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Old 01-27-2018, 11:31 AM   #1
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 31
Occasional Freezing temperature with Minnie Drop

I just purchased a 2018 Minnie Drop 1780. (Really impressed by the quality, design, and technology). We live in Colorado and a lot of our camping will be boondocking at high elevations. What that means is that even with warm forecast we may get hit with temps below freezing (even in the summer). Worst case would be temps as low as 20 degrees overnight. The dealer said the tank heaters should be sufficient but the Minnie Drop has exposed tanks and pipes on the underside (they are not in an enclosed bay). I am thinking I need to wrap insulation and add 12v heat tape to protect the expose gray/black tank drain pipes and the short hoses exposed to the freshwater tank. Can I really avoid doing this? I am not looking to camp in prolonged below freezing temps but I do need to be able handle occasion freezing nights. Any thoughts?
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Old 01-27-2018, 08:33 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by WolfgangS View Post
I just purchased a 2018 Minnie Drop 1780. (Really impressed by the quality, design, and technology). We live in Colorado and a lot of our camping will be boondocking at high elevations. What that means is that even with warm forecast we may get hit with temps below freezing (even in the summer). Worst case would be temps as low as 20 degrees overnight. The dealer said the tank heaters should be sufficient but the Minnie Drop has exposed tanks and pipes on the underside (they are not in an enclosed bay). I am thinking I need to wrap insulation and add 12v heat tape to protect the expose gray/black tank drain pipes and the short hoses exposed to the freshwater tank. Can I really avoid doing this? I am not looking to camp in prolonged below freezing temps but I do need to be able handle occasion freezing nights. Any thoughts?
Hello, Welcome to the forum. I’ve have seen several other threads that specifically talk about camping in freezing temps. Some of the ideas were pretty good. One was if your running off a generator you can use stand up ceramic space heaters to help out you furnace that’s heating off of your propane bottles. Set the temp to at least 50 degrees. Several people use insulated fiber board they position around the sides of the rv to protect the underbelly of the trailer to block the air flow and place a 100 watt bulb/garage Wrk light near the drain valves and holding tanks.
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Old 01-27-2018, 08:43 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by Minnie2250 View Post
Hello, Welcome to the forum. I’ve have seen several other threads that specifically talk about camping in freezing temps. Some of the ideas were pretty good. One was if your running off a generator you can use stand up ceramic space heaters to help out you furnace that’s heating off of your propane bottles. Set the temp to at least 50 degrees. Several people use insulated fiber board they position around the sides of the rv to protect the underbelly of the trailer to block the air flow and place a 100 watt bulb/garage Wrk light near the drain valves and holding tanks.
Thanks, I have gotten a lot of good ideas from doing searches. There's a lot of good stuff there. It doesn't seem like any prior experience from people using tank heaters or pipe heaters on the small Winnie Drops though.
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Old 01-28-2018, 07:43 AM   #4
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We had a Palomini before our 2106FBS. Its water lines ran outside along the frame and it did not have tank heaters. We camped with it pretty much year round here in NC. We never had any freezing issues but we were only below freezing for a short time. Usually high 20's to freezing for a couple of hours. Our daytime temps would then be in the 50's. We also spent a week up in Yellowstone this past May without problem and we had freezing temps every night. It never warmed up much around the trailer due to 6 ft of snow and shade from the trees (40's?). When we expect freezing temps we disconnect from the water tap and use the internal water tank. The residual heat from the ground under the trailer, the frame and coming through the floor seemed to be enough to keep the exterior water lines above freezing for short periods. So I agree with your dealer that you should likely be fine. If you are still concerned you could always drain the water lines overnight which should be sufficient to clear any exposed piping.
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Old 01-28-2018, 06:32 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by old_engineer View Post
We had a Palomini before our 2106FBS. Its water lines ran outside along the frame and it did not have tank heaters. We camped with it pretty much year round here in NC. We never had any freezing issues but we were only below freezing for a short time. Usually high 20's to freezing for a couple of hours. Our daytime temps would then be in the 50's. We also spent a week up in Yellowstone this past May without problem and we had freezing temps every night. It never warmed up much around the trailer due to 6 ft of snow and shade from the trees (40's?). When we expect freezing temps we disconnect from the water tap and use the internal water tank. The residual heat from the ground under the trailer, the frame and coming through the floor seemed to be enough to keep the exterior water lines above freezing for short periods. So I agree with your dealer that you should likely be fine. If you are still concerned you could always drain the water lines overnight which should be sufficient to clear any exposed piping.
Thanks so much. It's always valuable to hear what actual has (or has not) worked.

