they were still closed. So, we were forced to camp at Panguitch at an RV park with hook ups 25 miles to the north east. I just drained my water hose each evening and then hooked it back up with it empty so it was ready for use when I needed it. The first morning I got up at 5am to go up to Bryce to do some sunrise photography and it was snowing and minus 9C outside. As I walked around the trailer I realised that I'd left the front hatch open all night and it has the water pipe for the toilet in it. We'd used the toilet that morning using our on board fresh water tank and the water had not frozen in the pipe. Just the sheltered location of the pipe in the hatch had prevented it from freezing so it takes quite a bit for the pipes to freeze. We travel with the fresh water tank full all of the time because we like to camp off the grid and I've never had the water freeze in it even traveling at temps. down to minus 12C. We do have the foam under the trailer.

Still drove up to Bryce in a blinding snow storm for sunrise and had the place to myself as the weather started to clear about 10 minutes after sunrise and the sun came out, brilliant!

We left the park about 9:30 am and started heading to Kodachrome and as we were going down the hill towards Tropic we passed two guys heading up the hill .............. on motorcycles!!!!
Barry

[Parker]

Thanks for all the replies. It sounds like we may be inconvenienced, but hopefully won't damage anything. I hadn't thought about the external connections on our fresh water tank and low point system drain.

Donna, I like the accumulator idea. We don't intend to make a habit of cold weather camping, but we do anticipate being out with overnight temps below freezing.

Our southwest trip is sort of a bucket list thing for us, then we'll probably stick with lower altitudes and likely warmer temps. Last fall, it was Newfoundland, and we want to get back up there again.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Parker

Donna, I like the accumulator idea. We don't intend to make a habit of cold weather camping, but we do anticipate being out with overnight temps below freezing.

The great part is you can flush the toilet without the noisy pump turning on and everyone else can sleep

[Parker]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

The great part is you can flush the toilet without the noisy pump turning on and everyone else can sleep

How large are they (will they fit under the bed?) and how many flushes? There are two of us, and we're getting up more often at night than we used to!

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Parker

How large are they (will they fit under the bed?) and how many flushes? There are two of us, and we're getting up more often at night than we used to!

Here's a thread for you: http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f2...ved-11915.html

[jnfrombigt]

Originally Posted by barry

We were going to camp at Bryce this past March but there was 3 feet of snow in the campgrounds and they were still closed. So, we were forced to camp at Panguitch at an RV park with hook ups 25 miles to the north east. I just drained my water hose each evening and then hooked it back up with it empty so it was ready for use when I needed it. The first morning I got up at 5am to go up to Bryce to do some sunrise photography and it was snowing and minus 9C outside. As I walked around the trailer I realised that I'd left the front hatch open all night and it has the water pipe for the toilet in it. We'd used the toilet that morning using our on board fresh water tank and the water had not frozen in the pipe. Just the sheltered location of the pipe in the hatch had prevented it from freezing so it takes quite a bit for the pipes to freeze. We travel with the fresh water tank full all of the time because we like to camp off the grid and I've never had the water freeze in it even traveling at temps. down to minus 12C. We do have the foam under the trailer.

Still drove up to Bryce in a blinding snow storm for sunrise and had the place to myself as the weather started to clear about 10 minutes after sunrise and the sun came out, brilliant!

We left the park about 9:30 am and started heading to Kodachrome and as we were going down the hill towards Tropic we passed two guys heading up the hill .............. on motorcycles!!!!
Barry

Barry Love your photos. If you haven't been there Natural Bridges National Monument would be worth a trip and then continuing up 95 to Hite at the north end of Lake Powell. Incredible color combinations in the rock formations

[Parker]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Here's a thread for you: http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f2...ved-11915.html

Thanks!

[barry]

Originally Posted by jnfrombigt

Barry Love your photos. If you haven't been there Natural Bridges National Monument would be worth a trip and then continuing up 95 to Hite at the north end of Lake Powell. Incredible color combinations in the rock formations

Thanks Jim. We were thinking of going out to that general area next March or April so will put Natural Bridges on the list of places to go.
Barry