-Wolfgang
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Old 05-19-2018, 03:35 PM   #6
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“I am thinking I need to wrap insulation and add 12v heat tape to protect the expose gray/black tank drain pipes and the short hoses exposed to the freshwater tank.”

Yes and keep the heater going with cupboards open for air circulation and antifreeze. IMP 20 degrees is pushing it.
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Old 05-19-2018, 06:40 PM   #7
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“I am thinking I need to wrap insulation and add 12v heat tape to protect the expose gray/black tank drain pipes and the short hoses exposed to the freshwater tank.”

Yes and keep the heater going with cupboards open for air circulation and antifreeze. IMP 20 degrees is pushing it.

I did the insulation and 12volt heat tape in addition to insulating all three tanks with some adhesive insulation. Ran some tests and 10 degrees is no problem so I should be fine at 20 for overnight.
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Old 05-19-2018, 07:37 PM   #8
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“Ran some tests and 10 degrees is no problem so I should be fine at 20 for overnight.”

Twenty-two degrees below freezing is no problem? Living on the wild side can become costly.
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Old 05-20-2018, 12:33 PM   #9
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“Ran some tests and 10 degrees is no problem so I should be fine at 20 for overnight.”

Twenty-two degrees below freezing is no problem? Living on the wild side can become costly.
That's why I did all the extra work and ran some tests. Where we go at high elevation in Colorado we can unexpectedly get 20 degrees at night even in July so it's a big deal for us. It's rare but it happens.
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Old 01-11-2020, 02:02 PM   #10
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I have a 2018 Minnie Drop and was camping Sept. 2019 in Montana at about 9000' After the first night the heater quit. It was in the low 40's during the day with drizzle and in the 20's at night. Short story: we cancelled our trip and spent the last two nights in a motel. When we got home I took the trailer to the dealer. The mechanic (factory trained) spent 3 hours trying to track down the problem. Finally he located a reset switch that was located on the frame (under the trailer) in a box. It took a phillips to unscrew two screws to reset the heater. Simple. But it took a trained mechanic to find it. I wrote a very strong letter to the Winnebago CEO about our adventure. What I got back was a pathetic call from a customer service VP thanking me for my letter. She couldn't even tell me if there was an owners manual that listed simple things like how to reset the heater. Very pathetic.
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Old 01-12-2020, 07:31 PM   #11
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I wish there were a decent owners manual for Minnie Drops

There's no owners manual or any documentation that lists that or information like that. It's silly not to take the time to provide documentation. It doesn't need to be printed. A pdf or page on a web site would be fantastic.



Quote:
Originally Posted by 1Albert2 View Post
I have a 2018 Minnie Drop and was camping Sept. 2019 in Montana at about 9000' After the first night the heater quit. It was in the low 40's during the day with drizzle and in the 20's at night. Short story: we cancelled our trip and spent the last two nights in a motel. When we got home I took the trailer to the dealer. The mechanic (factory trained) spent 3 hours trying to track down the problem. Finally he located a reset switch that was located on the frame (under the trailer) in a box. It took a phillips to unscrew two screws to reset the heater. Simple. But it took a trained mechanic to find it. I wrote a very strong letter to the Winnebago CEO about our adventure. What I got back was a pathetic call from a customer service VP thanking me for my letter. She couldn't even tell me if there was an owners manual that listed simple things like how to reset the heater. Very pathetic.
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